less disposition. Such is the result of natural causes, and observation abundantly proves the fact. The severest morality cannot safely interdict amusement and variety of occupation to such, nor, indeed, to any human beings. They must, will, and ought to have it; and the only question left for prudence to decide, is as to the direction that shall be given to the irresistible impulse. The real point, therefore, is, whether the time to be occupied in such way, may not be as well, or better spent in military exercises, than in desultory amusement, regulated only by chance or individual caprice. It has been thought and said, that loose and vicious habits have been developed by assemblages for military purposes. No doubt, in times past, this has been, to some extent, true; and it is equally true of all large gatherings for every variety of purpose, and every occasion that draws together a large number of people. But though it is very unfortunate, and much to be regretted, that excess and disorder so often characterize meetings of every description, that bring together, as a matter of course, men of all characters, and many of the worst character, yet no part of this excess and disorder is especially attributable to the military nature of the occasion. On the contrary, observation will shew, conclusively, that these melancholy and disgusting accompaniments are to be seen among the spectators alone, and very rarely, if at all, among the soldiery. They are simply the development of the vicious propensities of a degraded class, to whose irregularities and crimes all occasions are made to minister. The members of our Companies are, almost invariably, young men of standing and personal pride; and it is doing them a gross injustice to confound them, or their conduct, with the pickpockets, gamblers, and drunkards, that haunt the training field, just as they do the race-course, the railroad depot, or the political convention. In truth, from the very circumstances of the case, nowhere can the young and thoughtless be so safe from temptation and danger as in the ranks; where the authority of their officers, respect to their conspicuous position, and the character of their corps, and the necessary restraints of discipline, leave but little room, and scarcely, in fact, the possibility of such degradation. It would meet with certain detection and instant

rebuke from associates who would feel themselves, one and all, personally concerned in the trangression, and entitled, and bound, unhesitatingly, to condemn and repress it. Moreover, these things are, most happily, rather matters of memory than of actual occurrence. The changes in public feeling and general habit have almost entirely put an end to all difficulties of the sort. Officers in every portion of the Commonwealth can now testify, that our Regimental and Brigade Musters pass off as quietly, soberly, and peacefully, as any, even the most rigid, could expect or desire. The very existence of the Companies rests, almost exclusively, on the personal interest and esprit du corps existing among their members; and there can be no form in which men are brought together, less likely, on the whole, to induce and encourage disreputable habits, than in associations where the disgrace of the individual is the mortification of all. It can hardly be doubted that the time spent under military organizations is attended with far fewer objectionable concomitants, than the excursions for amusement that would inevitably supply their place, were they abolished.

On the other side, too, it may be said, that military training is, in many respects, highly advantageous to our young men, both in regard to physical and moral improvement. No mode of exercise could be devised, better adapted to physical development, and to promote the perfect control of the bodily pow

Every position and movement of the soldier is admirably calculated to give a manly, free, and graceful carriage, to increase the muscular strength and activity of the frame, in a word, to the healthful and vigorous expansion of the whole constitution. As a physical training, it is highly salutary and much needed, especially in our cities and large towns. Indeed, it may safely be asserted, that everywhere, even in rural districts, discipline of this sort is too little valued. The peculiar and well-known vigor of character and energy of action of the ancient Greek and Roman may, no doubt, in very considerable degree, be attributed to the sedulous attention paid to exercises of this description. The contests of the gymnasium and amphitheatre produced the men and women, who furnished the models of Phidias and Praxiteles; and to the same source we may trace, in a measure, the triumphant march of the Roman Eagles, the imperishable fame of Thermopylæ and Marathon, and even the higher energies and noble laurels of Lycurgus, Pindar, and Demosthenes.

Independently of other advantages, military exercises afford to modern effeminacy and artificial debility a far better and pleasanter remedy than the imperfect imitations of the ancient gymnasium, by which, at greater cost of money and time, these evils are sought to be alleviated. In this point of view, the destruction of our militia system would be a loss more serious than those might imagine who have given but little attention to such subjects. Our Physicians and Physiologists have long been urging upon the community the necessity of an enlightened attention to the means of promoting physical comfort and vigor. This necessity becomes daily more imperative, as increased wealth, and the rapid tendency of population towards the great centres, lead us constantly farther and farther from the simple, more natural, and healthful habits of times that are past, never to return. To the somewhat relaxed system of the inhabitants of cities, more than to the robuster frames of the agricultural population, military exercises form the best training that ingenuity could devise for strengthening and confirming the bodily powers; and they afford, to all classes, the most obvious and thorough means of acquiring those accomplishments of motion and manner, which, valuable even as superficial and external qualities, are, also, well known to have no small influence upon character and conduct. The practised soldier is immediately distinguished by his erect, firm, measured, yet easy, deportment,- the result of the discipline and control of every limb and muscle. No school equals that of the soldier in promoting these results; as is fully proved in the perfectly systematized and manageable symmetry of carriage and movement, which it imparts to the crude and generally unpromising materials that very commonly compose the recruits of the regular army. There can be no doubt, as has been already said, that Greece and Rome were largely indebted for the glory that crowned their national career, in all its points, to the physical perfection of their citizens. It has been observed, that the

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noblest growth of the cold climate and barren soil of New England is her men. If so, no paltry economy should be suffered to interfere with their judicious culture; but we should seek to add every manly accomplishment to the moral and intellectual excellence of which we are so justly proud.

Our severer reasoners may, perhaps, be inclined to smile at the idea of moral advantages to be derived from a military system. But, to doubt the existence of such is to call in question all history, and to deny the fundamental principles of our nature. In the first place, happiness and virtue, energy and prosperity are, in no small measure, dependent on the bodily health and vigor. The universal, social, and political degradation of natives, in all warm regions, is clearly attributable to the enfeebling effects of climate. Just as you advance from the temperate latitudes to the tropical, man sinks in the scale; and it is a singular fact that, whenever history records a temporary emergence from sloth and vicious indolence, it is upon the line of march of a conqueror, and in the train of the stimulating and tonic influences of military discipline. A sound mind can exist only in a sound body, as a general rule; an active, energetic one must be sustained by a corresponding vigor of the corporeal frame. Allow your population to sink into an indolent and enfeebled physical depression, and you take the first and largest step towards making a nation of slaves.

Habits, both moral and physical, are so intertwined and mutually dependent, that no skill can detect all the points of contact, or explain the infinite and subtle modes of their action and reaction. But all history proves-and our own more than any other-that excellence or deficiency on either side can never exist, and is never found alone, among all the civilized nations of the earth.

The association of our citizens, in regularly organized bands, teaches each individual to rely upon himself, and to be true to his part; and to rely on his neighbors, confident that they will not fail in their support of him, and of the common object. This principle is the secret and soul of all power, moral, political, or military. It is the strength of society; and it should be properly developed in all its forms, to give to society perma

nence and security. It is as needful to the due organization of the physical resources of the community, as to its religious or governmental policy. As the recognized strength of parties and the mutual sympathies of the virtuous and upright are the guaranty of the character of our institutions; so is the confident reliance upon military organization the guaranty of their security. The former define and establish our rights and duties, the latter protects and enforces them.

The tables appended hereto, marked 7 to 12, show the military stores, at present, in the arsenals. The only material variations from the accounts of last year, are found in two items. One is the annual quota received from the United States, in the following articles, viz :

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