The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-13

In the year 1861 Lord Clyde, then just
home from India, was sent to Berlin to see
the Prussian army. In his official report
he speaks highly of its many good points,
with its system Of fighting i'll column, the
formation of square to resist cavalry instead
Of receiving it in line with the proneness of
the cavalry to attack when the enemy was
under protection of cover. 10 a great
friend of his-the general he most trusted
of it. The old warrior, whose fifty years
war experience had begun in battles with
the French in the Peninsula, said that the
Prussian army which he saw in 1861 WAS
little more than a very great militia force.
His words have been sometimes quoted rs
system which won the battles of 1866 and
1870. It would not have been surprising If,
after a life spent in our long service army,
he could not persuade himself that
an army filled with young soldiers,
and in which no private
had served more than two or three years,
could attain to any real tirst-class military
efficiency. He probably shared this preju-
dice against an army, the great bulk of
whose fighting soldiers lived as reserve men
in civil life, with nearly all our generals of
that time. But it must be remembered that
the army which he saw in 1861 was practic.
ally the ono which by the hopelefs failure of
it's mobilization in 1859 forced upon the
minds OF the king and Moltke the necessity
for reform. Army reforms take a long
time before they tell upon the condition of
an ARMY. The new system was only intro
duced in 1860. The organization as it OK
listed up to 1860 gave a large militia with n
created a large effective short service army
for the field, with a militia behind it for
fortress work md lines Of communication.
Therefore, in all probability Won Room and
Won Moltke. if they could have heard Lord
Clyde's private remarks In 1861, would have
said at once: Certainly. he is quite right.
it 10 because We know that the army organ
ization which has come down to us from the
times of Scharnhorst and Gneisennu gives
us a mere militia as the bulk of our army
that we have felt that We must at all cost
introduce the present reform. When gu,
see what the difference will be. 1t will take
about eight years for the whole system
to attain its normal development. Then, IL
! it be tested by its efficiency in war, and not
/ by it's appearance in the bnrraok yard. we
are not afraid of the result" In fact, 1866
| of tho svstem. Had Lord Clyde lived to sec
| the mighty achievements of the Prussian
/ army of 1866 and in 1~S7O-speaking from
my own knowledge of what a real soldier he
was-I I'M sure hs would have been among
the first to acknowledge the efficiency which
nAu DoGn lutEOuUUcN Nv tHe ErIorAu VI LOW,
though it was not visible in 1861.
The glory achieved for his country by the
successful general Of the present day is now
| coMparcd-Rnd perhaps rightly compared
! with the benefits which the inventor OF
, some new medicine or new surgical nppli-
ance has conferred upon the world. In the
over-refinement of cultivated society many
now admire CWsar's Commentaries more
than Caesar himself. or the great things hi
did for Rome. Military glory and the re-
nown of him whose genius won IL for I'M
country have now many serious rivals. Bu'
Germany's existence IA u state depends 81
exclusively upon the efficiency of her arm,
IT il impossible TINT the name Of Moltke
the groat soldier who did 30 much for tina,
army, shall ever be forgotten by the German
people.
Moltke will DO remembered not only al
the great strategist, but as the arden
patriot devoted to duty. Foremost anon,
tho champions of German unity. he enI
never DO forgotten by those who love tn
hon, r and Rrontn ass--that ~, the m%ilitar,
' rOnown--of their fAtherlAna. In this az