Comte de Paris, History of the Civil War in America. Vol. 1.
Henry Coppee , LL.D., Ed.

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[17] proposition has been made, hitherto without success, to open the places to competition. This anomaly, however, is susceptible of explanation; for the profession of arms was but little courted, and besides, the American people do not consider government offices as public property, for a share in the distribution of which every one has a right to bid, undergoing an examination as to fitness. The system of filling up vacancies in the academy adopted by its founders was devised with a view of making that institution as perfect a representation as possible of the confederation of States of which it was the common bond. Ten pupils are appointed every year at large by the President. Moreover, each of the electoral districts which send members to the House of Representatives designates every four years, through the agency of that member, one pupil, who is admitted after an examination which is purely nominal.¹ As the course of studies embraces a period of four years, each district finds itself thus represented by one pupil, unless the latter should receive a sufficient number of demerits to cause his dismissal. These selections have frequently been the result of good luck rather than of good judgment. As an illustration of these fortunate chances we may quote the case of the young general Kilpatrick, one of the most brilliant cavalry officers in the late war, who was indebted to his precocious eloquence for his admission to West Point. In 1856, when only eighteen years of age, he was extremely anxious to embrace the profession of arms. The right to nominate a pupil to West Point was about to fall upon the Representative of his district, and, on the other hand, in consequence of the expiration of his term of office, the person who occupied that position was on the eve of entering upon a new canvass for the suffrages of his fellow-citizens. The candidate for the military academy conceived the idea of laying the political candidate under personal obligations by undertaking the advocacy of his interests. He went from village to village, haranguing the electors, extolling the merits of the individual from whom he expected, in return, to obtain his admission to the academy, and the people were impressed