The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1855-03-07
An Army without n Head--A Mob
-ggb before SevastapOl. a-fst

We have purpOsely neglected
the single object Of efficiency in the man
agemsnt of our army for we cannot say how
long. There are in that army the materials
of very efficient army; there are plenty Of
good men and true in all ranksJ there are
men who have seen plenty Of service in our
Indian an other wars; there are men who
have distinguished themselves at Sandhurst;
there are men who would distinguish them
selves whenever the opportunity was allow
ed them; there are men who must make the
army their profession, and who have nothing
to retire to when they leave It, and no hope
of distinction or happiness out of it; yet all
this stuff for Field Marshals is absolutely re!
jectsd in the management of our army
When barbarian builds his hovel in ruin,
he works into his rough walls an inscription
turned upside down, a bas-relief with its face
inwards, a statue detruncated and capital
defoliated, to fit the accidental vacancy
Such is the rude masonry of the British Ar
my. The military genius or devotee, the
poor fellow who dreams to little purpose Of
Marathon, andhas been at the pains to study
the victories of Marlborough and the difficult
ties of Wellington, is soon built into his re-
giment, with his corners knocked off and his
face turned inwards. There he lies, to rise,
if it may be, in the order of seniority and
money; but no study. no courage, no promp-
titude, no soldier like vualties whatever, will
assist him in competition where the battle
is expressly not to the strong, but TO the
wealthy and noble. .....-.-.... --.. .
The case is so hagrant--so manifest tc
friend and to foe--and so confessed and pro.
claimed to all the world--that it would be
ridiculous to slur over the fact, that the Bri.
tish army is found to be no army at all, in The
general military sense of the ,oord. II is q
mob of brave men, not more than a mob, and
rather less, inasmuch as 1t is evidently com
mdndcd by those loho should not command it
and so deprived of its rude natural efficiency
All the accounts that we publish, and many
more that for one reason or other we do moi
publish, but which lie in envelopes, loose
heaps, and elastic bands all about US, agree
in this-that the organization of the army is
either none, or worse than none. For the
last few weeks we have so often had to say
this, that it only remains to bring up the sac
story to the latest date. The long expected
and much prayed for drafts, SO hardly spared
by this country, arrived at Balaklava. A boy
aid-de-camp, as a veteran officer complains
shows the promptness of his folly by order
ing it Immediately to disembark, without pro
per clothing, in the rain, to march througl
miles of sludge to the pool assigned for it
quarters, and to bouviac, in that case, some
in tents, some under the canopy of heaven
The next day some equally comfortable
equally thoughtless malapert, sends it to tn
trenches, and in ten days or fortnight at th'
latest, two-thirds of the poor lads whom al
late as November we were cheering through
the streets are stretched under the soil of tht
Crimea When they are disposed Of, the CRY
is "More men, more men" At the last date
after all the immense clearances to Balakla
va and Scutari, there remained more thar
1900 sick under the hospital marques ii
the camp,-no light burden in the probable
event of any active movements. The poo
fellows fall sick by as certaip and inevitable
a recipe as any to be found in medicine, hus
bandry, or other physical science. Yet hun
dreds of veteran officers, who share the hard
ships Of their men, lament in vain the mer
ciless regime of an ignorant neocracy. w
confess that we cannot look at the horror
of Balaklava and Inkermann as we once did
for it is plainly better that man and hors
should die gloriously, selling their lives deal
and affording spectacle to the world, thai
that they should perish unseen, unpitied, un
armed, almest unnumbered--for it has com
to that. We confess, when we are told tha
the British cavalry is no more-that tn
horses after gnawing one another's name
and tails, have most of them perished on til
fatal route to the camp-some in the act {
dragging their dead comrades out OF the wa
we do indeed confess that we could wis
that they who are thus daad had all died
the battle field, even IN some mad charge int
the heart of the Russian army. h pa "a
Then what is 10 be done! We think S
De Lacy, Evans has answered this questio
for us in most speaking manner. When
could no longer share the hardships Of h
men-when he could no longer mount b
horse, show himself everywhere, and Sc
things with his own eyes, he would no long
!. seek honor at the cost oftruth and his cou
try. He would no longer attempt to fill II
hollow name and idle igment of q genera
j, Yet to the last, sick, injured BY fall, al
!, unable to leave his tent, he was felt to be Il
most efficient officer in the army Now, "a
, we to sacrifice what remains Of the 5000
sent already, and the 10000 or 10000 mo
told of for the Crimea, to a name that,
: the concurrent and ancontradicted testimoI
d of the whole army, is only name, and eve
n worse than name! The command Of a
. British army before Sevastapol isworse tn,
Ia mere name, when its apathy, recklessnet
fatal delays, and utter want Of provision 4
condemned BY the common sense and exp
rience Of every practical man in tho arm
and when tits deliberately asserted by oi