CHAPTER LIX.

Armories and Arsenals.

As early as 1794, Congress enacted that three or four Arsenals and Magazines, with an Armory attached to each, should be established for the safe keeping of military stores. An Arsenal is a place where arms and military stores are kept. An Armory is a place where arms are made or repaired. The Armories where arms are manufac tured are at Springfield in Massachusetts, and at Harpers' Ferry in Virginia. But there are many others where they are repaired.

In 1808, the President was authorized to purchase sites and to erect as many more arsenals and manufactories of arms as he might deem expedient. Each of these establishments was formerly under the direction of a Superintendent; but they are now placed under the direction of the Ordnance department. The office of Superintendent of the Armories at Springfield and Harpers' Ferry, was also abolished in 1842; and its duties have since been performed by such officers of the Ordnance Corps as were designated by the President. In each Armory there is employed a Master-Armorer, who superintends the workmen. We have not the means of knowing what number of these establishments have been authorized in the United States, but in addition to those already named there are arsenals

and armories at Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania; at Washington city; at Watervliet and Watertown, in New York; at Columbus, Ohio; at Indianapolis, in Indiana; and at Rock Island, in Illinois, They are parts of the military establishment of the country, and belong to the War Department.

CHAPTER LX.

The Army and Navy.

1. A DETAILED and a minute description of the various departments, officials, works and modes of operation, in these two great Government establishments, would require a larger volume than the present to contain it. We must, therefore, in a work of this kind, be content to speak of them in the most general terms. Indeed it would be quite uninteresting to the general reader to peruse a detailed account of the division of the Army into corps, brigades, regiments and companies, with all the grades of officers commanding them; or of all the appendages to an army, such as the Commissary department, the Quartermaster's department, and many other important attachments to a regular Army. And what we say of the Army would hold true of the Navy.

2. We will then only say that the Army and the Navy are the two great arms of our Government, as they are of all others. They are the means of defence against attacks or invasions from other powers; as well as of offense, when circumstances require us to invade foreign countries, or to enforce our rights upon the high seas, though this is especially the duty of the navy, which has rights all over the seas equal with those of any other nation. But to resist foreign aggression, or to defend our rights on the seas,

is by no means the only reason for maintaining an army and a navy. Experience has shown that such is the depravity, the lawlessness, and the wickedness of a part of mankind, that nothing but compulsion will keep them in order; nothing but force will keep them from the violation of the best of laws. This reckless and vicious class of persons are so numerous that laws could never be executed, nor order preserved, if no military or naval power stood behind the civil power to enforce the laws when they are resisted by any considerable body of persons. But for the known fact that the military power stands ready at the call of the executive authority of the Government, resistance to every law which was distasteful to the most depraved and vicious would be made. Thus order at home, almost as much requires the military power as our defence against the wrongs or invasions of foreigners.

3. The Navy cannot act in all emergencies as the Army can, because it is necessarily restricted in its actions. It can only act on the seas or upon places accessible to it by water; whereas the Army can operate any where upon land. It never has been the policy or the practice of the United States to keep a large standing army, for it has been thought inconsistent with a republican government; first, because it seemed to imply a want of confidence in the intelligence and patriotism of the people, the majority of whom are deemed law-abiding, patriotic, and willing without compulsion to support the authority of the civil power of the Government. And another reason is that a large army is a very expensive thing. Indeed the Army and the Navy are by far the two most expensive departments of the Government. Economy therefore is another

reason why our standing army has always been small in times of peace. In this connection we will notice another fact, which renders it unnecessary for our Government to maintain a large army, at any other time than when we are at war, and that is our militia system, which was established immediately after the organization of the Government. By a law of Congress, it was enacted, that every sound and healthy man, with a few exceptions in special cases, between the ages of 18 and 45 should be enrolled and equipped for military duty. Then, by the laws of the States, they are required on certain days in each year to meet in companies, regiments or brigades, for drill and practice in military exercises.

4. By these means military organizations are kept up in every part of the country, together with some knowledge of the military art. These, in time of war or domestic insurrection, may be called out with but a few days' notice; and a large army of citizen soldiers can be raised in a very short time. With such facilities for raising men it is unnecessary to keep a standing army of much magnitude. A few thousand men to guard our fortifications and military posts are sufficient.

The late civil war between the South and the North gave ample evidence of this; for when it became necessary to raise a million of men it was done in a short time, and after a little practice they became good soldiers. Until the recent civil war, the Navy of the United States was, in comparison with that of several other nations, small and weak. But during the rebellion the necessity of greater force in this arm of our government, very soon brought into existence the most powerful navy in the world; and