1. It is not sufficiently practical, nor properly adapted to the various duties an American citizen may be called upon to discharge. Those of our youth who are destined for a liberal education, as it is called, are usually put, at an early age, to the study of the Latin and Greek languages, combining therewith a very slight attention to their own language, the elements of arithmetic, &c.; and after having devoted several years in this way, they are prepared to become members of a college or university.Here they spend four years for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the higher branches of learning; after which, they receive their diplomat, and are supposed to be prepared to enter on the duties of active life. But, I would ask, is this actually the case? Are they prepared in the best possible manner to discharge correctly the duties of any station in which fortune or inclination may place them? Have they been instructed in the science of government generally, and more especially in the principles of our excellent Constitution, and thereby prepared to sit in the legislative councils of the nation? Has their attention been sufficiently directed to those great and important branches of national industry and sources of national wealth—agriculture, commerce, andmanufactures? Have they been taught to examine the policy of other nations, and the effect of that policy on the prosperity of their own country? Are they prepared to discharge the duties of civil or military engineers, or to endure fatigue, or to become the defenders of their country’s rights, and the avengers of her wrongs, either in the ranks or at the head of her armies? It appears to me not; and if not, then, agreeably to the standard established, their education is so far defective.2. Another defect in the present system, is, the entire neglect, in all our principal seminaries, of physical education, or the due cultivation and improvement of the physical powers of the students.The great importance and even absolute necessity of a regular and systematic course of exercise for the preservation of health, and confirming and rendering vigorous the constitution, I presume, must be evident to the most superficial observer. It is for want of this, that so many of our most promising youths lose their health by the time they are prepared to enter on the grand theatre of active and useful life, and either prematurely die, or linger out a comparatively useless and miserable existence. That the health of the closest applicant may be preserved, when he is subjected to a regular and systematic course of exercises, I know, from practical experience; and I have no hesitation in asserting, that in nine cases out of ten, it is just as easy for a youth, however hard he may study, to attain the age of manhood, with a firm and vigorous constitution, capable of enduring exposure, hunger and fatigue, as it is to grow up puny and debilitated, incapable of either bodily or mental exertion.3. A third defect in our system is, the amount of idle time allowed the students; that portion of the day during which they are actually engaged in study and recitations, under the eye of their instructors, comprises but a small portion of the whole; during the remainder, those that are disposed to study, will improve at their rooms, while those who are not so disposed, will not only not improve, but will be very likely to engage in practices injurious to their constitutions and destructive to their morals. If this vacant time could be employed in duties and exercises, which, while they amuse and improve the mind, would at the same time invigorate the body and confirm the constitution, it would certainly be a great point gained. That this may be done, I shall attempt in the course of these observations, to show.4. A fourth defect is, the allowing to students, especially to those of the wealthier class, too much money, thereby inducing habits of dissipation and extravagance, highly injurious to themselves, and also to the seminaries of which they are members. I have no hesitation in asserting, that far the greater portion of the irregularities and disorderly proceedings amongst the students of our seminaries, may be traced to this fatal cause. Collect together at any seminary, a large number of youths, of the ages they generally are at our institutions, furnish them with money, and allow them a portion of idle time, and it may be viewed as a miracle, if a large portion of them do not become corrupt in morals, and instead of going forth into the world to become ornaments in society, they rather are prepared to become nuisances to the same. There is in this respect, an immense responsibility resting on parents and guardians, as well as on all others having the care and instruction of youth, of which it appears to me they are not sufficiently aware.When youths are sent to a seminary, it is presumed they are sent for the purpose of learning something that is useful, and not to acquire bad habits, or to spend money; they should consequently be furnished with every thing necessary for their comfort, convenience and improvement, but money should in no instance be put into their hands. So certainly as they have it, just so certainly will they spend it, and this will, in nine cases out of ten, be done in a manner seriously to injure them, without any corresponding advantage. It frequently draws them into vicious and dissolute company, and induces habits of immorality and vice, which ultimately prove their ruin. The over-weening indulgence of parents, has been the cause of the destruction of the morals and future usefulness of many a promising youth. They may eventually discover their error, but alas, it is often too late to correct it. Much better does that person discharge the duties of a real friend to the thoughtless, unwary youth, who withholds from him the means of indulging in dissipated and vicious courses.5. A fifth defect is the requiring all the students to pursue the same course of studies.All youth have not the same inclinations, nor the same capacities; one may possess a particular inclination and capacity for the study of the classics, but not for the mathematics and other branches of science; with another it may be the reverse. Now it will be in vain to attempt making a mathematician of the former, or a linguist of the latter. Consequently, all the time that is devoted in this manner, will be lost, or something worse than lost. Every youth, who has any capacity or inclination for the acquirement of knowledge, will have some favorite studies, in which he will be likely to excel. It is certainly then much better that he should be permitted to pursue those, than, that by being forced to attend to others for which he has an aversion, and in which he will never excel, or ever make common proficiency, he should finally acquire a dislike to all study. The celebrated Pascal, is a striking instance of the absurdity and folly of attempting to force a youth to attend to branches of study, for which he has an utter aversion, to the exclusion of those for which he may possess a particular attachment. Had the father of this eminent man persisted in his absurd and foolish course, France would never have seen him, what he subsequently became, one of her brightest ornaments.6. A sixth defect is the prescribing the length of time for completing, as it is termed, a course of education. By these means, the good scholar is placed nearly on a level with the sluggard, for whatever may be his exertions, he can gain nothing in respect to time, and the latter has, in consequence of this, less stimulus for exertion. If any thing will induce the indolent student to exert himself, it is the desire to prevent others getting ahead of him. It would be much better to allow each one to progress as rapidly as possible, with a thorough understanding of the subject.
1. It is not sufficiently practical, nor properly adapted to the various duties an American citizen may be called upon to discharge. Those of our youth who are destined for a liberal education, as it is called, are usually put, at an early age, to the study of the Latin and Greek languages, combining therewith a very slight attention to their own language, the elements of arithmetic, &c.; and after having devoted several years in this way, they are prepared to become members of a college or university.
Here they spend four years for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the higher branches of learning; after which, they receive their diplomat, and are supposed to be prepared to enter on the duties of active life. But, I would ask, is this actually the case? Are they prepared in the best possible manner to discharge correctly the duties of any station in which fortune or inclination may place them? Have they been instructed in the science of government generally, and more especially in the principles of our excellent Constitution, and thereby prepared to sit in the legislative councils of the nation? Has their attention been sufficiently directed to those great and important branches of national industry and sources of national wealth—agriculture, commerce, andmanufactures? Have they been taught to examine the policy of other nations, and the effect of that policy on the prosperity of their own country? Are they prepared to discharge the duties of civil or military engineers, or to endure fatigue, or to become the defenders of their country’s rights, and the avengers of her wrongs, either in the ranks or at the head of her armies? It appears to me not; and if not, then, agreeably to the standard established, their education is so far defective.
2. Another defect in the present system, is, the entire neglect, in all our principal seminaries, of physical education, or the due cultivation and improvement of the physical powers of the students.
The great importance and even absolute necessity of a regular and systematic course of exercise for the preservation of health, and confirming and rendering vigorous the constitution, I presume, must be evident to the most superficial observer. It is for want of this, that so many of our most promising youths lose their health by the time they are prepared to enter on the grand theatre of active and useful life, and either prematurely die, or linger out a comparatively useless and miserable existence. That the health of the closest applicant may be preserved, when he is subjected to a regular and systematic course of exercises, I know, from practical experience; and I have no hesitation in asserting, that in nine cases out of ten, it is just as easy for a youth, however hard he may study, to attain the age of manhood, with a firm and vigorous constitution, capable of enduring exposure, hunger and fatigue, as it is to grow up puny and debilitated, incapable of either bodily or mental exertion.
3. A third defect in our system is, the amount of idle time allowed the students; that portion of the day during which they are actually engaged in study and recitations, under the eye of their instructors, comprises but a small portion of the whole; during the remainder, those that are disposed to study, will improve at their rooms, while those who are not so disposed, will not only not improve, but will be very likely to engage in practices injurious to their constitutions and destructive to their morals. If this vacant time could be employed in duties and exercises, which, while they amuse and improve the mind, would at the same time invigorate the body and confirm the constitution, it would certainly be a great point gained. That this may be done, I shall attempt in the course of these observations, to show.
