Isolated as the officers are from the world, (for these forts are far
removed from towns or cities,) they contrived to form a society within
themselves, having most of them recourse to matrimony, which always
gives a man something to do, and acts as a fillip upon his faculties,
which might stagnate from such quiet monotony. The society, therefore,
at these outposts is small, but very pleasant. All the officers being
now educated at West Point, they are mostly very intelligent and well
informed, and soldiers' wives are always agreeable women all over the
world. The barracks turned out also a very fair show of children upon
the green sward. The accommodations are, generally speaking, very good,
and when supplies can be received, the living is equally so; when they
cannot, it can't be helped, and there is so much money saved. A
suttler's store is attached to each outpost, and the prices of the
articles are regulated by a committee of officers, and a tax is also
levied upon the suttler in proportion to the number of men in the
garrison, the proceeds of which are appropriated to the education of the
children of the soldiers and the provision of a library and news-room.
If the government were to permit officers to remain at any one station
for a certain period, much more would be done; but the government is
continually shifting them from post to post, and no one will take the
trouble to sow when he has no chance of reaping the harvest. Indeed,
many of the officers complained that they hardly had time to furnish
their apartments in one fort when they were ordered off to another--not
only a great inconvenience to them, but a great expense also.
The American army is not a favourite service, and this is not to be
wondered at. It is ill-treated in every way; the people have a great
dislike to them, which is natural enough in a Democracy; but what is
worse, to curry favour with the people, the government very often do not
support the officers in the execution of their duty. Their furloughs
are very limited, and they have their choice of the outposts, where they
live out of the world, or the Florida war, when they go out of it. But
the greatest injustice is, that they have no half-pay: if not wishing to
be employed they must resign their commissions and live as they can. In
this point there is a great partiality shown to the navy, who have such
excellent half-pay, although to prevent remarks at such glaring
injustice to the other service, another term is given to the naval
half-pay, and the naval officers are supposed to be always on service.
The officers of the army are paid a certain sum, and allowed a certain
number of rations per month; for instance, a major-general has two
hundred dollars per month, and fifteen rations: According to the
estimated value of the rations, as given to me by one of the officers,
the annual pay of the different grades will be, in our money, nearly as
follows:--
Army.
+==================+======+=========+======+
YArmy YpoundsYNavy YpoundsY
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YMajor-General Y 850Y Y Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YBrigadier-General Y 570YSame rankY 960Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YColonel Y 340YDo. Y 830Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YLieutenant-ColonelY 280Y Y Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YMajor Y 225YDo. Y 525Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YCaptain Y 200YDo. Y 380Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YFirst Lieutenant Y 150Y Y Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YSecond Lieutenant Y 140Y Y Y
+------------------+------+---------+------+
YCadet Y 90YDo. Y 156Y
+==================+======+=========+======+
The cavalry officers have a slight increase of pay.
The privates of the American regular army are not the most creditable
soldiers in the world; they are chiefly composed of Irish emigrants,
Germans, and deserters from the English regiments in Canada. Americans
are very rare; only those who can find nothing else to do, and have to
choose between enlistment and starvation, will enter into the American
army. They do not, however, enlist for longer than three years. There
is not much discipline, and occasionally a great deal of insolence, as
might be expected from such a collection. Corporal punishment has been
abolished in the American army except for desertion; and if ever there
was a proof of the necessity of punishment to enforce discipline, it is
the many substitutes in lieu of it, to which the officers are compelled
to resort--all of them more severe than flogging. The most common is
that of loading a man with thirty-six pounds of shot in his knapsack,
and making him walk three hours out of four, day and night without
intermission, with this weight on his shoulders, for six days and six
nights; that is, he is compelled to walk three hours with the weight,
and then is suffered to sit down _one_. Towards the close this
punishment becomes very severe; the feet of the men are so sore and
swelled, that they cannot move for some days afterwards. I inquired
what would be the consequence if a man were to throw down his knapsack
and refuse to walk. The commanding-officer of one of the forts replied,
that he would be hung up by the thumbs till he fainted--a variety of
piquetting. Surely these punishments savour quite as much of severity,
and are quite as degrading as flogging.
The pay of an American private is good--fourteen dollars a month, out of
which his rations and regimentals take eight dollars, leaving him six
dollars a month for pleasure. Deserters are punished by being made to
drag a heavy ball and chain after them, which is never removed day or
night. If discharged, they are flogged, their heads shaved, and they
are drummed out at the point of the bayonet.
From the conversations I have had with many deserters from our army, who
were residing in the United States or were in the American service, I am
convinced that it would be a very well-judged measure to offer a free
pardon to all those who would return to Canada and re-enter the English
service. I think that a good effective regiment would soon be
collected, and one that you might trust on the frontiers without any
fear of their deserting again; and it would have another good effect,
that is, that their statements would prevent the desertion of others.
