Chapter LV: Introduction (2)

In 1824, the citizens of Middletown, Connecticut, made a liberal subscription to secure the location there, of a college about to be established in that State, under Episcopal auspices. Failing in that object, by the location of the institution at Hartford, where it now exists under the name of Trinity College, they invited Capt. Partridge to remove his Academy to their city, and offered to erect and place at his disposal suitable buildings for his accommodation. This invitation and offer were accepted, and on the 1st of April, 1825, he closed his institution at Norwich, and on the 1st of September following, opened his new course of instruction at Middletown, with an attendance of two hundred and ninety-seven pupils in the first year. During the three years--up to September 1828, the American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy at Middletown remained under his superintendence, there were nearly twelve hundred pupils representing every State and Territory of the United States, the British Provinces, Mexico, several of the South American States, and the West Indies. This attendance shows conclusively, that the military and scientific element, together with an optional course of study, and a term of residence limited by the ability of the pupil to complete the course, met a want not provided for in existing colleges. Of those who completed the full course of study begun at Norwich, as large a proportion, as the corresponding graduates of any American college, attained a high degree of usefulness and eminence in widely diversified fields of labor. Among its graduates are to be found the founders or professors of several State Military Institutes, many officers of the highest rank in the military service of the United States, several eminent civil engineers, superintendents, of railroads, members of Congress, lawyers, and men of practical efficiency and success in every line of business.

One of the characteristic features of Captain Partridge’s system of instruction and discipline at Middletown, was the military marches and pedestrian excursions for scientific and recreating purposes conducted under his personal command, or in his company. Several of these excursions occupied three or four weeks, extending in one instance to Washington. The military marches amounted in the aggregate to over two thousand miles, and these and the various pedestrian excursions, included visits to nearly all points of military and historical interest in New England and New York. The immediate and controlling reasons which induced Capt. Partridge to leave Middletown, are not known to the writer of this memoir. He has however, understood it was owing partly to a desire for temporary relief from the cares and confinement of immediate superintendence, that he might start a similar institution in the neighborhood of New York, and partly from disgust at the refusal of the Legislature of Connecticut in 1828, to grant to the institution at Middletown, the usual privileges and powers of a college.

In 1833,1834, 1837, and 1839, Capt. Partridge was elected representative from the town of Norwich, to the Legislature of Vermont, and in that capacity labored to give efficiency to the military system of the State. In 1834, he secured for certain petitioners a charter for the Norwich University, in which the Trustees are required “to provide for a constant course of instruction in military science and civil engineering,” and are “prohibited from establishing any regulations of a sectarian character, either in religion or politics.” Of this corporation, consisting of twenty-five trustees, Capt. Partridge was a member, and in organizing the institution in 1825, he was elected president of the Faculty. He continued to instruct in his own department of military science and engineering, and administered the affairs of the university till 1844, when owing to some difficulties arising out of the use of the building, arms, and accourtrements, which were his private property, he resigned.

In 1838, he was influential in calling together a convention of military officers and persons interested in giving greater efficiency to the organization of the militia of the several states, to meet for consultation. This convention met at Norwich on the 4th of July; and continued to meet annually for many years, to discuss plans for the organization and discipline of the militia, for the dissemination of a knowledge of military science, for the defense of the coast, &c. Many reports of this body were drawn up by him, and the proceedings were forwarded to, and printed by order of the Congress of the United States.

In 1839, on the request of many influential citizens, he visited Portsmouth, Virginia, to establish a Military School, which he did, and which was soon after recognized by the Legislature of the State as the Virginia Literary, Scientific, and Military Institute, and aided by an appropriation out of the Literary Fund. This Institute, with an Institute of a similar character at Lexington, in the western part of the State, has been greatly instrumental in diffusing widely in Virginia a knowledge and taste for military affairs. The success of this institution, and the personal influence of many of his own scholars at Norwich and Middletown, led to the establishment of similar schools in other southern states.

In May, 1842, Capt. Partridge accepted the position of Camp Instructor for a large body of officers and men of the Pennsylvania volunteer militia in encampment at Reading, Berks County. Each evening he delivered a lecture to officers assembled in the General’s marquee, and during the day exercised the troops in the manual of arms, and in company, regimental, and brigade movements in the field. On this, and many similar occasions, he demonstrated the correctness and practicability of his theory of national defense, so far as testing the qualifications of officers for command, and giving accuracy, rapidity, and steadiness of exercise and movements to troops, by assembling officers and men of the State Militia, once or twice in the year, in convenient numbers and places, under instructors properly qualified for the work. A few instructors, themselves trained in the best military institutions, and familiar with every improvement in military organization, equipment, and movement, and especially when clothed with the reputation of success in actual service, would soon bring the entire militia of the states into a uniform system, and give respectability and efficiency to this department of the public service. This result would be more speedily realized if a number of educational institutions similar to those which he had organized under many disadvantages and against many prejudices, could call out and cultivate military taste and accomplishments among a portion of the young men of each state.