4. A fourth defect is, the allowing to students, especially to those of the wealthier class, too much money, thereby inducing habits of dissipation and extravagance, highly injurious to themselves, and also to the seminaries of which they are members. I have no hesitation in asserting, that far the greater portion of the irregularities and disorderly proceedings amongst the students of our seminaries, may be traced to this fatal cause. Collect together at any seminary, a large number of youths, of the ages they generally are at our institutions, furnish them with money, and allow them a portion of idle time, and it may be viewed as a miracle, if a large portion of them do not become corrupt in morals, and instead of going forth into the world to become ornaments in society, they rather are prepared to become nuisances to the same. There is in this respect, an immense responsibility resting on parents and guardians, as well as on all others having the care and instruction of youth, of which it appears to me they are not sufficiently aware.
When youths are sent to a seminary, it is presumed they are sent for the purpose of learning something that is useful, and not to acquire bad habits, or to spend money; they should consequently be furnished with every thing necessary for their comfort, convenience and improvement, but money should in no instance be put into their hands. So certainly as they have it, just so certainly will they spend it, and this will, in nine cases out of ten, be done in a manner seriously to injure them, without any corresponding advantage. It frequently draws them into vicious and dissolute company, and induces habits of immorality and vice, which ultimately prove their ruin. The over-weening indulgence of parents, has been the cause of the destruction of the morals and future usefulness of many a promising youth. They may eventually discover their error, but alas, it is often too late to correct it. Much better does that person discharge the duties of a real friend to the thoughtless, unwary youth, who withholds from him the means of indulging in dissipated and vicious courses.
5. A fifth defect is the requiring all the students to pursue the same course of studies.
All youth have not the same inclinations, nor the same capacities; one may possess a particular inclination and capacity for the study of the classics, but not for the mathematics and other branches of science; with another it may be the reverse. Now it will be in vain to attempt making a mathematician of the former, or a linguist of the latter. Consequently, all the time that is devoted in this manner, will be lost, or something worse than lost. Every youth, who has any capacity or inclination for the acquirement of knowledge, will have some favorite studies, in which he will be likely to excel. It is certainly then much better that he should be permitted to pursue those, than, that by being forced to attend to others for which he has an aversion, and in which he will never excel, or ever make common proficiency, he should finally acquire a dislike to all study. The celebrated Pascal, is a striking instance of the absurdity and folly of attempting to force a youth to attend to branches of study, for which he has an utter aversion, to the exclusion of those for which he may possess a particular attachment. Had the father of this eminent man persisted in his absurd and foolish course, France would never have seen him, what he subsequently became, one of her brightest ornaments.
6. A sixth defect is the prescribing the length of time for completing, as it is termed, a course of education. By these means, the good scholar is placed nearly on a level with the sluggard, for whatever may be his exertions, he can gain nothing in respect to time, and the latter has, in consequence of this, less stimulus for exertion. If any thing will induce the indolent student to exert himself, it is the desire to prevent others getting ahead of him. It would be much better to allow each one to progress as rapidly as possible, with a thorough understanding of the subject.
Having stated what appeared to him the most prominent defects in the academies and colleges as organized and conducted, he next proceeds to point out the remedies.
1. The organization and discipline should be strictly military.Under a military system, subordination and discipline are much more easily preserved than under any other. Whenever a youth can be impressed with the true principles and feelings of a soldier, he becomes, as a matter of course, subordinate, honorable, and manly. He disdains subterfuge and prevarication, and all that low cunning, which is but too prevalent. He acts not the part of the assassin, but if he have an enemy, he meets him openly and fairly. Others may boast that they have broken the laws and regulations of the institution of which they are, or have been members, and have escaped detection and punishment, by mean prevarication and falsehood. Not so the real soldier. If he have broken orders and regulations, he will openly acknowledge his error, and reform; but will not boast of having been insubordinate. Those principles, if imbibed and fixed in early youth, will continue to influence his conduct and actions during life; he will be equally observant of the laws of his country, as of the academic regulations under which he has lived; and will become the more estimable citizen in consequence thereof. I shall not pretend, however, that all who wear a military garb, or live, for a time, even under a correct system of military discipline, will be influenced in their conduct by the principles above stated; but if they are not, it only proves that they have previously imbibed erroneous principles, which have become too firmly fixed to be eradicated; or that nature has not formed them with minds capable of soaring above what is low and groveling.2. Military science and instruction should constitute a part of the course of education.The constitution of the United States has invested the military defense of the country in the great body of the people. By the wise provisions of this instrument, and of the laws made in pursuance thereof, every American citizen, from eighteen to forty-five years of age, unless specially exempted by law, is liableto be called upon for the discharge of military duty—he is emphatically a citizen soldier, and it appears to me perfectly proper that he should be equally prepared by education to discharge, correctly, his duties in either capacity. If we intend to avoid a standing army, (that bane of a republic, and engine of oppression in the hands of despots,) our militia must be patronized and improved, and military information must be disseminated amongst the great mass of the people; when deposited with them, it is in safe hands, and will never be exhibited in practice, except in opposition to the enemies of the country. I am well aware there are amongst us many worthy individuals, who deem the cultivation of military science a sort of heresy, flattering themselves, and endeavoring to induce others to believe, that the time has now arrived, or is very near, when wars are to cease, and universal harmony prevail amongst mankind. But, my fellow-citizens, be not deceived by the syren song of peace, peace, when, in reality, there is no peace, except in a due and constant preparation for war. If we turn our attention to Europe, what do we behold? A league of crowned despots, impiously called holy, wielding a tremendous military force of two millions of mercenaries! Ill-fated Naples, and more ill-fated Spain, have both felt the effects oftheir peaceabledispositions, and were it not for the wide-spreading Atlantic, which the God of nature in his infinite goodness has interposed between us, we also, ere this, should have had a like experience. The principles of liberty are equally obnoxious to them, whether found in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. If rendering mankind ignorant of the art of war, (as a science,) would prevent wars, then would I unite most cordially with those, usually termed peace-men, for the purpose of destroying every vestige of it. But such, I am confident, would not be the result. Wars amongst nations do not arise because they understand how to conduct them skillfully and on scientific principles; but are induced by the evil propensities and dispositions of mankind. To prevent the effect, the cause must be removed. We may render nations ignorant of the use of the musket and bayonet; we may carry them back, as respects the art of war, to a state of barbarism, or even of savageism, and still wars will exist. So long as mankind possess the dispositions which they now possess, and which they ever have possessed, so long they will fight. To prevent wars, then, the disposition must be changed; no remedy short of this, will be effectual. In proportion as nations are rude and unskilled in the art of war, will their military code be barbarous and unrelenting, their battles sanguinary, and their whole system of warfare, destructive. War, therefore, in such a case, becomes a far greater evil, than it does under an improved and refined system, where battles are won more by skill than by hard fighting, and the laws of war are proportionally ameliorated. What rational man, what friend of mankind, would be willing to exchange the present humane and refined system of warfare, for that practiced by an Attila, a Jenghis Khan, a Tamerlane, or a Mahomet, when hundreds of thousands fell in a single engagement, and when conquest and extermination were synonymous terms. On the principles of humanity, then, it appears to me that, so long as wars do exist, the military art should be improved and refined as much as possible; for, in proportion as this is done, battles will be less sanguinary and destructive, the whole system more humane, and war itself a far less evil. But independent of any connection with the profession of arms, or of any of the foregoing considerations, I consider a scientific knowledge of the military art, as constituting a very important part of the education of every individual engaged in the pursuit of useful knowledge, and this for many reasons; viz.:—First.It is of great use in the reading of history, both ancient and modern.A large portion of history is made up of accounts of military operations, descriptions of battles, sieges, &c. How, I would ask, is the reader to understand this part, if he be ignorant of the organization of armies, of the various systems of military tactics, of the science of fortification, and of the attack and defense of fortified places, both in ancient and modern times? Without such knowledge it is evident he derives, comparatively but little information from a large portion of what he reads.Second.It is of great importance in the writing of history. I presume it will not be denied, that in order to write well on any subject, it must be understood.How, then, can the historian give a correct and intelligible account of a campaign, battle, or siege, who is not only unacquainted with the principles on which military operations are conducted, but is also ignorant of the technical language necessary for communicating his ideas intelligibly on the subject? This is the principal reason why, as it appears to me, the ancient historians were so much superior to the modern. Many of their best historical writers were military men. Some of them accomplished commanders. The account of military operations by such writers as Xenophon, Thucydides, Polybius and Cæsar, are perfectly clear and intelligible, whereas when attempted by the great body of modern historians, the most we can learn is, that a fortress was besieged and taken, or that a battle was fought and a victory won, but are left in entire ignorance of the principles on which the operations were conducted, or of the reasons why the results were as they were.Third.It is essentially necessary for the legislator.The military defense of our country is doubtless one of the most important trusts which is vested by the constitution in the general government, and it is a well known fact, that more money is drawn from the people and disbursed in the military, than in any other department of the government. Now as all must be done under the sanction of the law, I would beg leave to inquire, whether it