Martinsburg gazette. [volume] (Martinsburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1833-1855, 1834-01-23

commander. Ia this practical school were formed
Ney, Soult, Suchet, MORGAN, Msssena and Ian
mes. The truth is, that the proportion Of men in
any age or country endued with high degree Of
military genius is small. The seven years strug-
gle in the Peninsula produced not one Spanish or
Portuguese commander above mediocrity-yet il
would seem that the circumstances Of that war
were eminently calculated 10 elicit all the mill
tary talent 10 the country-and surely never did
any nation pay a o ore tremendous penalty for
having suffered its military institutions to fall into
decay.
| But the Academy at West Point "confers pri-
viIeges on the chosen few" How can il be o.
therwise! The number Of Cadets is limited.
The reputation of the school is high-deservedy
high. To many very manv the sound scientf-
ic, thorough education Of West Point, with its
invigorating and manly discipline, must BE- desira-
Bile Two thousand applications, probably,
madc-only two hundred can be admitted. The
| admitted, then, as compared with the rejected,
are necessarily the few, the ''choscn few -
That the choice is always made upon Just and inn
partial principles, is not affirmed. But admitting
that IT is not, il is surely better TO correct vi
cious mode Of selection, than, merely on that
score, TO destroy a valuable institution.
| But it is objected that the "great majority" Of
those educated at West Point, after receiving
that education, retire 10 the walks Of civil and
private life And where is the harm, pray, if
they dor Is il not admitted upon all hands that
the conservation of our republican government
and its institutions depends upon the intelligence
and virtue Of the people? Those who, after hav
ing been well educated at TVest Point, return TO
the walks Of private and civil life, in the absence
Of that school, would, in all probability, have
been worse educated not at ALL for, notwith
standing all the charges Of favoritism and aristo
crazy, il is notorious that large proportion Of
the youth educated at the Military Academy had
not the means of obtaining an equally good educa-
ton elsewhere. If, then, a good education be
worth more than the money it costs, il follows
that the country is the gamer in every instance
III which such education has been given, whether
the recipient enter inter the public service in the
army, or "retire to the walks Of civil and private
life"
The services which have been rendered to the
country by the cleves Of the Military School
in the Department Of Civil Engineering, in max
ing surveys and preparing reports and estimates,
for contemplated works of internal Improvement,
seem TO have been forgottea by the Iphig, or to
go for nothing. 1t is subject of regret to the
writer Of this article that he is unable to state the
extent or amount Of their services in this line,
but il is well known, that for years past nume-
rous detachments of them have been engaged in
these useful and honorable labors
But the main object, ii is presumed, oil the Mi
litary Academy, is to furnish TO the army sup
n ply Of educated and accomplished oihceTs' mo
roughly imbued with the science OIL their PROBES
sion and especially body of Military Engineers,
which is indispensable if our contests are TO be
. with civilized nations. II is not denied that an
uneducated man Of natural genius for war, will
in process of time become able field officer, by
ldint Of observation andexperience. in the con-
str,iction Of field works and Notifications In the
attack and defence of fortified places, science IS
absolutely necessary. A Ney or Lanncs could
lead division or corps in a pitched battle, or
on detachment ably and gloriously, but he could
never capture well fortified ard well defended
place without the aid Of skilful and scientific
engineer. II is well known that In any national
emergency. requiring the aid Of an efficient ar
N.Y. tho difficulty 10 not to drill and discipline the
soldiers, but to educate and form the officers. In
> desperate and bloody struggle Of seven years
duration, Spain failed to produce single able
officer of high grade, AMI Of the lower grades
the number was not great. She was IN conse.
e quence eternally defeated, and escaped the de-
tested yoke of the foreign usurper only through
the genius Of Wellington and the disciplined va
= lour Of the British army.
u In 1872 the fine, gallant, veteran army of Ma
: poleon, which had borne tho French eagle in
o triumph from Oporto to Moscow, persisted amid
a the SHOWS of Russia. II was annihilated. Had
France been without officers as she, was without
soldiers, she could not have avoided immediate
submission TO the terms dictated by her enemies.
But she possessed the stuff of which soldiers are
made, and she possessed able aud skilful officers
who knew how to convert that raw material, a
a conscript, into a soldier Never was any thing
more rapidly, or for the length of time allowed,
more efficiently done. A few months suffccd to
place Napoleon at the head of 100000 soldiers,
, and to enable him to gain two bloody but indec-
sive victories. The crisis of danger passed,
and but for the incurable obstinacv and folly Fl
Napoleon, France had beea saved. IVhen the
Iexigency requires that the citizens OF a country
shall be converted into soldiers, the value of ca
pablo and sklful officers who know how to do the
work required, is inestimable.
At the battle Of Heliopolis, about thirty years
ago, Klebcr, with ten thousand Frenchmen, de-
feated and cut TO pieces an army of seventy thou
, sand Turks. What chance would any ten thou
, sand men upon earth have against the army Of
the present Pacha of Egypt? And yet the change
=, has been effected within few years through the
fundamentally of few skiful scientific French
i officers.
c But the Military school, according to the Wing,
'fentas great expense upon the country" ut
is time TO prune away every superfiuty, 10 stop
every possible avenue TO expenditure, and to
curtail federal patronage wherever il is practi-
C cable"
Z Then why make such pothcr about stopping
the spigot hole whilst all the liquor is running
ont at the bung? II the prognostics Of the Wing
may be trusted-if there be not even a conjectu-
rabe contingency in our foreign affairs that might
a al some remote and distant day lead TO war; the
army and navy "useless and expensive" in
, cumbrances, which should be got rid Of spec
Oily as possible. The ships OF war NAV per-
chance be sold for something like one halfor one
? third Of what they cost-the materials for ship
r building collected at the navy yards may be sold
upon still b tier terms. As for the uucalculatlng
hardy, gallant race, the tenants of these wooden
walls-they are nothing more than human beings,
and when was the fate or the feelings Of human
. beings known TO give the smallest concern TO a
a politician afflicted with the gripings Of fit
Of economy? The soldiers Of our standing
army of six thousand men, may be disbandcd-
the officers may be dismissed to beg or starve as
may be most agreeable to them; and, as it would
cost money to dismante and destroy the fortress
e es, they may be suffered to stand monuments
of the prodigal folly Of times past.
= To be serious attack, such as we have seen,
upon such an institution as the West Point school
is admitted to be, coming from man of known
a independence, intelligence, and manliness, is "a
I mong the evil omens of these evil times.
Whilst the creatures of corruption are rioting
C upon the public treasure-whlst Gwynn, forced
: upon the people in defiance of decency and the