The Volunteer Army

The citizens of the United States inay wel] be proud of their now army. More than forty years of peaec, b-roken only by suoh iuterruptions as the Mexicao war and the expedición to Utah, have not in the least degree blunted their military spirit. It is impossible to road the special report of the riecretary of War to the President without being reminded of those ancie:;t demoeracies, ia which tho whole adult population wuuld sally out to repel foreign aggression, and all the richer citizens would contribute freely to the expenses of the war. If republican institutions are indeed on their trial, it is not at this that tbey wil) break dowu. - The Sccretary may be forgiven tbr iapsing froiu the narrativo mto the rhetorical style ' in descending the compositioa of this force of a quarter of a niillio.i, so rapidly raised and so efficiently arined. " But a few weeks since the inen cornposing this great arinjr were pursuing the avocaiions of peace. 'J'hey gathered from the farm, from the workshop, frora tho faotory, frora the mine The min iater camo from bis pulpit, the mercliaut from bis counting room, the professor and the student from the college, the teacher and pupil l'roin the common schools Youug men of lortuuo left luxurious homes for the te.it and the camp Native and foreign born alike carne forward with a coinmoa enthusiasin." The governmentfiuds itseli " embarrassed with the generous outpouriug of volunteers to sustain its action." The first cali for troops, made ou the 15th of April, tbough it did not extend to the States which had then seceded, and was pereinptorily rejected in the North, aud the quota actually furnished exceeded by several thousauds that defined iu tho proclamation. Unüer the secoud requisition of the 4th of May, which was not limited like the foriner to the period of threc munths' service, but invited enlistment for three years, or the whole period of the war, no less than 208 regimentó have been eurolled, and 153 are already in active service. Altogether the State can couut ou a force of 280,000 officers and men after the discharge of the first contingent, and there seems no reasou to doubt that this may be increascd indefinitely The Senate has already more than responded to the President's appeal, by authorizing the employment of L00,000 volunteers, and appropriating $500,000,000 for the war. Many criticisms will probably occur to military men on the deliciency of artillcry and cavalry, the very small pro portion of veterans amoug these raw recruits, and the inevitable intxperieuce of the officers. It will not be easy to convince professional soldiers that a task which cost Üella Mormora years of patiënt zeal, and which Garibaldi failed to complete in the most eventful of campaigns, can be accomplished at a stroke by Gen. Öcott. All this may be perfectly true, but a people in iirms eau uever be otherwise than formidable, and iu this case they will be opposed to an enemy by no menas their superior iu equipmeut or discipline. Such an elfort must command admiration, and, regarded as au experiment, is well caiculated to inspire confidenee in the elasticity of voluuteer organizatiou It is admitted that the mater iel of this force is not equal to its personnel wliich the Sccretary boldly declares to be " fully equal to the fiuest regular troops iu the Uld World." Nothing is said as to the number of guns at the disposal of goverhinont; bui the pfouosa of ruling is still beingcarnedou; aud, uotwithstanding .Mr. Ciiineron's jealously ot' Kuropemi orduauco, we suspect that " a perfect battery of 6 VVhitworth's 12 pouader riflöd canuon, with 3,000 rouuds of auiunition," w a very seasonablo present. As for small arms, he does not fail to observe that " celebrated Eutield riño, so called, is a simple copy of the regular arm niaiiufactured for many years at the Spriugfield ar.-nory " Admirable, however, as these we;tpo"i;S weiv. the " bad faith of those iutrusted with their guardiauship" had left a very small stock of them in the Government arseuals- iu fact, they had been carefully distributed over tho disaffect-id States. It becanie necessary, therefore, either to import froiu abroud or to "ei.courage domestie industry" by employing private manufaeture - au alternativa which Mr. Camerou decidedly prefers. Other wants are detailod in the report. One of these is a quantity and quality of rations for the troops "adapted to tliuir previous dietary habits.'' Auothor is a supply of water -proof capes and blaukets, " as the anny regulations do uot recognize such an article of olothing, and as no diseretiou bas been lodged witü tho Department to act in the matter. This reads like a leaf out of the book of our Crimeau experience. Theu there bas been appointed a Military CoLiinittee, which is to " bring to bear the ripest teacbings of sanitary seience iu its applieation to the details of military hfe." M oreo ver, the services of " patriotic womea " are to be rendered available, and an Amerieaa Miss Nightingale, iu the person of Miss D. L. Dix, bas undertakeu the su! perinteudence of the hospitals. We have Í not the least doubt tbat this war, if it j should unhappily be prolonged, will be a porlect study in the nrt of warliko dienta. Nothing is said in tliis vepo t of the ruinored use of bnlloons for tbe purposes of military rcconnoisan.e, but we may be quite suro that this and every othcr resource that inventive genius can lend to hostil ity will be luid under contributiou by onu or other of tho belligerents. Not the least curious passage in Mr. Camerou's statement is that in whieh he labors to account for the portentous de n'.oralization which could alono have caused so ruany officers to betray tbeir allegiance. The most raalignaut party spirit could not, ho thitiks, have suggestod such unspeakable baseness. He admits, indeed, and records for the warning of troops about to invade "the rebel! ons States," that "the nice moral distinctions which obtain among men in well-ordered communities are apt to be lostsight of in civil war." But this is not enough, nor does " the accident of birth," or the "be lief in particular theorics." appear to bit to furnish a ti adequate solution It must be. a radical defect in rducation," and to this hypothesis the Secrctary aocordingly appiies himself with tho air of a man who has made a great discovery. Ile turus to the report made by the visitors to the West Point Military Acadciny, and he there finds that the discipline therein enforced "ignores practicallv the essential distinction between acts wrong in themselves." and acts wrong becauso " prohibited by special regulatiun." This is the secret ot' socession. The eleven of this Academy, imperfeetly grounded in ethics, mtstook rebelliou for a matum prohibitum, like breakmg bounds or wearing uudress on parade, and couspired igainst the State as they might hate couspired agiiinst rules of college discipline. Mr. Uameron sagely recommeucs that steps should be taUcn to prevent auy such misapprehension for the future. Tho best wish that we can surgest for the great lïepublic uow entering on a struggle more desperate thau auy which bas tested its strength since tho War of In dependance, is that it may fiud it as easy to disbaud its volut;teer army as it has been to muster it. Meanwhüc, the short terms of enlistment which crippled Washington's actiou so much, have been superseded by a system which virtually converts a volunteer forcé into a standing army, and thereby removes one inaiu ob staelc to a tedious conflict We shall uot reitérate tho common places about standing armies, but we think it worth wliile to poiut out that American society may be soon exposed, almost for the first time, to a class of temptatious which have turned the heads and ruined the liberties of somo ef tbe greutcst among natioDS.