America, and its supposed freedom, is, to the British soldiers, an
Utopia in every sense of the word. They revel in the idea; they seek it
and it is not to be found. The greatest desertion from the English
regiments is among the musicians composing the bands. There are so many
theatres in America, and so few musicians, except coloured people, that
instrumental performers of all kinds are in great demand. People are
sent over to Canada, and the other British provinces to persuade these
poor fellows to desert, promising them very large salaries, and pointing
out to them the difference between being a gentleman in America and a
slave in the English service. The temptation is too strong; they
desert; and when they strive, they soon learn the value of the promises
made to them, and find how cruelly they have been deceived.
The Florida war has been a source of dreadful vexation and expense to
the United States, having already cost them between 20,000,000 and
30,000,000 of dollars, without any apparent prospect of its coming to a
satisfactory conclusion. The American government has also very much
injured its character, by the treachery and disregard of honour shown by
it to the Indians, who have been, most of them, captured under a flag of
truce. I have heard so much indignation expressed by the Americans
themselves at this conduct that I shall not comment farther upon it. It
is the Federal government, and not the officers employed, who must bear
the _onus_. But this war has been mortifying, and even dangerous to the
Americans in another point. It has now lasted three years and more.
General after general has been superseded, because they have not been
able to bring it to a conclusion; and the Indians have proved, to
themselves and to the Americans, that they can defy them when they once
get them among the swamps and morasses. There has not been one hundred
Indians killed, although many of them have been treacherously kidnapped,
by a violation of honour; and it is supposed that the United States have
already lost one thousand men, if not more, in this protracted conflict.
The aggregate force under General Jessup, in Florida, in November, 1837,
was stated to be as follows:--
+==========+=====+
YRegulars Y4,637Y
+----------+-----+
YVolunteersY4,078Y
+----------+-----+
YSeamen Y 100Y
+----------+-----+
YIndians Y 178Y
+----------+-----+
Y Y8,893Y
+==========+=====+
It is supposed that the number of Indians remaining in Florida do not
amount, men, women, and children, to more than 1,500 and General Jessup
has declared to the government that the war is _impracticable_.
Militia.--The return of the militia of the United States, for the year
1837, is as follows:--
The number of _Militia_ in the several states and territories, according
to the statement of George Bomford, Colonel of Ordnance, dated 20th
November, 1837.
+======================+==============+=================+
YStates and TerritoriesYDate of ReturnYNumber of MilitiaY
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YMaine Y 1836Y 42,468Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YNew Hampshire Y 1836Y 27,473Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YMassachusetts Y 1836Y 44,911Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YLouisiana Y 1830Y 14,808Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YMississippi Y 1830Y 13,724Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YTennessee Y 1830Y 60,982Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YVermont Y 1824Y 25,581Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YRhode Island Y 1832Y 1,377Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YConnecticut Y 1836Y 23,826Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YNew York Y 1836Y 184,728Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YNew Jersey Y 1829Y 39,171Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YPennsylvania Y 1834Y 202,281Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YDelaware Y 1827Y 9,229Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YMaryland Y 1836Y 46,854Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YVirginia Y 1836Y 101,838Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YNorth Carolina Y 1835Y 64,415Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YSouth Carolina Y 1833Y 51,112Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YGeorgia Y 1834Y 48,461Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YAlabama Y 1829Y 14,892Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YKentucky Y 1836Y 71,483Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YOhio Y 1836Y 146,428Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YIndiana Y 1833Y 53,913Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YIllinois Y 1831Y 27,386Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YMissouri Y 1835Y 6,170Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YArkansas Y 1825Y 2,028Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YMichigan Y 1831Y 5,478Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YFlorida Territory Y 1831Y 827Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YWisconsin Territory Y --Y --Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
YDistrict of Columbia Y 1832Y 1,249Y
+----------------------+--------------+-----------------+
Y Y Y 1,333,091Y
+======================+==============+=================+
This is an enormous force, but at the commencement of a war not a very
effective one. In fact, there is no country in the world so defenceless
as the United States, but, once roused up, no country more formidable if
any (attempt) is made to invade its territories. At the outbreak of a
war, the states have almost everything to provide; and although the
Americans are well adapted as materials for soldiers, still they have to
be levied and disciplined. At the commencement of hostilities, it is
not improbable that a well-organised force of 30,000 men might walk
through the whole of the Union, from Maine to Georgia; but it is almost
certain that not one man would ever get back again, as by that time the
people would have been roused and excited, armed and sufficiently
disciplined; and their numbers, independent of their bravery, would
overwhelm three or four times the number I have mentioned.
