New Hampshire Statesman

The editor of the Nashua Telegraph—(and there is no better authority in military affairs) says of the officer drills:

The truth is, and it cannot be disguised, that the present system is unpopular among the people. Men may make fine speeches upon muster fields and parades, about it, and talk of the glorious achievements of the militia in the revolutionary war,—of the right to bear arms—of the defence of their country and their hearth-stones—of the evil effects of standing armies, and explode almost, with patriotic declamation, but they cannot make one hair black or white in regard to this matter.—Men feel and know, that the country has outlived, and outgrown the necessity for all this service. The fact that the men who are compelled to do it know so very little of military discipline, is conclusive evidence upon this point. Within our own recollection it was not so. In the early days of the country, there was an apparent need of it, and it was not then deemed a dishonor, or a burden to do it, and there was then a degree of discipline among the military, which we venture to predict, in spite of officer drills, will never be found again until the system is essentially modified in its requirements.