In 1853, he opened at Brandywine Springs, near Wilmington, in the State of Delaware, another institution in which he fondly hoped his ideal of a National school of education would be realized--an institution in which physical training in connection with military exercises and movements, should accompany the acquisition of practical knowledge of the great principles of science that underlie all the arts of peace and war, and resorted to by students from every state of the American Union. His plan as developed in conversation with those directly interested, embraced his old ideas of scientific, and literary studies with systematic pedestrian excursions,[21] and marches in vacations to the great objects of natural, economical, and historical interest in different parts of the country. In this latter particular, he unconsciously applied the suggestion of Milton in his letter to Samuel Hartlib, that “the students of his Academy should go out in companies with prudent and staid guides to all quarters of the land, learning and observing all places of strength, and all commodities (facilities) of building and of soil, for towns and tillage, harbors and ports of trade,--even sometimes taking sea as far as to our navy to learn there also, what they can in the practical knowledge of sailing and sea-fight.” Arrangements were made for a class of ten or twelve of the most advanced and matured cadets to accompany him to Europe to study the strategy of the great battles of the world, and the armies, armories, and resources of the great nations of Europe--thus again realizing Milton’s plan of gratifying “the desire of the more hopeful youth” “to see other countries at three or four and twenty years of age, not to learn principles, but to enlarge experience and make wise observation.” But these hopes were darkened for a time by a great disaster, and soon extinguished in the sudden death of the great projector. In the autumn of 1853, the buildings at Brandywine Springs, were consumed by fire, and although arrangements were at once made to secure suitable accommodations at Bristol, Pennsylvania, and upwards of one hundred pupils enrolled their names to attend for a year at that place, still the great motive power of the enterprise was stricken down.

[Footnote 21: Captain Partridge attached much importance to
pedestrian excursions in reference both to hygenic, and
educational considerations. To these excursions he attributed his
own robust health, and his familiar knowledge of all the details
of American battles. In one year, (1830,) he made four excursions
from Norwich, each occupying from four to six days--and from one
hundred and fifty to four hundred miles--the last day’s walk
generally averaging over sixty miles. He had ascended and measured
the altitude of all the highest mountain elevations in the
Northern States.]

At the close of the year, 1853, Capt. Partridge returned to Norwich, where his family still resided, in apparently good health and the best spirits. A few days after he reached home, he was attacked by sharp and excruciating pains in his back, which were soon subdued by anodynes, but from the prostration and the cause, which proved on a post-mortem examination to be an aneurism near the base of the spine, and which had been exhausting his vitality for years--he never rallied, and on the 17th of January, 1854, he breathed his last--widely and deeply mourned by troops of friends, who loved and admired him as their teacher, or looked up to him as the best expounder of principles of military science and education, and of national defense.

Although living most of his life in the discharge of educational and public duties, under circumstances inconsistent with “a local habitation,” he had strong domestic tastes and attachments, and was a genial companion in his own room and home. In 1837, he married Miss Swazey, the daughter of a merchant in Claremont, New Hampshire, and to this happy union were born two children. The oldest boy, George, was educated by the father on his own system, and had displayed vigorous health, and strong partialities and attainments in mathematical studies and their applications; but he survived his father only a few months--“long desolate months they were to the widow and children ”--and the tenement of that bright intellect was laid by the side of that of his hardy and indefatigable father in the little village burying-ground. The other son Henry, as he grew up, showed a partiality for the profession of law, and was pursuing his studies in Warren, Penn., when the call of the President of the United States for volunteers, summoned him to the defense of the flag of the country. He enlisted for the war, and was promoted to a captaincy in a Pennsylvania regiment, which was attached to the army of the Potomac, whose varying fortunes he shared till, greatly weakened by exposure and disease, he was honorably discharged from the service. His superior officer in writing to his mother, says: “He is in every respect a model officer. How could he be otherwise? He has it all by right of inheritance, and I fully appreciate that you have made a very great contribution to the government and the country in sending him forth to fight the battles which have been forced upon us.”

POPULAR OBJECTIONS TO A NATIONAL MILITARY SCHOOL.

NOTE.

As an Appendix to our Memoir of Capt. Alden Partridge, we republish the following Memorial by him to the Congress of the United States, not because we approve the objects or the arguments of either document, but as part of the educational history of the country.

MEMORIAL OF ALDEN PARTRIDGE,

_Relating to the Military Academy at West Point, and praying that young men educated at other military schools may have an equal chance for admission to the army as those young men have who are educated at West Point. January 21, 1841. Referred to the Committee on Military Affairs._

_To the Honorable Congress of the United States:_--The memorial of Alden Partridge, President of the Norwich University, at Norwich, State of Vermont, respectfully showeth:

