The Army And Navy

In our remtifKs on the Tann msi wee, we i showed Ihat two-thirds of llie whole a ture from t!o Nationol Treasury are paid out s for malcing prparntions for War. The mount varics, of iuto, in different yeare, from SixteonVoTwenty MilJiona of dollar?, benig h nn nsFessment of One Póllnr ench upon every man,womar,nd child in the United State?, iliclnding slnves ae well ns freemon. Tlus " wou ld amount tö more llmn Six Dollars n ech freelnmily rif five persons. This tax, ! thrmigh the Tnriff, is atañed opon tlio Ricli ! and the Poor, in proporliun to the amount of i taxed anieles thcy consume. We olso ! fld that the expenditures of Government might ' be reduced, by the nb"iition of the War expenses oud other rcnnomical mensures, lo oncthird ïb'lf ainoimt, or Two Dollars fr esch voter. But the inquiry nrisep, - Can the War Exptnses of the Country be gradually reduced andjinally aholished altogether, wiih safe ty to the nalionï This is a quefction of great magnifude, and one ihat will bc very thoioughly diicussed during the next thirty yeara. In takingr (he nf(iruiativeof this questioii, it is obvious that in a sincl' article, we can Olly gluoce al the merits of the case. We sliall therefore merey adiluce at present a snmmary of the reasons which have occurred to um in favor of tnakirg this change in oiir nalion.il affaire. On fulme ocensions we sha 11 treat of them more in detnil. TJio ariicles of our correspondent, Elihu Hurritt, on this subject, will be found valuable and interesting to all our readers. We eay, then, that the Army and Navy uhowld be reduced gradually, with a view lo iheif ultímate abol ï'.inn, 1. Because the probttbüilies oj War wilh any foreign nation are constanlly diminishing. We have been an independent nation lor more than seventy years, and ainceour indeppndence wof aclnevcd, we have been enfaged in War wilh civilized uations onïy thrce yeats, or lees than one-twentieth part of the time, and that wjis against only a single one of all the nations of the carth. We have had profouud peace v.ith Englnnd for more than thirty years - about one-ihird of a eenlury, and the only collision we have had with her sin ce the Rcvoluiïon, originated f.om the Wurs then rnging in Eorope. If the experience of the last sixty-three yenrs is worth any thing, it would teach us that, for the future, the pmbab.lities of a war wilh any Etiropean power are sniall. Beèiaes, the military system of Chriitian nations is undergoing a greal change. For thirty years futt thay have cea6ed to malee War on each olher, but have turned their military energies to the conqueet of distant and eeini-barbarous nations. TIiiif, RiiFíia has I.ept peace with Swedcn and Denu urk, wliile ehe has a standing War with the Circassians: England does no'. disturb France or Holland, whicli iredittant but a few leaguos, whüe her nrmies and fleets are subduing whole empires on theposite side of the earth. France, ono or' the v most warlike powerí on the globo, is at perfect ppaco with her neighbors, whi'eher militnry spirit finils vent in atteinpling the galion of the Arabian banditli. Should thie ' genera] peace of the Eurnpenn nations with j each f',her continue, it would aflord a strong ) reason for the helief thit we also might t cipate in the blefcsings of tliis general repose, j The probabilities of War are olso greatly ] diminished by the progress of cotnmerce, and the general intercourse of the citizens ot different nalions. The formation of a great public opinión among all civilized nations by the ciicolation of newspapers, is also nol without its effect. Public Opinión becomes a ribunal which kings and poüticians muet always rrspect, and frrquently obpy. 2. Our War prepara tions ma y be dispensed vilh, becnuse our positwn us a large Jlmert. an naiion, js a security to ts. We have ïothing to fear from ony American power. - The smaller iuland powera of Europe would gain nolhing by hostihties with us. Russio Ime work cnough in her vast dominions and imong her ne iglibort, without coming five thousand miles to attack us. With France we have had no seriotis colusión for seventy years ; and the state of our affliirs is such that none ned be apprehended for 70 yenrs more. The only nation, tben, ngninst whom weneed lo prepare to wage War, is Kngland, and the only grourd of expecting a colusión with her i on account of a boundary of a territory somo thousand miles distant. Should this be amicably Fettled, the probabihties of permanent peace will almost become a certainty. 