Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-06-06
WITH QUEENS ARMY
GEN. SIN EVELYN WOOD WRITES
or TOMMY ATKINS.
CHANGES DURING YICTOHIES REIGN.
ONLY Ten Years of Pence I'm That
Tlmc--Iifc I'm n British Bnttniion-
How the british Soldier Really
r'arcs.


Correspondence or the blspatchD
LONDON. May 27.--During the sixty
~ears Queen Victoria has reigned. ex-
c,rs,ve OF The chartered and other
,-sd,nr companies. the British army has
cough, in great or small expeditions Tor
ga, vears. leaving zen years only Of alb
soluto peace.
In fss2 We had got battalons, but we
had 10 generals trained aad practiced in
,sc duties OF that rank, FOR as soon as
. colonel was promoted no was placed
', rslf nay and was very seldom en-
,,,o..as afterwards. There was no stan.
known rs slch. no fed oomnlssariat,
ambulance corps. nor transport. There
was no general qualified 10 handle more
than one ARM e., the cavalry or IN
f,n,ry-whne the artillery was Kept as
sisa,ct from he rest of the army as II
a. had been separate profession. The
army was ia this stage when England
drlftcI inlo a war with Russia, OF which
she only recollection 10 be recalled with
fhorough satisfaction IS that our soldiers
paNe 10 an time an enduring example
- Tho highest form OF discipline. Forty
seb4stopol. in the depth Of the winter
~ lSl-'55. rest on The up,ands OF the
Cfmea. or In the ScGtary Cemetery, at
Corstautmople. These heroic men, who
were destroyed by uune ceSsary and pre-
N.uiabie priVatiOus, exposure, disease,
and undue eXcItiOn, never gave IN, anu
l.v down TO die without even murinuF'
I'm spite OF our losses, however. when
peace cnsued in 1885, England siooH III
a better position for war IMAM Two years
ure,I lousy, when the great struggle COM
m1nced. The 5000 men VINO diseih-
narkel in the Crimca in September looi.
had practically all disappeared. but they
rad been replaced by another 52,eOp with
rmcty--iX leld-cannon. or treble the mum
10 IIudcl in 1851 IL is strange how
slow our countrymeu are 10 learn. While
the iudescrlbable mseries were still fresh
I'm the public mind-even before the
treaty of peace was signed-tho Cabinet
was considering what retrenchments
coYld be made I'm the army and navy.
rxor is this extraordinary when We re-
gect that In those days no British CaDi-
ret. so far as l know. had ever under
stood war. and that our expenditure was
az the time about 100000 sterling
month: but the misfortune was. we com
menced 20 reduce the army without con-
fdcring what the military policy OF the
country was 20 be.
I'm 1851 our hospital ARRANGEMENTS were
rs unsatisfactory as those which / have
described in regard 10 the resimentai
system In practice, at all events, no
thing beyond a bare diet and medicine
was allowed for the sick, all the articles
now termed medical comforts being Cd
tanned. IL at all at the expense or the OIL
from
the sunorincs OF our soldiers in the
Cr.mea was the increased attention given
10 the care OF sick and wounded men.
IL was furtherel in q marked degree by
the eycrtions Of women. Miss Nightin-
gale and the ladies' who accompanied
her 10 the East. did great service IN
amaIorating the position of the soldier
when IN hospital. In March, 49, the
Queen. after a visit 20 the sick ana
WON led az Chatham, while euiogizing
the attention paid TO men In hospital.
added: THE windows being so high, no
one could lock out o. them. and that the
wards are like prisons" The immediate
result Of the interest evoked was the
erection Of the great military hospital at
Netev. and somewhat later, the Her
bert Hospital. at WeJswich.
tn. same influence brought about the
ACQUISITION OF the land on which Alder
shot Camp now stands. and many other
imrortant changes in the army. During
q visit 10 the troops collected IN Alder
shot Camp in the summer Of 1886. the
Queen pointed out that she had that day
seen regiments which. AFTER eighteen
years foreign service in a trying climate,
had spent but seven months in England
when they had been dispatched u the
Crlmca. and then, after but one year at
home had been put under orders for
ln-ia. where. at that time, the tour Of
service was for twenty years
SEPOY REVOLT.
Immediately following the return Of our
tro0ps from tho Climoa came tho revolt
o. the scpoys. beginning in the spring
o. ls57. which was not put down for two
years. during which time both the Queens
ana the East India Company's soldiers
performed "a succession Of heroic deeds
Two years cater the excitement of some
senior officers in the French army, con-
fequent on the attempt made by Orsini
on the French Emperor's life, an attempt
which was arranged I'm London. gave
rise 20 the fear Of invasion, the result OF
which has been the formation Of an
auxiliary army OF 10000 volunteers, which