That your memorialist holds it to be a cardinal principle of our republican institutions, that stations of honor, trust, and emolument should be equally open to all our citizens, to which all have an equal right to aspire, and from which none can constitutionally be excluded by any law, rule, or regulation whatever. Your memorialist has, however, witnessed, with deep regret, a direct violation of this vital principle of our constitution, by the rules and regulations adopted for the organization and government of the Military Academy at West Point. The cadets of that institution, all of whom are educated at the _public_ expense, have, for many years, _monopolized_ nearly, if not quite, all of the stations of honor, trust, and emolument, above that of a non-commissioned officer, in the military establishment of the United States, to the utter exclusion of those who are equally well qualified, equally meritorious, and who are educated at their _own_ expense. But, in order to place this subject more clearly before your honorable body, your memorialist would call your attention to the law of the 29th of April, 1812, entitled, “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers.” By the provisions of this act, no candidate can be admitted into the Military Academy who is under fourteen, or over twenty-one, years of age. The effect of this provision is to exclude every young man in the United States who is above twenty-one years of age from the appointment of cadet, while the rules of the War department require that none except those educated at this academy can be commissioned in the army of the United States. The effect, then, of the law and regulation is to utterly exclude all the youth of our country, except such select few as the President may think proper to place in this “public charity school,” from the military service of their country, who are above twenty-one years of age, unless they will enter in the humble capacity of _privates_ or _non-commissioned officers_. And can such a system be in accordance with the principles of our constitution? Your memorialist believes not. On the contrary, he feels confident in the assertion that it is a most flagrant and palpable violation of them. The direct and certain effect of this institution is to extend _Executive patronage_; for the President has the entire selection of the _chosen two hundred_ and _fifty_ who are to be placed in the institution, and also to establish an _aristocracy_ of the most dangerous kind, viz.: a _military_ aristocracy in the United States. What, your memorialist would ask, is an aristocracy? Is it not where any particular class in a State claims and exercises privileges of which the great body of the people are deprived? And do not the cadets at West Point enjoy such privileges? and if so, do they not constitute an aristocracy? Your memorialist believes that neither the fact nor the inference can be controverted. But your memorialist will go further, and aver that the regulations at West Point have not only constituted an aristocracy in the United States, but that this aristocracy has already become, in a great degree, _hereditary_. How many individuals, your memoralist would ask, who have held offices of honor, trust, or emolument, under the Government, for the last twenty-five years, have had their sons, brothers, nephews, or other relatives, educated at the public expense at West Point, to the entire exclusion of those who (to say the least,) were equally meritorious, and equally capable of rendering service to the republic? And how many of those thus educated have ever rendered any service whatever? A reference to the rolls of the institution will answer these inquiries. Your memorialist has _personal_ knowledge of many instances. Your memorialist is well aware that it has been attempted, by the friends of this monstrous invasion of the rights of the people, to cast around it the mantle of Mr. Jefferson. Your memorialist is ready to grant that the institution was established during the early part of the first term of Mr. Jefferson’s administration; but denies that any inference can be drawn from that circumstance to sustain the present system. The institution _then_ consisted only of the corps of engineers, which was limited to sixteen officers and four cadets, without any of those exclusive privileges which have since been conferred upon it. On the 29th of April, 1812, (just previous to the declaration of war,) a law was, however, passed, entitled “An act making further provision for the corps of engineers;” by the provisions of which, the whole number of cadets, whether of infantry, artillery, or riflemen, was not to exceed two hundred and fifty; and the President to appoint a limited number of cadets, and conferring on him a _discretionary_ power to attach them to the Military Academy, was evidently induced by the certainty of immediate war with Great Britain, and had a direct reference to a _war_ establishment. Your memorialist would respectfully call the attention of your honorable body particularly to the provisions of the law of 1812 just referred to; and, if he does not much mistake, it will satisfactorily appear that the President is not _required_, but simply authorized, to appoint a single cadet; and that it is left entirely discretionary with him, after they are appointed, to attach them to the Military Academy, or to attach them to their respective companies, agreeably to the provisions of other laws then in existence. And here your memorialist would observe that, in the _peace_-establishment of the army previous to the late war, two cadets were allowed to each company of artillery, light infantry, and infantry, amounting, in the total, to a _larger_ number than was authorized by the law of 1812. But neither President Jefferson, nor President Madison considered that the law required of them to fill those vacancies so long as they considered their services were not required; and they consequently did not fill them. The largest number of cadets ever in service at the same time, previous to the late war, did not exceed forty, and seldom exceeded twenty-five. Do the necessities of the country require that any larger number should be retained in service now, than were deemed necessary by Presidents Jefferson and Madison during a time of peace? Your memorialist believes not. But it is urged, in favor of this academy, that it presents a most favorable opportunity for the education of meritorious young men who are poor, and, consequently, unable to educate themselves. Your memorialist, however, has yet to learn by what _constitutional_ authority Congress is empowered to appropriate any portion of the public revenue for the support of a _national charity school_ for the education of the poor. Besides, if this power did exist, (which your memorialist presumes no reasonable person will contend does,) _all_ the poor in the United States have an equal right to the benefits to be derived from its exercise, and that, consequently, the institution at West Point is on quite too limited a plan for the accomplishment of the contemplated object. Either, then, the institution should be very much enlarged, or several others established in different parts of the United States, which would be far more convenient for the great body of the poor. If, however, the rolls of this institution for the last twenty years be examined, it will be found that many more of the _rich_ and _influential_ have been educated there, than of the _poor_. Poverty, however meritorious the subject of it may be, is but a sorry recommendation for admission to this aristocratic establishment.

