The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1854-03-13


the face Of the globe, but citizen ssl.;ery, at
tachcd to each other, and to the institutions of,
the country, for which they are ready to shed.
their blood receiving no equivalent for their
services but the thanks Of their relatives. their
aged parents. and their sisters, who with smiling
faces on parade day point out those noble sons,
OF great and powerful republic, who are ever.
ready and proud to engage in the cause OF free
com, GOD and their native landn These men
are useful members of society-of GOOD bus;-
ness capacities, and hard handed, men of a
great ard enlightened nation, who are prou,i
Of The station 10 matter how lowly it NAV he
as American citizens and American soldierv
To he even private in some of what, in vulgar
parlance are called '.crack regiments" is sta
ton easier sought for than attained. For in this
happy land no post in our militia, however
humble and onerous, is regarded otherwise than
honorable. Hence the great perfection to which
our citizen soldiery have attained within the,
last twenty years rather astonishes Europeans
who visit us, and who before imagined that the
army of the United States was composed almost.
entirely Of set of half clad negroes.
How many men worth thousands of dollars
I'LL the places of corporals, sergeants, and lieu
tenants in our militia regiments, all feeling
proud OF their several positions US citizens Our
major-generals, brigadier generals, colonies,
ana majors arc not officers by appointment, but
elected ly the votes of the soldiery; and among
these officers may be recognized the Senator
the Congressman, the lawyer, and some of the
most eminent writer's Of the day, whose only
interest is to serve their country by vieing with.
each other to see who can render his regiment,
or division the most worthy of admiration to-
the multitudes who witness with delight
and satisfaction their tactics and evolutions on
the fields Of encampment.
European armies are in many cases COM.
manded by men Of merit but the officers are for
the most part made up of dissolute scions of no
bility, good for nothing but gaming, drinking,
fighting duels and riotous living, and by idle.
spendthrifts and pampered minions of an aris-
tocracy whose habits are not in the slightest,
degree improved, but, on the contrary, these,
debauchees find wider range and fuller scope for.
their vices in the colonies of the mother coun-
try than at home On the battle field all their
base and unmanly passions are aroused, and.
their cruelty to the unfortunate prisoners who
may, perchance, be taken on either side is too
notorious to need much comment now at our
hands. At all events, the conduct of the.
French armies in Algeria, Egypt and Italy !;
that of the English in the East Indies, China,
and the United States when Struggling for
liberty that of Spain in South America and
Mexico, where millions of the aborigines were
slaughtered even in cold blood that of the
Russian soldiery in Poland and Circassia that
of the Austrian army in poor, down-trodden
Italy, stamp the character Of European armies
with disgrace, barbarity and licentiousncss, that
never have been, or we trust can be, attributed
to the American soldiery on any occasion
whatever