ARMY, UNITED STATES. 



ic war, they can bo organized, armed, 

 .ml concentrated ;it \vliatc\vr point 

 ,,-y may ivquiro. While, there- 



\pnisrs ha\v lu-i'ii redaoed to 

 tlic footing of a moderate and economical peace 



.-hiiu-nt, llui national military sir 



limpaiivd and in condition to be 



:-th." 

 Military Academy at "West Point is now 



. it I'd from the Engineer Corps, of which it 



instituted a part. The standard of 



(junliluMtmns for admission lias been raised, 



mid appointments to cadetships must hereafter 



!. a year previous to the date of admis- 



sion. The report of the Board of Visitors for 



-hows that the examinations have been 

 < Te.litably conducted, and that the discipline of 

 :lu' Ai-a'K-my is good. The board recommend 

 that t he number of cadets be increased from two 

 hundred and ninety-two to four hundred ; that 



;<lets, on graduation, bo required to serve 

 at least t\vo years in regiments of the line be- 

 fore entering the Engineer or other staff corps 

 of the Army ; and that the standard of qualiti- 

 cutiou bo raised by some form of competitive 

 examination. At the last examination the 

 corps of cadets numbered 228, and a class of 

 40 was graduated. 



The act of July 28, 1866, authorized the 

 President, " for the purpose of promoting 

 knowledge of military science among the young 

 men of tho United States," to detail officers of 



ience to act as professors in institutions 

 it' learning having upward of 150 male students. 

 It does not appear from the Secretary of War's 

 report that application has yet been made by 

 any college or university for the services of 

 such officers. Provision is also made in the 

 act of July 28th for the instruction of enlisted 

 men at any post, garrison, or permanent camp, 

 in the common English branches of education, 

 and especially in tho history of the United 

 States. Another section directs that " a code 

 of regulations for the government of the Army, 

 and of the militia in actual service, which shall 

 embrace all necessary orders and forms of a 

 general character for the performance of all 

 duties incumbent upon officers and men in the 

 military service, including rules for the govern- 

 ment of courts-martial," shall be prepared and 



:itod to tho Thirty -ninth Congress at its 

 second session. 



By direction of tho Secretary of War, a board 

 of officers, consisting of Brevet Colonel H. B. 

 Glitz, 6th U. S. Infantry; Brevet Major-Gen- 

 eral R. B. Ayres, 28th U. S. Infantry'; Brevet 

 Colonel H. M. Blach, 7th U. S. Infantry; Cap- 

 tain J. J. Van Horn, 8th U. S. Infantry, Recor- 

 der, was assembled at West Point, N. Y., on 

 the 25th of Juno, for the purpose of rccom- 



'ing such changes in authorized infantry 

 tactics as shall make them simple and complete, 

 or the adoption of any new system that may bo 

 presented to it, if such change bo deemed ad- 

 visable. 

 Tho board was to examine and report on 



ASIA. 39 



any system of infantry tactics that might be 

 ited to it, and tho superintendent of the 

 Military Academy was to give it facilities for 

 testing with tho battalion of cadets tho value 

 of any system. Besides the system of General 

 Casey, necessarily before tho board, two others 

 were presented : one by Brigadier-General Win. 

 II. Morris, late U. S. Volunteers; the other by 

 Brevet Major-General Emory Upton, U. 8. 

 Army. The system prepared by General Upton 

 is entirely new, and substitutes wheeling by 

 fours for the facings of other tactics. Among 

 the features that distinguish it from all other 

 systems are, that it simplifies all the movements, 

 and requires less instruction on the part of en- 

 listed men; that it ignores inversions, gives 

 greatly increased mobility to largo bodies of 

 troops, doubles the number of ways of passing 

 troops from the order in column to the order in 

 battle, and presents always the front rank in 

 front ; that it is equally adapted to wooded and 

 open country ; that it presents a new formation 

 for infantry in single rank a formation emi- 

 nently adapted to the intelligence of the Amer- 

 ican soldier, and to breech-loading fire-arms, 

 fast being introduced into all armies ; that it 

 enables a skirmish line to be promptly doubled, 

 either for offensive or defensive purposes. The 

 system embraces complete instruction for tho 

 soldier, skirmishers, battalion, brigade, division, 

 and corps, and is in one volume, containing 

 about one-half the number of pages in the 

 three volumes of the present system. 



General Casey's, or the authorized system, 

 which was before the board, is based upon the 

 French tactics, or is almost literally a copy 

 of them. A modification of this was offered 

 by General Morris ; but they reported favor- 

 ably upon the above system of General Upton, 

 and, by the order of the President, it has be- 

 come the authorized tactics for the Army and 

 the militia. 



ASIA. The progress of the Russians in- 

 Central Asia continued without interruption, 

 and another important tract of land in Inde- 

 pendent Toorkistan, with the large cities of 

 Tashkend and Khojend, was annexed. Tho 

 detailed accounts of the Russian operations 

 widely differed, as they were received either 

 from Russian or British sources, but the*an- 

 nexation of the above two cities, with a largo 

 territory, seems to be the permanent result of 

 the year 1866. The tribes of CentralAsia were 

 again reported to have invoked British aid 

 against Russia. (See R.USSIA.) 



In China, rebel movements disturbed the 

 peace of tho empire throughout the whole year, 

 and in tho latter months the Mohammedan 

 rebels were reported to be in possession of the 

 whole province of Kansuh. Piracy in the 

 Chinese wajters continued to maka the greatest 

 ravages upon commercial vessels, and the joint 

 operations of the Chinese and British fleets were 

 unable to subdue it. The relations of China to 

 foreign powers remained friendly, and a new 

 port was opened in the northern part of the 



