Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-01-17
OUR STANDING ARMY
Major General 0. O. Howard
lmparts Some Decidedly
Interesting
IDEAS TO YOUNG CITIZENS,
The Imperative Necessity of Proper
Self-PreservatiOn.
WITHOUT SOME SORT OF A FORCE
Society Soon Becomes Prey to Criminal
COnspiracies.
TO YOUNG CITIZENS,
WITHOUT SOME SORT OF A FORCE
Society Soon Becomes Prey to Criminal
COnspiracies.
NOT A DISGRACE TO BE A SOLDIER


The ethics of Rev. DIR. Wayland, of the
Brown University, r. l., as put forth in
his Moral Science" became, before the
Rebellion, the accepted standard through
out New England. His proverbs were used,
omitting here and there chapter, as Bible
truth, even at the Military Academy His
teachings in the chapters omitted at West
Point were against war and any prepara-
tions for war. Charles Sumner when a
young man composed his great Grafton on
1.-THE Grandeur of Nations" 1t was a
superb array of sentiments adverse to armies
and the use of armies. And j hesitate not
to say that at that time there was sentiment
nearly universal against war of any kind,
offensive or defensive; against any sort of
standing army and other forcible means of
public defense.
The prophecy that there would come a
time when the lion and the lamb would lie
down together, was taken as if a command;
and the prediction that nations would learn
war no more. state, like the millennium,
to be wished and prayed for, was imposed
upon man and society as sacred duty to be at
once performed. The ethical teaching, aris-
Ing from the Quaker Interpretation of our
Lords practical preeepts, necessarily created
deep-seated prejudice against our regular
navy and our standing army. There was
doubtless in earlier times, too, a strong feel
ing against the British regulars during both
of our wars with Great Britain. The large
proportion of the mercenaries that made up
the invading forces, by their cruel and care.
1aaa LII IL.
back of all that, there was the we'll recog-
nized fact in the time of George the Third,
that the British common soldier ranked so
low in the scale of humanity that it was a
disgrace for a civilian to associate with him.
This, it may be, has had a potent influence
upon all families whose ancestors came
hither from England.
The Sentiment of New England.
The immigrants from other nations also
brought equally strong prejudices against
the forces, often MADE up of conscripts, that
were welded against their fathers by auto
cratic power. AT anv rate, the instant
war was over and armed men could be dis
pensed with, our New England people have
hurried them out OF sight and the old argu-
ments have come back to beget again the
same old conditions of weakness and unpre-
paredness even for reasonable Govern
mental protection by land and by sea.
1t is the part OF wisdom to notice how
quickly Fort Sumter" affair, threatening
the life of the nation, reversed the faulty,
prejudiced common sentiment. The author
of the Grandeur of Nations" added gran
deur to his own nation by fostering the war
power; and urging the peoDle 10 sustain
the army which was mainly filed with those
who few months before were themselves
reckoned as non-combatants.
How the world rejoiced when General
Gordon, of England, stepped forth, liks
Joshua of old, to lead relieving forces and
save people from a cruel fate. And how
puerile the sentiment that withheld from
him the needed army. Doubtless our
Heavenly Father could have interposed
His strong hand. stayed the Mahdi with his
terrible hosts, and given to his servant, Cor
don, miraculous victory; but, in fact, He
did not vouchsate so to do. The DELAYS of a
sufficient force to reach Khartoum, beat
back the Mahdi, and rescue the noble Cor
don with his helpless dependents, have set
back the index on the dial-plate of civilizs-
tion at least quarter of a century. o, for
the proper preparationl The need how
plain. A wellappointed and well-com-
manded army, our God would, believe,
have blessed and helped in the time oi Cor
don's senseless exposure and barbarous
A Proper Public Sentiment.
Public sentiment, spreading from East to
West, which of course ought to be fostered
in the interest of peace, when it takes such
radical freaks against the army and the pub
lie defense as to bring discredit on the
soldiers uniform. carries with it a very de-
cided opposition to all military tendencies
in the education of youth. On reflection,
however, it is believed that, excepting few
extremists, the majority of our fellow citi-
zens recognize the right and imperative
necessity of proper self-preservation, even
to the extent of exercising governmental
power over the taking of human life
Certainly a genuine patriotism implies
strong, hard virtues, which are limited only
by lie itself, to hold in firm grasp all an
archy, whether it be secret, insidious, plot
ting and undermining, or already organized
and openly clutehing at the throat of the
Republic. Arbitration, pushed with all
needed patience and helped by exercising
all the spiritual and mental force of Chris
tian men. will now be given the forefront
against any and every impending threat of
war; but spiritual and moral force always
require an essential body dy-force to gain re-
'pect and to secure justice and honor.
Weak governments, except where they
Ire used for policy's sake, are even to-day
aughed at and ignored by the great powers
If Europe. To have no army Is akin to
having no policemen, no fire department, no
afes, no locked gates or doors. Without
ONE sort of an army, society becomes at
nee prey 10 o"dynamiters" and other crimi-
lal conspiracies. During the Rebellion the
ervice OF our regular army cannot well be
The Best School of Experience.
Once military people, in time of need, put
heir utmost confidence in a man because he
from the national military school.
hey trusted him with large commands;
nd such still believe the West Point pro-
ision OF leaders to be sufficient guarantee
Dr. any emergency that may arise. But the
ruth is that the army experience, after
raduating, was ever most important. The
Id army and frontier staff commands and
he duties were the postgraduate schools
hat fitted men for greater scope, while the
lexican and the constant Indian wars gave
hem the richest practical experience
The little army of to-day is in itself q
lost pregnant and active school; mean
yer and beyond the armies and arseDals,
ne torpedo and engineer school Of Wille.'s
'oint, the artillery teaching at Fort Mon
De, the cavalry at Fort Riley and the in
intry at Fort Leavenworth. At all the
osts and garrisons there is an extensive
urriculum Of theoretic and practical Mill
irv instruction that is fitting every intelli-
ent, patriotic officer and man TO handle
rmies. 1t is all this-the regular army in
s entirety-staf and line, brings bv its
oustant study and practice the art Of war
p to date; sssimilates all the new dis
oyAriea in han N ica To the