But it is further urged, that this institution is _necessary_ for the education of the officers of the army; and that, were it abolished, the candidates for commissions would not be properly qualified for the discharge of their duties as officers. Before your memorialist proceeds to examine the truth of this position, he would inquire, at what institution, and at whose expense, Generals Washington, Greene, Knox, Putnam, Lincoln, Sullivan, Morgan, Wayne, Sumter, Pickens, Marion, and all the other officers of the revolutionary army, by whose valor, skill, and patriotic exertions, these United States now constitute a free and independent nation, received their education? The answer is ready: at the ordinary institutions of the country, and at their _own_ expense; just as every _American citizen_ should be educated. And have the _proteges_ of the West Point Academy, on whose education so many millions of dollars of the peoples’ money have been expended within the last twenty years, exhibited more skill, more valor, or more patriotism, than did the officers of the revolutionary army? Let the events of the Florida war, as compared with those of the Revolution, answer the question. The truth is, (and it can not be much longer concealed from the view of the people, by the reports of _boards of visitors_,) that the whole system of education at West Point is well calculated to form _military pedants_ and _military dandies_, but will never form _efficient soldiers_. Much more important to them is their attention to the _cut_ of the _coat_, the placing of a _button_, and the _snowy whiteness of gloves and pantaloons_, than to those _physical_ and _moral qualities_ which are absolutely necessary to the correct and efficient discharge of the active duties of the field.

But your memorialist denies the truth of the position, that the West Point Academy is necessary for the education of young men for the army. There are other institutions where military science and instruction constitute a branch of education for the pupils. Of these institutions, however, your memorialist will particularize but one--and that is the Norwich University, at Norwich, Vermont, over which he has the honor to preside. This institution was incorporated by the Legislature of Vermont, in November, 1834, with full power to confer diplomas, &c. By the act of incorporation, military science is made a part of the education of all the pupils. They are consequently correctly and thoroughly instructed in the theoretical part of military science, and also in the _practical_ duties of the soldier, and every one who graduates at this institution is well qualified to discharge the duties of a company officer (and even, if necessary, to command a battalion) in any corps of the army. In order further to prepare them to discharge the more hardy and active duties of the soldier, they occasionally perform military marches. In the month of July, 1840, they performed a march, under the personal command of your memorialist, to the celebrated _military post_ of Ticonderoga, carrying their arms, accoutrements, knapsacks, &c.; the whole length of which was one hundred and sixty-five miles. Of this distance, one hundred and forty miles was on foot, and twenty-five miles by steamboat. The march on foot was performed in a little more than five days, crossing the Green Mountain range twice, and the ground, with the heavens for covering, constituted their only resting-place at night. The weather, during the whole march, was hot; and they were enveloped in a cloud of dust, occasioned by the severe drought, nearly the whole distance. They all returned in excellent health and spirits. The youngest member of the corps was thirteen years of age. The other branches of literature and science are attended to as extensively, and the latter much more practically, than at any other institution in the United States; and the students are consequently equally well qualified to discharge their duties in the _cabinet_ and in the _field_. But notwithstanding the members of this institution are, to say the least, as well qualified for commissions of any grade, and in any corps of the army, as those of any other institution in the country, and have also obtained the necessary qualifications at their own expense, they are virtually excluded therefrom by the _arbitrary_ and _monopolizing_ regulations (established without the least sanction of law,) of the Military Academy at West Point. In the month of September, 1840, a member of the Norwich University, the son of a highly respectable gentleman in the city of New York, well recommended, applied to the Secretary of War for a commission in the army, but was informed that there were _no vacancies_, and that the cadets from West Point were _more than sufficient to fill all the vacancies_. On the 21st of December, 1840, your memorialist wrote to the Secretary of War, recommending three young gentlemen, members of the Norwich University, for commissions in the army of the United States; and received an answer, dated War Department, December 29, 1840, from which the following is an extract: “I acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 21st instant, recommending Messrs. Morris, Stevens, and Dorne, for appointments in the army; and I have here to inform you, in reply, that there being no vacancies at present, the application will be filed for consideration, when any occur, _to which they can be appointed_.” Now your memorialist feels confident that the records of the War Department will show that a large number of cadets at West Point are commissioned every year; and he presumes that such will continue to be the case, unless a radical change is effected. But when young gentlemen of equal respectability and attainments, who have not been of the _favored few_ whom _Executive favor_ has admitted into this nursery of aristocracy, to be educated at the expense of the honest working men of the country, become applicants, their claims are entirely set aside. Against this _unconstitutional_, _unequal_, and _monopolizing_ practice, your memorialist deems it his duty respectfully, but most decidedly, to protest; and to ask of your honorable body the establishment of some rule whereby the members of the Norwich University, at least, (to whom, in many respects, he stands in the relation of guardian,) may be restored to their _constitutional rights_; that when they become applicants for stations of honor, trust, or emolument, in the military service of their country, they shall stand on terms of equality with the cadets at West Point.

