The Ebensburg Alleghanian. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1865-1871, 1868-11-12

change that was being effected in the or
dinary weapons deprived the majority of
men of the possibility of procuring them.
To suit these altered circumstances, new
system was organized and it was found
advisable TO train up bodies of men for
the sole purpose of war, and to separate
them as much as possible from those other
employments in which formerly all soldiers
were occasionally engaged. Thus it was
that there arose standing armies /; the first
of which were formed in the middle of the
fifteenth century, almost Immediately after
gunpowder was generally known. Thus,
too, there arose the custom of employing
mercenary troops, of which we find few
earlier instances, though the practice was
not fully established until the latter part
of the fourteenth century
''The Importance of this movement was
soon seen, by the change it effected in the
classification of European society The
regular troops being, from their discipline,
more serviceable against the enemy, and
also more Immediately under the control
of the government, it naturally followed
that, as their merits because understood.
the old militia should fall into disrepute.
then be neglected, and then sensibly Ii
minish At the same time, this diminu-
ton in the number ofundisciplined soldiers
deprived the country of part of It's war
like resources, and therefore made 1t nee
essary to pay more attention to the disci-
plined ones, and to confinc them more ex-
clusively to their military duties Thus
it was that a division was first broadly es-
tablished between the soldier and the CIV
ilian and there arose a separate military
profession, which consisting of Il compare
lively small number Of the total amount
Of citizens, left the remainder to settle In
some other pursuit. In this way, immense
bodies Of men were gradually weaned from
their old warlike habits, and being, as it
were, forced into civil life. their energies
became available for the general purpose
OF society and for the cultivation OF those
arts of peace which had formerly been
neglected The result was, that the Ell-
ropean nind instead of being, as hereto
fore, solely occupied either with war or
with theology, now struck out into mid
die path, and created those great branches
Of knowledge to which modern civilization
owes its origin IN each successive acn-
organization was more marked !; the utility
OF a division of labor became clearly re
cognized and as by this means knowledge
itself advanced the authority Of this mid
die or intellectual class correspondinglY
increased Each addition to its power
iessened the weight Of the other two clas-
ses. and checked those superstftioUs feel
ings and that love of war on which, in an
early state of society, all enthusiasm IS
concentrated. The evidence Of the growth
and diffusion of this intellectual principle
is SO full and decisive, that 1t would be
possible, by combining all the branches OF
knowledge, to trace nearly the whole OF
its consecutive steps. At present il is
enough to say, that, taking general view,
this third or intellectual class, first display
ed an independent, though still a vague
activity. in the fourteenth and fifteenth
centuries; that in the sixteenth century,
this activity assuming distinct form,
showed itself in religious outbreaks; that
in the seventeenth century, It's energy, be-
coming more practical, was turned against
the abuses of government, and caused
series of rebellions, from which hardly any
part of Europe escaped and finally, that
in the eighteenth and nineteenth centur-
les. it has extended its aim to every de
partment of public and private life, diffus-
ING education, teaching legislators, con-
trolling kings, and above all, settling on
sure foundation that supremacy OF pubic
opinion, to which not only constitutional
princes, but even the most despotic sover-
eigns. arc now rendered strictly amenable."
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