The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/txtfiles_misc/fp24

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FEDERALIST No. 24

The Powers Necessary to the Common Defense Further Considered
For the Independent Journal.

HAMILTON

To the People of the State of New York:
To THE powers proposed to be conferred upon the federal
 government, in respect to the creation and direction of the national
 forces, I have met with but one specific objection, which, if I
 understand it right, is this,τthat proper provision has not been
 made against the existence of standing armies in time of peace; an
 objection which, I shall now endeavor to show, rests on weak and
 unsubstantial foundations.
It has indeed been brought forward in the most vague and general
 form, supported only by bold assertions, without the appearance of
 argument; without even the sanction of theoretical opinions; in
 contradiction to the practice of other free nations, and to the
 general sense of America, as expressed in most of the existing
 constitutions. The proprietory of this remark will appear, the
 moment it is recollected that the objection under consideration
 turns upon a supposed necessity of restraining the LEGISLATIVE
 authority of the nation, in the article of military establishments;
 a principle unheard of, except in one or two of our State
 constitutions, and rejected in all the rest.
A stranger to our politics, who was to read our newspapers at
 the present juncture, without having previously inspected the plan
 reported by the convention, would be naturally led to one of two
 conclusions: either that it contained a positive injunction, that
 standing armies should be kept up in time of peace; or that it
 vested in the EXECUTIVE the whole power of levying troops, without
 subjecting his discretion, in any shape, to the control of the
 legislature.
If he came afterwards to peruse the plan itself, he would be
 surprised to discover, that neither the one nor the other was the
 case; that the whole power of raising armies was lodged in the
 LEGISLATURE, not in the EXECUTIVE; that this legislature was to be
 a popular body, consisting of the representatives of the people
 periodically elected; and that instead of the provision he had
 supposed in favor of standing armies, there was to be found, in
 respect to this object, an important qualification even of the
 legislative discretion, in that clause which forbids the
 appropriation of money for the support of an army for any longer
 period than two yearsτa precaution which, upon a nearer view of it,
 will appear to be a great and real security against the keeping up
 of troops without evident necessity.
Disappointed in his first surmise, the person I have supposed
 would be apt to pursue his conjectures a little further. He would
 naturally say to himself, it is impossible that all this vehement
 and pathetic declamation can be without some colorable pretext. It
 must needs be that this people, so jealous of their liberties, have,
 in all the preceding models of the constitutions which they have
 established, inserted the most precise and rigid precautions on this
 point, the omission of which, in the new plan, has given birth to
 all this apprehension and clamor.
If, under this impression, he proceeded to pass in review the
 several State constitutions, how great would be his disappointment
 to find that TWO ONLY of them contained an interdiction of standing
 armies in time of peace; that the other eleven had either observed a
 profound silence on the subject, or had in express terms admitted the
 right of the Legislature to authorize their existence.  Still,
 however he would be persuaded that there must be some
 plausible foundation for the cry raised on this head. He would
 never be able to imagine, while any source of information remained
 unexplored, that it was nothing more than an experiment upon the
 public credulity, dictated either by a deliberate intention to
 deceive, or by the overflowings of a zeal too intemperate to be
 ingenuous. It would probably occur to him, that he would be likely
 to find the precautions he was in search of in the primitive compact
 between the States. Here, at length, he would expect to meet with a
 solution of the enigma. No doubt, he would observe to himself, the
 existing Confederation must contain the most explicit provisions
 against military establishments in time of peace; and a departure
 from this model, in a favorite point, has occasioned the discontent
 which appears to influence these political champions.
If he should now apply himself to a careful and critical survey
 of the articles of Confederation, his astonishment would not only be
 increased, but would acquire a mixture of indignation, at the
 unexpected discovery, that these articles, instead of containing the
 prohibition he looked for, and though they had, with jealous
 circumspection, restricted the authority of the State legislatures
 in this particular, had not imposed a single restraint on that of
 the United States. If he happened to be a man of quick sensibility,
 or ardent temper, he could now no longer refrain from regarding
 these clamors as the dishonest artifices of a sinister and
 unprincipled opposition to a plan which ought at least to receive a
 fair and candid examination from all sincere lovers of their
 country! How else, he would say, could the authors of them have
 been tempted to vent such loud censures upon that plan, about a
 point in which it seems to have conformed itself to the general
 sense of America as declared in its different forms of government,
 and in which it has even superadded a new and powerful guard unknown
 to any of them? If, on the contrary, he happened to be a man of
 calm and dispassionate feelings, he would indulge a sigh for the
 frailty of human nature, and would lament, that in a matter so
 interesting to the happiness of millions, the true merits of the
 question should be perplexed and entangled by expedients so
 unfriendly to an impartial and right determination. Even such a man
 could hardly forbear remarking, that a conduct of this kind has too
