The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1879-05-31
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II mAv bG cOnSlueTeu hu ubBIaSlVu
,,.x Ia criticise the modus operandi 0
y,..lenay's sham battle proceedings, bu
!, /. only giving expression to the criti
,i.m. and dissatisfaction that were heard
mn every side, when we say that 1t fell de
,leIIy short Of public expectation. There
wa,a amcntabie lack Of proper executive
management, not only as regards the de-
miI oithe combat but also in the provok.
Ina and wearisome delays that occurred
IN beginning, and thon in carrying out
I,rnro,rammc. A vast multitude Of peo.
pIc were kept waiting and sweltering for
nearly four hours in the hot sun before q
,pn was lired-in other words, from one
o'elo,k until lye-owing to the uncertain.
,ya, ,otlle hour when the exercises would
teolIy begin. And they waited and mur-
mt,rrI over the discomfort and delay,
some Of them actually leaving the ground
a, last AZ Il relief from the heat and weari.
ne,. which they had 80 long endured.
The only satisfactory way in which to
organize an affair like that Of yesterday is
uma,urc all of its details beforehand and
let ,hrm be known. In these days Of
teegaphic communication it ought to be
possible to know who are to take part in
il in time to publish every detail OF the
performance on the morning Of the day Of
battle, so that every visitor may know
where to 90, either in the city or on the
ied, in order to see what is to occur. To
have great multitude Of people wander.
insaimIcssly about the streets, or scatter
ins,hcmsclyes over the Island, all Of them
inluiring as to the order OF exercises and
nobody able to satisfy Them, Is not the
way to get visitors to come a second time
10 see military demonstration. Notify a
good deal. .aa4.lals
The details OF conflict appeared to the
anmiItary eye very detective indeed.
Who would ever think of planting cannon
behind a line Of battle-on level plain
and opening fire on the enemy right
through the ranks of your own infantryP
And then, too, tho idea OF driving back an
assault on one Of the guns by turning an
other gun on the promiscuous swarm Of
friends and foes who were clustering
around it and fighting over it, struck us as
aremarkably queer performance. And not
les queer was the sight Of two lines of In
iantry coming within twenty feet of each
other and pegging away as fast as they
could drive ioran indefinite length Of time
long enough to have annihilated each
other ten times over. That was deci.
dcily new feature in the art Of war, and
shows that the life insurance companies
might take war risks without increasing
their ordinary rates in the least. In fact
it forcbly reminded us OF a speech made
by the late John s. Carlile early in the
war, in which he endeavored to show that
it was fully as safe, if not safer, to go to
war than TO stay at home.
There were other very defective move
ments and manGuvres to which we might
refer il disposed to go into critical re-
view of the performance of the day. The
mess that was made at times was quite
lUlicrous, but was perhaps pardonable
when we remember that there had been
no rehearsal, and that even the plan OF
battle was kept back until about time to
begin it. We do not write in spirit Of
aultlinding, but as a necessity Of the
ease in order that hereafter il we have any
more such performances, the serious
drawbacks and blunders of yesterday may
be avoided. The contrast compared with
last year was quite marked. The people
were pleased last year and expected an
improvement this year; but they were
disappointed.