New Orleans daily crescent., 1854-12-25
THE PRESIDENT AND THE ARMY.

4
lie correspondence
For the cssae snt
THE paEsrDENT AND THE ARMY.
Ii il pr5sbie that army establishment organ
e ~ any country was content with Its statsss que AS
institution any where the military, however small and
Recent has been prone to augment its
ambers Increase its powers, and eventually If uure
rainsd by strong arm, to usurp and absorb all the
thsr powers Of any community or body polite This
let the history of the word back have any
ecord, attests in language that can dispute Hn
aan nature remains unchanged II Is only modified by
Intelligence and virtues and xerxes and Alexander were
4 familiar with the maxim that liberty is only held at
he price OF eternal vigilance Of this country are
Tho French people in the midst Of the throes Of
heir first revolution might have learned had they lis
ened to their civilians that their liberties would be over
thrown and just proportion they tolerated in
crease Of the military with view ostensiby to conn
bat foreign aggression.
Without pausing to multiply examples with which the
history of the abounds showing the insanity andoy
Of building up large standing army In any community
witch desires to maintain social and political freedom
tna proceed at to assa the Of the
President and his War Secretary before Congress
for an increase Of the army. The latter thinks the
army force quite Inadequate to the profession Of our
ana to punish Indian aggression and the former
The addition Of four regiments to the existing force Re
aucing the proposition to plain English have delihe
rate plan to add four Thousand soldiers and four millions
of expense the treasury upon the fourteen Or fifteen
thousand men already provided for at an expense Of
twelve millions Of dollars per annum The Secretary ad
mits that existing laws authorize force Of abqn fifteen
thousand while he shows under that organization an
effective force Of ony eleven Thousand. Now, if, with
lawful authority perfect effective force Of fifteen
Thousand he 1nusters only eleven thousand is 1t not
cessary that If Congress will give him four more
regiments four thousand more he may then ex-
pect to muster about what the existing laws authorize
say fourteen to fifteen thousand And what is the ra
tionae Of alths if 1t is not that would be fer more
sbe and like for the War Department to proceed
at once by an energetic to push forward enlist
ments by every at Its command and bring the
esctyc force Of the army the standard Of fifteen thou
snd already authorized Put that into active and
efficient service the frontiers and if in years expe
rence that maximum OF force should continue to fur
nis deporabe proofs the inecieney OF military
organizationsi y i viii be time enough then to see the
absolute necessity for ts increase urged by the seere
tary last year 4 aud again urged this year.
The Secretary thinks force Of eleven thousand men
entirely the purposes for which main
army and the President forthwith asks
Congress to grc him four regiments, with view
that degree Of security may be given to the Indian
rontiers How much statesnanlike it would have
this for the President to have told his Secre
tary in to such report that no found eleven
thousand inadequate for the quiet of those frontiers
he must apply the of the Department more
vigorously upon the of ensmens and thereby
augment his effective force until treached the maximum
allowed by Try that while and if the whole force
authorized prove inadequate maintain the security
the frontiers then will ask from Congress power to add
four thousand more men to the army
Bur nothing OF the kind to have transpired in
the Executive councils there nothing Of inyestiga
on and study what could be done to render the exist
ing establishment efficient, Ambitious and aspiring
officers Of the army eager higher rank and
pay having obtained the of power at Washington
have succeeded in obfnsticatng the true object and
tent Of their schemes in plausible array of Indian diff
outies our ontiers and in the declaration that
force Of eleven thousand is entirely inadequate for
the purposes for which maintain standing army,
We do not require in this country, that the augmenta
tion Of standing should keep pace with the
Of population. 1t may be doubted indeed if
With population Of twenty-five millions really
large force upon frontiers when the population
ranged from three to ten millions, simply the fact
that at the close Of the revolution in S down the
Of 1872 and later all the country south and west
Georgia occupied less by powerful Indian
tribes, whose very numbers in many sections bore an
alarming superiority the frontier settlers and kept
them IN perpetual dread Of their predatory hosttes
which sayS ma
the Ohio, the Mississippi, the Alabama and Apaaeh-
eo,a Rivers and the great Northern Tases tb font;a
of this country were In military ,snect nat tpsa
sive thar, now And vet mona of tho stirrin a,;.a;
Of that after gloomy era in history avar
An Executive demand for n creater foro tt.
ssyeu to ten Thousand Then our frontier f
the st. Lawrence along the whole chain of Isse "a t1
Mississippi dividing us from British ealorsv and t
garlike propenses of vast horaes of ssvages a,va,
towering npon both sides Of that pe-bere If ds.oa,
protection had bes maintained y larya army ,t
been employed Louisiana. ant, other ~
were then of the frontier and reo,ired ma ton =
ensure border tranquility The line of frontier n th;s
direction has besn removed from The ssh;ra - a..
Grapde ana the troops have gone with L ba M
frontier formerly mon the Missouri ana otra
rivers has been reno to frago, ana
tbs neoess;t III ta s.l
na abond travel wsss Win that -, NP' '''
ma ,;na sonaratin, n fro,., ~ III,
H. os,,sl nsllp
Ia N, -,
~ vhict MI, "a s.s eAsees
~ IL - Asssss'1y ~ sisnef sias
sst f,onf,a, Ft1n y Il so ens,11 tenstl
Oh the Atlantic and ffu,f t;,a -
~ - '4'iio u peace ehefe
% cb os 10 1ahe ~ a. ~
and serve Il ! nncaus ~ ~ yo,n,taa.
rensea cali For Ill thosa m,
artillerv rs
Tha
n,na, ,ha -
s,,,, ~ aAu Peo'ess,ps t'
eoht regiments y infantr - " ~
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