These natural and often useful passions must, nevertheless, be restrained like all others within the bounds of reason; and, in order to avoid the danger which may flow from our prejudices, we must endeavor to consider our own circumstances with eyes as dispassionate as we should those of strangers. We must enquire, what was the state of military knowlege in the armies of the invaders; whether they exhibited any of the great qualities which constitute well disciplined troops or great generals; whether the whole course of their military transactions was not a series of blunders, produced by their ignorance of our people and country; and even in a great degree owing to the want of talents in the officers of the enemy, to supply by their genius and spirit of enterprize, the disadvantages under which they labored. It would require only an enumeration of a few facts to shew, that although the patience with which the American troops endured hardships and privations, afford glorious examples of the military virtues; that even these great virtues, conducted as they were, by a general who united in himself the military qualities of a Fabius and a Scipio, could not have had so much success were it not for the want of a good discipline, and the utter incapacity of the generals of the British army. In the modern wars of the French revolution, the like truths have been demonstrated as in the American contest. The British armies had been merely taught the duties of parade, and when they came into the field, had to learn by hard fighting and severe defeats, that their officers were generally ignorant of the art of war; for they were beaten once more by _raw troops_ ably conducted to the field by experienced officers, who possessed skill, who had made military science their study; and, above all, who knew how to take advantage of the incompetency of the British leaders. Mankind in every country, educated in the same way, varies very little in those points which are adapted to military services. It must, therefore, in a great measure depend upon the education which is applied to military affairs, in the discipline of armies, whether they are victors or vanquished. All nations profess to have acted upon this opinion, though there seems not to be that attention paid to the subject, nor to education of any kind, which the acknowleged importance of the case calls for. This indifference or heedlessness has at times infected all nations, and may be considered as a disease, which if not cured at a certain stage, ensures destruction.