But to return to the question. I hold it to be a less evil to give the supernumerary cadets a gratuitous education, if the nation can be thereafter discharged from their support, than to retain them as officers of the army, when their services are not wanted. Already the supernumeraries, at the lowest estimate, amount to seventy, whose support and pay cost the nation nearly 70,000 dollars a year; and the number will be largely increased at the next examination, which occurs in June. Prior to the Florida war, the number of unemployed officers was much greater; but, at its commencement, resignations were “plenty as blackberries.” It is but justice, however, to those who retained their commissions, to say, that they fought gallantly and well in the most unpromising and disagreeable contest.
Not only is the military academy an aristocratic and expensive institution, but it is also the parent of some _positive evils_. The first that I shall notice is the jealousies and controversies which it occasions between the officers of the army. Some of the officers have been educated at West Point, others have not. Most of the superior officers have not enjoyed the advantages of that institution: nearly all of the inferior officers have. Thus they are divided into two classes--the regular and the irregular. The cadets, having enjoyed greater advantages than their superiors--served a regular apprenticeship to their business, and entered the service by the only door the law now recognises--can hardly fail to look upon their superiors as unlearned, as mere intruders, the creatures of accident, as usurper of stations of right belonging to themselves. Is it possible for such feelings to remain smothered for years in the bosom, like the hidden fire of a volcano, without occasional eruptions? Will not such sentiments be very apt to break out in overt acts of disrespect and contempt? And will not the older officers, annoyed and disgusted by what they deem the vanity and presumption of the juniors, be likely to meet this spirit by a haughty and imperious bearing, calculated and intended to mortify their pride, and check their assumptions? Have not the many quarrels and controversies, often ending in courts of inquiry and courts-martial, which have been so frequent in, and so disgraceful to the army, originated principally in these conflicting sentiments? Sir, I apprehend the difficulties have been so produced, and under the same circumstances they will continue to occur, while human nature remains unchanged. Harmony can no more be expected to exist between two distinct classes of officers, so differently taught and appointed, than between different sets of children in the same family, whom all experience has shown to be irreconcilable.