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Y Y Y 1,333,091Y
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This is an enormous force, but at the commencement of a war not a very
effective one. In fact, there is no country in the world so defenceless
as the United States, but, once roused up, no country more formidable if
any (attempt) is made to invade its territories. At the outbreak of a
war, the states have almost everything to provide; and although the
Americans are well adapted as materials for soldiers, still they have to
be levied and disciplined. At the commencement of hostilities, it is
not improbable that a well-organised force of 30,000 men might walk
through the whole of the Union, from Maine to Georgia; but it is almost
certain that not one man would ever get back again, as by that time the
people would have been roused and excited, armed and sufficiently
disciplined; and their numbers, independent of their bravery, would
overwhelm three or four times the number I have mentioned.

Another point must not pass unnoticed, which is, that in America, the
major part of which is still an uncleared country, the system of warfare
naturally partakes much of the Indian practices of surprise and
ambuscade; and the invaders will always have to labour under the great
disadvantage of the Americans having that perfect knowledge of the
country which the former have not.

Most of the defeats of the British troops have been occasioned by this
advantage on the part of the Americans, added to the impracticability of
the country rendering the superior discipline of the British of no
avail. Indeed the great advantages of knowing the country were proved
by the American attempts to invade Canada during the last war, and which
ended in the capitulation of General Hull. In an uncleared country,
even where large forces meet, each man, to a certain degree, acts
independently, taking his position, perhaps, behind a tree (treeing it,
as they term it in America), or any other defence which may offer. Now,
it is evident that, skilled as all the Americans are in fire-arms, and
generally using rifles, a disciplined English soldier, with his clumsy
musket, fights at a disadvantage; and, therefore, with due submission to
his Grace, the Duke of Wellington was very wrong when he stated, the
other day in the House of Lords, that the militia of Canada should be
disbanded, and their place supplied b