The Regular Army And Its Work

[We extract the followiug deserved tributo to the regular army, its raen, and their gallaut decda, from the recent Batlle Monument inauguration oratiou of General McUlellan, at West Point. - Ed. Argus.] But we of the regular army have no States to look to for honors due to our dead. We belong to the whole country. We can neitlier expcct nor desire the General Government to make, perhaps, an individual distiuction in our favor. We are few in numbers, a small baud of comrades, united by peculiar and very biudiog ties. For, wilh many of us, our friendships were commenced iu boyhood, whcn we rested beneath the shadow of the grauite hills wliich looked down upon us wlicre we stand; with otliers the ties of brother hood were formed in more mature years - while fighting amid the rugged n.ountains and fertile valleys of Mexico - within hearing of the eternal wavés of the Pacific - or in the louely prandjur of the great plains ;1 the fir West. With all, our lovo and coufidence has been eemented by common dangers and sufFeriogs - on the toilsome march, in the bivouac, and amid the clash of anus and the presence of death on scores of battle-fields. West Point, with her large heart, adoptcd us all - graduates, and those appointed from civil life - officers and privates. In her eyes we are all her children, jealous of her fame, eager to sustaiu her worldwide reputation. Generáis and private soldiers, men who have cheerfully offered their all for our dear country, we stand here before this shrine, ever hereafter sacred to our dead, equal aud brothers in the presence of the common dcatli which awaits us all- perhaps in the same field and at the same hour. CJuch are the ties which unito us - the most endearing that exist among men ; sueh the relations which bind us together - the closest of the sacred brotherhood of arms. It bas therefore seemed, and it is fitting, that we should erect upou this spot, sacred to us all, an enduring monument to our dear brothers who have preceded us on the path of peril and of honor which it is the destiny of many of us sme day to tread. What is this regular army to which we belong ? Who were the men vvhose death meriis sueh honors from the living 't What is the cause fur which they have iaid down their lives ? Our regular or permanent army is the nucleus which in time of peace preserves f,he military traditions of the nation, as well as the organization, science, and instruction indispensable to modern armies. It may be regarded as coeval with the uation. ít derives its origin from the old Continental and state lines of the Revolution, whence with some interruptions and many changes, t has attaiucd its present condition. In fact, we may with propriety go even beyond the Ilevolution to seek the roots of our genealogical tree in the old French wars ; for ihe cis Atlantic campaigns of the seven years war were not coufined to thé " red men scalpiug each other by the great lakes of North Ameripa," aud it was in them that our ancestors first participated as Americana in the Jarge operatious of civilized armies. American regirr.ents theu fought on the bauks of the St. Lawrence and the Ohio, on the shores of Ontario and Lake George, in the islanda of the Caribbean, aud in South America. Louisburg,Quebec, Dnquesne, the Moro and Porto Bello attest the valor ol the provincial troops and in that school were educated such soldiers as Washington, Putman, Lee, Montgomery and Gates. These and men like Groene, Knox, Wayneand Stcuben were the fathers of our permanent army, and under them our troops acquired that discipline and steadiness which enabled them to meet upon equal terms and often to defeat the tried veterans of England The study of the history of the Revolu tion nnd a perusal of the dispatches of Washington, will convince the most skeptical of the value of the permanent army in achieving our independence, and establishing the civil edifice which we are now fighting to preserve. The war of 1812 found the army on a footing far fr'm adequate to the emergency, but it was rapidly inoreased, and of the new generation of soldiers, many were found equal to the requierments of the occasion. Lundy's Lane, Clüppewa, Queenstown, Plattsburg, New Orleans, all bear witness to the gallantry of the regulars. Then came an interval of more than 30 years of external peace, marked by many changes in the orgauization and strength of the regular army, and broken at times by tedious and bloody Iudian wars. 01 these the most remarkable were the Black Hawk war, in wbich our troops met uuflichingly a foe as relentless and far more destructivo than the IudiaDS - that terrible scourge, the cholera- aud the tedious Florida war, whcre, for so many years, the Seminóles eluded in their pestileutial swamps our utmost efforts, and in which were disphyed such traits of heroism as that commemoratcd by youder monument to Dado and bis command, when " all feil save two, without an attetnpt to retreat." At last camo the Mexicau war to replaco Indian contests and the monotony of frontier service, and the first time in many years thö mass of the regular army was coucentrated, and took the principal part in the battles of that remarkable aud romantic war. Palo Alto, lïesaca, and Fort Urown were the achievements of the regulars united ; and as to the battles of Monterey, Buena Vista, Vera Cruz, Cerra Gordo, and the final triumphs in th valley, none can truly say that they could have been won without the regulars. When peace crowned our victories in the capital of the Montezumas, the army ■ra? at ODOe diaparsed over the Jong tier, and engaged in hirassing and dangoroua wars with the Indiana of tbs plaius. Thus thirteen long years were fpeut, until the present war broke cut, ucd the maas of the army was drawn in to