The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1861-05-17
Our Army Omcers.

opportunity, Incorporated, pass away.
Our Army Omcers.
Every one is praising the energy and eff
cheney displayed by General Cameron in the
administration Of the War Department In
Mr.. Cameron our gallant old hero, Lieutenant
General Scott, the greatest Of living soldiers,
finds an able coadjutor; each understands
the other, and they cooperate admirably for the
public good.
The fact is Of great Importance, in view Of
the changes which are taking place in the
army 1t is notorious that the army is the
worst paid profe ssicn in this country and that in
no other army in the world is promotion go slow
and SO unsatisfactory as in ours. In the Brit
ish army and in the French army an able officer
is pretty sure to be major or colonel at the
age of forty. In our army we have legions of
Ieutenants-able men, good officers thorough
~ competent and faithful to the death-who
are forty and even fifty years of age. As to
pay, they are worse paid than Methodist
preachers. AS to promotion, there is none,
save the extremely Unsatisfactory and anoma-
lous method by brevet.
In piping peace times this injustice might
perhaps be tolerated, in view Of our national
antipathy to a standing army. But now that
we are forced to rely on eur army for national
existence and all that we prize and cherish,
it is surely time to think Of rewarding our gal
liant soldiers as literally as men in other pro-
LESSONS are rewarded, and Of treating them as
fairly as soldiers of other nations are treated.
The War Department has decided not to per-
NIT officers of the regular army to accept COM
liands in volunteer regiments. We shall not
discuss the wisdom of this decision. 1t is hard
on our army officers, who lose by it substan-
tial rank, and an opportunity of showing
what they can do, and it deprives our militia
of the services of able and experienced COM
manders. But there must have been good
reasons for the decision, or such sagacious
men as General Scott and General Cameron
would not have rendered it.
But we submit on behalf of the public veal
and in the interest of our noble army, that the
claims of honorable officers of long stand
ing be not overlooked in the increase to the
army which is now being made 1t will be
III
are admitted into the army over the heads of
officers Of many years experience. We would
not disparage the patriotic feryor which urges
our citizens to volunteer their services in de-
fence of the government but it is prepos-
ferrous to suppose that civilians, taken from pri-
vate life, are rs fit to command regiments
in the field as soldiers who have made war
their especial study for ten or twenty years.
If the $4,000 men to he added to the army are
to be rendered efficient in actual warfare, they
should be commanded by old soldiers
Again, if we want our army officers to dis
tinguish themselves, we must offer them the
proper prizes for distinction. In the French
and the British armies an officer who performs
a gallant exploit is certain of immediate honors,
promotion, ribbons, crosses and so forth. In
our army he is lucky if he is mentioned in the
dispatches, and there his glory ends. Take
few instances:-No officers in our army have
ever behaved more gallantly, under more try
ing circumstances, than the garrison Of Fort
Sumter. What has been their reward? Major
Anderson has been made Colonel. But Cap
tans Seymour and Doubleday have never been
noticed by the War Department. The people
called their merit, and both have been
offered the command of volunteer regiments
which, under the regulation above mentioned,
they have been compelled to decline. Captain
Seymour, who. in France or England, would
bave been instantly placed in command of
light battery and afforded chance of deveI-
oping the remarkable qualities he evinced at
Fort Sumter, has we believe, been ordered n
renewal of his dreary siege experiences at Fort
Pickens Captain Doubleday has Jared no bet
ter. Captain Lyon, who seems to have crushed
out secession at ST. Louis, with an energy aud
decision worthy Of General Jackson, will Of
course be obliged to decline the Brigadier Gene
ralship offered him by the Missouri volunteers
Captain Jones, who saved the arms at Harper's
Ferry and inflicted a fatal blow on rebellion in
Virginia, has never been rewarded. LicuIen-
ant Slemmer, one of the most gallant officers in
the service, whose fortitude and fidelity at Fort
Pickens place him in the same rank with the
heroes Of Sumter, has never been promoted
Experience would seem TO tench that the
way to get on in our army il 10 resign ones
commission. Captain McClelland, a very ex-
cellent soldier, Of the same class az the officers
we have mentioned, resigned some years ago
and became railroad manager. lie IL now a
Major General, and commands a military divi
sion.
The NONSENSE on Sr,rs SrrREu ,CY,-The
silly abstraction of State supremacy which
has done more than anything else to give
shape, consistency and strength to our South
err rebellion, appears sill to be entertained