Your memorialist deems it proper here to remark, that in October, 1840, he addressed a communication to the President of the United States, on this subject, requesting to be informed whether, in the opinion of the President, he possessed the power to remedy the grievance of which your memorialist complains; and, if so, whether such power would be exercised for that purpose. To this communication no answer has been received. Your memorialist, availing himself of the privileges granted to every American citizen, by the first amendment of the constitution of the United States, would beg leave to call the attention of your honorable body to some subjects, which he considers grievances of a high order, and respectfully but earnestly solicits that they may be redressed, viz:

1st. Your memorialist considers the Military Academy at West Point a grievance. Under its present organization, it is unconstitutional, calculated to foster a military aristocracy in the country; calculated to depress the militia, (our only constitutional defense,) by engrossing all the patronage of government; and is entirely unnecessary, as military science can be attained at other institutions, from which the necessary officers for the army can be supplied without any tax on the people. Your memorialist, therefore, asks that this institution may be abolished, and that the money that is annually appropriated for its support may be applied to aid in disciplining the militia, and disseminating military information amongst the people, who are its constitutional and safe depositories.

2nd. Your memorialist considers the Board of Visitors that annually assemble at West Point a grievance. This board never had any _existence whatever in law_, but was established by Executive usurpation; yet, to pay the expense of this illegal board, your memorialist believes that more than fifty thousand dollars has been drawn from the public treasury. Your memorialist earnestly solicits that this appropriation, the making of which is a direct sanction to Executive _usurpation_, should be discontinued.

3rd. Your memorialist considers the removal of the head-quarters of the corps of engineers from West Point to Washington a grievance, because it is a direct violation of the law of the 16th of March, 1802, establishing that corps. That law requires the commandant of engineers to reside at West Point, unless ordered, by the President of the United States, on duty at some other place in the line of his profession; and, when, at West Point, the law makes him superintendent of the Military Academy; and when he is absent, the next in rank (who is then present,) is made the _legal_ superintendent. The appointment, therefore, of any particular officer as permanent superintendent, is evidently illegal, as the law has clearly specified who the superintendent shall be.

All of which is respectfully submitted,

A. PARTRIDGE,
_President of Norwich University_.

JANUARY, 13, 1841.

REMARKS BY THE EDITOR.

We publish the foregoing Memorial of Capt. Partridge, asking Congress to redress “the grievance” of the Military Academy, not because we have the slightest sympathy with the object or main arguments of the memorialist, but as specimens of the opinions held and propagated by a graduate, professor, and superintendent of the Academy, who did more than any other individual to introduce military instruction and exercises in schools not national or professionally military. We can not, however, put it forth without accompanying it with a few brief remarks.

To Capt. Partridge, more than to any one man, and to his pupils, and personal friends, as we believe, is due the popular objections which prevail respecting the United States Military Academy, except so far as the objections spring from the abuse of the mode of appointing Cadets. For nearly twenty years Capt. Partridge was never known to express any doubt of the constitutionality or usefulness of this institution. His objections first took shape and utterance when he was superceded in the superintendence by Colonel Sylvanus Thayer. Of the circumstances and results of his removal, and of the appointment of Col. Thayer, and the subsequent reorganization of the Academy, something has already been said in the History of West Point, in this volume, (p. 17-48,) and more will be said when we come to speak of the labors of Col. Thayer.

So far as these objections are directed to the constitutionality of the laws for establishing the Cadet Corps, as distinct from any other Corps of the army, or against training officers collected together and organized as a school, we think them preëminently frivolous. If any friend of the Academy would assure his doubtful faith in its constitutionality, let him read Capt. Partridge’s Memorial, asking the same Congress to establish a system of National Education, which he petitions to redress the grievance of a special school, that every civilized government holds to be indispensable to the right organization of its armies.

So far as these objections are aimed at the mode of appointment and promotion,--confining both to the patronage of one man in the country, or one man in a Congressional District, acting in either case without personal examination of the party to be admitted or promoted, and excluding others, it may be, better qualified,--we hold them to be valid. A more disgraceful record of failures, where an opportunity of selecting the most meritorious candidates existed, can not be shown.

While we believe that candidates are too often recommended and nominated to the appointing power, from family and party considerations, we have seen no reason to believe that the social condition or occupation of parents has influenced the appointments. On the other hand, the records of the Academy, as made out in this particular by the Cadets themselves, exhibit a fair representation from all classes and occupations of society.

According to an official Statement, prepared by Capt. Boynton, and published in his History of the Academy, of 5206 cadets admitted from 1842 to 1863 inclusive, the fathers of 1,300 were farmers or planters; of 681, were lawyers; of 672, were merchants; of 377, were mechanics; of 69, were physicians; of 256, were in the civil service; of 116, were clergymen; of 467, were in the army or navy; of 572, were editors, masters of vessels, &c. Of the whole number, 1,136 were orphans, 1,585 were in moderate, 534 in reduced, 62 in indigent, and 324 in independent circumstances. We shall publish the Statement in our next Number.