be not of the greatest importance, that those who are to make such laws should be in every respect well prepared to legislate understandingly on the subject? That there has been, and still is, a want of information on this subject amongst the great body of the members of Congress, I think will be perfectly evident to any one who is competent, and will take the trouble to examine our military legislation since the conclusion of the Revolutionary war. I feel little hesitation in asserting, that from want of this information, more than from any other cause, as much money has been uselessly expended in our military department alone, as would cancel a large portion of the national debt.Fourth.It is of great use to the traveler.Suppose a young man, with the best education he can obtain at any of our colleges or universities, were to visit Europe, where the military constitutes the first class of the community, and where the fortifications constitute the most important appendages to nearly all the principal cities, how much does he observe, which he does not understand? If he attempt a description of the cities, he finds himself embarrassed for want of a knowledge of fortification. If he attempt an investigation of the principles and organization of their institutions, or of their governments, he finds the military so interwoven with them all, that they can not be thoroughly understood without it. In fine, he will return with far less information, than with the aid of a military education he might have derived. As it respects the military exercises, I would observe, that were they of no other use than in preserving the health of students, and confirming in them a good figure and manliness of deportment, I should consider these were ample reasons for introducing them into our seminaries generally; they are better calculated than any others for counteracting the natural habits of students, and can always be attended to, at such times as would otherwise be spent in idleness or useless amusements. Having expressed my views thus fully on this subject, I will next proceed to state more specifically the other branches which I would propose to introduce into a complete course of education: and—1. The course of classical and scientific instruction should be as extensive and perfect as at our most approved institutions. The students should be earnestly enjoined and required to derive as much of useful information from the most approved authors, as their time and circumstances would permit.2. A due portion of time should be devoted to practical geometrical and other scientific operations in the field. The pupils should frequently be taken on pedestrian excursions into the country; be habituated to endure fatigue, to climb mountains, and to determine their altitudes by means of the barometer as well as by trigonometry. Those excursions, while they would learn them to walk, (which I estimate an important part of education,) and render them vigorous and healthy, would also prepare them for becoming men of practical science generally, and would further confer on them a correctcoup d’œilso essentiallynecessary for military and civil engineers, for surveyors, for travelers, &c., and which can never be acquired otherwise than by practice.3. Another portion of their time should be devoted to practical agricultural pursuits, gardening, &c.In a country like ours, which is emphatically agricultural, I presume it will not be doubted, that a practical scientific knowledge of agriculture would constitute an important appendage to the education of every American citizen. Indeed the most certain mode of improving the agriculture of the country will be to make it a branch of elementary education. By these means, it will not only be improved, but also a knowledge of their improvements generally disseminated amongst the great mass of the people.4. A further portion of time should be devoted to attending familiar explanatory lectures on the various branches of military science, on the principles and practice of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, on political economy, on the constitution of the United States, and those of the individual states, in which should be pointed out particularly the powers and duties of the generalgovernment,and the existing relations between that and the state governments, on the science of government generally. In fine, on all those branches of knowledge which are necessary to enable them to discharge, in the best possible manner, the duties they owe to themselves, to their fellow men, and to their country.5. To the institution should be attached a range of mechanics’ shops, where those who possess an aptitude and inclination might occasionally employ a leisure hour in learning the use of tools and acquiring a knowledge of some useful mechanic art.The division of time, each day, I would make as follows, viz.:—Eight hours to be devoted to study and recitation; eight hours allowed for sleep. Three hours for the regular meals, and such other necessary personal duties as the student may require. Two hours for the military and other exercises, fencing, &c. The remaining three hours to be devoted, in due proportion, to practical agricultural and scientific pursuits and duties, and in attending lectures on the various subjects before mentioned.Some of the most prominent advantages of the foregoing plan would, in my opinion, be the following; viz.:—1. The student would, in the time usually devoted to the acquirement of elementary education, (say six years) acquire, at least, as much, and I think I may venture to say more, of book knowledge, than he would under the present system.2. In addition to this, he would go into the world an accomplished soldier, a scientific and practical agriculturist, an expert mechanician, an intelligent merchant, a political economist, legislator and statesman. In fine, he could hardly be placed in any situation, the duties of which he would not be prepared to discharge with honor to himself and advantage to his fellow-citizens and his country.3. In addition to the foregoing, he would grow up with habits of industry, economy and morality, and, what is of little less importance, a firm and vigorous constitution; with a head to conceive and an arm to execute—he would emphatically possess a sound mind in a sound body.
1. The organization and discipline should be strictly military.
Under a military system, subordination and discipline are much more easily preserved than under any other. Whenever a youth can be impressed with the true principles and feelings of a soldier, he becomes, as a matter of course, subordinate, honorable, and manly. He disdains subterfuge and prevarication, and all that low cunning, which is but too prevalent. He acts not the part of the assassin, but if he have an enemy, he meets him openly and fairly. Others may boast that they have broken the laws and regulations of the institution of which they are, or have been members, and have escaped detection and punishment, by mean prevarication and falsehood. Not so the real soldier. If he have broken orders and regulations, he will openly acknowledge his error, and reform; but will not boast of having been insubordinate. Those principles, if imbibed and fixed in early youth, will continue to influence his conduct and actions during life; he will be equally observant of the laws of his country, as of the academic regulations under which he has lived; and will become the more estimable citizen in consequence thereof. I shall not pretend, however, that all who wear a military garb, or live, for a time, even under a correct system of military discipline, will be influenced in their conduct by the principles above stated; but if they are not, it only proves that they have previously imbibed erroneous principles, which have become too firmly fixed to be eradicated; or that nature has not formed them with minds capable of soaring above what is low and groveling.
2. Military science and instruction should constitute a part of the course of education.
The constitution of the United States has invested the military defense of the country in the great body of the people. By the wise provisions of this instrument, and of the laws made in pursuance thereof, every American citizen, from eighteen to forty-five years of age, unless specially exempted by law, is liableto be called upon for the discharge of military duty—he is emphatically a citizen soldier, and it appears to me perfectly proper that he should be equally prepared by education to discharge, correctly, his duties in either capacity. If we intend to avoid a standing army, (that bane of a republic, and engine of oppression in the hands of despots,) our militia must be patronized and improved, and military information must be disseminated amongst the great mass of the people; when deposited with them, it is in safe hands, and will never be exhibited in practice, except in opposition to the enemies of the country. I am well aware there are amongst us many worthy individuals, who deem the cultivation of military science a sort of heresy, flattering themselves, and endeavoring to induce others to believe, that the time has now arrived, or is very near, when wars are to cease, and universal harmony prevail amongst mankind. But, my fellow-citizens, be not deceived by the syren song of peace, peace, when, in reality, there is no peace, except in a due and constant preparation for war. If we turn our attention to Europe, what do we behold? A league of crowned despots, impiously called holy, wielding a tremendous military force of two millions of mercenaries! Ill-fated Naples, and more ill-fated Spain, have both felt the effects oftheir peaceabledispositions, and were it not for the wide-spreading Atlantic, which the God of nature in his infinite goodness has interposed between us, we also, ere this, should have had a like experience. The principles of liberty are equally obnoxious to them, whether found in Europe, Asia, Africa, or America. If rendering mankind ignorant of the art of war, (as a science,) would prevent wars, then would I unite most cordially with those, usually termed peace-men, for the purpose of destroying every vestige of it. But such, I am confident, would not be the result. Wars amongst nations do not arise because they understand how to conduct them skillfully and on scientific principles; but are induced by the evil propensities and dispositions of mankind. To prevent the effect, the cause must be removed. We may render nations ignorant of the use of the musket and bayonet; we may carry them back, as respects the art of war, to a state of barbarism, or even of savageism, and still wars will exist. So long as mankind possess the dispositions which they now possess, and which they ever have possessed, so long they will fight. To prevent wars, then, the disposition must be changed; no remedy short of this, will be effectual. In proportion as nations are rude and unskilled in the art of war, will their military code be barbarous and unrelenting, their battles sanguinary, and their whole system of warfare, destructive. War, therefore, in such a case, becomes a far greater evil, than it does under an improved and refined system, where battles are won more by skill than by hard fighting, and the laws of war are proportionally ameliorated. What rational man, what friend of mankind, would be willing to exchange the present humane and refined system of warfare, for that practiced by an Attila, a Jenghis Khan, a Tamerlane, or a Mahomet, when hundreds of thousands fell in a single engagement, and when conquest and extermination were synonymous terms. On the principles of humanity, then, it appears to me that, so long as wars do exist, the military art should be improved and refined as much as possible; for, in proportion as this is done, battles will be less sanguinary and destructive, the whole system more humane, and war itself a far less evil. But independent of any connection with the profession of arms, or of any of the foregoing considerations, I consider a scientific knowledge of the military art, as constituting a very important part of the education of every individual engaged in the pursuit of useful knowledge, and this for many reasons; viz.:—
First.It is of great use in the reading of history, both ancient and modern.
