New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1853-04-25
ORR ARMY AND NAVY.

The American People have dared to take some steps
in advance of their European ancestry and knsmen
and their daring experiments in sef-government, IN
dispensing with military force as conservator OF inter-
nal tranquility and order in popular education &c, &c
have been crowned with the most undoubted success
Very few native citizens now think of retracng those
bold steps forward apprehend National downfall or
danger therefro Yet there still prevails too general
inertia if not dsrust with respect to further steps in
the same direction though these are but logical conse
ouences of those already fearessy TAKEN and with
such unqualified Does this imply only that
men are wiser with regard to topics on which they have
been made to feel than those on which they have only
been melted to think
The Army and Navy of this Wanted Democratic Re-
public are this day organized basis intensely Arsto-
cratic The men who have upheld, advanced and hon
ored our flag as private soldiers never ele
waited therefor to the command Of Companies The
road from the forecaste the quarterback OF Ma
tiona vessels is closed up, with No ThorOughare very
conspcuously inscribed above it. The true and tried
mon who disspated the charm of British invincibiy
tbe Ocean and sweptthe banner Of St George from the
Lakes were not therefor promoted 10 eutenancies and
captaincies They died and dying in poverty and
obscurity-Often in hospitals and amshouses-whle sons
and nephews of Secretaries Governors and Members OF
Conpress-many of whom smelt gunpowder except
ON some Fourth-oi-July occason-now wear the epau
letes and draw from TO three hundred dollars month
" from the Treasury for doing nothing On shore Tor
years together and taking ieatherbed cruise III the
Gulf of Mexico or the Mediterranean just often enoughto
air their nautical vocabulary And now we learn as the
natural result of this system that our Navy cannot be
Manned and that the japan Expedition must set sail
minus its most important vessel.
Scarcity of seamenr Suppose Henry Grinnell or
Richard F. Stockton fitting out an Expedition to
Japan to explore its coasts and open communication
with its Government with mingled Political anu COu-
mercia objects who magnes he would have any dculty
in manning his vessels No matter how many men were
reoured-five ten or twenty thousand-he need not 90
out of NewYork to take his pick from twice the number
Of Gallant energetic wdeawake fellows, whom no Navy
in the world could match for man, at any WORK re-
uiring skill hardhood and courage. He woad be be-
seged with opportunities in behalf OF this friends son
and that I'D cronys nephew grandchildren eager to
90 IN any terms because confident that each would be
naced and treated according to his worth and that oP
nortuntes for honorable distinction would be open to
ALL Contrast this will you with the confessed difficulty
Of enlisting men for the Navy, and of keeping them
when enlisted and then say whether Republic ought to
be nrospered in recreancy to Republicanism.
All but the seamen in Navy not ftfor officers
verv likely they are not Why should men fit for officers
enter such service and expose themsevesto such treat
mcnt7 Bu the seamen who tore down the flags OF the
Cuerriere and MacedOnian-whO conquered win Perry
on Lake Erie, McDonough Champain, or fell IN hope
1s conflict aroupd Porter in the Essexrere tt-many
oftbe-or promotion and command, and ought 20 nave
received them 1t is crying injustice, Na'lonasham
that they did not And had the rule then been estab-
sbed and thenceorth iphexby maintained that no man
cul1 receive warrant or commission in the Navy until
after he had served at least three years therein as
common sailor and that the untrammeed votes oil the
seamen in each vessel should designate at the expiration
Of each term of enlistment those of their number from
among whom officers should be selected should never
more have lacked seamen fit for command, whether
cruising on dangerous coast or taking ship Tito acon
The case is even worse with Army than our Navy
because the blunder is here obvious and papabe
People who seldom read and never think may be per-
suaded that nautical affairs completely out OF the
line Of their experience that White shore may be
naek Mt sea but body that Army
cos's great deal more than IL to Ten Millions
ayear is the least figure at which our expenditures
Military purposes may be estimated; yet responsible