oot-drill,--although
these boys from the Duke of York's and the Hibernian Schools had had no
previous horse-drill."

It is obvious that boys thus trained will not look upon an occasional
period of militia service with the bashfulness of raw recruits, nor yet
with the ennui of veteran soldiers. The revival of their boyish pursuits
will create some fresh interest; they will take pride in exhibiting the
training of their respective schools, and will be pleased at finding the
public utility of this part of their preparation. Instead of being a
Primary School for military duty, the musters and encampments will have
the dignity of a High School. Young men will find themselves forming a
part of larger battalions than ever before,--placed under abler
officers,--engaged in more complex evolutions. They will also have an
opportunity to practise camp and garrison duty, which they have before
learned in theory alone. Three or four consecutive days of such
instruction will be of substantial service to those already well
grounded in the rudiments, though they avail almost nothing to the
ignorant.

Further than this the present essay hardly aspires to go, in treating of
our future militia. It is enough to have indicated its proper material.
The proper employment of that material involves separate questions.
These have lately been discussed, with abundant citations and
statistics, in a valuable pamphlet, entitled, "The Militia of the United
States; What it is; What it should be," attributed to Colonel Henry Lee,
Jr., of Boston, whose position on the staff of the Governor of
Massachusetts, during the whole war, has enabled him to understand the
strength and the weakness of the existing systems. His pamphlet also
includes the whole of Mr. Clarke's report, above mentioned, and I am
indebted for valuable information to both.

As to the form which future militia laws should take, the following
appear among the points of most prominent importance, and may be briefly
stated.

1. There should be no exemption from personal service, except on the
ground of age or physical infirmity. The necessary limitation of number
should be obtained by varying the prescribed ages in the different
States, according to the proportion of young men in the population.[H]

2. Whether the appointment of officers be elective or gubernatorial,
they should equally undergo a strict examination.[I]

3. The strictest military law should be enforced during the muste