New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1861-05-13
I.etter frorsa Ias.,nelen.

Mr.. ,Edst0f,-The military genius of England
seems Just now to be developing itself in the
direction Of the volunteer system. Place yourself
in the vicinity of their several places Of drill Tor
the new militia, and you would say that the whole
island had been converted into one vast camp.
An enCampment is to be held during the summer
on Waustead Flats, where the recruits will have
prolonged and efficient exercise in artillery prac-
tiee while the cavalry and infantry will engage in
sham fights, and kindle their ardor and exat their
pride by many bloodless conflict. These " train
ings = have, suspect, an object beyond the de-
fence of the fast-anchored isle ~ against French
invaders for sensible men know very well that
Napoleon would not seek to humble England In
that doubtful way, while so many better ways lie
open to him--that especially OF attaching her IN
her marine and in her colonies. But THESE hne
fellows, who are expecting to hght-if fight they
ever shail--on their own soil, behind their own
breasWorks, will one of these days, much to their
chagrin be drafted into some regiment ordered TO
the continent. This panic about an INVASION OF
England has been raised, shrewdly guess, to CON
vert the available population into soldiers with the
Interior aim to invade France, or to assist Austria
and Prussia against France and Italy, Or, should
there be combination between France, Russia
and italy, then to restore the old dynastles and
their regime. It is significant fact, that although
the Queen has officially recognized Italy by
formal reception Of its Minister, many influential
public men, heretofore on the other SIDE, nave
of this So, if the present Palmerston Government
is overthrown it will be done by the weight OF the
reaetionary vote. These facts show that that
eternal jealousy Of France, which never SUMMERS
nor sleeps, is working great change in the minds
OF the leading public men, and that 1t may sue
ceed in the course If neutrality-suspicious. Of weeks
in securing such an understanding with certain
foreign powers as shall eventuate in open hos
tilties These are mere speculations, grant you,
but they are based on certain facts, which do not
seem to admit of any other interpretation Eng
land, in its royal and aristocratc branches, is so
interviewer with Germany, by marriages, alliances,
and treaties, that she is continually seeking, from
political and other interested motives, TO gain
there the preponderance she has lost during the
last half century. Let this he recovered, and the
great aims and devout aspirations of all the little
despots Of that over-taxed and over-governed
country will be realized; and England, through
her astute and fafseeing statesmen, will be able
to WELD the whole continent 10 any act Of aggres
sion or conquest Spain would gladly lend its iu-
fuence and its arms, and Portugal is almost as
much at the disposal of England as Algeria is at
the disposal of France. Yet circumstances may
arise to postpone or altogether to prevent the
open development of any such policy. Still, they
would be no proof that the policy is not enter
tained and all its plans carefully laid. 1t would
prove rather, that there is more yIgllant and
president mind at work in the French Capitol than
upon the banks of the Thames
The English militia, of which intended to speak
when I wandered into the foregoing reflections,
presents a very respectable, not to say imposing,
sight when well broke into order. They are
goodookiDg men-sOme of them rather heavy
but when uniformed and instructed in marching and
evolution, behave with promptness, and exhibit
considerable military aptness. At first, they are
not so piable and quick to learn either as the
American OF French; and one, not acquainted
with the art, would despair, on first view, of ever
making anything out Of great portion of them.
But, if they are little slow in learning, they are
slower yet in forgetting
The inhaban of the British Islands, be he Scotch,
or TrjCh q antp ms ph
in discipline, and with the precision and re-
gularity of clock-work. Like clock-work too,
when set in notion they cont rue to go with an
impetus commensurate with their weight, and can
be stopped neither by stone walls nor solid walls of
cavalry or infantry. They know no motive aside
from the word of commands and when this is
given, their yalor and intrepidty may be relied
upon in any emergency. Take, for example, the
rash and wasteful assault upon the Russians at Ba
laklava, when they descended and crossed ravne
and rushed up the opposite side in face of the
non and Dlusketry of the enemy. &c. also, at the
assault upon the Redan, the British soldiers poured
into that impregnabe fortress, only to be moved
down by scores by the artillery OF its defenders,
when they must have known, if they thought at ALL
that they throwing their lives away for moth
ing. See, also, that wild and desperate charge of
their cavalry upon the defences of the Russians at
misunderstood order when not only every soldier,
but every officer, must have known that it was
both useless and fatal. Bot the English soldier
must be Wellfed and well-directed. He cannot,
like the Frenchman, extemporize a meal out of a
piece of brown bread and few herbs which he
may pick up around the place Of encampment
much less can he suhsist, like the Turkish soldier,
upon handful of dates But give him bis bread,
beef, potatoes and beer, and he will stand up to
be shot at all day--or until hunger comes again to
break down his stamina and starve out his courage.
If, like the hungry wolf he could feed on the flesh
of his enemies, it would be otherwise besides its
being a great improvement in the mode of subsist-
ing an arnF-though little too much in the fash
ion of the Carib and the Fejee.
Seeing that you too likely to have war on
your hands--if it be not already begun, for the
Republican press is quite belligerent-it may be
no waste of words to say something about officer
ing an army. We know very well that difference
in the men is difference in the material; and that
the soldiers of some nations are better than the
soldiers of others. But much the greater differ
ence lies in the commanding officer and his staff
The saying of the First Napoleon should never be
forgotten, that he would rather have an army of
goats commanded by lion, than an army of lions
commanded by goat. The most-or at least
large part-of his armies consisted of young re-
cruits, while his opponents led veterans to the
fed-men of many battles In your contest with
the North, while whole population is leavened
by fighting men of no doubtful courage, you have
brave and experienced officers. The only man of
note on the Republican side, is Gen. Scott, truly
great military genus but he is now old and in
firm, and must have become cautious almost to
timidity. To.be-sure, older Generals than he have
won battles, But you have President Davis, Gen.
Bragg and many Others, now in the full strength
Ol ludnHuOu. LIS ulHefeuCe III your idFOF lS QUE
half at least. To conceive and execute with
pidity, are always the conditions of success. The
invasion of Italy and the defeat of nearly million
of men by the comparatively small army Of Han
nibal, as well as the deliverance of the Greeks,
on the Invasion of the Persians, show that it was
good generatship, not numbers, that won the VIC.
tory for, had there been no Hannibal or
Themistocles and Leonidas, there had been defeat
and subjugation
Among the revolutions and changes which are
going on among the nations, should not over
look those nearer home The Spanish have taken
possession of St. Domingo. 1t was theirs before
and ytimay follow. thought to follow, if it can
not defend itself against few half breeds and four
or five ships. Negro republics and negro empires
must not expect to escape the perils of all other
republics and empires, if they are black. But the
queerest thing is, that new kingdom has been or
ganzed in South America. Away down at the
southern extremity of Chill, on the Pacific shore,
dwell a people, now almost forgotten--the Arau-
canians-who, of all the aboriginal tribes, success
fully resisted the armies of Spain, and to the pres
ent day have maintained their independence. A
most interesting people they We're, and, perhaps,
still are, although was told by returned officer
from Chill that they had greatly degenerated. Be
that asit may, at the time of their discovery by
very superior physical moral aud intellectual char
acter, living under kind of oligarchy, and cult
waiting the arts of peace and very successfully
Thousands OF men were lost by the Spaniards in
trying to subjugate them and Notwithstanding the
most peraevering efforts, with the aid of ships forts
arms and armor, the bows and the spears were too
| much for the bravest and best disciplined men then
| to be found in Europe. Our present account re-
| ates that Frenchman, by the name of Or6lie An