5185. MILITIA, Classification.—[further continued].
In the beginning of our
government we were willing to introduce the
least coercion possible on the will of the
citizen. Hence a system of military duty
was established too indulgent to his indolence.
This [war] is the first opportunity we
have had of trying it, and it has completely
failed; an issue foreseen by many, and for
which remedies have been proposed. That
of classing the militia according to age, and
allotting each age to the particular kind of
service to which it was competent, was proposed
to Congress in 1805, and subsequently;
and, on the last trial, was lost, I believe, by
a single vote. Had it prevailed, what has
now happened would not have happened.
Instead of burning our Capitol, we should
have possessed theirs in Montreal and Quebec.
We must now adopt it, and all will be
safe.—
To Thomas Cooper. Washington ed. vi, 379.
(M.
1814)
