The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1880-07-10 00:00:00

'THE STOtRBUIDGE OBSERVER.

"ALL-ROUND" OFFICERS V. STUDENTS

AND SAVANTS.

In the House of Lords, on Monday night, Earl Fortescue
called attention to the Report of the Joint Committee of the
War Office and Civil Service Commissioners on supplement-
ing the literary examinations for the army by physical corn-
petition.—The Times of Tuesday had a leader on Earl
Fortescue's remarks, from which we make the following
extracts :

Earl Fortescue is gravely impressed with the dangers
to our army from excess of education. More than
once he has lifted up his voice in the House of Lords
against the mischievousness of putting too much trust in
the intellect; and last night he renewed his demand for
what he calls "all round" officers in preference to
students and savants. His regret is not wholly reac-
tionary, and it does not amount to a lament over the old
race of officers, who did wonders and knew little. Book
knowledge, he admits, is all very well in its way.
He does not say with the poet, "Sure, of all block-
heads scholars are the worst." It is right that an
officer should be able to sketch, to converse in one or
two modern languages, and to have a solid grounding
in mathematics. Artillery and Engineer officers should
be adepts in all these arts, and the modern examina-
tions go far to insure this. But what is the use, asked
one or two peers last night, of a Cavalry officer who is
a student of science, but cannot ride, or of an Infantry
officer who could not walk twenty miles without being
weary and footsore, but is capable of reading Schiller
with enjoyment to himself or of describing with accu-
racy and precision the chief manceuvres in all the
great campaigns of history from Hannibal's to Napo-
leon's last? The perfect fighting man must have a good
deal of the animal in his composition ; he must be full-
blooded and robust as well as intelligent ;:and Lord
Fortescue is very much afraid that we are producing
by the machinery of examinations not useful warriors,
but bookworms. He is not alone in his solicitude. A
joint-committee of representatives of the War Office
and the Civil Service Commissioners discussed the
matter a year or two ago, and came to the conclusion
that it was advisable to have a physical examination
together with a literary one. A candidate who could
ride excellently would score so many marks, which
would make amends for any shortcomings in regard
to German or mathematics. Ability to walk six miles
an hour would count in the contest. Leaping, swim-
ming, and gymnastics of all sorts would have their
recognized places in the examinations; and the truly
best men, not merely the best scholars, would sure to
be crowned with success.
The idea is pretty, and must for a moment have
fascinated most people. If we do not stop to
think much about details, it is very attractive to
revive the old Greek idea of education, in which
bodily excellences had their share, and to organise
examinations which would give us for officers per-
fect human beings, equipped with all accomplish-
ments, Admirable Crichtons, with a happy balance
between their mental and physical natures. What
might not our officers do in warfare if they
were as learned as the Germans and not so short-
sighted, if each of them had as much knowledge of
topography and languages as any lieutenant of
Uhlans together with the skill to ride across coun-
try or to run a mile in four minutes? The scheme
is, at all events, superficially seductive, and the
report of a joint-committee of the War Office and
the Civil Commissioners made some recommenda-
tions in favour of it. But somehow the War
Office has persisted in pouring cold water on the
scheme. Successive Secretaries for War have been
frigidly indifferent to this easy and obvious mode of
obtaining the vary best type of officers. The Com-
mander-in-Chief will not admit that the change is
necessary ; and the author of the discussion of last
night took, as legal writers say, nothing by his motion.
Lord Fortescue is, we are afraid, led astray by a pleas-
ing fancy, and has pursued it thoughtlessly. He has
not taken account of some important facts, among others
the circumstance that the new cadets are not feeble or
sickly, or in any degree physically inferior to their
predecessors. There is no reason to believe that the
young officers who quit Sandhurst or Woolwich ex-
hibit any deterioration in physical accomplishments.
The Duke of Cambridge bore testimony to the fact
that they are most of them six feet high, and are, as
a body, unexceptionable. If they do not all ride well
were all their predecessors perfect horsemen? The
i
English army draws, and s likely to continue long to
draw to it young men who have been accustomed from
childhood to shoot, ride, swim, and play cricket, and
who are in no danger of being made useless by
.excess of
learning. A natural system of selection, operating as ae-
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weak, the timid, the bookish lad who is. not
at home when on horseback, who cannot swim or
handle a bat, who is nobody in the playground,
but is the idol of his masters—all these types of
youth are prevented from seeking commissions by
their own likings or by the persuasion of their
parents and friends. They will turn to sedentary
or peaceful occupations, more congenial to them
than the profession of arms. But the great majority
of young Englishmen belong to a different category.
They are in robust, full-blooded health ; they are
experts at games which are apt preparation for a
military life; they have mastered at home, school,
and college the acdomplishments which Lord
Fortescue prizes. Having passed through this
artless but effective training, they have in them the
making of admirable soldiers; and if they lack
anything, it is the inclination to study the theory
of their profession and to sharpen their wits. An
examination, if not too severe, is an excellent
stimulus to such young gentlemen, who are sure to be
able to shoot and ride well, but may be ignorant, and
might show themselves to be children if sent to
reconnoitre in a foreign land where English was not
understood. It may be different in Germany; the
young Teuton is more contemplative and studious;
he does not instinctively turn to manly sports;
he will not take exercise unless according to a
solemn prescribed system in some turnplatze. It
may be useful that German officers should be
artificially stimulated to master physical accom-
plishments. But is it not downright pedantry
to prepare elaborate machinery with a view to
induce English lads to do what they will be sure
to do of their own accord and without stimulus?
Lord Fortescue and his joint committee have, we
fear, been engaged, with the best intention in the
world, in endeavouring to produce results which
Nature is quite competent to effect without their as-
sistance. They may depend upon it that the supply
of able-bodied youths attracted towards the army and
not over fond of study is not in danger of being ex-
hausted. :Whether we can rely upon obtaining an
equally umntefruptod flow of highly intelligent officers
is a matter which admits of more doubt.