Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1881-11-10
THURSDAY, NOV. 10, 1884,
Archibald Forbes on Amer1
can SOldiery.

can SOlliery.
Speaking Of these Connecticut troops
said he, could not but be struck
with that miraculous gift of talk
which is the attribute Of the Ameri-
can citizen. We Englishmen have
habit of looking down upon talking
man and to agree with Carlisle when
he saws the able man is the silent
man. And | am bound to say that
the first night was here, when |
heard those Connecticut men get up
on their hind legs and crate freely,
with good deal of buncombe thrown
in, said to myself: Much that | am
told ] will see tomorrow, will be
promise without ful6lment. But 1T
came about quite the other way. And
l am free to say that it seems to me
that if there are great many reg'.
ments like that Connecticut regiment
which saw here on parade IN a ma
ton, it don t want any standing army
at all, as they would constitute tar
cheaper and more effective force than
than any standing army woull be. |
have seen all the armies in the world,
/ believe, from the Afghan scalawags
to the Russian Imperial Guards, and
! have never seen greater precision
and solidity than those men manifest
ed on that dress parade. To me 1t
was a revelation, and rather dlsa
greeable revelation, simply frsm this
point Of view, which you can easily
understand. that I became painfully
aware that here was another factor IN
the world capable of beating us. A
man never likes to find out that the
number of men stronger than himself
is on the increase. We Englishmen
have been indulging in the satsiac-
ton that however the continental
countries might grow with their mil
lions of reserves against our hundred
or two hundred thousand trained
troops, we were yet capable Of swag-
oering over the United States, II tn;
matter OF drill and discipline anc
punctiIious performance Of evolutions
But what | saw yesterday proved t.
me that such was not the case. Thest
men marched and wheeled quit,
equal to our Grenadier Guard, and
don t think I have seen anything t
equal the procession in the manual il
that dress parade. 1t seemed to mt
that the commanding officer, wh(
went to the front and moved as {
piece of mechanism and not like crea
ture with bowels in him at all has
his foot on an electric wire which com
municated with the regiment anc
with every man IN the regiment, anc
that each man was mere automatOn
not moved by the word OF command
but by their colonel $ foot on the con
sealed wire in the ground. Anc
what | admire most of all was the alb
solute rigidity of accuracy that was
preserved in the minutest detail.
The tendency of Republican
country like this is to desplse accura
cy which does not bear fruit right
away. But the accuracy in military
affairs which appears good to outsi-
ders is really the means to an end. 1t
is the evidence of that discipline
which in time Of danger may be found
to have no other stable reliance than
by that consuetude which rigorous
drill and practice, the intuition Of
discipline, carries with it. Discipline
becomes second nature to a soldier
almost first nature. The weak point
of all volunteer improvised forces is
that they have not that amount of
disciplne that becomes engrafted IN
to the very nature Of the old soldier.
But those men seemed yesterday to
have been that way so long that what
they did was not the result OF
thouhtfulness, it was not the result of
a first rehearsal or second rehearsal,
but the performance of a thing by
sote. And they had come to that
perfection as naturally as the taking
of cocktail. All this seems to come
out Of an infinite capacity for taking
pains in these Connecticut people.
MARYLAND Epws