Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-04-11
Resurrection of the Militia System.

The good old times are coming again. The
Legislature Of Virginia aimed Il cruel blow
at time-honored institutions when the Mill
tia system was abolished, and showed IN
common wisdom in its renewal. Ruthless
was the effort to check the growth aud In
crease of Generals, Colonels, Majors, Cap
tains and Lieutenants in this State, and the
folly ofso doing has been made apparent by the
restoration. The system, bad and inefficient
as il was. was better than no system at all,
and lift did nothing else, it brought the people
together, eliciting community OF thought and
feeling promoting social intercourse and the
spread Unpopular information, causing fights.
and thus advancing the interests OF the legal
fraternity by the creation of bunged eyes
and bloody noses. 1t led to the destruction
of bad whskey by the people, thus furnishing
the advocates Of Temperance wide and fer
tile field for their labors, which otherwise
might have been wanting. 1t led to the
growth and Development Of cross-road poll
ticians, who, from the tops Of store-boxes,
barrel-hcads and stumps cxpounded and eI-
planned to the people the mysteries Of our
government, and demonstrated their capaci-
" for office, and future claims even for the
Presidency. Out of niusters grew fsh-fries
and barbecucs at which we have known
SOME men 10 eat so much that they could not
carry it home, and others drink 80 much
that it even made their horses drunk to smell
their breath Great institutions are musters
and their concomitants, and though some evil
follows in their train, yet we think good in
iiuences predominant.
Beat the drum, blow the fife, sound the
l., ,l,o 81. 4 Sc ka lon
come forth and all hail to their coming
Soon will martial sounds be heard from the
Chesapeake to the Ohio, and the drum and
fife shall echo throughout the limits Of the
Old Commonwealth. The people, as if
great military ague had come upon them,
are fast shaking OF the lethargy Of peaceful
repose, and shortly amid the universal din
and stir Of precinct and general musters, it
will seem AZ if nation Of warriors had
sprung into existence, ready to cry Havoc
and let loose the dogs of war"
General muster day used to be land will
DO again great day for every county in the
State. On that day the valor Of the land
paraded at the Court House, where amid the
clamors Of drum and fife, the shouting of
boys, the barking of dogs, neighing and
kicking Of horses, the stentorlan tones Of e1-
cited and perspiring officers, and noise, dust
and confusion generally, it was demonstra-
ted that "a well regulated militia, composed
of the body Of the people, is the proper, ration
al and safe defence of free State 1t is
not the design Of this article to throw ridicule
upon the Militia system, though there is
good deal in it to excite our disabilities in
good humored way. Nobody can see Mill
tia company deploy into line, Tor out of line
and take up its desolating march over an old
field of standing cornstalks without grin of
tickled amusement. But no one who has
properly read the history Of this country,
and the records Of Liberty's struggles, will
fail to honor and do justice TO that sys-
tenn which makes every man the defender of
his own fireside, and relieves the government
of the tax of standing armies and hired MGR
caneries.- Rich Examiner.