Daily Nashville patriot. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1860-1862, 1861-04-14

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
HARRISBURG, April 9, 1861.
10 The Senate and House of Representatives. of |

EXECUTIVE CHAMBER,
HARRISBURG, April 9, 1861.
10 The Senate and House of Representatives. Of the
Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania;
Gentlemen: As the period fixed for the adj
journment of the Legislature is rapidly ap.
preaching, / feel constrained by sense OF
duty to call your attention to the condition
of the military organization OF the State. 1t
is scarcely necessary to say more than that
the militia system of the State. during long
period distinguished by the pursuits of peace
full industry exclusively, has become wholly
inefficient. and the interference of the Legis-
Iature is required to remove its defects. and
TO render it useful and available to the pub
lie service.
Many of our volunteer companies do not
possess the number of men required by our
military law, and steps should be forthwith
taken to supply these DEFICIENCIES. There are
numerous companies, too, that are without
the necessary arms, and of the arms that are
distributed, but few are provided with the
modern appliances to render them service
able.
/ recommend, therefore, that the Legisla-
ture make immediate provisions for the re-
moval of these capital defects; that arms be
procured and distributed TO those of our citi-
zens who may enter into the military service
of the State, and that steps be taken to
change the guns already distributed. by the
adoption of such well known and tried i'm
provements as will render them effective in
the event of their employment in actual ser
vice.
In this connection, recommend the es-
Enlistment of a Military Bureau at the Cap
ital, and that the militia laws of the Com
monwealth be so modified and amended as
to impart to the military organization of the
State the vitality and energy essential to its
practical value and usefulness.
Precautions such as 1 have suggested are
wise and proper at all times in q government
like ours. But especial and momentous con-
siderations, arising from the condition of
public affairs outside the limits, yet of meal
cuable consequence to the people and de-
handing the gravest attention of the Legis-
lature of Pennsylvania, invest the subject to
which your attention is invited by their
communication with extraordinary interest
and importance. -
We cannot be insensible to the fact that
serious jealoasies and divisions distract the
public mind, and that in portions of this
Union the peace of the country, if not the
safety OF the government itself is endan-
gered.
Military organizations of formidable char
acter, which seem not to be demanded by
any existing public exigeno- has been form
ed in certain of the States. On whatever
pretexts these extroradI nary military prepar-
ations may have been made, no purpose that
may contemplate resistance to the enforce
ment of the laws will meet sympathy or en-
enlargement from the people of this Com
monwealth.
Pennsylvania yields to no State in her res
pect for and her willingness to protect, by all
needful guarantees, the constitutional rights
and constitutional independence of her sister
States. nor in fidelity to that constitutional
union, whose unexampled benefits have been
showered alike upon herself and them.
The most exalted public policy and the
clearest obligations of true patriotism, there
fore, admonish US, in the existing deplorable
and dangerous crisis of affairs, that our mill
tia system should receive from the Legisla-
ture that prompt attention which public ext
gencies, either of the State or the nation
may appear to demand, and which may seem
in your wisdom best adapted to preserve and
secure to the people of Pennsylvania and the
Union. the blessing of peace and the integri-
ty and stability OF our unriyalled Constitu-
tiOnal government.
The government of this great State was es-
tablished by its illustrious founder Sin deeds
of peace" Our people have been trained and
in those arts which lead to the
promotion of their own moral and physical
Development and progress, and with the
highest regard for the rights of others, have
always cultivated fraternal relations with the
people of all the States devoted to the Con-
stitution and the Union, and always recog-
nizing the spirit of concession and compro-
mise that underlies the foundation of the
Government.
Pennsylvania offers no counsel and takes
no action in the nature of menace. Her
desire is for peace. and her object the preser-
walton of the personal and political rights of
citizens, of the true sovereignty of States,
and the supremacy Of law and order.
Animated by these sentiments and indulg-
ing an earnest hope OF the speedy restoration
Of those harmonious and friendly relations
between the various members of this confed-
eracy which have brought our beloved coun
try to condition of uneqnalled power and
1 commit the grave subject of this CON-
nunication to your deliberation.
(Signed) A. G. CURTIN.