If such a system of appointment were introduced into our army, and fixed by legal enactments, and no one were allowed to receive a commission till he had either distinguished himself in the field, or had passed an examination before a board of competent officers, we are confident that better selections would be made in the appointments from civil life than have been within the last ten years by the present system of political influence.  It would scarcely be possible to make worse selections.[50] And if the combined system of seniority and examination were pursued in promoting the subalterns already in service, it certainly would produce less injustice, and give greater efficiency to the army, than the present one of exclusive seniority and brevet rank, obtained through intrigue and political influence, or high military appointments bestowed as a reward for dirty and corrupt party services.  As a military maxim, secure efficiency, by limiting the privileges of rank; exclude favoritism, by giving the power of selection to boards of competent officers, totally independent of party politics.  Such a system has been for some time pursued in the medical department of our army; it has produced the most satisfactory results; stupidity, ignorance, and aged inefficiency have been overslaughed, and will soon entirely disappear from that corps; they have been replaced by young men of activity, talent, character, intelligence, and great professional skill.  Is it less important to have competent military officers to command where the lives of thousands, the honor of our flag, the safety of the country depend upon their judgment and conduct, than it is to have competent surgeons to attend the sick and the wounded?

[Footnote 50:  To show the working of this system of political appointments, we would call attention to a single fact.  On the formation of an additional regiment of dragoons in 1836, thirty of its officers were appointed from civil life, and only four from the graduates of the Military Academy.  Of those appointed to that regiment from civil life, twenty-two have already been dismissed or resigned, (most of the latter to save themselves from being dismissed,) and only eight of the whole thirty political appointments are now left, their places having been mainly supplied by graduates of the Military Academy.

In case of another increase of our military establishment, what course will our government pursue?  Will it again pass by the meritorious young officers of our army,—­graduates of the Military Academy,—­who have spent ten or twelve of the best years of their life in qualifying themselves for the higher duties of their profession, and place over their heads civilians of less education and inferior character—­men totally ignorant of military duties, mere pothouse politicians, and the base hirelings of party,—­those who screech the loudest in favor of party measures, and degrade themselves the most in order to serve party