Mr. FESSENDEN. I think the Senfrom Oregon ismistaken in snpposin that this )XOPOSHIOH has ever been recommened before in any report of the Board of Visitors. I do not think that the Board of Visitors to the Mil itary Academy, as it is generally made up, is very well calculated to advise anybody on the subject of military affairs. Once in awhile some yrsons are appointed who may be competent to do so; but on looking over the list, you find a distinguished clergyman, a distin uished lawyer, the editor of a newspapertriends, probably, of the members who selected them, according to the rule of selection, from their several districts. I understand the rule to be that they represent all the States, not all at once, but in rotation, and the districts of the several States, also; and the selection of the person to visit the Academy is generally given to the member from the district; some times to a Senator who has a friend. Upon many matters of business that occur at the Military Academy, upon the state of the buildings, and the improvements necessary to be made there, and occasionall the scholarship for sometimes a distinguished professor of a college is sent there to attend the examination, &c. they might be competent to judge; but as to what is advisable in regard to military matters, I should sa they were no more tit and no better quali ed, ordinarily, to decide those questions than we are ourselves, if we were placed in the same relation, and I certainly should not think my information very good on that subject. But, sir, in rule has been in public affairs, when I foun that a thin ha, in the long course of years, worked we land been productive of good, to stand by 1Qrat rather than to try an experiment to see it could make it. better. The principle upon which the superintendency of the Aca emy was given to the Engineer corps pas been correctly stated by the Senfrom own. instruction, not a school of practice exactly, for that practice makes but a small portion of what is taught. there. Tactics are learned there, to be sure, and horsemanship, and other things connected with military service; but it is a school of instruction, that is, instruction in those thingslwhich a military man should know. Although, as the honorable Senfrom Oregon intimates, a man may graduate at.the head of his class and turn out to be of very little consequence afterward, yet, as a general rule, I think the principle is a safe one, that those who are the best instructed are the best qualified to oversee and direct instruction; aml for that reason. as it is a school ofinstruction. the superintendency has hitherto been, by law, confined to those who graduate in the front rank of their respective classes. If you will look through the Army records you will find that those men have, generally speaking, made distingnished and valuable ofhcers, and even in the field many of them have distinguished themselves. That being the case, as it is a school, I think the man to be placed at the head of it should be a man who is able to judge of how instruction should be given in all the branches of education; and the engineers are the men who are the best instructed in all the branches. The Military Academy is a school of. Their rank is not made up from their proficiency in one study partte larly, but in all branches, and, among 0th things, conduct and character. As this pr nciple has been established and has O crated so well and been productive of no evi, there is no motive to throw it open that I can innwine, except that occasionally a man may be found, who does not. belong to that particular corps, who may be entirely competent to make a good Superintendent of the Academy; but it t oes not follow that a man who has distinguishedhimself in the field, and shown himself to be a very capable and able officer in the field, in the command of men, is a properman to take charge of a military academy, a school of instruction. You may go through the ranks of our Army and pick out men who have distinguished themselves most, and among them you would certainly find a very considerable number who would not be competent, or the right kind of men. to place at the head of e Military Academy. I have regarded this movementas one rather to gratify the pride of corps than anything else, and perhaps the pride and ambition ot individuals. Now, there are other fields for the ratification of the ambition of leading and distinguished officers. They are not abused by being exeluded, on account of theirnotbelouging to this particular corps, from the exercise of this particular duty. The momentyou throw it open, and admit half a dozen corps to be selected from, you will have, in the 1st place, rivalries amougall the corps to see which shall furnish the Superintendent, and in addition the rivalries existing among many individuals seeking to be selected for that particular place, which crhaps is thought to be an honorable one. lphave never known any great rivalry of aply great consequence to exist among these O tcers for this position heretofore. There are but a few, perhaps, who would be considered its the propermen for it, but there are always usufficient number from whom to select. But if you adopt this principle instead of having that uict in regard to the Academy which it is desirable should exist, you would introduce the confusion and the rivalries that would result from making the number of men from whom to select so very large. I do not feel disposed to risk the institution itself, to risk its advantages, to risk its good and well being, upon a struggle of this ind, which can have no other purpose than to open this position to a large number of men who mirrhtbe ambitions to be placed in a situation (3+ properly discharging the duties of which they had given no evidence whatever by any particular distinction in the line in which the ought to be distinguished in order to preside govern school of this character. For these reasons I hope the amendment proposed 1) the honorable Senfrom Oregon will not e adopted.