The evening times., 1898-06-03
COURAGE IN BATTLE.

It Is by-'no means easy to determine
which of the races of mankind are the
bravest upon the battlefield, says an Eng
| lish journak We are rather inclined to as
sign that place to the Osmanli. who, be-
sides his natural stolidity and exemption
from nerves. has the pride of a race of
| hereditary conquerors, exalted by an hon
est belief that God is on his side or that
fate is irresistible.
If he is to die he will die: If not. not:
and he charges through the hail of shot
with an inperturbable serenity which
makes him the delight of disciplinarians
and the despair of decent men. 1t is.
however. most difficult even to institute
much depends upon circumstances, upon
discipline, and. with some races. upon
leadership. Very few troops fight well
when they are hungry. Frenchmen are
distinctly braver. by their own confess
sion, when they are led by a Napoleon.
and Germans differ violently from them
selves according to the perfection of their
discipline. Slavs will face any danger
which approaches If they are ordered to
face it, but to induce them TO show fierce
charging courage. the courage which
sweeps away armies, they must have con-
fidence in the general. and see him at
their head. Italians have hardly been
tried Of late years. though they died in
their tracks at Dogah; and Spaniards.
once esteemed the bravest infantry in
Europe, have In more recent years ap-
peared to have lost some confidence in
their officers or themselves. Even the
evidence is imperfect.
The English believe that they make the
best soldiers in the world; but, as a mat
ter Of fact, there Is no evidence for the
assertion: indeed, there is a little evil
dence the other way.
There is plenty Of proof running through
all history that the class of Englishmen
who take to the army have no superiors
in battle; II. indeed. they have any
equals; but the English people have
never yet been tried. They have never
been subjected to q conscription or any,
thing approaching to one. and the vol
untary adoption of a soldiers life nat
urally acts as winning process. Taking
their self-chosen- soldiers, however, as
samples. 1t is fair to say that the Eng
lish soldier seems less moved by COM
parative numbers than the man of any
other race: that he Is less alarmed by
an unlucky position probably because he
does not perceive 1t: and that his cour-
age is singularly Independent of lead
ership in his generals. He likes to see
his officers In 'front.' but the universal
testimony of. his enemies, as well as
his friends. to his capacity for fighting |
when badly led: to making" in fact,
"a soldiers battle Of It." seems proof |
positive on that point. The same quail |
ity must be in Americans. or they |
could not have exhibited such courage |
after the dreadful massacres under |
and military historians
give much the same praise to Rus
SLAMS. however, who, as shown before
Pievna. dislike being moved down with
ont gaining, . success. It ID probable that
III Americans. Germans,
and Russians are the best
troops I'm the world, very much in that
order: that AFTER them come the Turks,
who are Individually the brayest OF
lhsm an. apd that the remaining Latin
races must heIcontent to come next, L
though spaniaxds. whn defsnding !