The Northern Pacific farmer., 1881-11-10
THE EAMERICAN SOLDIER.
Archibald Forbes Opinion ofa Connecticut
Regiment on Parade at Cbarlston, South

Archibald Forbes Opinion ola Connecticut
Regiment on Parade at Cbarlston, South
Carolina.
One of the most delighted spectators of
the superb marching and lress parade OF
the First Connecticut regiment was Archl-
bald Forbes, the famous war correspondent
of the London Nems To reporter of the
Charleston News and Courier, who had a
talk with him, he said:
I'VE Enplishmen have bablt OF looking
down upon talking nau, and to agree with
Carlyle, when he says, The able man is the
silent man. and I am bound to say that the
first night was here, when ! heard those
Connecticut men crate, with a good deal Of
buncombe thrown in. said to myself, Much
that n told that I will see to- m,rr1- will
be promise without fullfiilment.' Bat it
came about quite the other way, aud l am
free to eay that it seems to me that if there
are G. eat nsany regiments ike that Connect
ticut regiment which saw here On parade in
the nation, it don't want any standing army
at all, as they would constitute a far cheao-
er and more effective force than anv stand
ing army would. I have seen all the arm
les in the world, I believe, from Afghan
scalawags to Russian Imperial Guards, and
I have never seen greater precision and
stability than those men manifested on that
dress parade. To me it was revelation,
and rather d&agreeable revelation from
this point Of view, which you can easily
understand, that l became painfully aware
that there was another factor in the world
capable of beating US. man never likes
to find out that the number Of men strong
er than himself is on the increase. We
Engllshmen have been indulging in the
satisfaction, that however continental coun-
tries might grow viii their millions OF re-
| serves against our 100000 or 100000
trained troops. we were yet capable of
staggering over the United States in the
matter of drill and discipline, and the pune
tilious performance of evolutions. But
what l saw yesterday proved to me that
such was not the case. Those men marched
and wheeled quite eqnal to our grena-
dier guards, and don't 'hink have seen
anything to eqnal the precision IN the man
ual in that dress parade. It seemed to me
| that the commanding officer, who went to
the front, and moved as piece OF mechan-
ism, had his foot on an electric wire which
communicated with the regiment, and that
each man was mere autOmatOn, not
moved by the word Of command, but by the
colonels foot on the concealed wire IN the
ground, and what I admired most Of all
was the absolute rlsidity of the accuracy
that was preserved in the minutest detail.
"The tendency of republican country
like this is to iespise the accuracy which
| does not bear fruit right away, but the ac-
curacy in military affairs, which appears
good to outsiders, is really the means to an
end. 1t is the evidence Of that discipline
| which in the time of danger may be found
to have no other stable reliance than By
| that consuetude which rigorous drill and
parctice carries with it. The week point of
all volunteer inproyised forces is that they
have not that amount of discipline that be-
| comes engraftea into the very nature Of the
old soldier, but those men seemed yesler-
| day to have been that way SO long, that
what they did vas not the result Of thought
| fu1ness, not the result of q first rehearsal
| or a second rehearsal, but the performance
| of thing by note, 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. 1t
seems to me that comparing (for I didn't
| like to contrast), but comparing what I
saw, that your South Carolina people were
deficient in comparison with these Con-
necticut troops in mechanical accuracy.
They looked 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 to General in large
maneuver. In other words, their discl-
pline was not SO good"