The Morristown gazette. [volume] (Morristown, Tenn.) 1867-1920, 1875-02-17

: themselves, etc.
That is the right kind of talk. 1t
ID is refreshing. to hear or to read it.
g Indeed Mr.. Grant has for so lopg a
= time carried things with high hand.
: and done as he pleased, regardless
of bis oath--of the laws and the Con-
stitution, and of the rights, privi-
leges, and liberties of the people.
that many, l believe. had come to
, think that the Army belonged to him.
and he could do what he pleased
with it. t&C -
And these matters remind me to
give vent here to a fewremarks con
cerning the q. S. Military Academy
: at West Point. When it was first
proposed in Congress to establish
this institution, there were grave OBJ
jectiona interposed. 1t was strenu-
ously opposed and combatted by
some of the wisest statesmen and
patriots of our earlier Congress. For
many years afterwards, at intervals.
this opposition would manifest itself.
Do you not remember the terrible
assault made upon the military acad-
emy in Congress by the celebrated
Doctor Duncan, NJ. g. from Ohio,
somewhere between 1910 and IA, if !
/ mistake not? / am well aware Of
the arguments resorted to by its
friends AND admirers in its favor. l
turn from them as entirely fiimsey
and untenable. Experience has am
ply demonstrated the fact that we
need no such institution to furnish
us with able and brave, and skillful I
officers iu7times of war. Did we owe
anything to West Point in the
achievement of the independence of
our country? That little matter was
very well managed by Washington
and Lafayette and their immortal
comrades before the military acade-
my was ever thought of. Many of
our most ~successful,-4 effective and
illustrious generals were never in
side its walls, or. at least, were not
educated there. I need only men
ton such immortal names as those
of Washington. Greene, Marion,
Wayne, Putnam, Warren, Knox, |
Shelby, Scott. Andrew Jackson, {
Gaines, Twiggs. Zachery Taylor, 6
Sterling Price, Breckenridge, Chea- t
than and Forest. 1 might greatly '
extend the list, but it is unnecessary. {
No; the continuance of these hot
bed of liveried funkies, of trained Q
jack-daws and strutting peacocks, of y
up-start presumptuous military dan /
dies is one among the many worse /
than useless things fastened upon
this government that might we'll be /
eliminated and utterly abolished. c
The more 50, ffT. Editor, for the rea- r
son that it has become quite the /
fashion to teach military tactics and il
preserve military discipline in many e
of our schools and collegss through il
out the conntry. And then, again, b
times are cruelty hard, and the gov I
ernment awfully in debt. Therefore I,
do 1 say, down with West Point. s
We are plain republican people. J,
and do not want this hot bed of fun G
gus aristocracy. We are able to ed /
ucate our sons without sending them I
to this great national charity school, ?
where they are fed, educuated and 9
clothed at the public's expense, with 7
the implied understanding that they $
serve in the army after graduating D
but many of them declining to do so L
at pleasure. 1t is beautiful place,
with some handsome and spacious =
and would readily sell for 4
big price. as it is right on the Hud- s
son, and only fifty two miles above 3 3
the great city OF New York. There q
fore, soy. put it to the highest bid. I,
der. and let it go, and disband the P
of cadets. now there, and s:
let them 90 to other schools, at their $
parents expense. And while we gre.
in the tine of retrenching,. [ would
also advise the abolition of the War :.
and the Navy Departments, as ut =
.erly useless, unnecessary and ex- .,
5ensive appendages to our plain.sim =
pie. ana ought to be, economical sys- ).
,em of government. Seeing that '.our
noble President and his generals p
know not what to do with those de-
9artments, except to use them FOR F.
he oppression of the freemen Of the Al
why the sooner they arc
lboIished the better-the better both
IN the score of expense and that of De
he conservation OF American liberty.
Fhe militia of this country is. ever =
and reliable when needed. n
Is to Indians q few regiments of =
Fexas Rangers raised when neces-
AIRY, will be sufficient to keep them o
n check, and can do it much more 1
as has been demonstrate I
d, than the regular army, which, as q
sgeneral thing. is on duty in thR )
states where their presence is not :
ieeded.