West Point

It is said tliat 38 nice young men, who have justgrad nted fcom the great polilical school of tl, e natiun, aro overjoyed at the prospecta of go ing ulo immediate service. - And it is weilknown that the mest "daring and brilliant" nchievements of tliis proflígate war have been won by graduales of West Point. These facls load one to look at the tendency of such military schools in rrgard to the peace and dignity of a counlry. A modern miÜlary scliool is chiefly devoted tothe scienco of human deslrtiction. The youlh in it arelrained up to regard themselves as a priesthood of destruction, set apart forthe buisness of war, and wiih no responsibility in regard to the causes of war.- It i true tliai they acquire, asa means ofwhiling away the leisure of peace, the elements of the science of construction. But vvhüe the government of their country spends the great bulk of its revenue upon its army and navy, it spenda nothing or ne.xt to nothing on works of iniernal improvement requiring civil i gineering. There s no honor or reward, much less glory, held out lo the achievemenis of The military is the leading irle-i of the school. Tlie stuienis look to be the Ajaxes, the Pompeys, ihe Nelsons, the Napoleons ofiheir country, ortobe nothng. Why should ihey not? Even the colleges at which the learned men of peace are educaled pay the highest honors to Virgil and Homer, who are nolhing unless the herces they sang are something. Is it to be supposed ihat fortv young men, the pets of the grcatest nation in the world, entering life each year wiih a high education in military art and science, wiJl sit djwn contentedly and be nothing. When Homnr's héroes won immorlal fame by tearing up rocks and huiling them through whole squadrons in battle, shall they be conient with everlasling oblivion, whüe they now enough to blow up cities with shrlls or mow down whole armie.s wilh "peace-rnnkers"? We think it mny safely be set down that a nation with a naüonal military school in it will have a war, just or unjust, at least as often as once in thirty years, often enough for each generntion of military men lo have a hand in one wnr in the course of their lives. If ihe hislory of our present war could be fully as e!l astruly writlen, we should nr,t be surprised to find ihat ihe gradua'es of West Point had nn important influence in the co ncils that brought it on. That we owe our success in the batllas alrendy fought greally to the scientific miliiary education impnried at WestPoint, we have no disposición lo deny. This is tuus no argument in favor of the Military Academy, because we should have been far better off if we had lost the fiist bat; Ie and all that succeeded it ti'.l we were ready to retrent within our old boundary and act on the defensive. As il is, we hnvegained nothing we antednot even glory, for our succoss is not due !o patriotim or courage, but to money, scientific leaders, and the excellence of