Macon beacon. [volume] (Macon, Miss.) 1859-1995, 1892-01-30
MILITARY nlsAEEEoTloN.
Recent Outbreaks Among the Dissatisfied
English Soldiery.

Recent Outbreaks Among the Dissatisfied
English Soldiery.
The Punishment OF an entire English
regiment TO hard duty in Canada as a
punishment for inSubordination is still
fresh in the public mind, followed rs it
was by another mutiny much more Sc
rious, the mutineers being sent upon
that occasion to Indian service. The
latest report from Aldershot has ere
ated a sensation in England and a pro-
found sympathy for the soldiers
throughout the kingdom. The report
duplicates a number of the soldiers of
the crack regiments of that place in an
attempt upon the life of a corporal,
whose inhuman severity to the men in
his command could no longer be borne.
In the last five years from every
branch of the English army, both in
England and in the foreign service, a
dangerous discomfort, suppressed only
by the most severe measures, has been
apparent, and the strongest feeling
against entering the service is every
where manifested.
There was a time when the English
army was the finest in the world, when
the morale and discipline were perfect,
and the soldier himself was proud Of
the service. The decline in the popu-
larity of the army has been going on
for a long time. Commissions in the
army are bought for scapegraces of all
kinds, but scapegraces, as a rule, do
not take kindly to discipline, although
they are invariably the severest marti-
nets. The monotonous life Of the bar
racks, the never-ending laborious drills,
the lack of actual employment beft-
ting a soldier, wear upon the rank and
file, and the regulations and conditions
of the service make many abuses posi-
BILE.
The disaffection of the English SOL
diery is marked when compared to the
enthusiasm exhibited for the army in
France where the army is mainly Of re-
serve men, drawn from civil life, a per-
fectly trained volunteer force, and the
discipline of the German army, the reg
iments of which bearthe most protract-
ed drills without n murmur.
Politicians and statesmen are begin
ming to regard the situation in the army
of England as serious, but are at n loss
to know how exactly to proceed in its
reorganization. In many years there
has been no period when the anxiety
that the army should regain its prestige
was so great as it is now. England's
foreign relations are beset with dan.
gers, and at amy time diplomacy may
fail and force be the means of main
tanning her position.
That spirit of patriotism which ami
mates the armies of France, Russia and
Germany, is not so intense in the Eng
fish army. The soldiers have known
the h%ardships of campaigns under the
burning suns and amid the drifting
sands of Egypt, and in the malarious
low-lands of India. The statesmen
would sacrifice every soldier in the
army to retain India, and many brave
men have already laid down their lives,
a useless sacrifice in Egypt, but the
masses of the English people are bound
by ties of blood and interest to only
two OF the foreign possessions: to Can
ada, because it has before it Il prospect
OF political liberty; to Australia, whose
destiny is independence, and
they care no more for India and Egypt,
where, nevertheless, they must support