The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1862-12-15

points,-not made distinctly by the writer, il
is true, but implied by his article,-are, LIST,
that people at home-not in the field, have no
qualification to pass judgment upon army mat
tiers; I'd, that screen troops" are not fit for
use on the field of battle, and that a long time
"a year-may be needed in preparation; Sd,
that there has been no needless inactivity in
the movements Of the army; 4th, that inactivi-
ty, even to "heart-sickness," is better than haz-
ard; 9Th, that Silence, though long time in
preparing, is sure TO win; 9th, that our IRON
clads are guarantee against foreign interven-
tion. There are other points, but we will not
occupy space and time in noticing them, fur
Their than to say that, the disparaging refer
ence to Napoleon, coming from young vol
unteer soldier, seems to us, to say the least,
quite as violative of good taste as the criticisms
Of civilians upon the movements of the army
of the Potomac can possibly appear to him.
We know of no better evidence of good gen.
eralship than uniform success, and this proof
Napoleon Bonaparte enjoyed as no man before
or since has done. No military man, in this
day Of grace, will add to the freshness of his
laurels by dsparaging the talents of the great
est captain of his age. Briefly we will notice
the points we have indicated by numerals, and
/. People at home have no qualifications to
pass judgment upon army matters. Is notthis
the argument of egotism? If it proves any
thing it would prove that the best Judge is he
who is nearest the conflict, and, therefore, the
burned and backened cannoneer, or the bloody
actor in bayonet charge is a better Judge
than the general in command, who, out of inn
mediate range and danger, surveys the whole
field and direct the whole movement. The ar
gument is not sound one. There may be
men in Washington or even in Maine, who are
as competent to pass judgment as thousands
of those in commission. In his palmy days,
old Gen. Scott, seated with his maps, in a log
cabin on the remotest frontier, would plan and
direct a campaign better than most men under
the most favorable circumstances. We sug-
gest TO gentlemen in the army that all wis
dom has not been monopolized by the army of
the Potomac; that shoulder straps are not the
uniailing evidence of genius that there may be
some intelligence yet left, not organized in the
army.
2. Green troops are of 70 use in battle
We call troops comparatively green that have
not been raised over three months. Certainly
they are green compared with those who have
been year under drill. AT Bull Run No. /.
all the troops were green. The Maine I'd and
4th were green-so were Jameson, Berry.
Nickerson-and yet they fought like tigers.
The loeS of fhat hlno1x dox-
lack of courage or lack of discipline on the
part of the troops, but to the heavy reinforce
ment of the enemy. The day and the field
were ours beyond controversy, until those re-
Inducements arrived, and it was no fault of
green troops" but rather OF epauletted Off
GERS that reinforcements on our side were not
forthcoming. Then, too, at Fort Donelson-
the greatest fight of the whole war, where 49,
600 of the enemy were captured, before the
idea of capturing large armies had been ''play-
ed out'-who but green troops were engaged
there? That strong work was carried mainly
by Illinois Egyptians; and we were told after
wards of their verdancy, and of how little
they knew of military matters, except that
John Logan and other favorite commanders
told them to take the fort, and John Logan
being reasonable man, who would command
nothing unreasonable, they had nothing to do
but TO take it, We would not underrate drill
or discipline, but we do insist, as matter of
fact, that nearly all of our decided victories,
and nearly all of our signal advances, hare
been accomplished by SCREEN troops if troops
OF less than years experience are TO be con-
sidered "green." The truth is, intelligent
men do not require the long drill of the igno-
rant subjects of the English army Men TAX
en- from active life demoraize by long inactiv-
ity, and we have the authority of Maine Off
Ger, now commanding brigade, one who has
seen much and severe service. that such troops
as Maine has furnished, intelligent and active,
are better fitted for battle in three months.
than they can possibly be by longer inactivity.
As we shall give extracts from his letter, we
make no further reference to it here.
3. No needless inactivity This is denied by
suclr men as Gems. Halleck, Hooker. McCler-
nand, and the "dashing Kearney" We have
no comments TO add.
4. Inactivity, even to "heartsickness," is bet
ter than the slightest hazard. Doubtful; with
dispirited, discouraged, heart-sick people, no
army ranks can be kept full, no money can be
raised, credit will go down, and nightmare
will palsy all the efforts OF the government.
An occasional defeat is a thousand times bet
ter than inactivity, and consequent discourage
ment and heartsiekness. 1t is not our de-
feats that have most discouraged our people.
and weighed most heavily uIon their spirits
and most paralyzed their energies; but the
long, long seasons of do-nothing and Incidence.
s. Science is always sure 10 win. Then
our case is almost hopeless, for the rebels
doubtless excel us in the number of scientific
military men. But it is not necessarily so-
Bonaparte's great forte was in battling science.
His adversaries were always at fault in their
calculations. jackson at New Orleans. with
out science, defeated the scientific Packen-
ham. Is it not true that Napoleon at Water
loo was not defeated so much by the caution
and GOODNESS of Wellington as by the failure
or something else of Gouchy, 70 come TO his
aid at the appointed time? His plans would
have surely won but for this.
6. Our iron-clads guarantee against foreign
Intervention That folderol is surely 'played
out" While we have been building iron-clads
have England and France been doing nothing
but stand still and look on? Have they no
iron-clads to bring against ours so that. in a
ll.ns. IN.