, 1862-01-13
Tbe Ttibutte.


Regulars and Volunteers.
Washington Correspondents Of N. 7. Eve. Post.]
As tne war goes on, md as the volunteers
grow more and more familiar with tle details
Of the service and have fuller opportunities of |
observing men and things around them: it is I
obvious bat they regard with less and less
favor the officers Of the regular army. Sir !
months ago, happy Was the regiment that
could get a West Point man to command it |
The fact that a man had passed five years ofhis
to be sufficient proof Of his qualifications |
for almost any position in the army. The vol !
untcer officers, many Of them men Of great |
talents and natural capacity for command, and |
Of high social and political station, modestly |
submitted 10 the prctensions Of tic regulars, |
sumed superiority.
But, after serving with them for six or eight |
months with ample opportunities Of testing |
their merit, the more obsertant and capable |
rc.,slurs scnsibly abated- The following are
some OF the remarks on this subject which |
lri;c been made to me by candid and judicious |
nicD, in whose powers Of correct observations |
and recollection ! have much confidence.
They say that it does not follow because
necessarily man Of talent. To get through
the Academy only requires average intellt
gencc, industry and steadiness. The ab1est
men at West Point have generally entered the
Engineer and Typographical Corps, and those
two corps, the volunteers readily admit, are
composed Of officers Of decided ability, and Of
scientific attaluments Of the highest value to
the army. They also concede the general su-
periority in skill Of tile regular artillery
officers But here their concessions stop
and cavalry officers czeel neither IN
talent nor in knowledge the volunteer
officers Of the same ranks, and in
many cases, where personal comparisons are
made, the regulars are pronounced to be posi-
lively inferior. The volunteers claim TINT
better managed than the regulars. They say
! that the majority Of the regular officers have
! lost what knowledge they brought from West
! Point, because they hlyc Lad no opportunity
i 10 exercise it, having wasted their lives since
for the most part in dull service at s1endeIly
/! garrisoncd 1oris, or in petty warfare with the
Indians, so that few Of them hare ever seen a
; hundred soldiers together till this war broke
out. They accuse them, too, Of ignorance Of
| human nature and Of tho art of managing and
ii to them on tho barbarou5 frontier, surround
! cd only by suyages and by & few parties whom
they regarded and treated Us servants rather
than as soldiers. Even some Of the genera
officers recently appointed, on the strength OF
their West Point education arc said to he in
capable Of drilling their commands. One Of
them, who has been On the other side Of the
Potomac for six months, made, soon after hc
t assumed the command an attempt to drill biE
brigade, and having produced only confusion
/ By lis blundeEing orders, prudently rcinquish
ed the attempt, and has since eredltably con
fined himself to less ambitious performances
But the most serious charge against the reg
| ular officers, and one that unhappily eanno
be controyerted, is 1hat, with few honorable
exceptions, their hearts III this great struggl.
: are not entirely and cordially with the Gov
eminent. West Point seems to have been tol
| -ofc +hart,
Tt is hard to lind q regular officer who is no
full Of such prcjudices. The opinion is yert
common among them that the North brougA
on the war by unjust and unreasonable agita
ton against southern feelings and interests
that politically, on the slavery question, th
tirelF wrong, and that the North cal
/ at any time restore peace by talin!
| a proper position on this point, that is
! by conscnting to the extension Of s1aver,
! aud restoring the shareholders to their fornc
! domination IN our nation councils. They ad
nit that the South has done wrong in REBEL
ing, and that the rebellion must be put down
but its suppression must be effected withou
touching the sacred, the divine institution Q
, slavery, and, if possible, without hurting an
Of its defenders. Il the war can be 80 man
aged tlat 10 great damage shall be done t.
tile SHAREHOLDERS till 1854, 4 combination ma
then be formed to bring about pro-slaycr
peace, and reconstruction Of the Union on
Southern taels, By electrg TO the Fresldenc
Mcclellan or some other pr''-slayerJ General
TO whom the SHAREHOLDERS will not have til
violent antipathy they express towards Nj
Lincoln.
Such are the notions which the more INTEL
| gent volunteers ascribe to the regulars, wit
some exceptions. The volunteers, rank an
file, they ssY, arc full Of ardor and enterprise
T. and would 50 ahead, If allowed, and finish tl
. war in few months. But they arc held
check by tic unsympathizing regulars, VII
dread the triumph Of their own goyernmcn
and are secretly longing for some decent mod
+. Of restoring southern supremacy.
It is to be hoped that the Senate will loo
into this matter, and confirm no man WHO
: tainted with dis1oyal sentiments. The pre-
ii ! ent war can no morc be carried on succcssfu
II with such agencies than could the Revolt
tionary war, if our armies had been command
cd by men who believed that the Stamp a
0 and Tea tax were constitutional, that Gre
Britain had been foully abused by our poli'
5, clans, and that all the trouble had been cr
atcd by pcstilcnt agitators, ike Adams, Hi
cock, Jefferson, Franklin and Hamilton.
II OLIVER.