Lexington weekly intelligencer. (Lexington, Mo.) 1871-1887, 1877-10-27

| IL
results. Surely. it did not expect to ar
rive at any Iog.cal deduction, by Means
OF such premises and method Of reason
ing
War is inevitable As the storm
Iash"S the mighty ocra. %. thus by iric-
ton and molecular action Of the fluid
particles, purifying il, so must nations uc-
ccpt the tidal wave of human affairs.
! The Summation of the Times criticism
on Gen. McClellan's artici. is simply an
assertion. (quotrd in the c"mmencemrnt
OF this articIrl, that. taken in It's literal
sense, !s.practIcAlly speaking, incorrect.
and when considered with all the ncrrs-
sarily attendant explanations and rcStric-
tore, ana does moi meet the point at
! issue for. does not Tn most exalted GOV
rrnment need something To sustain It's
| position? Representing. the people. tins
support Is Tor their honr amd wrltarc
II is a notorious fact that 4 few organ.
OF the press are adv ocalihg II reduction
OF the army, and IN their attempts at
rti'u-ion7 Of Wendell Phl!Ips-Gkc pol
| icy they speak OF the Limitation contained
III the constitution on this port an NJ.
! gument certainly not in their i:m or tor,
II the u-ce ul the army are d.iiuitciV
| limited. wherein does the dan9r lie
! Moreover, il the country was all .rmv,
and the present laws under which tex
lstS are not IIgli enough, 80 Tar a. tlry
! relate 10 the army. then the rrm"n
is at hand through provisions made ia
the constitution, with this and similar
/ objects IN view.
The Times zoe, on to say that with
an increased army OF forty thousand
men. the soldiers inactive in their camps,
would become troublesome their com
maudrrs dnmincer!n@ and ever ready Il
| provoke or prccIpitalc quarrr!s with
nrighborlng nations; surely, it wou,d
! have done well to examine some school
history and geography of its country,
and should have prutited by little prac-
teal arithmetic hci"r" attempting tins
/ Don QuNotic article Moreover. il cv-
ident!y knows nothing q: III" present
army organization. While we have 4
paper army OF 25,pup men, nj no point
could we concentrate l,r,Dou effective
men. Does 1t consider the vast amuAnt
Of territory we have unprotected; the
numerous forts and inrhur ,lrtrns,s the
sGa-rnast tOrtiiicaton>. that, from the
very fact OF "Ir existence Il 4 nation,
need to be garr!Suued aud kept IN IT,
pair! The Times know, fall we'll that
the present civilization OF the American
aud English subjects. near the Canadian
border. would obviate the necessity OF
large or numerous garri,ons in that
direction: hence, lis fear, must relate
entirely To MEXICO, whose northern
provinces. borderingo on the Rio Grande
are infested by lawle>> M"xiraue and
Indians. muricrer- and horse thieves
who have not only murdered our best
citizens. but time and time again com.
mitted bold. daring robheries. crossing
.,.-.... s.. -. !MpNIrin suI! INTO the United
States, an act which international law
acknowledges affords Just cause iol
war; Il national Insult. al act which
every honest citizen should indignant. '
resent through their Legitimate agent tol
tins purpose the army Yet 4 m"r'
handful ot men are there, barely able tc
maintain their position by remaining ur
the defensive The actual state OF al
fairs at this point can easily be ascrr
taiued by reading daily dI>pltchcs ant
letters from that section ut the country
An army of forty thousand men com
pared with that OF the smallest nation G.
Europe. after making al. ,iue allowance:
for local geographical position. is cN
trcmcly small; moreover, the advance
of various nations ui the world i'll every
direction require, Il spending III
crease in uur various natiOna! supports
il we wish to occupy Il pace among tlIC
first powers OF the world. Forty thou
sand men to-day is comparatively ;
smaller force than ten thousand beiur'
the MexIcan war.
An area OF about 3,Tuo.utn square
miles would give ninety-two Squar,
miles to each man, in case of an army O
forty thousand men, 4 considerable pur
ton of this territory being unsettled bN
the United States. but inhabited by hos
tile Indians. Owing to recent reductions
OF the army the troops were withdraw
from Alaska They had hardly tet be
. fore Sitka was plunderri by the Indian
| square miles would not be sufficient ter
riI"ry for the Times to defend and su
pcryise, ,supposiug il was speaking iron
"a personal standpoint and Judging b
It's past record in such matters, cSpcr
tally if this territory was occupied b.
one or two of Sitting Bulls followers
With a population of forty millions
there would be one soldier To- defend
thousand people. Supposimg that III
. army was supported alone by capitatio
or poll taxes. tho amount contributed b
each individual would be very small
were this expenditure coumtcrbalance
, hv the amount saved by an ctfrctiv
: army, which loss would otherwise aC
, crue, As history undcniabIy shows. cac
TAXPAYER would find himself the game
I each wear The functions nt the arm
: IN times OF peace are very numerous an
I Of great Importance Our national mi
2 itary academy has. perhaps, done NOR
e To Sustain our reputation abroad. Sricn
. liiirailv and otherwise. than all the res
e OF our colleges put together as the L,
= ports from time to time of various de-,
e cations from the royal engineers an
: army officers of England. Germany
e France, Russia and other foreign nation,
c show. Little credit is given officers
the / ) army for their extensive an
+ hard laburs in the /. :. coast survey.
t the survey Ui the lakes, western cNpl,
c ratious, surveys aud fine topographic;
= work the urpIl amount rt work i'm civ