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.
And this is the evil which the country is
now expiating with its blood and treasure.
It has allowed its
knaves to stand in the high places; and now it finds that knavish
works have brought about evil results. But of this I shall be
constrained to say something further hereafter.
We went into all the schools of the college, and made ourselves
fully aware that the amount of learning imparted was far above our
comprehension. It always occurs to me, in looking through the new
schools of the present day, that I ought to be thankful to persons
who know so much for condescending to speak to me at all in plain
English. I said a word to the gentleman who was with me about
horses, seeing a lot of lads going to their riding lesson. But he
was down upon me, and crushed me instantly beneath the weight of my
own ignorance. He walked me up to the image of a horse, which he
took to pieces, bit by bit, taking off skin, muscle, flesh, nerves,
and bones, till the animal was a heap of atoms, and assured me that
the anatomy of the horse throughout was one of the necessary
studies of the place. We afterward went to see the riding. The
horses themselves were poor enough. This was accounted for by the
fact that such of them as had been found fit for military service
had been taken for the use of the army.
There is a gallery in the college in which are hung sketches and
pictures by former students. I was greatly struck with the merit
of many of these. There were some copies from well-known works of
art of very high excellence, when the age is taken into account of
those by whom they were done. I don't know how far the art of
drawing, as taught generally, and with no special tendency to
military instruction, may be necessary for military training; but
if it be necessary I should imagine that more is done in that
direction at West Point than at Sandhurst. I found, however, that
much of that in the gallery, which was good, had been done by lads
who had not obtained their degree, and who had shown an aptitude
for drawing, but had not shown any aptitude for other pursuits
necessary to their intended career.
And then we were taken to the chapel, and there saw, displayed as
trophies, two of our own dear old English flags. I have seen many
a banner hung up in token of past victory, and many a flag taken on
the field of battle mouldering by degrees into dust on some
chapel's wall - but they have not been the flags of England. Till
this day I had never seen our own colors in any position but one of
self-assertion and independent power. From the tone used by the
gentleman who showed them to me, I could gather that he would have
passed them by, had he not foreseen that he could not do so without
my notice. "I don't know that we are right to put them there," he
said. "Quite right," was my reply, "as long as the world does such
things." In private life it is vulgar to triumph over one's
friends, and malicious to triumph over one's enemies. We have not
got so far yet in public life, but I hope we are advancing toward
it. In the mean time I did not begrudge the Americans our two
flags. If we keep flags and cannons taken from our enemies, and
show them about as signs of our own prowess after those enemies
have become friends, why should not others do so as regards us? It
clearly would not be well for the world that we should always beat
other nations and never be beaten. I did not begrudge that chapel
our two flags. But, nevertheless, the sight of them made me sick
in the stomach and uncomfortable. As an Englishman I do not want
to be ascendant over any one. But it makes me very ill when any
one tries to be ascendant over me. I wish we could send back with
our compliments all the trophies that we hold, carriage paid, and
get back in return those two flags, and any other flag or two of
our own that may be doing similar duty about the world. I take it
that the parcel sent away would be somewhat more bulky than that
which would reach us in return.
The discipline at West Point seemed, as I have said, to be very
severe; but it seemed also that that severity could not in all
cases be maintained. The hours of study also were long, being
nearly continuous throughout the day. "English lads of that age
could not do it," I said; thus confessing that English lads must
have in them less power of sustained work than those of America.
"They must do it here," said my informant, "or else leave us." And
then he took us off to one of the young gentlemen's quarters, in
order that we might see the nature of their rooms. We found the
young gentleman fast asleep on his bed, and felt uncommonly grieved
that we should have thus intruded on him. As the hour was one of
those allocated by my informant in the distribution of the day to
private study, I could not but take the present occupation of the
embryo warrior as an indication that the amount of labor required
might be occasionally too much even for an American youth. "The
heat makes one so uncommonly drowsy," said the young man. I was
not the least surprised at the exclamation. The air of the
apartment had been warmed up to such a pitch by the hot-pipe
apparatus of the building that prolonged life to me would, I should
have thought, be out of the question in such an atmosphere.
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