Rutland weekly herald. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1859-1877, 1864-02-04
Five Hundred Thousand Men,

The rebels die hard, If they cannot
conquer, they are determined to inflict
all the misery and destruction they can.
Rule or ruin has ever been their motto,
and probably will be till their last
gasp. If they survive the struggle, we
envy them not the reflections they will
have "when this cruel war Is over"
We certainly believe they are laying in
store of food for refiection-and that
eventually they must reflect,
Meanwhile the country expects every
man to do his duty. Every true patriot
must be prepared to think act, contri-
butte, labor, fight, suffer, as If the cause
depended upon him solely AS Arnold
Winkelried
/" Made way for liberty, and died."
by throwing himself upon the Austrian
Phalanx, as Robert Morris bankrupted
his estate, and immortalized his name
in sustaining the cause of the revolution
so must patriots Row do--and so indeed
they have done.
With regard to the five hundred thou
sand men, just called for, we see that
those, who pretend to know, interpret it
as including the last call Of 300 1000, so
that 100000 only are required in ad-
dition. 1t is well, however, to be on the
safe side, and be prepared to raise not
only two hundred thousand, but even
ten hundred thousand more if they shall
be required. 1t win be sometime yet
before we shall have reached that "last
man" and that " last dollar" which
have been again and again resolved on.
Every man has his opinion with re-
gard to methods and means and we had
almost said that one mans opini"', ;s as
good as anothers. Certain = ;s that tho
opinions and propheoC-y C-yings of the most
elninen,s have eceen repeatedly at fault.
ether it is best to persist in express
fng opinions or remain silent and wise
like an owl, may admit of a question.
At the present moment we feel an ire
pressible" desire to show our opinion
on one or two practical points. The
Seventeenth Regiment has been now for
some time dragging its slow length
along, and we are ready to ask c1G bono
What is the use Of trying to raise the
regiment at all? Would 1t not be better
- Nandon that fayorite bantling of
sor,oh>du- to its fate, and neurish the
IA rosr;n,o+o -. - they attain their full
size and strength I h,- 10y
knowledges that hundred m,.- ~'''
into the old regiments is worth two or
three hundred in a regiment where otfi-
GERS and men are raw recruits They
neither know how to fight nor how to
take care of themselves in camp; but if
they were associated with veterans they
would speedily learn.
Again, we believe our State Senate
made great mistake in rejecting the
House Bill granting 500 bounty to volun-
teers. 1t would have saved an untold
amount of pulling and hauling and out
bidding among towns, and the men could
LII ali w ith lSSSs
than one half the actual expenditure.
But it is of no use to shed tears about
that now. If we could reach the ear of
Congress, we would suggest that in
stead of large bounties, they proceed at
once to double the monthly pay of pri-
Yates and non-commissioned officers
They would thus in part do away with
the strong temptation to enlist for the
sake of getting the bounty and then
running away They would at least
save some of the expense and trouble of
hunting up this pernicious class.
But whether the war is to be closed
in three months or three decades, what
ever may be the number ofmen, or the
method of raising them, we know that
Vermont at least will do her duty.