Indeed, though Washington, in his annual message in 1793, strongly advised the founding of an academy, the necessity for which had been so forcibly demonstrated during the war, when his trained officers were often chosen from among the ranks of foreign soldiers of fortune, yet the recommendation had little or no effect for several \^ears. Congress displayed its accustomed dilatory spirit. It is true that some inadequate provision for the instruction of a corps of cadets was made during the following year, and spasmodic revivals of the plan occurred at several subsequent dates during the years 1798, 1800, and 1801. The Academy

West Point 37i

may properly be said to have begun its existence in 1802; yet from that date till 181 1 it lived "at a poor, dying rate," part of the time under the tacit opjjtosition of the Secretary of War, till at the expiration of that i^eriod, though the country was then on the eve of a second war with England, there were actually no cadets at West Point. Not till hostilities had commenced did our dilatory legislators wake to the necessity of prompt and decisive measures for placing the Military Academy on a broad and strong foundation. The number of cadets was fixed, by an act passed in 181 2, at two hundred and fifty, while the cor]:)S of teachers was increased. Candidates were for the first time examined for admission to the Academy. Provision was also made for the maintenance of the establishment and the projjer instruction of the cadets in all branches of military science. To Major Thayer, appointed Superintendent in 1 8 1 7 , the Academy owes more than to any one man for the ground j^lan of its s\'stem of work and the first great impulse towards its present efficiency. He was Superintendent for sixteen years, during which time 570 cadets were graduated, -- men who were soon to test the value of their instruction and training under the skies of Mexico, where, in two campaigns, according to General Scott's tribute, "we conquered a great country and peace without the loss of a single battle or skirmish." In no war that has occurred within the knowledge