A large portion of history is made up of accounts of military operations, descriptions of battles, sieges, &c. How, I would ask, is the reader to understand this part, if he be ignorant of the organization of armies, of the various systems of military tactics, of the science of fortification, and of the attack and defense of fortified places, both in ancient and modern times? Without such knowledge it is evident he derives, comparatively but little information from a large portion of what he reads.
Second.It is of great importance in the writing of history. I presume it will not be denied, that in order to write well on any subject, it must be understood.How, then, can the historian give a correct and intelligible account of a campaign, battle, or siege, who is not only unacquainted with the principles on which military operations are conducted, but is also ignorant of the technical language necessary for communicating his ideas intelligibly on the subject? This is the principal reason why, as it appears to me, the ancient historians were so much superior to the modern. Many of their best historical writers were military men. Some of them accomplished commanders. The account of military operations by such writers as Xenophon, Thucydides, Polybius and Cæsar, are perfectly clear and intelligible, whereas when attempted by the great body of modern historians, the most we can learn is, that a fortress was besieged and taken, or that a battle was fought and a victory won, but are left in entire ignorance of the principles on which the operations were conducted, or of the reasons why the results were as they were.
Third.It is essentially necessary for the legislator.
The military defense of our country is doubtless one of the most important trusts which is vested by the constitution in the general government, and it is a well known fact, that more money is drawn from the people and disbursed in the military, than in any other department of the government. Now as all must be done under the sanction of the law, I would beg leave to inquire, whether it be not of the greatest importance, that those who are to make such laws should be in every respect well prepared to legislate understandingly on the subject? That there has been, and still is, a want of information on this subject amongst the great body of the members of Congress, I think will be perfectly evident to any one who is competent, and will take the trouble to examine our military legislation since the conclusion of the Revolutionary war. I feel little hesitation in asserting, that from want of this information, more than from any other cause, as much money has been uselessly expended in our military department alone, as would cancel a large portion of the national debt.
Fourth.It is of great use to the traveler.
Suppose a young man, with the best education he can obtain at any of our colleges or universities, were to visit Europe, where the military constitutes the first class of the community, and where the fortifications constitute the most important appendages to nearly all the principal cities, how much does he observe, which he does not understand? If he attempt a description of the cities, he finds himself embarrassed for want of a knowledge of fortification. If he attempt an investigation of the principles and organization of their institutions, or of their governments, he finds the military so interwoven with them all, that they can not be thoroughly understood without it. In fine, he will return with far less information, than with the aid of a military education he might have derived. As it respects the military exercises, I would observe, that were they of no other use than in preserving the health of students, and confirming in them a good figure and manliness of deportment, I should consider these were ample reasons for introducing them into our seminaries generally; they are better calculated than any others for counteracting the natural habits of students, and can always be attended to, at such times as would otherwise be spent in idleness or useless amusements. Having expressed my views thus fully on this subject, I will next proceed to state more specifically the other branches which I would propose to introduce into a complete course of education: and—
1. The course of classical and scientific instruction should be as extensive and perfect as at our most approved institutions. The students should be earnestly enjoined and required to derive as much of useful information from the most approved authors, as their time and circumstances would permit.
2. A due portion of time should be devoted to practical geometrical and other scientific operations in the field. The pupils should frequently be taken on pedestrian excursions into the country; be habituated to endure fatigue, to climb mountains, and to determine their altitudes by means of the barometer as well as by trigonometry. Those excursions, while they would learn them to walk, (which I estimate an important part of education,) and render them vigorous and healthy, would also prepare them for becoming men of practical science generally, and would further confer on them a correctcoup d’œilso essentiallynecessary for military and civil engineers, for surveyors, for travelers, &c., and which can never be acquired otherwise than by practice.
3. Another portion of their time should be devoted to practical agricultural pursuits, gardening, &c.
In a country like ours, which is emphatically agricultural, I presume it will not be doubted, that a practical scientific knowledge of agriculture would constitute an important appendage to the education of every American citizen. Indeed the most certain mode of improving the agriculture of the country will be to make it a branch of elementary education. By these means, it will not only be improved, but also a knowledge of their improvements generally disseminated amongst the great mass of the people.
4. A further portion of time should be devoted to attending familiar explanatory lectures on the various branches of military science, on the principles and practice of agriculture, commerce and manufactures, on political economy, on the constitution of the United States, and those of the individual states, in which should be pointed out particularly the powers and duties of the generalgovernment,and the existing relations between that and the state governments, on the science of government generally. In fine, on all those branches of knowledge which are necessary to enable them to discharge, in the best possible manner, the duties they owe to themselves, to their fellow men, and to their country.
5. To the institution should be attached a range of mechanics’ shops, where those who possess an aptitude and inclination might occasionally employ a leisure hour in learning the use of tools and acquiring a knowledge of some useful mechanic art.
The division of time, each day, I would make as follows, viz.:—
Eight hours to be devoted to study and recitation; eight hours allowed for sleep. Three hours for the regular meals, and such other necessary personal duties as the student may require. Two hours for the military and other exercises, fencing, &c. The remaining three hours to be devoted, in due proportion, to practical agricultural and scientific pursuits and duties, and in attending lectures on the various subjects before mentioned.
Some of the most prominent advantages of the foregoing plan would, in my opinion, be the following; viz.:—
1. The student would, in the time usually devoted to the acquirement of elementary education, (say six years) acquire, at least, as much, and I think I may venture to say more, of book knowledge, than he would under the present system.
2. In addition to this, he would go into the world an accomplished soldier, a scientific and practical agriculturist, an expert mechanician, an intelligent merchant, a political economist, legislator and statesman. In fine, he could hardly be placed in any situation, the duties of which he would not be prepared to discharge with honor to himself and advantage to his fellow-citizens and his country.
3. In addition to the foregoing, he would grow up with habits of industry, economy and morality, and, what is of little less importance, a firm and vigorous constitution; with a head to conceive and an arm to execute—he would emphatically possess a sound mind in a sound body.
After much correspondence Capt. Partridge decided to carry out his principles of education in an institution organized on his own plan and conducted by himself, with such assistance as he could command, in his native village of Norwich, Vermont. Here he opened, on the 4th of September, 1820, the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy, on which the pupils or their parents had their choice of studies, out of a course as extensive as that of any academy and college in New England combined—in whichmilitary training formed a prominent feature, and the mathematics, especially as applied to surveying and engineering, received special attention. During the four years and half of its continuance in Norwich the Academy was attended by 480 pupils, representing twenty-one out of the twenty-four states, and of these, and especially of such as continued on an average two years at the institution, a large proportion became distinguished in military, public, and business life—as large it is believed as the records of any other institution for the same period of time can show. Its success demonstrated beyond cavil, that military exercises and duties are not inconsistent with ardent devotion, and the highest attainments in literary and scientific studies.
