But not only should there be such special military schools--one in every State, but there should also be institutions where a sufficient number of young men can get the preliminary education necessary to fit them to enter the schools of officers--an education which, beside being as complete and thorough a literary one as officers ought to have, should also be such in point of military discipline and instruction as shall lay a good foundation for building themselves up and perfecting themselves as officers by subsequent instruction and experience. It is not absolutely necessary to establish institutions exclusively or specially for this purpose. The end might be attained, if sufficient amount of military instruction, drill, and discipline were added to the present course of education in the schools, academies, and colleges of the land. This perhaps would be the best way. It would accomplish the object of preparing a sufficient number of young men to enter the State schools of officers, and would beside tend to diffuse throughout the body of the educated class of the people something of military knowledge and of the spirit of the military virtues--to the great advantage of the nation in any times, but especially in critical emergencies demanding great and heroic sacrifices. So horrible a thing is war, and so dreadful are its inevitable miseries, that there is at first thought something shocking to many persons, in the idea of making military instruction a part of the system of public education--in cultivating the military spirit, and training the children and youth of a nation to science and skill in the arts of carnage. The kind and gentle-hearted find little consolation in being reminded that war is one of God's agencies. They acknowledge that the earthquake, the pestilence, the tornado, are His agencies. They find no difficulty in saying, with WORDSWORTH, in regard to these: 'We bow our hearts before Thee, and we laud And magnify Thy Name, Almighty God!' Yet when he adds: 'But Thy most dreaded instrument In working out a pure intent, Is man arrayed for mutual slaughter-- Yea, Carnage is Thy daughter.' they shrink from the thought and the image. It is too dreadful for ready acquiescence. But there is another side to the subject, and a deeper view. See how the hero preacher, the saintly-hearted ROBERTSON--as pure and tender a spirit as ever breathed--puts the matter: