The Lambertville press. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1858-1???, 1861-01-02

| vi Jne necessity OF tue existence OF
the military element, in some form, in
every governmental system, there can
be no question. The time has not
yet arrived when swords may be bea-
ten into ploughshares and spears into
pruning hooks, nor will it ever come
until the blessed spirit of Religion
shall pervade all classes and conditions
eff men. When obedience to law, and
the observance Of order shall have be-
come the governing principle of all
communities, then will the dawn of
the millenial glory of the Latter Day
have burst upon the earth, and ina
ton shall not lift up sword against ma
ton, neither shall they learn war any
more.'' But, our experience of the
past, and our knowledge of the pres
ent, alike compel us to the unwelcome
conviction that in the economy of 60
vernments, the most enlightened the
public tranquility is dependent for its
maintenance upon the uplifted sword.
Reason is not always superior to the
violence of passion and even in this
glorious land of ours, with its church
es and its sabhaths, its widely diffused
moral and intellectual cultivation, the
civil authority is but too frequently
compelled to encounter that most ter
rible of domestic enemies, the mob;
which has been well said to p )ssess the
single eye of Polyphemus with the
hundred hands of Bivanens; to be
blind in the exercise of It's formidable
might. And, when spurning all law
and its control, and seeks in the mad
ness of the hour - wreak its wild ven
geance when the civil arm is paral-
ized, or too feeble to avail, what re-
source has the State !? what can remain
for the restoration of order bat the
judicious application of the bayonet.
The mere knowledge of the exist
ence Of an efficient military force suffi-
cient for every emergency, is, Of itself,
one-of the very strongest guarantees
of the public tranquility. OF what
avail would be your constabulary force,
or even the power Of the country
Eif the evil disposed we're assured that
there were no bullets to support the
ministers Of the law That little
slip Of paper, which your magistrate
delivers to yonr cons table, is indebted
more than we are apt to think, for its
potency to the knowledge on the part
of the offender that behind the un-
armed and perhaps feeble officer there
stands an overwhelming power of arms
ready at the command of the law to
uphold the majesty of tile State, if
need be, with blood
| In free government the civil power
is paramount, and standing armies are
admittedly inimical, if not destructive
Ito free institutions Whittier, then,
but to her citizers shall the State turn
for her protection, in the day of her
necessity, whether she be threatened
with anarchy, or menaced with the
devastations Of a foreign foe /? How
ever numerous their multitudes, how
ever great their strength, however IN.
erring their weapons, however complete
their pannoply, from them she has no
thing to fear they are the State
Their armor is her armor, their power
is her power. In their persons she
goes forth to assert her supremacy, or
avenge her wrongs
The citizen soldier who turns from
his workshop to grasp the sword for
the protection of liberty, or the as
sertion of the law, is q patriot Of the
highest rank He who, bred 10 the
security of peace, and unused to camp,
impelled by his country's peril "stif-
fens his sinews," >and dares the unfa.
miliar danger of warfare, deserves, as
he receives, lofty place of honorable
consideration among men. It was so
in the days Of old when Cincinnatus
left his plough in the furrow to WELD
the sword for Rome 1t was so when
our greater Washington. abandoned
his peaceful afoeations to disenthral
the nation So it is to-day with the.
great Italian patriot, the thunderbolt
of liberty,>who left his little farm to
strike down the tyrants who oppressed
the classic land of his birth. And
ST. Wilt ever be.
The citizen who in time of peace
fts himself to be the soldier of the
State. against the hour of her adyer-
sity, emulates those high examples.
He partakes of their lofty spirit, and
shares their patriotism Though he
may follow them afar off, and not with
equal step, he follows them neve rthe-
less. The occasion for his service on
the battlefield may never arise, but he
has the proud consciousness that he is
ever resting on his arms, ready to do
soldiers duty for the state. 1t is
upon such, and such alone the
people instructed in arms, that by the
theory ofour government reliance is
placed for the exigencies of internal
and external warfare
If such be the part to be sustained
by our citizen soldiery, how solicitous
ought we to be for the welfare Of a
service charged with the weighty duty
of the public defence.
Fortunately for US, no nation fur
nishes better or more abundant mate
rial for that service than ours. Tho
seemingly welded to traffic, and the
arts of peace, it nevert heless possesses
war-like spirit and martial ardor
to which no other nation can justly
lay claim What nation except this
can show whole armies of instructed
militia, uniformed, and in many instan-
ces armed at their own expence-
unlu nta rilu nrranizad and serving