In 1824, the citizens of Middletown, Connecticut, made a liberal subscription to secure the location there, of a college about to be established in that State, under Episcopal auspices. Failing in that object, by the location of the institution at Hartford, where it now exists under the name of Trinity College, they invited Capt. Partridge to remove his Academy to their city, and offered to erect and place at his disposal suitable buildings for his accommodation. This invitation and offer were accepted, and on the 1st of April, 1825, he closed his institution at Norwich, and on the 1st of September following, opened his new course of instruction at Middletown, with an attendance of two hundred and ninety-seven pupils in the first year. During the three years—up to September 1828, the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy at Middletown remained under his superintendence, there were nearly twelve hundred pupils representing every State and Territory of the United States, the British Provinces, Mexico, several of the South American States, and the West Indies. This attendance shows conclusively, that the military and scientific element, together with an optional course of study, and a term of residence limited by the ability of the pupil to complete the course, met a want not provided for in existing colleges. Of those who completed the full course of study begun at Norwich, as large a proportion, as the corresponding graduates of any American college, attained a high degree of usefulness and eminence in widely diversified fields of labor. Among its graduates are to be found the founders or professors of several State Military Institutes, many officers of the highest rank in the military service of the United States, several eminent civil engineers, superintendents, of railroads, members of Congress, lawyers, and men of practical efficiency and success in every line of business.
One of the characteristic features of Captain Partridge’s systemof instruction and discipline at Middletown, was the military marches and pedestrian excursions for scientific and recreating purposes conducted under his personal command, or in his company. Several of these excursions occupied three or four weeks, extending in one instance to Washington. The military marches amounted in the aggregate to over two thousand miles, and these and the variouspedestrianexcursions, included visits to nearly all points of military and historical interest in New England and New York. The immediate and controlling reasons which induced Capt. Partridge to leave Middletown, are not known to the writer of this memoir. He has however, understood it was owing partly to a desire for temporary relief from the cares and confinement of immediate superintendence, that he might start a similar institution in the neighborhood of New York, and partly from disgust at the refusal of the Legislature of Connecticut in 1828, to grant to the institution at Middletown, the usual privileges and powers of a college.
In 1833,1834, 1837, and 1839, Capt. Partridge was elected representative from the town of Norwich, to the Legislature of Vermont, and in that capacity labored to give efficiency to the military system of the State. In 1834, he secured for certain petitioners a charter for the Norwich University, in which the Trustees are required “to provide for a constant course of instruction in military science and civil engineering,” and are “prohibited from establishing any regulations of a sectarian character, either in religion or politics.” Of this corporation, consisting of twenty-five trustees, Capt. Partridge was a member, and in organizing the institution in 1825, he was elected president of the Faculty. He continued to instruct in his own department of military science and engineering, and administered the affairs of the university till 1844, when owing to some difficulties arising out of the use of the building, arms, and accourtrements, which were his private property, he resigned.
In 1838, he was influential in calling together a convention of military officers and persons interested in giving greater efficiency to the organization of the militia of the several states, to meet for consultation. This convention met at Norwich on the 4th of July; and continued to meet annually for many years, to discuss plans for the organization and discipline of the militia, for the dissemination of a knowledge of military science, for the defense of the coast, &c. Many reports of this body were drawn up by him, and the proceedings were forwarded to, and printed by order of the Congress of the United States.
In 1839, on the request of many influential citizens, he visitedPortsmouth, Virginia, to establish a Military School, which he did, and which was soon after recognized by the Legislature of the State as the Virginia Literary, Scientific, and Military Institute, and aided by an appropriation out of the Literary Fund. This Institute, with an Institute of a similar character at Lexington, in the western part of the State, has been greatly instrumental in diffusing widely in Virginia a knowledge and taste for military affairs. The success of this institution, and the personal influence of many of his own scholars at Norwich and Middletown, led to the establishment of similar schools in other southern states.
In May, 1842, Capt. Partridge accepted the position of Camp Instructor for a large body of officers and men of the Pennsylvania volunteer militia in encampment at Reading, Berks County. Each evening he delivered a lecture to officers assembled in the General’s marquee, and during the day exercised the troops in the manual of arms, and in company, regimental, and brigade movements in the field. On this, and many similar occasions, he demonstrated the correctness and practicability of his theory of national defense, so far as testing the qualifications of officers for command, and giving accuracy, rapidity, and steadiness of exercise and movements to troops, by assembling officers and men of the State Militia, once or twice in the year, in convenient numbers and places, under instructors properly qualified for the work. A few instructors, themselves trained in the best military institutions, and familiar with every improvement in military organization, equipment, and movement, and especially when clothed with the reputation of success in actual service, would soon bring the entire militia of the states into a uniform system, and give respectability and efficiency to this department of the public service. This result would be more speedily realized if a number of educational institutions similar to those which he had organized under many disadvantages and against many prejudices, could call out and cultivate military taste and accomplishments among a portion of the young men of each state.
In 1853, he opened at Brandywine Springs, near Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, another institution in which he fondly hoped his ideal of a National school of education would be realized—an institution in which physical training in connection with military exercises and movements, should accompany the acquisition of practical knowledge of the great principles of science that underlie all the arts of peace and war, and resorted to by students from every state of the American Union. His plan as developed in conversation with those directly interested, embraced his old ideas of scientific,and literary studies with systematic pedestrian excursions,21and marches in vacations to the great objects of natural, economical, and historical interest in different parts of the country. In this latter particular, he unconsciously applied the suggestion of Milton in his letter to Samuel Hartlib, that “the students of his Academy should go out in companies with prudent and staid guides to all quarters of the land, learning and observing all places of strength, and all commodities (facilities) of building and of soil, for towns and tillage, harbors and ports of trade,—even sometimes taking sea as far as to our navy to learn there also, what they can in the practical knowledge of sailing and sea-fight.” Arrangements were made for a class of ten or twelve of the most advanced and matured cadets to accompany him to Europe to study the strategy of the great battles of the world, and the armies, armories, and resources of the great nations of Europe—thus again realizing Milton’s plan of gratifying “the desire of the more hopeful youth” “to see other countries at three or four and twenty years of age, not to learn principles, but to enlarge experience and make wise observation.” But these hopes were darkened for a time by a great disaster, and soon extinguished in the sudden death of the great projector. In the autumn of 1853, the buildings at Brandywine Springs, were consumed by fire, and although arrangements were at once made to secure suitable accommodations at Bristol, Pennsylvania, and upwards of one hundred pupils enrolled their names to attend for a year at that place, still the great motive power of the enterprise was stricken down.
At the close of the year, 1853, Capt. Partridge returned to Norwich, where his family still resided, in apparently good health and the best spirits. A few days after he reached home, he was attacked by sharp and excruciating pains in his back, which were soon subdued by anodynes, but from the prostration and the cause, which proved on a post-mortem examination to be an aneurism near the base of the spine, and which had been exhausting his vitality for years—he never rallied, and on the 17th of January, 1854, he breathed his last—widely and deeply mourned by troops of friends, who loved and admired him as their teacher, or looked up to him as the best expounder of principles of military science and education, and of national defense.
Although living most of his life in the discharge of educational and public duties, under circumstances inconsistent with “a local habitation,” he had strong domestic tastes and attachments, and was a genial companion in his own room and home. In 1837, he married Miss Swazey, the daughter of a merchant in Claremont, New Hampshire, and to this happy union were born two children. The oldest boy, George, was educated by the father on his own system, and had displayed vigorous health, and strong partialities and attainments in mathematical studies and their applications; but he survived his father only a few months—“long desolate months they were to the widow and children ”—and the tenement of that bright intellect was laid by the side of that of his hardy and indefatigable father in the little village burying-ground. The other son Henry, as he grew up, showed a partiality for the profession of law, and was pursuing his studies in Warren, Penn., when the call of the President of the United States for volunteers, summoned him to the defense of the flag of the country. He enlisted for the war, and was promoted to a captaincy in a Pennsylvania regiment, which was attached to the army of the Potomac, whose varying fortunes he shared till, greatly weakened by exposure and disease, he was honorably discharged from the service. His superior officer in writing to his mother, says: “He is in every respect a model officer. How could he be otherwise? He has it all by right of inheritance, and I fully appreciate that you have made a very great contribution to the government and the country in sending him forth to fight the battles which have been forced upon us.”
NOTE.
Asan Appendix to our Memoir of Capt. Alden Partridge, we republish the following Memorial by him to the Congress of the United States, not because we approve the objects or the arguments of either document, but as part of the educational history of the country.
