Weekly standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1858-1865, 1862-10-08

make Supreme.-hlchmOnG UlSDIEcH.
Congress appears to be entirely at sea on the sub
ject Of the exemption bill. We fail to discover in
all that has been said in the House to who should
be exempt from the operations of the CONSUMPTION
bill and who should not be, any intelligent and just
principle of discrimination, and there being no gen.
eral points of agreement in the debate, it has run
into all sorts of confusion and absurdity.
Now there is one plain and obvious principle to
be applied to this subject Of exemptions. which at
once discmbarraSses It. 1t is to regard these ex-
e,np:ions as furnishing reserves upon which the
Government may hereafter very well draw as the
positive necessities of its military service may de-
lnand. This view suggests at once the policy OF
large and liberal list Of exemptions as matter of
wise provision. The objects secured by liberal
exemption Jill will be not only to the execn-
ton of the CONSUMPTION law and to administer a
rigorous measure by wise Instruments it will create
large classes of military reserves it will enable the
Government to keep the size of its armies proper
tomato to the necessity that calls them into the
field in will economist the military resources Of the
country and avoid the dangerous experiment Of cx-
hausting those resources by single act ofegslaton.
\ liberal exemption bill follows as the proper and
logical consequence Of the enlargement Of the
scription law. The government wants a considera-
bic addition to its armies, but it certainly does not
want the vast numbers which CONSUMPTION law
extended to the extreme limits of military age, and
imperecty qualified by exemptions would furnish.
The country could not support such an army; it
could put clothes on the backs of the soldiers
and bread in their mouths. much less equip them.
The extension Of the conscriptiOn law qualified by
liberal and provdent system OF exemptions will
bring into the field all the forces We want for the
present. and leave margin for economy for the
future If however, it is not to be qualified and
Congress adhercs to narrow and ignorant rules the
government has rushed into desperate experiment
If all its citizens between the ages Of eighteen and
forty.five with the fewest exceptions, to DC
ordered to the field where is our army to be next
rcplcnished? The new crop of boys arriving at the
age of eighteen in each year. is in the proportion to
the levies made between eighteen and forty.tive
(making simple arithmetical calculation without
averageS) of one to twentyeght This will go but
very little way to repair the losses we may expect
the army that it is proposed to put in the field
this winter. Our government has the reputation Of
using up its armies very fast, and of economzing in
this matter somewhat the principle of the brutal
and ignorant saveproprieor that it is cheaper and
more convenient to wear out his old labourers and
get new ones, than to trouble himself about keeping
the first alive The large army that an unqualified
CONSUMPTION would put at one time in the field
would waste away from star, alton If nothing else
and might break down under the weight of its own
numbers The European press has already noticed
the marked tendency of both parties in thus to
iiCfedse llier armies oe!onu tle productive cpacl-
ties of the country to support them In this mat
ter our Government has to study wise moderation !;
there is limit to competition in numbers with the
enemy 1t certainly could not venture upon more
rash and fearful experiment than that now proposed
by Congress-the occupation at one time of all the
military resources of the country, disregarding the
internal economy of the State not looking to the
exigencies Of the future, and hazardng the war on
single campaign.
,p1, hp tho of
who hvoured The enlargement Of the consumption
law, that this enlargement was to be qualified by
liberal exemption bill; and that these exemptions
were to be made on the principle of making mar
gin for future legislation as the military necessities
of the country developed themselves. 1t would
have been absurd to propose the depletion of the
country by single military draft. Additions to our
army were needed prompt and sufficient measures
were urged upon Congress, but was not necessary
for that body to go to the perncious extreme which
has been attempted in its exemption bill, of using
up at once all the military resources of the country
and destroying the most valuable interests of So
ciety, for the sake Of childish matching with the
North in numbers. The exemption bill has afford
ed rare chance in Congress for military demago-
gueisnI, and the favourite rhodomontade of every
man a soldier; but those persons who have been
fourishing this sentiment may find when it is put
into practice that they have been assisting in'weak-
enng their country by false policy and kindling
popular indignation by acts of unnecessary and
wanton despotsm. Eraminer.
GLORIOUS FIGHrNG.-In the N. Y, HeraHs &C.
count of the battle of Wednesday the 17t the
age of our soldiers is acknowledged The praise is
extorted and therefore mingled with ISLANDERS
and hate
at is beyond all wonder how men such as the
rebel troops can fight as they do. That these
ragged and filthy wretches sick, hungry, and in all
ways miserable should prove such heroes in fight,
| is past explanation. Men never fought better
There was one repiment that stood IN haforo n.