New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1854-12-13
INCREASING THE ARMY.

In the selection Of Cabinet officers for the
Army and Navy, due regard is always had to the
choice of those seytrally favorable" to each
branch of the service; or, ia other words eager
to tax the people for the benefit of 6ghting-men.
Each of these Secretaries should have hung up in
bis Office picture of "Oliver Twist asking for
more, that celebrated epigraph answering for
| the neyer-ending, siillbeginning grOan about
exposed coasts end interiors, and the dismal, de-
plorsble spectacle of a free people occupying
semi continent with a world OF rich and durable
interests, and yet inviting by pacific sOmnolence,
the attacks Of Europe, equally with those of Asia
! and Africa. This unitOned screech of official
despair is sgain uttered by the Secretary Of War.
whose annual document we published yesterday;
ard ii il fortified by other gentlemen commun-
cation from one of whom we publish to-day. We
let ttese drum-bead Jeremiads 90 for what they
are worth, which is Just nothing, and repea, our
earnest conviction that the Army of the United
States needs no increase, and the security of the
naiion would not be invalidated jot il it were
wiped out of existence. On this head, let us say
d few words in explanation.
When the Federal Union was established, but
little novelty was Infused into the Constitution or
the machinery Of Government. The Office Of
President Constitutional king for term of
years-wss created possible re gent ia the form
Of Vice-Prt sident was made; two Houses of
Parliament, or Congress, in imitation Of the
English pattern; Judges for life, and heads Of
peace and war Departments, as in Europe If
We are to believe popular book Just our, the
fret President had Court" or ia other words
accOrt ing to The Albion, the surroundings of the
Court OF Washington" differed bat little from
those Of George ILL., but that apart, the dignity
that doth hedge a king" had much to do At that
early period (aia it was very NATURALLY with the
Office Of President The condolences of Presi-
dency with royalty are such that men like Mr.
Clay or Sir. Webster who should have had hiyh
and noble aims, spent their lives in feyerish
anxietes 10 gain the place. and the regal dramas
Of Shtkspere, without their assassinations aud
poiFoDiDss taye been acted, simply with a change
Of names, in the United States Senate for the last
fifty years. In word, the relations of the
people to their Government have been utterly
mi,understoOd BY the chief President huoter.,
who nstook mere police at Washington for the
life Of the nation Mr.. Webster and Mr.. GAYS
speeches overflow with false notions on this he.d
VIXEN, for instance, the Bank ofthe United States
was destroyed, twss laid down By tie frs. rate au
tborities that the exchanges of the nation would
be impossible. Mr. Webster, toe, al ssys laborei
under the de- usiOD that the present written Con.
stitution is necessary to the national existence
forgetting that the words of such document are
invariably set aside when the spirit of the nation
dissgrees with the tsra serpta, and that its pros
perity lie quite independent of such record. So
utterly besOtted are public men on the relations
Of officials to the people, that Mr.. Pierce as
serted in bis Message Of 1853 that be was called
"tO preside over the destinies Of the nation" if
be had said, like the msdn an in Rasselas, that he
csused the seasons and the crops, the hyperbole
would not be more absurd.
Now, in consonsnce with these Anglican ante
csdent' Of government, the State Papers at