MEMORIAL OF ALDEN PARTRIDGE,Relating to the Military Academy at West Point, and praying that young men educated at other military schools may have an equal chance for admission to the army as those young men have who are educated at West Point. January 21, 1841. Referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.To the Honorable Congress of the United States:—The memorial of Alden Partridge, President of the Norwich University, at Norwich, State of Vermont, respectfully showeth:That your memorialist holds it to be a cardinal principle of our republican institutions, that stations of honor, trust, and emolument should be equally open to all our citizens, to which all have an equal right to aspire, and from which none can constitutionally be excluded by any law, rule, or regulation whatever. Your memorialist has, however, witnessed, with deep regret, a direct violation of this vital principle of our constitution, by the rules and regulations adopted for the organization and government of the Military Academy at West Point. The cadets of that institution, all of whom are educated at thepublicexpense, have, for many years,monopolizednearly, if not quite, all of the stations of honor, trust, and emolument, above that of a non-commissioned officer, in the military establishment of the United States, to the utter exclusion of those who are equally well qualified, equally meritorious, and who are educated at theirownexpense. But, in order to place this subject more clearly before your honorable body, your memorialist would call your attention to the law of the 29th of April, 1812, entitled, “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers.” By the provisions of this act, no candidate can be admitted into the Military Academy who is under fourteen, or over twenty-one, years of age. The effect of this provision is to exclude every young man in the United States who is above twenty-one years of age from the appointment of cadet, while the rules of the War department require that none except those educated at this academy can be commissioned in the army of the United States. The effect, then, of the law and regulation is to utterly exclude all the youth of our country, except such select few as the President may think proper to place in this “public charity school,” from the military service of their country, who are above twenty-one years of age, unless they will enter in the humble capacity ofprivatesornon-commissioned officers. And can such a system be in accordance with the principles of our constitution? Your memorialist believes not. Onthe contrary, he feels confident in the assertion that it is a most flagrant and palpable violation of them. The direct and certain effect of this institution is to extendExecutive patronage; for the President has the entire selection of thechosen two hundredandfiftywho are to be placed in the institution, and also to establish anaristocracyof the most dangerous kind, viz.: amilitaryaristocracy in the United States. What, your memorialist would ask, is an aristocracy? Is it not where any particular class in a State claims and exercises privileges of which the great body of the people are deprived? And do not the cadets at West Point enjoy such privileges? and if so, do they not constitute an aristocracy? Your memorialist believes that neither the fact nor the inference can be controverted. But your memorialist will go further, and aver that the regulations at West Point have not only constituted an aristocracy in the United States, but that this aristocracy has already become, in a great degree,hereditary. How many individuals, your memoralist would ask, who have held offices of honor, trust, or emolument, under the Government, for the last twenty-five years, have had their sons, brothers, nephews, or other relatives, educated at the public expense at West Point, to the entire exclusion of those who (to say the least,) were equally meritorious, and equally capable of rendering service to the republic? And how many of those thus educated have ever rendered any service whatever? A reference to the rolls of the institution will answer these inquiries. Your memorialist haspersonalknowledge of many instances. Your memorialist is well aware that it has been attempted, by the friends of this monstrous invasion of the rights of the people, to cast around it the mantle of Mr. Jefferson. Your memorialist is ready to grant that the institution was established during the early part of the first term of Mr. Jefferson’s administration; but denies that any inference can be drawn from that circumstance to sustain the present system. The institutionthenconsisted only of the corps of engineers, which was limited to sixteen officers and four cadets, without any of those exclusive privileges which have since been conferred upon it. On the 29th of April, 1812, (just previous to the declaration of war,) a law was, however, passed, entitled “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers;” by the provisions of which, the whole number of cadets, whether of infantry, artillery, or riflemen, was not to exceed two hundred and fifty; and the President to appoint a limited number of cadets, and conferring on him adiscretionarypower to attach them to the Military Academy, was evidently induced by the certainty of immediate war with Great Britain, and had a direct reference to awarestablishment. Your memorialist would respectfully call the attention of your honorable body particularly to the provisions of the law of 1812 just referred to; and, if he does not much mistake, it will satisfactorily appear that the President is notrequired, but simply authorized, to appoint a single cadet; and that it is left entirely discretionary with him, after they are appointed, to attach them to the Military Academy, or to attach them to their respective companies, agreeably to the provisions of other laws then in existence. And here your memorialist would observe that, in thepeace-establishment of the army previous to the late war, two cadets were allowed to each company of artillery, light infantry, and infantry, amounting, in the total, to alargernumber than was authorized by the law of 1812. But neither President Jefferson, nor President Madison considered that the law required of them to fill those vacancies so long as they considered their services were not required; and they consequentlydid not fill them. The largest number of cadets ever in service at the same time, previous to the late war, did not exceed forty, and seldom exceeded twenty-five. Do the necessities of the country require that any larger number should be retained in service now, than were deemed necessary by Presidents Jefferson and Madison during a time of peace? Your memorialist believes not. But it is urged, in favor of this academy, that it presents a most favorable opportunity for the education of meritorious young men who are poor, and, consequently, unable to educate themselves. Your memorialist, however, has yet to learn by whatconstitutionalauthority Congress is empowered to appropriate any portion of the public revenue for the support of anational charity schoolfor the education of the poor. Besides, if this power did exist, (which your memorialist presumes no reasonable person will contend does,)allthe poor in the United States have an equal right to the benefits to be derived from its exercise, and that, consequently, the institution at West Point is on quite too limited a plan for the accomplishment of the contemplated object. Either, then, the institution should be very much enlarged, or several others established in different parts of the United States, which would be far more convenient for the great body of the poor. If, however, the rolls of this institution for the last twenty years be examined, it will be found that many more of therichandinfluentialhave been educated there, than of thepoor. Poverty, however meritorious the subject of it may be, is but a sorry recommendation for admission to this aristocratic establishment.But it is further urged, that this institution isnecessaryfor the education of the officers of the army; and that, were it abolished, the candidates for commissions would not be properly qualified for the discharge of their duties as officers. Before your memorialist proceeds toexaminethe truth of this position, he would inquire, at what institution, and at whose expense, Generals Washington, Greene, Knox, Putnam, Lincoln, Sullivan, Morgan, Wayne, Sumter, Pickens, Marion, and all the other officers of the revolutionary army, by whose valor, skill, and patriotic exertions, these United States now constitute a free and independent nation, received their education? The answer is ready: at the ordinary institutions of the country, and at theirownexpense; just as everyAmerican citizenshould be educated. And have theprotegesof the West Point Academy, on whose education so many millions of dollars of the peoples’ money have been expended within the last twenty years, exhibited more skill, more valor, or more patriotism, than did the officers of the revolutionary army? Let the events of the Florida war, as compared with those of the Revolution, answer the question. The truth is, (and it can not be much longer concealed from the view of the people, by the reports ofboards of visitors,) that the whole system of education at West Point is well calculated to formmilitary pedantsandmilitary dandies, but will never formefficient soldiers. Much more important to them is their attention to thecutof thecoat, the placing of abutton, and thesnowy whiteness of gloves and pantaloons, than to thosephysicalandmoral qualitieswhich are absolutely necessary to the correct and efficient discharge of the active duties of the field.But your memorialist denies the truth of the position, that the West Point Academy is necessary for the education of young men for the army. There are other institutions where military science and instruction constitute a branch of education for the pupils. Of these institutions, however, your memorialist willparticularize but one—and that is the Norwich University, at Norwich, Vermont, over which he has the honor to preside. This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Vermont, in November, 1834, with full power to confer diplomas, &c. By the act of incorporation, military science is made a part of the education of all the pupils. They are consequently correctly and thoroughly instructed in the theoretical part of military science, and also in thepracticalduties of the soldier, and every one who graduates at this institution is well qualified to discharge the duties of a company officer (and even, if necessary, to command a battalion) in any corps of the army. In order further to prepare them to discharge the more hardy and active duties of the soldier, they occasionally perform military marches. In the month of July, 1840, they performed a march, under the personal command of your memorialist, to the celebratedmilitary postof Ticonderoga, carrying their arms, accoutrements, knapsacks, &c.; the whole length of which was one hundred and sixty-five miles. Of this distance, one hundred and forty miles was on foot, and twenty-five miles by steamboat. The march on foot was performed in a little more than five days, crossing the Green Mountain range twice, and the ground, with the heavens for covering, constituted their only resting-place at night. The weather, during the whole march, was hot; and they were enveloped in a cloud of dust, occasioned by the severe drought, nearly the whole distance. They all returned in excellent health and spirits. The youngest member of the corps was thirteen years of age. The other branches of literature and science are attended to as extensively, and the latter much more practically, than at any other institution in the United States; and the students are consequently equally well qualified to discharge their duties in thecabinetand in thefield. But notwithstanding the members of this institution are, to say the least, as well qualified for commissions of any grade, and in any corps of the army, as those of any other institution in the country, and have also obtained the necessary qualifications at their own expense, they are virtually excluded therefrom by thearbitraryandmonopolizingregulations (established without the least sanction of law,) of the Military Academy at West Point. In the month of September, 1840, a member of the Norwich University, the son of a highly respectable gentleman in the city of New York, well recommended, applied to the Secretary of War for a commission in the army, but was informed that there wereno vacancies, and that the cadets from West Point weremore