The views presented in the memorial of Capt. Partridge in 1841, have found advocates in and out of Congress before and since. They were anticipated by the Secretary of War (John C. Calhoun), under whose energetic administration of the Department in 1816, the Academy first assumed the organization of an efficient military school--a place of thorough scientific instruction in the knowledge not simply of military drill, but of the duties of an accomplished artillerist and military engineer; and they have been deepened by the radically vicious system of appointment to cadetship, in which personal and political considerations have in too many instances outweighed the merits of young men, whose natural aptitude and generous ambition would have found here the special field for their largest development and usefulness. These views found expression in the elaborate speech of Franklin Pierce, then a member of the House from New Hampshire, in the discussion of an amendment to the appropriation bill in 1836 (June 30), who “felt bound to oppose the bill in every stage of its progress”--mainly on the ground that “the institution conferred exclusive and gratuitous privileges.”

It is _gratuitous_, because those who are so fortunate as to obtain admission there, receive their education without any obligation, except such as a sense of honor may impose, to return, either by service or otherwise, the slightest equivalent. It is exclusive, inasmuch as only one youth out of a population of more than 47,000 can participate in its advantages at the same time; and those who are successful, are admitted at an age when their characters cannot have become developed, and with very little knowledge of their adaptation, mental or physical, for military life. The system disregards one of those great principles which, carried into practice, contributed perhaps, more than any other, to render the arms of Napoleon invincible for so many years. Who does not perceive that it destroys the very life and spring of military ardor and enthusiasm, by utterly foreclosing all hope of promotion to her soldier and non-commissioned officer? However meritorious may be his services, however pre-eminent may become his qualifications for command, all are unavailing. The portcullis is dropped between him and preferment, the wisdom of your laws having provided another criterion than that of admitted courage and conduct, by which to determine who are worthy of command. They have made an Academy, where a certain number of young gentlemen are educated annually at the public expense, and to which there is, in consequence, a general rush, not so much from sentiments of patriotism, and a taste for military life, as from motives less worthy--the avenue, and the only avenue, to rank in your army.

I deny utterly the expediency and the right to educate at the public expense, any number of young men who, on the completion of their education, are not to form a portion of your military force, but to return to the walks of private life. Such was never the operation of the Military Academy until after the law of 1812; and the doctrine, so far as I have been able to ascertain, was first formally announced by a distinguished individual, at this time sufficiently jealous of the exercise of executive patronage, and greatly alarmed by what he conceives to be the tendencies of this Government to centralism and consolidation. It may be found in the report of the Secretary of War, communicated to Congress in 1819.

Mr. Pierce, afterwards President Pierce, quotes with approbation the suggestion of Col. Williams in a report to Mr. Jefferson in 1808--that the plan should be large enough to take not only minor officers, “but also any youth from any of the States who might wish for such an education whether designed for the Army or Navy, or neither, and let them be assessed to the value of their education, which might form a fund for extra or contingent expenses.”

These are the true doctrines upon this subject; doctrines worthy of the administration under which they were promulgated, and in accordance with the views of statesmen in the earlier and purer days of the Republic. Give to the officers of your army the highest advantages for perfection in all the branches of military science, and let those advantages be open to all in rotation, and under such terms and regulations as shall be at once impartial toward the officers, and advantageous to the service; but let all young gentlemen who have a taste for military life, and desire to adopt arms as a profession, prepare themselves for subordinate situations at their own expense, or at the expense of their parents or guardians, in the same manner that the youth of our country are qualified for the professions of civil life.

I am far from desiring to see this country destitute of a Military Academy; but I would have it a school of practice, and instruction, for officers actually in the service of the United States; not an institution for educating, gratuitously, young gentlemen, who, on the completion of their term, or after a few months’ leave of absence, resign their commissions, and return to the pursuits of civil life.

There has already been expended upon the institution more than three millions, three hundred thousand dollars. Between 1815 and 1831, thirteen hundred and eighteen students were admitted into the Academy; and of all the cadets who were ever there, only two hundred and sixty-five remained in the service at the end of 1830. Here are the expenses you have incurred, and the products you have realized.

When the War of Secession broke out, and graduates of the Academy then in the army,--like many other Southern men, in the civil service of the United States, imbued with the political doctrines and sympathizing with the domestic institution, on which the War was based--sided with the political leaders of their several states, the opposition to the institution took another direction. The record of the War silenced these objectors. According to Gen. Cullum’s _Biographical Register of the Graduates of the Military Academy_, out of 1,249 graduates living at the beginning of the Rebellion, 99 in civil life and 184 from the army, joined in the war against the United States. Three-fourths remained faithful. Of 821 graduates in the Army at the time, 184 (about one-fifth) joined in the Rebellion. Of the 99 in civil life all but one were residents in slave territory. Of 350 graduates who were born in or appointed from slave States, 162 remained loyal. Of the 292 loyal graduates in civil life, at the date of secession, 115 re-entered the Army--all below the age of 45, except those who were disabled for active duty, and most of these served in civil capacities. One-fifth of all the graduates who served in the battles of the Rebellion, one-fifth laid down their lives, and more than one-half were wounded in defence of the flag.

IV. AMERICAN LITERARY, SCIENTIFIC, AND MILITARY ACADEMY.

AT NORWICH, VERMONT.

