III. In case of war or threatened invasion, let temporary works, either of earth, or of wood, be constructed at all the most vulnerable points, which could be readily furnished with cannon, gun carriages, platforms, and all the necessary implements and munitions from the arsenals in their vicinity.
IV. As soon as peace is restored, these works should be dismantled, and all their apparatus returned to the arsenals from whence it was taken. In case of future emergencies, they could be restored, or others of the same descriptions, constructed in their places, which could be supplied from the arsenals in the manner above stated. The efficacy in marine defense, of works of the above description, I presume will not be doubted by any scientific military man. Should any one, however, be disposed to doubt it, I would beg leave to refer him to the defense of Fort Moultrie, in the harbor of Charleston, South Carolina, when attacked by the British shipping, during the Revolutionary war, and also to the defense made by the small fort at Stonington, Connecticut, when attacked in a similar manner during the last war.
By adopting this system, I think the following advantages would result:—
1. A more secure defense would be obtained. By knowing the description of force we had to encounter, we should be enabled to construct our temporary works in a manner the best calculated to repel it; and as the gun carriages, platforms, and implements, when taken from the arsenals, would be sound and in perfect order, we might reasonably calculate these works would make a more vigorous resistance than permanent ones, which, with their apparatus, are in a state of partial dilapidation and decay.
2. The system would be much less expensive than the one by permanent fortification. Those temporary works could ordinarily be constructed by the troops with very little, if any, additional expense; but in case of pressing emergency, the zeal and patriotism of the people might be relied upon with safety, to supply any amount of labor that might be necessary, as was the case at New York in 1814. As it is not proposed they should be retained as military stations in time of peace, the expense of keeping them in repair would be nothing.
In the early part of 1819, Capt. Partridge was engaged in the exploring survey of the North Eastern boundary, under the fifth article of the treaty of Ghent. While on this survey he determined from barometrical and thermometrical observations of the altitudes of the Highlands dividing the rivers which flow northerly into the St. Lawrence, from those which flow southerly into the Atlantic ocean; he also made a profile of the country between several points on the St. Lawrence, and corresponding position in the state of Maine.
In 1820, Capt. Partridge resigned his position in this survey, for the purpose of carrying into practical effect a plan of education, which had occupied much of his attention since 1810, and which in its main features was, doubtless, suggested by his experience at Hanover, and West Point, and was calculated to supply certain deficiencies which he and others had already noticed in our American colleges and higher seminaries of learning. His views both of the deficiencies and their remedies were set forth in a lecture delivered at this time, which was subsequently printed. After defining “education in its most perfect state to be the preparing a youth in the best possible manner for the correct discharge of the duties of any station in which he may be placed,” in this lecture he proceeds to characterize the existing plan of instruction.
1. It is not sufficiently practical, nor properly adapted to the various duties an American citizen may be called upon to discharge. Those of our youth who are destined for a liberal education, as it is called, are usually put, at an early age, to the study of the Latin and Greek languages, combining therewith a very slight attention to their own language, the elements of arithmetic, &c.; and after having devoted several years in this way, they are prepared to become members of a college or university.
Here they spend four years for the purpose of acquiring a knowledge of the higher branches of learning; after which, they receive their diplomat, and are supposed to be prepared to enter on the duties of active life. But, I would ask, is this actually the case? Are they prepared in the best possible manner to discharge correctly the duties of any station in which fortune or inclination may place them? Have they been instructed in the science of government generally, and more especially in the principles of our excellent Constitution, and thereby prepared to sit in the legislative councils of the nation? Has their attention been sufficiently directed to those great and important branches of national industry and sources of national wealth—agriculture, commerce, and manufactures? Have they been taught to examine the policy of other nations, and the effect of that policy on the prosperity of their own country? Are they prepared to discharge the duties of civil or military engineers, or to endure fatigue, or to become the defenders of their country’s rights, and the avengers of her wrongs, either in the ranks or at the head of her armies? It appears to me not; and if not, then, agreeably to the standard established, their education is so far defective.
2. Another defect in the present system, is, the entire neglect, in all our principal seminaries, of physical education, or the due cultivation and improvement of the physical powers of the students.