than sufficient to fill all the vacancies. On the 21st of December, 1840, your memorialist wrote to the Secretary of War, recommending three young gentlemen, members of the Norwich University, for commissions in the army of the United States; and received an answer, dated War Department, December 29, 1840, from which the following is an extract: “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, recommending Messrs. Morris, Stevens, and Dorne, for appointments in the army; and I have here to inform you, in reply, that there being no vacancies at present, the application will be filed for consideration, when any occur,to which they can be appointed.” Now your memorialist feels confident that the records of the War Department will show that a large number of cadets at West Point are commissioned every year; and he presumes that such will continue to be the case, unless a radical change is effected. But when young gentlemen of equal respectability and attainments, who have not been of thefavored fewwhomExecutive favorhas admitted into this nursery of aristocracy, to be educatedat the expense of the honest working men of the country, become applicants, their claims are entirely set aside. Against thisunconstitutional,unequal, andmonopolizingpractice, your memorialist deems it his duty respectfully, but most decidedly, to protest; and to ask of your honorable body the establishment of some rule whereby the members of the Norwich University, at least, (to whom, in many respects, he stands in the relation of guardian,) may be restored to theirconstitutional rights; that when they become applicants for stations of honor, trust, or emolument, in the military service of their country, they shall stand on terms of equality with the cadets at West Point.Your memorialist deems it proper here to remark, that in October, 1840, he addressed a communication to the President of the United States, on this subject, requesting to be informed whether, in the opinion of the President, he possessed the power to remedy the grievance of which your memorialist complains; and, if so, whether such power would be exercised for that purpose. To this communication no answer has been received. Your memorialist, availing himself of the privileges granted to every American citizen, by the first amendment of the constitution of the United States, would beg leave to call the attention of your honorable body to some subjects, which he considers grievances of a high order, and respectfully but earnestly solicits that they may be redressed, viz:1st. Your memorialist considers the Military Academy at West Point a grievance. Under its present organization, it is unconstitutional, calculated to foster a military aristocracy in the country; calculated to depress the militia, (our only constitutional defense,) by engrossing all the patronage of government; and is entirely unnecessary, as military science can be attained at other institutions, from which the necessary officers for the army can be supplied without any tax on the people. Your memorialist, therefore, asks that this institution may be abolished, and that the money that is annually appropriated for its support may be applied to aid in disciplining the militia, and disseminating military information amongst the people, who are its constitutional and safe depositories.2nd. Your memorialist considers the Board of Visitors that annually assemble at West Point a grievance. This board never had anyexistence whatever in law, but was established by Executive usurpation; yet, to pay the expense of this illegal board, your memorialist believes that more than fifty thousand dollars has been drawn from the public treasury. Your memorialist earnestly solicits that this appropriation, the making of which is a direct sanction to Executiveusurpation, should be discontinued.3rd. Your memorialist considers the removal of the head-quarters of the corps of engineers from West Point to Washington a grievance, because it is a direct violation of the law of the 16th of March, 1802, establishing that corps. That law requires the commandant of engineers to reside at West Point, unless ordered, by the President of the United States, on duty at some other place in the line of his profession; and, when, at West Point, the law makes him superintendent of the Military Academy; and when he is absent, the next in rank (who is then present,) is made thelegalsuperintendent. The appointment, therefore, of any particular officer as permanent superintendent, is evidently illegal, as the law has clearly specified who the superintendent shall be.All of which is respectfully submitted,A. Partridge,President of Norwich University.January, 13, 1841.
MEMORIAL OF ALDEN PARTRIDGE,
Relating to the Military Academy at West Point, and praying that young men educated at other military schools may have an equal chance for admission to the army as those young men have who are educated at West Point. January 21, 1841. Referred to the Committee on Military Affairs.
To the Honorable Congress of the United States:—The memorial of Alden Partridge, President of the Norwich University, at Norwich, State of Vermont, respectfully showeth:
That your memorialist holds it to be a cardinal principle of our republican institutions, that stations of honor, trust, and emolument should be equally open to all our citizens, to which all have an equal right to aspire, and from which none can constitutionally be excluded by any law, rule, or regulation whatever. Your memorialist has, however, witnessed, with deep regret, a direct violation of this vital principle of our constitution, by the rules and regulations adopted for the organization and government of the Military Academy at West Point. The cadets of that institution, all of whom are educated at thepublicexpense, have, for many years,monopolizednearly, if not quite, all of the stations of honor, trust, and emolument, above that of a non-commissioned officer, in the military establishment of the United States, to the utter exclusion of those who are equally well qualified, equally meritorious, and who are educated at theirownexpense. But, in order to place this subject more clearly before your honorable body, your memorialist would call your attention to the law of the 29th of April, 1812, entitled, “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers.” By the provisions of this act, no candidate can be admitted into the Military Academy who is under fourteen, or over twenty-one, years of age. The effect of this provision is to exclude every young man in the United States who is above twenty-one years of age from the appointment of cadet, while the rules of the War department require that none except those educated at this academy can be commissioned in the army of the United States. The effect, then, of the law and regulation is to utterly exclude all the youth of our country, except such select few as the President may think proper to place in this “public charity school,” from the military service of their country, who are above twenty-one years of age, unless they will enter in the humble capacity ofprivatesornon-commissioned officers. And can such a system be in accordance with the principles of our constitution? Your memorialist believes not. Onthe contrary, he feels confident in the assertion that it is a most flagrant and palpable violation of them. The direct and certain effect of this institution is to extendExecutive patronage; for the President has the entire selection of thechosen two hundredandfiftywho are to be placed in the institution, and also to establish anaristocracyof the most dangerous kind, viz.: amilitaryaristocracy in the United States. What, your memorialist would ask, is an aristocracy? Is it not where any particular class in a State claims and exercises privileges of which the great body of the people are deprived? And do not the cadets at West Point enjoy such privileges? and if so, do they not constitute an aristocracy? Your memorialist believes that neither the fact nor the inference can be controverted. But your memorialist will go further, and aver that the regulations at West Point have not only constituted an aristocracy in the United States, but that this aristocracy has already become, in a great degree,hereditary. How many individuals, your memoralist would ask, who have held offices of honor, trust, or emolument, under the Government, for the last twenty-five years, have had their sons, brothers, nephews, or other relatives, educated at the public expense at West Point, to the entire exclusion of those who (to say the least,) were equally meritorious, and equally capable of rendering service to the republic? And how many of those thus educated have ever rendered any service whatever? A reference to the rolls of the institution will answer these inquiries. Your memorialist haspersonalknowledge of many instances. Your memorialist is well aware that it has been attempted, by the friends of this monstrous invasion of the rights of the people, to cast around it the mantle of Mr. Jefferson. Your memorialist is ready to grant that the institution was established during the early part of the first term of Mr. Jefferson’s administration; but denies that any inference can be drawn from that circumstance to sustain the present system. The institutionthenconsisted only of the corps of engineers, which was limited to sixteen officers and four cadets, without any of those exclusive privileges which have since been conferred upon it. On the 29th of April, 1812, (just previous to the declaration of war,) a law was, however, passed, entitled “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers;” by the provisions of which, the whole number of cadets, whether of infantry, artillery, or riflemen, was not to exceed two hundred and fifty; and the President to appoint a limited number of cadets, and conferring on him adiscretionarypower to attach them to the Military Academy, was evidently induced by the certainty of immediate war with Great Britain, and had a direct reference to awarestablishment. Your memorialist would respectfully call the attention of your honorable body particularly to the provisions of the law of 1812 just referred to; and, if he does not much mistake, it will satisfactorily appear that the President is notrequired, but simply authorized, to appoint a single cadet; and that it is left entirely discretionary with him, after they are appointed, to attach them to the Military Academy, or to attach them to their respective companies, agreeably to the provisions of other laws then in existence. And here your memorialist would observe that, in thepeace-establishment of the army previous to the late war, two cadets were allowed to each company of artillery, light infantry, and infantry, amounting, in the total, to alargernumber than was authorized by the law of 1812. But neither President Jefferson, nor President Madison considered that the law required of them to fill those vacancies so long as they considered their services were not required; and they consequentlydid not fill them. The largest number of cadets ever in service at the same time, previous to the late war, did not exceed forty, and seldom exceeded twenty-five. Do the necessities of the country require that any larger number should be retained in service now, than were deemed necessary by Presidents Jefferson and Madison during a time of peace? Your memorialist believes not. But it is urged, in favor of this academy, that it presents a most favorable opportunity for the education of meritorious young men who are poor, and, consequently, unable to educate themselves. Your memorialist, however, has yet to learn by whatconstitutionalauthority Congress is empowered to appropriate any portion of the public revenue for the support of anational charity schoolfor the education of the poor. Besides, if this power did exist, (which your memorialist presumes no reasonable person will contend does,)allthe poor in the United States have an equal right to the benefits to be derived from its exercise, and that, consequently, the institution at West Point is on quite too limited a plan for the accomplishment of the contemplated object. Either, then, the institution should be very much enlarged, or several others established in different parts of the United States, which would be far more convenient for the great body of the poor. If, however, the rolls of this institution for the last twenty years be examined, it will be found that many more of therichandinfluentialhave been educated there, than of thepoor. Poverty, however meritorious the subject of it may be, is but a sorry recommendation for admission to this aristocratic establishment.
