The Litchfield County post., 1828-06-26

of the belng on earth whom had really loved.
 THE MILITIA SYSTEM EXAMINED.
 Rev. Mr. Pierpont's Sermon.
 This ingenious but sarcastic discourse was delivered on the 2d inst. before the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Compa- ny of Massachusetts, from Cor. ix 17- " Who goeth warfare, at any time, at his own charges !'' After showing that the question implies negative, as illustrated in the common usage of nations, and by the common sense of mankind as to what would be equitable, MT. Pierpont states that our militia do military duty at their own expense. He proceeds to remark on the cost and iuutility of the present sys- tenn and that however necessary ii might have been in the days that are past, it is not now required by the circumstances of the Commonwealth. It is wise, indeed, to foresee evil, and to guard against it but it is also wise to calculate contingent cies, and to preserve due relation be- tween the probability of an uncertain evil, or the magnitude of certain one, and the expense at which we would protect our selves. It is wise in Cairo or Constanti- nople to guard against the plague, at the expense of great sacrifices. But would it be wise to demand the same sacrifices to guard against the same evil in St. Peters burgh or Quebec? The preacher then proceeds to compare the cost with the dan ger. The expense of the 5O,OOO men on our militia rolls, if called out only three days in year the waste of time by spec tators time to prepare for the field; the fatigue, or frolic, and the time to recover from military duties, or from debauch,- may all be fairly set down at not less than haLf Q million of dollars per annum. The dangers of the State can only be from in- surrection, or invasion; and from neither is there any fear, to justify the expense.-- The militia system may be also objected to because it is not equitable. It aims to protect the property of the, ,oealthy at the cost of the poor. This is unjust. If the rich are protected, they should pay for it; but they do not. Every one knows that the labor and expense, press heGUily and directly, on the poor. MT. Pierpont then considers the futility of some of the apolo- ges which are made for the present sys- Christian Watehm0n.
 "We hear of the benefit which the la boring part of the community derive from the relaxation and recreation furnished by the military holidays, and are told that the health and spirits are recruited by them.
 What sanative power there may be to a laboring man, in the difference of working all day in one field with hoe, and work ing all day in another field with gun, is a question winch shall leave with the fac- ulty. cannot but remark, however, that admitting all the great benefit to the man who eats his bread in the sweat of his brow, that is claimed for him in an occa- sional relaxation from toll, and in season of comparative repose, that benefit is secu- red to him by the gentle and most happy authority of our religion; which allows him not e,but fifty days year, in which he feels it religious duty to rest from his labors, and employ the fruits of them in grateful adoration of the Divine Being.
 But we are told once more, that in dis charging his military duties. soldier, and especially an officer, cultivates his sense of self-respect; he feels his importance to society, and acquires habit of acting with regard to his character. Every man, it is said, who wears an epaulette, feels, in a greater or less degree, the pride of his sta- tion.
 Ay, "the pride ofhis station''-the pride of office. And are we certain that it is we'll that he should feel this pride of office. even as he does? well for the community, or for the man himself who wears the ep- aulette?
 Have you never seen the industrious young farmer, the respectable and thriving young mechanic, soon after he had put on his epaulette, pushed on by his pride out ofsight of his prudence stimulated by that badge of his country's trust, to dis plays of hospitality to the "gentlemen of ficers and fellow soldiers of his corps, to which his means were not equal taking counsel of his pride, rather than of his purse, for his own costume, till his saop was forsaken. his farm mortgaged, his hab- !. its of industry broken up,and the man him- self broken down The zeal of soldier hath eaten many citizen m. And if the