The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1865-10-23
The Melting Away OF Our Army
Grand Test OF Our Institutions.
iFrUm The Prouidence JOuI7taL.)

iFrUM TIE Prouidence JOlI7idL)
Some men during the war protested
to be fearful lest amer the return OF
peace we should be bnrdened with an
immense standing army, as the nations
of continental Europe are. We say
they professed to have such u fear, for
We do not believe that many Americans
We're so foolish as in reality to appre-
hend such II result of our military OK
perience, though for political purposes
some represented that the Republican
administration would permanentlylo load
the country with IL vnst permanent mill
tnry establishment, that the powers of
the States would be lost in the process
of Capitalization of the government,
and that thus the rights Of the States
and the liberties of the citizens would
bc swallowed upin the practical despot-
/ ism, which MIR. Lincoln and his advisers
! were aiming to establish. IT any were
deceived for moment by such foolish
assertions ns were made by SO many of
the copperheads, they must be rapidly
dtsmiSsing their fears, as they SEQ our
government disbanding its troops
by tons OF thousands and reduc-
lug the army to n Nero fraction OF
what IL was Il few months ago. Indeed
some are fearful that the work of re-
ductiOn is going on with greaterlrnpid-
ETY. than is compatible with the public
safety. But we muy trust the Judgment
of General Grant on thai, point. The
disbaIidthg Ofnll the cavalry cnst OF the
Mississippi and of nearly all the coloretl
regiments must bring the army down to
seventy Thousand, or, according to somo
estimates, to fifty thousand. It is to be
hoped that all except the regular troops
will soon he dislnisscd! The volunteer
troops feel that their work was ended
when Ice and Johnston surrendered
and arc anxious to no at homo. It Is
therefore very diflicul6to maintain the
highest discipline in the volunteer Tegi-
ments now, and rather serious troubles
have already resulted from this cause
in some places. General Grant and the
President and the War Department
show the strongest desire OrelieYe the
Treasury MS soon ms possible of the on
NrmOus expense required to keepG large
army on foot. We look in vain in their
action for any signs of that great mill
tary desP0tisIn, of which We used to hear
so much from the opponents of the nd
miniStration.
How beautiful the readiness with
which tho soldiers still continue to rs
turn to the orderly habits of peaceful
citizens. The most reckless of SHEER
mans bummers drops with his blue
suit his hNbit of ignoring the distiuc-
ton between "mine md thine" and.is
ms quiet as any man in his village.
An officer, who had the chief charge of
mastering out the troops in one Of tho
States, told us TINT while he had some
trouble in maintaining order among
the men who had on their soldiers
clothes, he heard of mono at all from
those very men, AFTER he once got rid
OF their uniforms. They thOn felt that
they were citizens, responsible like
their neighbOrs to public opinion for
their behavior. And so all over the
north tho army has melted away 81
quietly that no shock has been felt by
the discharge of over nine hundred
thousand soldiers. Tho fear that our
peace would BIO disturbed by riotous
no6s of soldiers, and tho fear that a
military despotism was to be the grand
result Of the war, have proved alike
untOunded.