But it is further urged, that this institution isnecessaryfor the education of the officers of the army; and that, were it abolished, the candidates for commissions would not be properly qualified for the discharge of their duties as officers. Before your memorialist proceeds toexaminethe truth of this position, he would inquire, at what institution, and at whose expense, Generals Washington, Greene, Knox, Putnam, Lincoln, Sullivan, Morgan, Wayne, Sumter, Pickens, Marion, and all the other officers of the revolutionary army, by whose valor, skill, and patriotic exertions, these United States now constitute a free and independent nation, received their education? The answer is ready: at the ordinary institutions of the country, and at theirownexpense; just as everyAmerican citizenshould be educated. And have theprotegesof the West Point Academy, on whose education so many millions of dollars of the peoples’ money have been expended within the last twenty years, exhibited more skill, more valor, or more patriotism, than did the officers of the revolutionary army? Let the events of the Florida war, as compared with those of the Revolution, answer the question. The truth is, (and it can not be much longer concealed from the view of the people, by the reports ofboards of visitors,) that the whole system of education at West Point is well calculated to formmilitary pedantsandmilitary dandies, but will never formefficient soldiers. Much more important to them is their attention to thecutof thecoat, the placing of abutton, and thesnowy whiteness of gloves and pantaloons, than to thosephysicalandmoral qualitieswhich are absolutely necessary to the correct and efficient discharge of the active duties of the field.
But your memorialist denies the truth of the position, that the West Point Academy is necessary for the education of young men for the army. There are other institutions where military science and instruction constitute a branch of education for the pupils. Of these institutions, however, your memorialist willparticularize but one—and that is the Norwich University, at Norwich, Vermont, over which he has the honor to preside. This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Vermont, in November, 1834, with full power to confer diplomas, &c. By the act of incorporation, military science is made a part of the education of all the pupils. They are consequently correctly and thoroughly instructed in the theoretical part of military science, and also in thepracticalduties of the soldier, and every one who graduates at this institution is well qualified to discharge the duties of a company officer (and even, if necessary, to command a battalion) in any corps of the army. In order further to prepare them to discharge the more hardy and active duties of the soldier, they occasionally perform military marches. In the month of July, 1840, they performed a march, under the personal command of your memorialist, to the celebratedmilitary postof Ticonderoga, carrying their arms, accoutrements, knapsacks, &c.; the whole length of which was one hundred and sixty-five miles. Of this distance, one hundred and forty miles was on foot, and twenty-five miles by steamboat. The march on foot was performed in a little more than five days, crossing the Green Mountain range twice, and the ground, with the heavens for covering, constituted their only resting-place at night. The weather, during the whole march, was hot; and they were enveloped in a cloud of dust, occasioned by the severe drought, nearly the whole distance. They all returned in excellent health and spirits. The youngest member of the corps was thirteen years of age. The other branches of literature and science are attended to as extensively, and the latter much more practically, than at any other institution in the United States; and the students are consequently equally well qualified to discharge their duties in thecabinetand in thefield. But notwithstanding the members of this institution are, to say the least, as well qualified for commissions of any grade, and in any corps of the army, as those of any other institution in the country, and have also obtained the necessary qualifications at their own expense, they are virtually excluded therefrom by thearbitraryandmonopolizingregulations (established without the least sanction of law,) of the Military Academy at West Point. In the month of September, 1840, a member of the Norwich University, the son of a highly respectable gentleman in the city of New York, well recommended, applied to the Secretary of War for a commission in the army, but was informed that there wereno vacancies, and that the cadets from West Point weremore than sufficient to fill all the vacancies. On the 21st of December, 1840, your memorialist wrote to the Secretary of War, recommending three young gentlemen, members of the Norwich University, for commissions in the army of the United States; and received an answer, dated War Department, December 29, 1840, from which the following is an extract: “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, recommending Messrs. Morris, Stevens, and Dorne, for appointments in the army; and I have here to inform you, in reply, that there being no vacancies at present, the application will be filed for consideration, when any occur,to which they can be appointed.” Now your memorialist feels confident that the records of the War Department will show that a large number of cadets at West Point are commissioned every year; and he presumes that such will continue to be the case, unless a radical change is effected. But when young gentlemen of equal respectability and attainments, who have not been of thefavored fewwhomExecutive favorhas admitted into this nursery of aristocracy, to be educatedat the expense of the honest working men of the country, become applicants, their claims are entirely set aside. Against thisunconstitutional,unequal, andmonopolizingpractice, your memorialist deems it his duty respectfully, but most decidedly, to protest; and to ask of your honorable body the establishment of some rule whereby the members of the Norwich University, at least, (to whom, in many respects, he stands in the relation of guardian,) may be restored to theirconstitutional rights; that when they become applicants for stations of honor, trust, or emolument, in the military service of their country, they shall stand on terms of equality with the cadets at West Point.
Your memorialist deems it proper here to remark, that in October, 1840, he addressed a communication to the President of the United States, on this subject, requesting to be informed whether, in the opinion of the President, he possessed the power to remedy the grievance of which your memorialist complains; and, if so, whether such power would be exercised for that purpose. To this communication no answer has been received. Your memorialist, availing himself of the privileges granted to every American citizen, by the first amendment of the constitution of the United States, would beg leave to call the attention of your honorable body to some subjects, which he considers grievances of a high order, and respectfully but earnestly solicits that they may be redressed, viz:
1st. Your memorialist considers the Military Academy at West Point a grievance. Under its present organization, it is unconstitutional, calculated to foster a military aristocracy in the country; calculated to depress the militia, (our only constitutional defense,) by engrossing all the patronage of government; and is entirely unnecessary, as military science can be attained at other institutions, from which the necessary officers for the army can be supplied without any tax on the people. Your memorialist, therefore, asks that this institution may be abolished, and that the money that is annually appropriated for its support may be applied to aid in disciplining the militia, and disseminating military information amongst the people, who are its constitutional and safe depositories.
2nd. Your memorialist considers the Board of Visitors that annually assemble at West Point a grievance. This board never had anyexistence whatever in law, but was established by Executive usurpation; yet, to pay the expense of this illegal board, your memorialist believes that more than fifty thousand dollars has been drawn from the public treasury. Your memorialist earnestly solicits that this appropriation, the making of which is a direct sanction to Executiveusurpation, should be discontinued.
3rd. Your memorialist considers the removal of the head-quarters of the corps of engineers from West Point to Washington a grievance, because it is a direct violation of the law of the 16th of March, 1802, establishing that corps. That law requires the commandant of engineers to reside at West Point, unless ordered, by the President of the United States, on duty at some other place in the line of his profession; and, when, at West Point, the law makes him superintendent of the Military Academy; and when he is absent, the next in rank (who is then present,) is made thelegalsuperintendent. The appointment, therefore, of any particular officer as permanent superintendent, is evidently illegal, as the law has clearly specified who the superintendent shall be.
All of which is respectfully submitted,
A. Partridge,President of Norwich University.
January, 13, 1841.