The American Literary, Scientific, and Military Academy, at Norwich, Vermont, was opened on the 4th of September, 1820, by Capt. Alden Partridge, and continued under his personal superintendence and instruction, assisted by several professors, until April 1st, 1825, when it was discontinued at Norwich, and reopened at Middletown, Connecticut. The catalogue of the officers and cadets published August, 1821, contains a prospectus from which we make extracts to exhibit the aims of that school and of this particular class of institutions at that date.

TERMS OF ADMISSION.

The requisite qualifications for becoming members of the Institution are the following, viz: That the candidate be of good moral character, that he be able to read and spell correctly, to write a fair, legible hand, and work the ground rules of arithmetic.

COURSE OF INSTRUCTION.

Young gentlemen destined for a college education, can be prepared at this seminary for admission into any college or university in the country, either as freshmen, or one or two years in advance, and in the mean time will be enabled to acquire a good military and practical scientific education. Young gentlemen also, destined for the navy, can here be instructed in the scientific part of their profession, and at the same time, obtain a correct knowledge of fortification, and of military operations generally, on land, which it is believed they would find highly useful in future life. Parents and guardians who are desirous of placing their sons or wards at this seminary, are requested to state whether they wish them to go through with the full course of education; and if not, to specify, particularly, those branches to which they desire them to attend, and also to mention their ages.

The course of Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and English languages, Arithmetic, the construction and use of Logarithms, Algebra, Geometry, Plane and Spherical Trigonometry, Planometry, Stereometry, Mensuration of heights and distances by Trigonometry, and also Geometrically, practical Geometry generally, including particularly Surveying and Leveling, Conic Sections, the use of the Barometer, with its application to measuring the altitudes of mountains and other eminences, Mechanics, Hydrostatics, Hydraulics, the elements of Chemistry and Electricity, Optics, Astronomy, Navigation, Geography, including the use of Maps and the Globes; Composition, Logic, History, Ethics, the elements of Natural and Political Law, the Law of Nations, Military Law, the Constitution of the United States, and of the states severally, Metaphysics; Agriculture, Permanent and Field Fortification, Field Engineering generally, the construction of Marine Batteries, Artillery duty, the principles of Gunnery, a complete course of Military Tactics, the attack and defense of fortified places, Castrametation, ancient Fortification, the ancient modes of attacking and defending fortified places, the ancient Tactics, particularly those of the Greeks and Romans, with a description of the organization and discipline of the phalanx and legion; Book-Keeping, Music, Fencing, Military Drawing, Topography, Civil Engineering, including the construction of Roads, Canals, Locks, and Bridges; Architecture.

The Hebrew and French languages, Fencing and Music will not be considered as comprised in the regular course of education, and consequently those who attend to them will be charged separately.

MILITARY EXERCISE, AND DUTIES.

The students will be regularly and correctly instructed in the elementary school of the soldier, and also in those of the company and battalion; they will likewise be taught the regular formation of military parades, the turning off, mounting, and relieving guards and sentinels; the duties of officers of the guard, officers of the day, and adjutants; the making out correctly the different descriptions of military reports; in fine, all the duties incident to the field or garrison. The military exercises and duties will be so arranged as not to occupy any of the time that would otherwise be devoted to study; they will be attended to at those hours of the day which are generally passed by students in idleness, or devoted to useless amusements, for which they will be made a pleasing and healthful substitute. Practical scientific operations will be frequently attended to, which will conduce equally to health and improvement.

The students will be required to sleep on matrasses, or straw-beds; no
feather-beds will be allowed in the establishment.

For the purpose of giving to the students a military appearance, when engaged on military duty, and also on a principle of economy, they are required to wear a uniform dress, a description of which is hereunto annexed. In prescribing a dress, it has been endeavored to combine as far as possible, cheapness and a neat military appearance, with such a form as, while it leaves the student the free and unrestrained use of his limbs, will at the same time encumber him the least possible. The discipline will be strict, but correct; and particular attention will be given to the full development and due cultivation of all those liberal, manly, noble and independent sentiments which ought to characterize every American, whether citizen or soldier. The strictest attention will be given to the health, manners and morals of the students. They will be continually under the personal inspection of the superintendent, who will bestow upon them all that care and attention which it is believed their parents, under similar circumstances, would bestow.

MILITARY LECTURES.

For the accommodation of gentlemen, (particularly of those holding commissions in the volunteer corps and militia,) who may not wish to go through with a regular course of military studies and instruction, and also for the purpose of diffusing military science more generally, Capt. Partridge will deliver annually at the before-mentioned seminary, three courses of public lectures; the first course to commence on the second Monday in May, the second course on the second Monday in July, and the third course on the first Monday in October, annually. These lectures will embrace the following branches of military science and instruction, viz.:--

1st. Permanent and field fortification, the construction of field
works generally, and also of marine batteries.

2d. The attack and defense of fortified places.

3d. The use of artillery, with a general exposition of the principles
of gunnery.

4th. Military Tactics.

5th. Garrison and field service of troops, embracing particularly their police and rules for turning off, mounting and relieving guards and sentinels, and also for guard duty, likewise castrametation.

6th. General rules for the attack and defense of a province or country
embracing an exposition of the principles of base lines of operation.

