Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 9).djvu/207

 of necessity rather than of choice. It is chiefly to be lamented, that chastisement does not produce immediate evidence of reformation, as the sufferer usually removes to another part of the country; and may resume the character of gentleman, even while his back is raw from the recent correction.

It is with painful sensations that I recollect of the illiberal and ungenerous reflections, uttered by the minions of a faction in your country, against supposed barbarism in this. Their favourite topics, as to officers in the Militia becoming tavern-keepers, and tavern-keepers acting as Justices of the Peace; the derided punishment of whipping, and the equality of a sovereign people, might at least be mixed with some allowances for local circumstances; or, if they please, in making a contrast with the boasted condition of Great Britain, it is obviously uncandid to draw the subjects of their animadversions from the fag end of the United States, in the very act of being peopled by a heterogeneous mixture, uniting in it a considerable proportion of the most uncultivated of Americans and Europeans; not excluding fugitives, who have fled before their creditors, and the public prosecutors of England. Waving this consideration altogether, a very striking comparison may be made out in detail. The officers of the United States' Militia are not professional soldiers, but citizens. They are not disposable tools, to be employed in foreign aggressions, or removed in time of peace from Maine to Georgia, and vice versa, to intimidate into submission fellow citizens who are not their personal acquaintances or immediate {175} kindred; but remain at home, where they attend trainings, voluntarily and gratuitously. They are at liberty to follow tavern-keeping, or any other kind of honest industry, and do not burden their country