These are objects
of the deepest interest to society, affecting all that is precious in
the existence of multitudes of persons, many of them in the classes
essentially dependent and helpless, of the age requiring nurture, and of
the sex entitled to protection from the free agency of the parent and
the husband. The organization of the militia is yet more indispensable
to the liberties of the country. It is only by an effective militia that
we can at once enjoy the repose of peace and bid defiance to foreign
aggression; it is by the militia that we are constituted an armed
nation, standing in perpetual panoply of defense in the presence of all
the other nations of the earth. To this end it would be necessary, if
possible, so to shape its organization as to give it a more united and
active energy. There are laws for establishing an uniform militia
throughout the United States and for arming and equipping its whole
body. But it is a body of dislocated members, without the vigor of unity
and having little of uniformity but the name. To infuse into this most
important institution the power of which it is susceptible and to make
it available for the defense of the Union at the shortest notice and at
the smallest expense possible of time, of life, and of treasure are
among the benefits to be expected from the persevering deliberations of
Congress.
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