7th. Rules for the inspection and review of troops.

8th. A summary of ancient fortification, and also of the ancient modes
of attacking and defending fortified places.

9th. A summary of the ancient tactics, particularly those of the
Greeks and Romans.

10th. A description of some of the most celebrated battles and sieges, both of ancient and modern times, for the purpose of practically illustrating the principles explained in the lectures. In order to render the lectures on fortification perfectly intelligible, plans will be prepared, on which the several parts of a work will be clearly and distinctly exhibited.

Particular attention will be given to a full explanation of all the technical terms used in fortification, as well as in the other departments of military science. A full course will comprise about twenty lectures; five to be delivered in each week until the course be finished. The terms for attending a course will be ten dollars. Gentlemen subscribing for two courses, will be allowed ever after to attend gratis. All those attending the lectures, will be entitled, during the time of such attendance, to practical military instruction, and also to the privilege of the reading-room, without any additional charge.

On the 1st of April, 1825, Capt. Partridge was induced by liberal overtures from citizens of Middletown, Conn., to leave his institution at Norwich, and remove to Middletown, Conn., and reopen it in that city. Before doing so he published a card in which he exhibits the progress and results of his labors at Norwich.

This seminary was opened at Norwich, in the state of Vermont, on the 4th of September, 1820, under my immediate direction and superintendence; and although the plan was new and untried, besides containing principles, which were by many considered discordant with each other, viz., the connecting of mental improvement with a regular course of bodily exercise, and the full development of the physical powers, the whole conducted under a military system of discipline; still its success has exceeded, rather than fallen short, of my most sanguine expectations.

The following extract from a recent report of the adjutant of the institution, compiled from the rolls and other authentic documents, will enable the public to form their conclusions, from facts on this subject.

1st. The total number of cadets who have joined the institution, since
its organization, is 480.

2d. The numbers from the respective states, and other sections
hereafter mentioned, are as follows, viz.:--

From Maine, 28
Massachusetts, 89
New Hampshire, 57
Vermont, 115
Connecticut, 33
Rhode Island, 10
New York, 40
Pennsylvania, 15
New Jersey, 6
Delaware, 2
Maryland, 4
Virginia, 1
North Carolina, 7
South Carolina, 45
Kentucky, 2
Georgia, 7
Ohio, 1
Louisiana, 4
Mississippi, 5
Missouri, 1
Michigan, 2
District of Columbia, 2
Lower Canada, 2
Havana, Island Cuba, 1
Island Scio, Greece, 1

3dly. Of the above number, twenty are commissioned and warrant officers of the U.S. Navy, viz., 4 lieutenants, 1 assistant-surgeon, and 15 midshipmen.

4thly. Out of the whole, 441 have been engaged in the study of the Mathematics, and out of this number 145 have completed a full course of “_Hutton’s Mathematics_.” Of these, 80 have, in addition, attended to practical Mathematics, 56 have continued their course through the study of Philosophy, and others are now fast progressing in the accomplishment of those higher branches also.

5thly. The whole number who have studied the Greek and Latin languages, is about 150. Of these, 25 have advanced far towards completing a course, although none have gone entirely through. Of those not included in the last-mentioned number, many have fitted for college, or progressed still farther, and many are progressing. What is here considered a course, is the same which is laid down in the prospectus, which could be scarcely completed in the period since the establishment of the institution.

6thly. The number of those who have attended to the French language, is about 130. Twenty have become well acquainted with the language--30 are very well advanced, and many of the remainder have made respectable progress.

7thly. About ten or twelve of those who have been, or are now members of the institution, have devoted considerable time and instruction of the militia or volunteer corps, in this and various other sections of the country, and many of them are still engaged in that useful employment.

Of those who have been, or are now, engaged in the study of the Latin and Greek languages, I flatter myself there are several who would not suffer by a comparison with any of the same degree of advancement at our older and most approved seminaries; and as a school of practical science, I have little hesitation in asserting, that it is second to none in our country. In confirmation of this assertion, I would observe, that since the establishment of the seminary, my pupils, in addition to their usual exercises in practical geometry, and many operations of minor consequence, have executed, in a very handsome manner, a profile of the country, exhibiting the perpendicular altitudes of all the prominent points, above tide water, as determined by actual observation, from the summit of Manchester mountain, in the state of Vermont, to the summit of mount Washington, the highest elevation of the White Mountains, in the state of New Hampshire, a distance of 165 miles. They have also executed a similar profile from Norwich to Whitehall, in the state of New York, a distance of sixty-eight miles, and have further executed a trigonometrical survey of the country around Norwich, for a distance in some directions, of about twenty miles. This survey was commenced, and has been prosecuted, in such a manner as to serve as a basis for any further operations that may be thought necessary. A handsome topographical plan of this survey is finished.

In the department of French, it is believed, the pupils have made as rapid progress as at any seminary in our country, and in Mineralogy, Botany, &c., although but recently commenced, there appears to be much zeal, and a corresponding improvement, amongst the classes which have attended, and those still attending, numbering about sixty.

Music and fencing have been attended by a large proportion of the
members, and with a progress highly creditable to them.