Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1875-09-10
For the VERMONT FARMER.
Military Power. ... .

EDITOR ERM0NT FARMER In late
issue you allude to an opinion you say has
prevailed on this side Of the Atlantic that
England is one Of the greatest, if not the
greatest, Of the military powers Of Europe,
and you put it down as fact that, instead
of occupying that position she should be put
down as a second-class power. In every
country on the continent Of Europe armies
are recruited by CONSUMPTION (draft). In
Great Britain and Ireland the standing army
and navy is wholly supplied by volunteers.
The people Of Britain believe that large
armies 10 time of peace are dangerous to the
liberties Of the people. Whenever govern
ment has very large army It is very apt
to invent some pretext or other to keep said
army busy, and the people of Britain found
out many years ago that the true policy for
them to adopt was that Of neutrality, or in
other words, "Let US mind our own business,
keep up good navy to protect our coasts
and commerce in time OF need, keep our
army in an efficient condition and backed up
by good volunteer and militia system, and
make all needed reforms in our government,
ahd whenever any nation on earth wants to
fight bad enough to NEEDLE with us or our
colonies, go in and give them Waterloo
and a Trafalgar to boot; send them notice
to take up their collaterals aud beggar their
merchants; blockade their ports, put out
one or two thousand of our ocean steamships
converted into "Alabamas," and by the time
they have had ninety days of it We shall be
let alone for another fifty years"
Don't you think, Mr. Editor, that the DOmin.
ion of Canada, with say four million people
in it, its FORTS dock yards, etc, in tho hands of
Canadians, and hardly regular soldier on
its soil, is much better picture to look at
than Poland, colony of our national friend,
Russia, garrisoued at the present time by
more troops Of tho regular army of Prussia
than there are regular British troops in
every part of the British empire, and con.
tanning less people than the Dominion
Our own country 10 years ago was peaceable
and prosperous. A party sprung up calling
itself the party of freedom. All the object
which its leaders ever had in view was TO
create war debt, flood the country with
irredeemable paper money, charter national
banks, enact high tariffs aud sinking funds,
and while they were yelling "pity the mig
ger" they we're filling their pockets with the
earnings Of the working man. Every meas
ure they ever adopted was nothing but an
old, played-out Tory measure of Europe,
condemned by every liberal in Europe, long
ago. .
How do you like large armies Shall
we try to have the United States become
military nation Ia Germany and France,
so that our Grants and Buffers can furnish
the officers to wear the gold lace, and
draw good salaries for nix, while you and
| and the rest of the workingmen furnish the
privates to do the fighting and earn the
money to pay the bills
would say few words about "poor ould
ireland" if | had not taken up so much
space already, but | will merely suggest that
the time Tor Irish liberty to have its fling
will arrive. When the people of Ireland as
a class recognize the doctrine that the mi.
nority have the same rights as the majority,
and when they can be brought to use some
other methods of persuasion with man that
differs from them than a brickbat and a
shillaly until then "home rule" will always
iud its "Vinegar Hill" and "College green"
a Ia O'COnnell and his pennies, will DO a
myth. Vox PopUL.
st Johnsbury, August %.