3. Military preparatiorra are now less necessary tkan fotmerly, becnuse the facilities for settling di(TicultiC8 are greater. Neighboring power8 are ever ready to inteipose their mediation in favor of pece, and an acceptance oí their fnendly offers íb not dishonorable or d3gnicefti! to either party : Some hundred yeart since, Fiich intetference of neighbors was raiely, if ever, knowii. 4. JSÍilititiy di j 'enees are hts tffteiunl than formefly, owing to the great improvemenls in the sciences. Instruments of destmetion have been invented, whinh, we nre informed. wiil anmhiiafe a ship of 120 guns in a moment. Owing to the long peace bctween Chriálian natioi5, these mplements of desirucion have not been used, but no doubt of their tremeud ous efficacy can be rntionully eotertamed. Ai. expendittrro of fi-fty millrmrs for future defence in a time of profound peace, without knowing whelher it can Le certainly made serviceable, would not be wisc.5. Warlike txpendilures are more tcastfjul than others. A million of dollars goes but a litllc way. Bcsides, it is the interest of the military end navol officers to permanently increase these expenses ns siuch as possible. Henee the projoct forn hnlf-pay tystem in iinitaiion of Eugland, is already proj)osed in tliis country. 6 The controí of tb miïitory dofences of the hut ion must eceasarily he vested in tlie Executive, nnd nn inerense of wnrlike prepa rations mitst proportionnbly inerense Tus poto er and patronage. The patronage enjoyed by the Exccntive is nlready too grent. 7. A full, perreel ond constant preparation for wdr, in every part o? the country, tcíruld involve (in erptndilure of human toil and wealth greattr than tvoiild result front a xtantof preparación. Thi mny ceem a si range proposiiion at firat sight, yet it is susceptible rf demonetration. The appropriations for the support of the Arm y ond Nuvy, from 1U3C, to March 8, 1843, are Ftatrrd by Elihu Burrilt ot oue hundred and fifty-thrce fïtilUona, nine kvndreü and fifly-four thousand, eight hundrrd and fifly dollars. Now suppofë thnt theso appropríntíoná liad not been made, ond n coiiieqiipnce nn enemy Jrad l'onded on our thores, overrun the whole Siate of Marylaiu). and burned the city öf Woshington to the ground, the cost to the whole nat ion wonld notliavo boen as grievous as has been the payment of this S 103,95 4. 5f0 forlhemointenancc of al) Army and Navy. Supposing the nniount of nntiunal military ppproprialiona of the Government sinco the poace of' 1783 to have avertiged Eight Millioris anunally, we have on expendiiure, in GS yenrs, of Five [Juiidrotl und Four Millions of dollars in pre paritg for War! Now, as a matter of mero economy, wo rminlain that t woitld be miich clieaper to suiTür temporary and occasionnl losses by being taken in "ar unpropared, thnn t is to make such vast prepnralion?, wlich ye'. aro far from always keeping olfthe calamities of war. 8. Anoiher ond most weighty reoson for dispensing wilh these warlike prrparation3 is, ihat they do notprevrnt the caïamilies o War. VVhat nation can be nnmed that cvor "prepared for war in time of' peace" BufTiciently tu secure themsclvcs ogainst war? What vast War Establishments are kept tip by the nations of Europe! Yet lliere is not a nation on the continent ihat has not been overrun by foreTgn troops witrïin the last century. Tlie caêe is similar wilh preparations made exclusively for defence. Did the fortih'cations of Tioy, Athene, Tyre, Jeruspleni, Rome or Constantinople snve the inhabiiants froni the horrors of War? Far from it. These cities sufiered the severest calamities - some of them having been taken and sacked more than twoniy limes. The fortified cities of modern limes have been rqually exposed to loss and suíTering. No mm in his 6cnses, who has rcud htstory to any purpose, will pietend that any amount of military preparotion can certainly secure a people from the calami ies of War. Now if this be so. what adequate object can be named for niaking theee vnst preparntions, the cost of whirli is itsr]f a most grievous burden upon tlie people? If military ondnaval prepnrntions were a 6urc preventative agumst War, then there might be wisdom in making them on a large tcale; bul such is far from being tho case: and by making ihem, and yet being equally exposed to ! the calamitiea of War, the people gain noth. kier nnd lose much. j We shal! hereafter adduce the lesumony of . some of the best thinkers and most disün5 gjisheil sintesmen to show that the probabili . tes of War aro now vastly diminislicd, am j conáeqtiently extensivo preparations for i . must be proporlionably unnecessary and un o wise.