Another point must not pass unnoticed, which is, that in America, the
major part of which is still an uncleared country, the system of warfare
naturally partakes much of the Indian practices of surprise and
ambuscade; and the invaders will always have to labour under the great
disadvantage of the Americans having that perfect knowledge of the
country which the former have not.
Most of the defeats of the British troops have been occasioned by this
advantage on the part of the Americans, added to the impracticability of
the country rendering the superior discipline of the British of no
avail. Indeed the great advantages of knowing the country were proved
by the American attempts to invade Canada during the last war, and which
ended in the capitulation of General Hull. In an uncleared country,
even where large forces meet, each man, to a certain degree, acts
independently, taking his position, perhaps, behind a tree (treeing it,
as they term it in America), or any other defence which may offer. Now,
it is evident that, skilled as all the Americans are in fire-arms, and
generally using rifles, a disciplined English soldier, with his clumsy
musket, fights at a disadvantage; and, therefore, with due submission to
his Grace, the Duke of Wellington was very wrong when he stated, the
other day in the House of Lords, that the militia of Canada should be
disbanded, and their place supplied by regular troops from England. The
militia of Upper Canada are quite as good men as the Americans, and can
meet them after their own fashion. A certain proportion of regulars are
advantageous, as they are more steady, and in case of a check can be
more depended upon; but it is not once in five times that they will,
either in America or Canada, be able to bring their concentrated
discipline into play. But if the Americans have not the discipline of
our troops, their courage is undoubted, and even upon a clear plain the
palm of victory will always be severely disputed. A Vermonter,
surprised for a moment at finding himself in a charge of bayonets, with
the English troops, eyed his opponents, and said, "Well I calculate my
piece of iron is as good as _yourn_, anyhow," and then rushed to the
attack. People who "calculate" in that way are not to be trifled with,
as the annals of history fully demonstrate.
A war between America and England is always to be deprecated.
Notwithstanding that the countries are severed, still the Americans are
our descendants; they speak the same language, and (although they do not
readily admit it) still look up to us as their mother country. It is
true that this feeling is fast wearing away, but still it is not yet
effaced. It is true also that, in their ambition and their
covetousness, they would destroy the mutual advantages derived by both
countries from our commercial relations, that they might, by
manufacturing as well as producing, secure the whole profits to
themselves. But they are wrong; for great as America is becoming, the
time is not yet arrived when she can compete with English capital, or
work for herself without it. But there is another reason why a war
between the two countries is so much to be deprecated, which is, that is
must ever be a cruel and an irritating war. To attack the Americans by
invasion will always be hazardous, and must ultimately prove disastrous.
In what manner, then, is England to avenge any aggression that may be
committed by the Americans? All she can do is to ravage, burn, and
destroy; to carry the horrors of war along their whole extended line of
coast, distressing the non-combatants, and wreaking vengeance upon the
defenceless.
Dreadful to contemplate as this is, and, even more dreadful the system
of stimulating the Indian tribes to join us, adding scalping, and the
murdering of women and children, to other horrors, still it is the only
method to which England could resort, and, indeed, a method to which she
would be warranted to resort, in her own behoof. Moreover, in case of a
future war, England must not allow it to be of such short duration as
was the last; the Americans must be made to feel it, by its being
protracted until their commerce is totally annihilated, and their
expenses are increased in proportion with the decrease of their means.
Let it not be supposed that England would harass the coasts of America,
or raise the Indian tribes against her, from any feeling of malevolence,
or any pleasure in the sufferings which must ensue. It would be from
the knowledge of the fact that money is the sinews of war; and
consequently that, by obliging the Americans to call out so large a
force as she must do to defend her coast and to repel the Indians, she
would be put to such an enormous expense, as would be severely felt
throughout the Union, and soon incline all parties to a cessation of
hostilities. It is to touch their pockets that this plan must and
_will_ be resorted to; and a war carried on upon that plan alone, would
prove a salutary lesson to a young and too ambitious a people. Let the
Americans recollect the madness of joy with which the hats and caps were
thrown up in the air at New York, when, even after so short a war with
England, they heard that the treaty of peace had been concluded; and
that too at a time when England was so occupied in a contest, it may be
said, with the whole world, that she could hardly divert a portion of
her strength to act against America: then let them reflect how
sanguinary, how injurious, a protracted war with England would be, when
she could direct her whole force against them. It is, however, useless
to ask a people to reflect who are governed and ruled by the portion who
will _not_ reflect. The forbearance must be on our part; and, for the
sake of humanity, it is to be hoped that we shall be magnanimous enough
to forbear, for so long as may be consistent with the maintenance of our
national honour.