The Emporia weekly news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1881-1889, 1881-11-10
THE AMERICAN SOLDIER FROM
AN ENGLISH STANDPOINT.

Archibald Forbes, the famous English
war correspondent, thus gives his i'm
preston of the American soldier as
seen at Yorktown:
1--WE Englishmen have a habit Of
looking down upon talking man, and
TO agree with Carlyle when he says,
'The able man is the silent man." and
am bound to say that the first night
was here, when heard those COnnecti-
cut men crate, with good deal of bun
combc thrown in, l said to myself,
Much that am told that ! will see to
morrow will be q promise without full
fllment." But IL came about quite the
other way, and am free to say that IL
seems 20 me that If there are y great
many regiments like that Connecticut
regiment which ! saw here on
parade In q nation, il don't want
any standing army at all, as they
would constitute a far cheaper and
more effective force than any standing
army would. have seen all the armies
In the world, believe, from Afghan
scalaWags 10 Russian Imperial Guards,
aud have never seen greater precision
and stability Than those men manifested
on that dress parade. To me It was o
revelation, and q rather disagreeable
revelation from this point OF view,
which you can easily understand, that
became painfully aware there was an.
other factor In the world capable OF
beating US. A man never likes to find
ont that the number OF men stronger
than himself Is on the increase. We
Englishmen have been INDUCING in
the satisfaction, that however, cOnIinen-
tai countries might grow with their
millions OF reserves against our 100, 600
u,e.f
capable OF staggering over the UniLed
States in the matter of drill and dis
cipline, and the punctilious per-
Torrance of evOlutiOns. But what j
saw yesterday proved lO me that
such was not the case. Those men
marched and wheeled quite equal 10
our GrenadieI Guards, and ! don't
think have seen anything to equal the
precision in the manual at dress parade.
II seems 10 me that the commanding of
ficcr, who went To the front, and moved
as u piece of mechanism, had his foot
ON an electric wire which communicated
with the regiment and every man in the
regiment, and that each man was mere
autOmaton, not moved by the word of
command, but by the colonel's foot on
the concealed wire in the ground, and
what admired most of all was the alb
sOlute frigidity of the accuracy that was
preserved in the minutest detail.
THE tendency Of a Republican cOun-
try like this Is 10 dcspise the accuracy
which does not bear fruit right away,
but the accuracy in in military affairs
which appears good 10 outsiders, Ii real
ly the means 20 an end. II Is the evil
dence of that discipline which in the time
of danger may be found 10 have NO 9TH
ca reliance than that which rigor-
Gus drill and practice carries
with il. The weak point Of
all volunteer imprOviSed forces
Is that they have not that amount Of
discipline that becomes engratted into
the very nature of the old soldier, but
those men seemed yesterday 70 have
bsan that way 30 long, that what they
did was not the result of thoughtful
ness, not the result Of q first rehearsal
or 3 second rehearsal, but the perform
ance of thing BY rote, and they had
come to that perfection as naturally as
the taking or cocktail. All this seems
TO come out of an infinite capacity for
taking pains in these Connecticut peo-
pie. 1t seems to me that comparing
flor didn't like TO contrast), but CON-
pairing what saw, that your South Car
Olins people were deficient in cOmpar-
isOn with these Connecticut troops in
mechanical accuracy. They look we'll.
and all the world knows that they are
good fighting men, but they had not got
that punctilious accuracy in keeping
step and In the manual which brings
confidence 70 q General in q large ma
newer. In other words, their discipline
was not SO good"