The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-10-15
ENGLISH ARMY OFFICERS.
Praise for Their Courage at the EA-
pense of Their Military Sense.


From the Frankfort Gazette
Ignorance of campaign service and neg
urence in accommodating the cause of the
enormous losses of the English in their
previous encounters with the Beers. An
English major with whom 1 conversed up
on the preparations made for the coming
war said to me: ut will be ended, no
doubt. to our advantage, because our
forces are vastly superior to those OF the
Beers. but it Will cost us enormous losses,
for the reason that our generals know lit
tie or nothing of war, and our otlcers
don't know how to lead their troops
against a well-armed enemy asked
him if he did not think that the suppress
ION of the purchase of commissions, the
result of which is beginning to be seen IN
the high ranks, had not produced some
good effects upon the efficiency OF the
corps of officers.
Not at ALL" he said. THE EMERGENCY OF
our officers would be superior if in our
army the system Of favoritism played a
smaller part 1t Is not merit, it is favorlt-
ism which. in most cases, brings about the
anDointment of a man TO some hlgh COM
mand. Our young officers enter the army
without having the slightest IDEA OF mil
itary service If they should be sent out
they would no doubt conduct themselves
braveIv but they would not know when
TO turn back or what to do with their
men"
After witnessing the recent English ma
neuvres | myself got the same impression.
The officers of every grade have a careless
attitude if the orders are slack, and but
little Importance is attached to their eX-
ecution, and that is something which
have remarked on several occasions. Inc
officers take no account of the nature OF
the ground upon which they maneuver,
and each movement of the Engish intah-
trv which always fires volleys and never
seeks shelter brings one back to the tune
of the battle of Waterloo, the only battle,
proba bly,, that these officers have studied
10 get an idea of tactics.
An English military writer has pointed
out i'm his work upon the British army
the dislike of studying the history OF wars
among the officers. Outside OF their cam
naigns against the Afridis and Soudanais
they have had no chance to gain any prac-
teal military knowledge. Neither does
the training of the soldiers present any
opportunity to acquire knowledge OF
tactics The English officer is careful TO
nut aside everything that is military, ex-
cont during the hours of exercise, and,
inasmuch as he confines his studies TO
few of the old battles, one need not be
surprised that, even on maneuverinS
ground. he plays poor part from the
viewpoint of a trained soldier In a word,
these gentlemen simply play soldiers They
have an air of indifference during the
hours of service and exercise and show
clearly that they don the uniform simply
to get the title of officer and because il
is the custom among the sons Of rich fam
lilies.
No doubt IN their uniforms they are
brave. An English officer said TO me one
day that he considered 1t Incompatible with
his dignity to knee down or PROSTATE
himself before the fire of an enemy. He
thought that such an attitude might set
a bad example to the others because il
might be taken as a sign Of fear. The