He Was Very Firm As
To This; But A Little Bird Of West Point, Whose Information, Though
Not Official Or
Probably accurate in words, seemed to me to be
worthy of reliance in general, told me that eyes were wont
To wink
when such glasses of wine made themselves unnecessarily visible.
Let us fancy an English mess of young men from seventeen to twenty-
one, at which a mug of beer would be felony and a glass of wine
high treason! But the whole management of the young with the
Americans differs much from that in vogue with us. We do not
require so much at so early an age, either in knowledge, in morals,
or even in manliness. In America, if a lad be under control, as at
West Point, he is called upon for an amount of labor and a degree
of conduct which would be considered quite transcendental and out
of the question in England. But if he be not under control, if at
the age of eighteen he be living at home, or be from his
circumstances exempt from professorial power, he is a full-fledged
man, with his pipe apparatus and his bar acquaintances.
And then I was told, at West Point, how needful and yet how painful
it was that all should be removed who were in any way deficient in
credit to the establishment. "Our rules are very exact," my
informant told me; "but the carrying out of our rules is a task not
always very easy." As to this also I had already heard something
from that little bird of West Point; but of course I wisely
assented to my informant, remarking that discipline in such an
establishment was essentially necessary. The little bird had told
me that discipline at West Point had been rendered terribly
difficult by political interference. "A young man will be
dismissed by the unanimous voice of the board, and will be sent
away. And then, after a week or two, he will be sent back, with an
order from Washington that another trial shall be given him. The
lad will march back into the college with all the honors of a
victory, and will be conscious of a triumph over the superintendent
and his officers." "And is that common?" I asked. "Not at the
present moment," I was told. "But it was common before the war.
While Mr. Buchanan, and Mr. Pierce, and Mr. Polk were Presidents,
no officer or board of officers then at West Point was able to
dismiss a lad whose father was a Southerner, and who had friends
among the government."
Not only was this true of West Point, but the same allegation is
true as to all matters of patronage throughout the United States.
During the three or four last presidencies, and I believe back to
the time of Jackson, there has been an organized system of
dishonesty in the management of all beneficial places under the
control of the government. I doubt whether any despotic court of
Europe has been so corrupt in the distribution of places - that is,
in the selection of public officers - as has been the assemblage of
statesmen at Washington.
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