be employcd against a donncstic foc. I eau not proeeed to theeventsof the recent past and present without adverting to the gallant men who were so long of our nuniber, but have now gone to their last home ; for no smal! portion of tho glory of which we boast was expectei froia such men as Taylor, Worth, Bra dy, Biooks, Totten, and Dunean. Thero is i story of Venetian history that has moved many a heart, and often employcd the poet's pon and painter's pencil. It is of au old man whöse long life was gloriously spent in the service of the stjte as a warrior and a statesraan, aud who, when h:s hair was white and bis feeble limbs could soarce carry bis bent fonn towards the grave, attnined the highest hocor that a Veuetiancitizen could reiieh. He was Doge of Venice. (Jonvioted of treason against the State, he not only lost bis life but suffered besides a penalty wbich will enduro as long as the name of Venico is remembered. Tlio spot where bis portrait should havo hung in the great hall of the Doge's palace wns veiled with black, and thore still the frame remains with its black mass of canvas ; and this vacant frame is the most eonspicuous in the long line of effigies of illustrious Doges ! Oh, that such a pall that whieh replaces the portrait of Murino Faliero could couceal from history the names of those, onco our comrades, who are now in arms against the Hag under wbich we fought side by side in years gone by. But no veil, however tbiek,can cover the auguish that lilis our hearts when we look back upon the sad momory of the past, and recall the affection and respect we entertaiucd toward men against whoui it is uow our iuty to act ín mortal combat. Would that Ihe courage,ability,and steadfastnesa they display had been ia the defense of tho Stars and fcjtripes against a foreign foe, ratber thau in this fatuitous aud unjustiBable robelliou, which could net have been 80 loug maintaiued but for the skill md energy of these, our former comrades. But we have reason to rejoieo that upsn this day, so sacred and uventful for as, one grand old mortal monument of the past stijl lifts higïi his head among as, and should have graced by his preseuce the eonsecration of this tomb by bis children. We muy well be proud that we are here commanded by the hero who purchased a victory with his blood ncar the great waters of Niágara; who repeated and eclipsed the aebievemeuts af Cortes; who, altlough a consummate ind coufident commander, ever preforrod, when duty and honor would permit, the alive brauch of peace to the bloodstained laurels of war; and who stands at the close of a long, glorious, and eveutful Ufe, a living column of granito, against which havo beaten aliko the blandishments and storins of treasou. His name will ever, ever be one of our proudest boasts and most movingiuspira tions. Iu lonii distant ages, when this ineipient monument has beconie venerable, moss ciad, and perhaps ruinous ; when tho names inscribed upon it hall seom to tbose who pause to read theni indis tinct mementoes of an aimost mythical past, tho name of Winfield Scott will still bo clear cut upon the inemory of all, like the still fresh carving upon the ïnonuments of loug-forgotten Pharaoh's. But it is time to approacb the presBnt. In the war which now shakes tho land to its foundation the regular army has borne a most honorable part. Too few in numbers to act by themselvcs, regular regimenté have participated in every battlo in the East, and most of those west of the Alleghanics. Their terrible losses aud dinuuished numbers prove that they have been in the tbickest of the fight, and the testimony of their comrades and commanders show with what undaunted heroism they have upheld their aneieut ronown. Tbeir vigorous charges have often won the day, and in defeat tbey have more than once saved the army from destruction or terrible losses by the obstinacy with which they resisted overpowering numbers. They can refer with pride to the part they played upon tho glorious fklds of Mexico, and exult at the recollection of what they did at Manassas, Gaines' Mills, Malvern, Antietatu, Shiloh, Stone River, Ge.ttysburg, and the great batiles jqst fought from the Kapidan to the Chichahominy. They can point also to the officers who have risen from among tl'em, and achieved great deeds for the"ir country in this war, to the living warriors whose names are upon the nation's tongue and heart, too numerous to be repeated here, yet not one of whom I would willingly omit. But perhaps the proudest episode in the history of the regular army is that touching iustanoe of fidelity on the part of the nou commissioued officers and privates, who, 1 toroualy mtde piisoners in Texas, resisted every temptation to viólate frheir oatb and desert their flag. Offered coramis sions in the rebel service, money and land freely tenderea them, they all scornod the induocments held out to them, submitted tothe.r hardships, and, when at lost exchauged, avenged tbem selvos on the field of battle for the uuavailing insult offered tbeir integrity. History affords no brigbter example of honor than that of these bravo men, tompted, as I blush to eay they were, by some of their former officers, who, , ing themselves proved false to their flag, endeavored to seduce the men who fol lowed tbem io combat, and wbo had regarded them with respeot and love. Such is the regular army : such its Listory and antecedents ; sucb its offioers and itü men. Ik neode rio fceraM to trumpet forth its praiseu It can proud]y appoül to the numerous fields from the tropics to the frozon bauks of the St. Lawreuce ; from the Atlantic to the Paciöa, fertilized by the blood, and whitcuied by tho bones, of its members. But I wil] not psuise to eulogizs it; let its deeds speak for it; they are more eloquent tha,n tongue of uiine.