NEW YORK'S TEN THOUSAND 463 



days of the Tudors and Stuarts, the English people, slavishly submis- 

 sive to the caprices and excesses of monarchy, always stubbornly re- 

 fused to countenance a standing army. In the early wars in which 

 England was engaged it was seldom that her land forces were better 

 than armed mobs; and until Cromwell trained his Ironsides, hardly 

 anything that at the present day would be called discipline was known. 

 Xow in America the president possesses powers for action greatly ex- 

 ceeding those of any limited monarch, and almost equaling those of an 

 oriental despot. He is not only absolute within limits prescribed by 

 civil law, but he is commander-in-chief of the army and navy, and as 

 such may in certain emergencies suspend or annul the functions of 

 congress and the courts. This is not only theoretical, it was proved 

 during the war-between-the-states to be preeminently practical, notably 

 in the instance of the emancipation of the slaves. The possession of 

 such masterful powers indicates, not at all any peril of " imperialism," 

 so called, but rather an expression of the cordial consent of an en- 

 lightened and free people, and the certainty that the law may safely 

 permit a temporary suspension of its own functions, confident that — • 

 the danger overpast — these will be resumed without impairment of 

 liberty. 



The strong arm of the president of the United States for the en- 

 forcement of the laws of the land is the regular army. Note with what 

 remarkable foresight our system was planned to avert the danger that 

 so aflirighted our British ancestors. The ordinary civil processes for 

 the quelling of disorder — the sheriff and his posse, constables, police — 

 failing, the state militia are called out; and these all having proved in- 

 effectual, constitutionally recourse is had to the authority of the presi- 

 dent and the army. And this force is at once the most masterful and 

 the least domineering. Every now and then — some " radical " having 

 urged more vehemently than ordinary " government ownership of rail- 

 ways," the return outcry voices the fear that the votes of so many em- 

 ployees would be utilized by the chief magistrate " to perpetuate his 

 power." But while there may be a possibility that such fears are 

 genuine, who for a moment associates the idea of politics with an army 

 man? Often in the course of our history some successful general has 

 been seized upon by a political party as an available candidate for the 

 highest olfice. Almost half our presidents and presidential candidates 

 have been more or less military men. Usually they have been politi- 

 cians in inverse proportion to their military ability, for the most part 

 perhaps, " Good men weighing so and so many pounds." 



Note upon what inflexible principles the army is decreed, consti- 

 tuted, manned, officered and governed. It emanates directly from the 

 people, the people's representatives, by authority and direction of the 

 constitution, permitting it to exist only from congress to congress. 