 much the appearance of an intention to mislead the people by
 alarming their passions, rather than to convince them by arguments
 addressed to their understandings.
But however little this objection may be countenanced, even by
 precedents among ourselves, it may be satisfactory to take a nearer
 view of its intrinsic merits. From a close examination it will
 appear that restraints upon the discretion of the legislature in
 respect to military establishments in time of peace, would be
 improper to be imposed, and if imposed, from the necessities of
 society, would be unlikely to be observed.
Though a wide ocean separates the United States from Europe, yet
 there are various considerations that warn us against an excess of
 confidence or security. On one side of us, and stretching far into
 our rear, are growing settlements subject to the dominion of Britain.
 On the other side, and extending to meet the British settlements,
 are colonies and establishments subject to the dominion of Spain.
 This situation and the vicinity of the West India Islands,
 belonging to these two powers create between them, in respect to
 their American possessions and in relation to us, a common interest.
 The savage tribes on our Western frontier ought to be regarded as
 our natural enemies, their natural allies, because they have most to
 fear from us, and most to hope from them. The improvements in the
 art of navigation have, as to the facility of communication,
 rendered distant nations, in a great measure, neighbors. Britain
 and Spain are among the principal maritime powers of Europe. A
 future concert of views between these nations ought not to be
 regarded as improbable. The increasing remoteness of consanguinity
 is every day diminishing the force of the family compact between
 France and Spain. And politicians have ever with great reason
 considered the ties of blood as feeble and precarious links of
 political connection. These circumstances combined, admonish us not
 to be too sanguine in considering ourselves as entirely out of the
 reach of danger.
Previous to the Revolution, and ever since the peace, there has
 been a constant necessity for keeping small garrisons on our Western
 frontier. No person can doubt that these will continue to be
 indispensable, if it should only be against the ravages and
 depredations of the Indians. These garrisons must either be
 furnished by occasional detachments from the militia, or by
 permanent corps in the pay of the government. The first is
 impracticable; and if practicable, would be pernicious. The
 militia would not long, if at all, submit to be dragged from their
 occupations and families to perform that most disagreeable duty in
 times of profound peace. And if they could be prevailed upon or
 compelled to do it, the increased expense of a frequent rotation of
 service, and the loss of labor and disconcertion of the industrious
 pursuits of individuals, would form conclusive objections to the
 scheme. It would be as burdensome and injurious to the public as
 ruinous to private citizens. The latter resource of permanent corps
 in the pay of the government amounts to a standing army in time of
 peace; a small one, indeed, but not the less real for being small.
 Here is a simple view of the subject, that shows us at once the
 impropriety of a constitutional interdiction of such establishments,
 and the necessity of leaving the matter to the discretion and
 prudence of the legislature.
In proportion to our increase in strength, it is probable, nay,
 it may be said certain, that Britain and Spain would augment their
 military establishments in our neighborhood. If we should not be
 willing to be exposed, in a naked and defenseless condition, to
 their insults and encroachments, we should find it expedient to
 increase our frontier garrisons in some ratio to the force by which
 our Western settlements might be annoyed. There are, and will be,
 particular posts, the possession of which will include the command
 of large districts of territory, and facilitate future invasions of
 the remainder. It may be added that some of those posts will be
 keys to the trade with the Indian nations. Can any man think it
 would be wise to leave such posts in a situation to be at any
 instant seized by one or the other of two neighboring and formidable
 powers? To act this part would be to desert all the usual maxims of
 prudence and policy.
If we mean to be a commercial people, or even to be secure on
 our Atlantic side, we must endeavor, as soon as possible, to have a
 navy. To this purpose there must be dock-yards and arsenals; and
 for the defense of these, fortifications, and probably garrisons.
 When a nation has become so powerful by sea that it can protect its
 dock-yards by its fleets, this supersedes the necessity of garrisons
 for that purpose; but where naval establishments are in their
 infancy, moderate garrisons will, in all likelihood, be found an
 indispensable security against descents for the destruction of the
 arsenals and dock-yards, and sometimes of the fleet itself.
PUBLIUS.
 This statement of the matter is taken from the printed collection of
 State constitutions. Pennsylvania and North Carolina are the two
 which contain the interdiction in these words: ``As standing armies
 in time of peace are dangerous to liberty, THEY
 OUGHT NOT to be kept up.'' This is, in truth, rather a CAUTION than
 a PROHIBITION. New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Delaware, and Maryland
 have, in each of their bils of rights, a clause to this effect:
 ``Standing armies are dangerous to liberty, and ought not to be
 raised or kept up WITHOUT THE CONSENT OF THE LEGISLATURE''; which
 is a formal admission of the authority of the Legislature. New York
 has no bills of rights, and her constitution says not a word about
 the matter. No bills of rights appear annexed to the constitutions
 of the other States, except the foregoing, and their constitutions
 are equally silent. I am told, however that one or two States have
 bills of rights which do not appear in this collection; but that
 those also recognize the right of the legislative authority in this
 respect.