The river press. [volume] (Fort Benton, Mont.) 1880-current, 1881-04-13
Military Mem Must Keep Ab reast With
tine Times. ~
(Sir Garnet Woolessly.J

There is q class Of officers who seem to
military science are concerned, stands still.
They see around them the most marvellous
changes affected by steam, electricity, and
mechanical inventions, and they accept them
aa 8 matter of course, ignoring or uncons-
cious Of the fact that all such discoveries and
Inventions react upon armies and military
science, and that, as education and lntelll-
gence which is its grandchiid spread through
the social strata from which we obtain our
recruits, we are obliged to treat them in 8
different manner from that with which we
dealt with their ~illiterate and stupid fore
fathers. The private soldier Of the last cen
fury and even during our great struggle with
Napoleon, was treated by us in an almost
brutal manner we dealt with him as if he
were an un~reasoning mechanism which, for
very contrairiness sake, went frequently out
Of order. We caught him as q sort Of wild
man, and instead Of e~ndeavoring to raise him
ia the scale Of humanity, we brutalized him
by treating him as an unreasoning being.
Those who would still wish to fog the sol
dier IS the keeper does his WillfuI spaniel,
who are never tired Of reminding us Of the
glories achieved by our troops under Wei
lington, and of referring to that army that
s'could do anything and march anywhere"
forget the atrocious and fendish horrors Of
Badajos and Ciudad Rodrigo there is much
ado because an occasional henroost may be
robbed nowadays on the line Of march during
operations in the Geld, while all remembrance
of the scenes Of indiscipline during Moore's
retreat to Corunna, or the great Dukes re-
treat TO Lisbon, are entirely forgotten or ig-
nored. There is 8 great deal of talk of the
good cid times, and of their glories, and Of
the imagined munifcence of our soldiers
then. Of their splendid physical appearance,
and Of their high moral qualities Of disap-
line, etc. we are daily treated to compari-
sons in heroic language between the soldiers
of to-day and the soldier of the beginning of
this century the murders and the robberies
and the drunkenness of the soldiers of eighty
and one hundred years ago are forgotten,
and we remember only their splendid
achievements. Ia those days, as at present,
splendid success was only secured when real
ly able and scientific generals commanded i n
the field and then, as now, when incompe-
tence directed our military operations, fail
ure and disgraceful disaster were the result.
I should never be forgotten that our army
that won Waterloo was pronounced by its
gre 1t commander to be the worst he had
ever commanded while I think it will be
freely admitted by the student of military
history that the physique and military disap-
line of the little armies which are now only
remembered by reason Of the misfortunes
and calamities that overlook them were often
Of the very highest order. 1t was the char
acter and military attainments of their COM
manders to which the difference In the re-
suit ia to be attributed. The old soldier lives
upon the past, and the young gentleman join
ing O regiment is so accustomed to hear his
older brother officers, GO whom he looks up