But I have another complaint to make against the authorities of West Point, which they will not be able to answer so easily as that already preferred.  What right can they have to take the very prettiest spot on the Hudson—­the prettiest spot on the continent—­ one of the prettiest spots which Nature, with all her vagaries, ever formed—­and shut it up from all the world for purposes of war?  Would not any plain, however ugly, do for military exercises?  Cannot broadsword, goose-step, and double-quick time be instilled into young hands and legs in any field of thirty, forty, or fifty acres?  I wonder whether these lads appreciate the fact that they are studying fourteen hours a day amid the sweetest river, rock, and mountain scenery that the imagination can conceive.  Of course it will be said, that the world at large is not excluded from West Point, that the ferry to the place is open, and that there is even a hotel there, closed against no man or woman who will consent to become a teetotaller for the period of his visit.  I must admit that this is so; but still one feels that one is only admitted as a guest.  I want to go and live at West Point, and why should I be prevented?  The government had a right to buy it of course, but government should not buy up the prettiest spots on a country’s surface.  If I were an American, I should make a grievance of this; but Americans will suffer things from their government which no Englishmen would endure.

It is one of the peculiarities of West Point that everything there is in good taste.  The point itself consists of a bluff of land so formed that the River Hudson is forced to run round three sides of it.  It is consequently a peninsula; and as the surrounding country is mountainous on both sides of the river, it may be imagined that the site is good.  The views both up and down the river are lovely, and the mountains behind break themselves so as to make the landscape perfect.  But this is not all.  At West Point there is much of buildings, much of military arrangement in the way of cannons, forts, and artillery yards.  All these things are so contrived as to group themselves well into pictures.  There is no picture of architectural grandeur; but everything stands well and where it should stand, and the eye is not hurt at any spot.  I regard West Point as a delightful place, and was much gratified by the kindness I received there.

From West Point we went direct to new York.

CHAPTER XIII.

AN APOLOGY FOR THE WAR.

I think it may be received as a fact that the Northern States, taken together, sent a full tenth of their able-bodied men into the ranks of the army in the course of the summer and autumn of 1861.  The South, no doubt, sent a much larger proportion; but the effect of such a drain upon the South would not be the same, because the slaves were left at home to perform the agricultural work of the country.