Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1895-08-01
BRITISH MILITARY DISCIPLINE.


The English army is the subject of
great deal of serious criticism. too
much of which, it must be feared, is
sound The navy stands unrivaled
both as to ships and men, and the dis
cipline is good, which is a claim that
can not be justly put forward for the
sister service. A man can be a poorly
disciplined soldier and he will do, after
q fashion; but an ill-disciplined soldier
will not do at all. The men in their
hoating home are more in the power of
their leaders, who have many ways of
enforcing discipline army officers know
nothing. about.
Then again the English army may
be poor of its kind and the natl on con-
tinue to exist. But the existence of
England depends on the thorough
efficiency of her feet; and when it is
question of vital interest the English
are willing to make any sacrifice. even
to that of money, which is very dear to
them. So that the vessels and the
guns are the best that money can buy.
and the men are kept in hand, and DO
serious breach of discipline occurs that
is not visited with the severest punish
ment.
But this is not the case in the army,
and the officer, unless he wishes his
life to be made burden to him, must
wink at many things that the naval
officer would ''be down on" at once.
One of the greatest crimes a soldier
can be guilty of is the wanton destruc-
ton of any portion of his outfit. which
is the property of the government.
Yet the usual revenge taken by British
soldiers for what they consider rigor-
GUS discipline (that is the cavalry is
''saddle-cutting," which means going
with their swords the saddles and
brides issued to them by the govern
ment. / have seen dozen instances
of this reported in the daily press dur
ing the last twelve months.
The officers are not lin touch" with
the men, and the real business of the
companies and regiments is done by
the noncommissioned officers and men,
who are good. In this species of work
the labors of the ''noncoms" in con-
tinental armies is shared by the Off
GERS holding commission. Here serv-
ice in the army is simply an elegant
occupation for a gentleman.
The cities in England do not supply
good material to the army. The best
recruits have always been obtained
from the agricultural population. AS
it has become more difficult now than
formerly to obtain recruits from this
source the cities are called upon to
supply the deficiency, and the physical
standard has been reduced. The re-
cruiting officers have never been hard
to please in the matter of a moral
standard, as you will see by referring
to Granville Murray's six Months in
the Ranks
AS for the two hundred thousand
volunteers in actual warfare. fancy
that the service they would render
would be exactly-nothing In order
to infuse something of the spirit
of war into these holiday soldiers,
every regiment of British infantry
has four battalions. Numbers l and
2 are regulars, the third battalion
militia and fourth volunteers. The
union between the two regular batal-
ions and the two others is very loose
tie, though in time of war some re-
cruits might be found in the militia
and volunteer battalions to fill gaps in
the regular ones.
The volunteers of London recently
had an outing in and anound Windsor.
The criticism of Lord Methuen, the
experienced soldier in command. is
scathing. He remarks that in the
field operations the cavalry in COM
mand lost touch of the enemy, which,
as that is principally what cavalry is
for. shows that the officers in COM
mand did not know their business. He
remarks further that the pres
ence of so many civilians in
and around the camp and the
troops during the field opera
tions is the cause; that while the field
operations may have been a source of
pleasure to a few of the volunteers
they can not be looked upon as suit.
able means of imparting instruction t.
the many.
The greatest trouble with the army
here is that they have little or no ex-
perience of acting together in great
masses. and in front of an efficient
enemy the whole machine would
break down. As long as the British
fleet can prevent the landing of an
enemy in England, this country is
safe, but if large force does effect a
landing, a couple of army corps, say,
it would go hard with the island.
1 think the fleet can keep an enemy
from landing. and that the English
fleet could carry the coast OF an enemy.
But do not think that England could
land anywhere any but a very small
expeditionary force, and that even if
she could land a much larger one they
vould he annihilated
There is as fine material for soldiers
in England as in any country in the
world. If this country ever again en-
cages in a long war with a great power
it will end by resort to a conscrip-
ton, and the precedent supplied by the
United States will be quoted in sup
port of it. The officers, too. will be
subjected to a different training, and
the army will be completely reorgan-
lied. The best arm here at present
seems to be the artillery, which is in
many respects superior to the other
branches of the service. Philadelphia
Times
Overplayed Himself.
For the fourth time in one evening
the third assistant guard of the harem
had beaten his royal master at chess
Il envy you your skill. said the po-