f a
campaign, and they are exceedingly apt to fail him at the critical
moment on the field of battle. The same holds true with respect to
sailors inexperienced in the discipline and duties of a man-of-war.
There is this difference, however: an army usually obtains its recruits
from men totally unacquainted with military life, while a navy, in case
of sudden increase, is mainly supplied from the merchant marine with
professional sailors, who, though unacquainted with the use of
artillery, &c., on ship-board, are familiar with all the other duties of
sea life, and not unused to discipline. Moreover, raw seamen and
marines, from being under the immediate eye of their officers in time of
action, and without the possibility of escape, fight much better than
troops of the same character on land. If years are requisite to make a
good sailor, surely an equal length of time is necessary to perfect the
soldier; and no less skill, practice, and professional study are
required for the proper direction of armies than for the management of
fleets.

But some have said that even these skeletons of military and naval
forces are entirely superfluous, and that a brave and patriotic people
will make as good a defence against invasion as the most disciplined and
experienced. Such views are frequently urged in the halls of congress,
and some have even attempted to confirm them by historical examples.

There are instances, it is true, where disorganized and frantic masses,
animated by patriotic enthusiasm, have gained the most brilliant
victories. Here, however, extraordinary circumstances supplied the place
of order, and produced an equilibrium between forces that otherwise
would have been very unequal; but in almost every instance of this kind,
the loss of the undisciplined army has been unnecessarily great, human
life being substituted for skill and order. But victory, even with such
a drawback, cannot often attend the banners of newly raised and
disorderly forces. If the captain and crew of a steamship knew nothing
of navigation, and had never been at sea, and the engineer was totally
unacquainted with his profession, could we expect the ship to cross the
Atlantic in safety, and reach her destined port? Would we trust our
lives and the honor of our country to their care? Would we not say to
them, "First make yourselves acquainted with the principles of your
profession, the use of the compass, and the means of determining whether
you dir