The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1877-10-04
GENERAL MCCLELLAN ON
THE ARMY

GENERAL M'CLELLAN ON
THE ARMY "a
In the October number OF Harper's
Magazine General Mcclellan has an
article on "The Regular Army Of the
United States" which IL o valuable
and interesting contribution to the dis
cussIon, born Of the late strike, rs to
whether or no there 10 OCCASION for
materially strengthening the military
General Mcclellan In empbatically
In favor OF an increase. giving 1t - his
opinion that the permanent peace
este biIsh ment or tile country ought to
consist Of not less tjaan fifty thousand
men. This, position he defends both
on the ground OF safety and economy,
and even those who viii dissent from
his conclusions must .recognixe' that
much OF what he says II sensible aud
forcible. He has no sympathy with
that theory OF the army which regards
IL as "a mere police f0rce'' against the
Indians and which looks to reliance
upon the militia and volunteers In the
event OF serious war. And he Is also
opposed TO those who hold that the
regular army II 10 be considered sim
ply as the nucleus around which the
militia and volunteers are to rally
when war breaks out. In answer to
the argument, 90 often advanced, that
even a small standing army IL danger
Gus to the liberties Of the country, he
replies that while the student Of his
tory can produce instances In which
standing armies have worked such an
injury, yet II "is equally true that quite
as many examples can be cited In
which they have saved liberty and
national lifeas WE'LL" BY way of fur
Their answer to this argument, 80 far a.
our country is concerned, he main
tains that scattered as our army must
be in time Of peace, 1t could not, even
If it possessed the disposition and many
times Its present strength, endanger
the liberties of o nation counting more
than 1900, 900 of male citizens, so long
as we prize these liberties and consider
them worth maintaining" fs1.oi
Dismissing the question of the dam
ger of the army to our liberties, as not
being factor in the problem under
consideration, the General next attacks
the economical argument in favor Of q
small peace establishment. And'this
part Of his paper Is especially worthy
of the attention of the writer's -pOliti-
cal brethren, who are fond of quoting
Mcclellan as the military authority
par excellence of the United States.
Starting out with the proposition that
the most expensive wars are those en-
tered upon without due preparation,
and with raw and undisciplined troops,
he ends with the assertion, paradox
cal on its face, that an army of some
thing over so 900 men will cost less In
dollars and cents, in the long run, than
the present small military force. In
support of this position, he refers to
the War of 1912. He believes that II
the United States had then possessed
q standing army of respectable proper
tions, England would have let US
alone. AS 1t was, John Bull thought
our country was comparatively de-
fenceless, 80 that he might recover, by
attacking us, what he had lost in the
Revolution. He also refers, with the
same intent, to the war with the Flor
ida Indians, which dragged Its slow
length for several years, and at large
co {, because, the General holds, we
had not troops enough to bring 1t to q
speedy termination. And 30, again,
II the strength of the army had enabled
lack Taylor to move to the Rio Grande
with 10 600 men, the war with Mexico,
In the Generals opinion, would have
been avoided. But the most instruc-
tive case of all, in support Of his argu-
ment, Mcclellan thinks, Is that fur
nished by our civil war. He does
not doubt that ''15, 900 regulars on the
field of the first Manassas, would have
insured the complete route Vt the raw
Confederates, and, In all probability,
put an end to the war"
The remainder Of the paper is devot-
ed to combating the idea that the
militia and volunteers would, from the
very beginning Of war, be able to
meet successfully any enemy, in what
ever force, who might attack US, as
well rs to undertake any offensive
operations that might be necessary.
He insists that military history clearly
| teaches The paramount necessity 0for
ganization and instruction OF troops
"if an army Is necessary at All II
should, like any other necessary thing
be made In every respect efficient, and
the, question Of economy enters the
problem as entirely subordinate to that
Of the necessary efficiency. In mote
| to his paper General Mcclellan men
tons one singular and suggestive fac
that in time of what we call pro
found peace" the life insurance com
panies will not insure American army
Officers as low as they insure British
officers in time of war" Why not
Because, as one Of the prominent In
suranee companies explained, "whilt
the British keep up force proportion
ed to the work required, the Ameri
cans do not. There is no country II
/ Europe that would require the servic'
your army renders from less than five
fivnoo tho forcev