New-York daily tribune., 1861-09-04
AMERICANS As SOLDIERS.
The letter Of Mr.. W. II. Russell, the CORES
pondent of The London Times, published this
morning, contains the following sentence:

pondent Of The London Times, published this
morning, contains the following sentence:
al" hard to t,,cb American, discipline Therrsgllar army
has for the part Of Germans and Ih. The
people are syerse obedience pncpe and children
a. have observed particularly in the NsTh are less manage.
sble' 'bddsble' mothers say-thSn in the Old fashioned
country where the fifth commandment is held in eipect
Master Pickle and Miss Pert fond enough pfssyng won't
all over the world but the breed unusually large In America
dsObedence to pass cuTen fo indepdence And
az the child father Of the Sovereign Smith on pn'
cps rebels against obeyrs the order of Sovereign BROWN
sck in hi. man. recaerate morally and physical
y aud only succeeds By the pressure Of sefspped dares'o
This statement has within it measure of
be abiding. 1t is probable that the American,
SO far as cheerful submission to discipline is con-
cerned, is not OF once as good soldier as the
Irishman or the German, though every battle in
the war now upon us furnishes marked excep-
tons to this rule and though the operations Of
the American army in the war of 1912 would
seem, in many instances, to conflict with the
theory. Nevertheless, the general statement
holds its place as q truth The cause OF tho
shortcoming alluded to is plain, being correctly
hinted at by Mr.. Russell. The somewhat crude
and mostly illogical ideas of independence which
have possession Of the American mind interfere
with the wholesome discipline Of the camp, if
not Of the field, and excite sn antagonistc feel.
ing between private aud officer. Hence arise IL
feeling and in some cases insubOrdiDatlOn, and
as consequence of such jars in the camp, the
efficiency Of the force in action is not seldom
impaired.
But though this peerIaTity il undoubtedly to
be commented on with regret, it is not irremedi.
able The freedom which allows every soldier
to think for himself, and the general intelligence
which guide, his thoughts, furnish ground for
confident hope that the blemishes in his profess
sional character viii soon disappear. Impatient
of control "a the American constitutionally lie,
he has lively sense of justice, and is quite
ready to acknowledge the claims Of judicisus
authority when he uses hio reason, as be is al
ways capable of doing and generally willing to do.
Therefore let the necessity fOr selfabnegaticn be-
come clear to him. and be will be cheerful in
obedience, prompt in action, accomplishing under
pryation, keeping his prids out of sight. An
army of intelligent men, like that now in the
field on behalf of the Unlon, cannot fall to
be an army of obedient soldiers; it will
become such as soon as the gravity of the con-
test and the stern exgences Of the ocoasiou are
fully appreciated This appreciation comes
rapidly; our army to-day is q very different
army from tina. which ranged itself under the
same flag two months ago; It's moral improve
ment has more than kept pace with its advance
in the art Of war; The minds which have long
been accustomed to examine for themselves oil
questions OF domestic policy aud to closely scru-
tnize the actions and capacity OF candidates who
would rule over them, are now busly occupied
in studying the problem OF the present National
situation in all its aspects, even while the bodies
to which they belong mount guard o. perfect
themselves in the drill of the soldier. They zee
and acknowledge the necessity for cordial co.
operation for the honor Of thoir country, and
therefore readily bow to the restraining mandate,
with alacrity obey the sharpy-uttered word Of
command.
This we btlieye 10 be the truth as it certainly
should be, and must be, if aught but discOm6ture
il to come to our arms. We have no fear that
the results Of the contest now npon US will
prove anything less satisfactory than that an
army of intelligent freemen is fully capable of
giving TO the world lesson in prompt obedience
TO discipline, and clear illustration Of the Truth
that tho best soldiers need no. necessarily be
mere machines.