Experience has left no doubt either of the
necessity or of the efficacy of competent military skill in those
portions of an army in fitting it for the final duties which it may have
to perform.
The Corps of Engineers, with the Military Academy, are entitled to the
early attention of Congress. The buildings at the seat fixed by law for
the present Academy are so far in decay as not to afford the necessary
accommodation. But a revision of the law is recommended, principally
with a view to a more enlarged cultivation and diffusion of the
advantages of such institutions, by providing professorships for all the
necessary branches of military instruction, and by the establishment of
an additional academy at the seat of Government or elsewhere. The means
by which war, as well for defense as for offense, are now carried on
render these schools of the more scientific operations an indispensable
part of every adequate system. Even among nations whose large standing
armies and frequent wars afford every other opportunity of instruction
these establishments are found to be indispensable for the due
attainment of the branches of military science which require a regular
course of study and experiment. In a government happily without the
other opportunities seminaries where the elementary principles of the
art of war can be taught without actual war, and without the expense of
extensive and standing armies, have the precious advantage of uniting an
essential preparation against external danger with a scrupulous regard
to internal safety.
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