The times., 1899-03-12
WHAT WAR MAY BE LIKE.
Possible Effect ON Tactics of Inn
proved WcnpOns.
(From the Plll Mall Gazctte.)

proved Weapons.
QFrom the Pail Mall Gazctte.)
The horror of the next big war Is the
waking nightmare of Europe The vast
ness of the forces engaged. the tremtn-
dous power of modern weapons the f.
nancial ruin that will overtake the beaten
side-all these considerations tend 10 stag
ger imagnations n good deal more sold
than those of peace-crusading emotional
lists. The Bishop of Manchester, a level
headed man if ever there was one. kept
well within reasonable argument when he
enlarged ut the Manchester town met ting
last night upon the black future that may
be preparing for us through the develop
ments OF modern militarism. II may he
remarked. by the way, that the terror in
spired by the new inventions in esp o.
stves and ordnance has been the chief
cause Of the long period of peace that the
Continent, as a whole, has enjoyed: so
that an arrest OF armaments, IL ever
brought about, would tend rather to pre-
cipitate warfare than to avert it. But a
more profitable line of thought is to be
discovered in the lecture delivered by
Colonel Emslie at Aldershot last night on
THE Possible Effect on Tactics of Recent
improvements in Weapons
He agrees with the German military
critics in foreteiling that the secret OF
victory will lie within the brain of the
commander. The big battle, and with il
the campaign. will be decided by sudden
and decisive operations, depending upon
skill in making use of the nature of the
ground. and employing the art of invisi-
bility. The side that can make good a
tactical point and stick to 1t will hold an
immense advantage in the tug of war.
That is to say, every effort will be put
forth TO make the most OF the artillery
and rifle attack. A fire concentrated upon
one spot to beat down the fire OF the enc
my will be the grand stroke for which the
Moltke of the future will play. To that
end he will study topography with the as
siduity of a scholar poring over q worm
eaten manuscript He win train his
troops to be mobile for every emergency,
and his officers will be taught to act on
the spur OF the moment. \ series OF rush
es. masked by the quick-fring gun. the
machlne-gun and the magazine rifle, will
settle the fortunes of the day. One posi-
ton gained will form the basis for the
next until the beaten army. completely
outmanueyred. will either take to its
heels or capitulate. Warfare. in short,
will resolve itself more than ever into a
huge game of chess. in which the winner
Will be the greater master of combination
and striking power.
mel Elmsies lecture, paradoxical thoue h
they may seem. are not necsssari y in ia
yOr OF vast amount of slaughter. II tae
European armies were to rush upon their
doom IS the DerYishe5 did at OmduTman.
the field hOwitZer would, no doub., pi!e
them up in heaps OF ccrpses. But. as the
lecturer remarked, the forces of the Con
tineEt will probably be found to possess
but little OF the sticking power of the
Emir's magnificent fanatics. They will b.
composed of conscripts. taken sor, IL
against their will from the counter and
the tail of the plough. The increase CT
range has necessitated the need o, greater
numbers to guard against an enve,oping
hre, and that again has added to the num-
Der of towards. The veteran soldier has
practically disappeared during the long
period of peace. and the statistics compil-
ed by the German General staff tend
strongly to the conclusion that the ca
pacity to stand up against artillery de-
pends entirely upon the percentage OF cd
inustaches in the ranks.
The armies, then, that will decide the
fate of Europe will be composed OF civil
ians in military uniforms, whose nerves
will be tried by the terrors of unknown
scientific inventions for hours, perhaps.
before they get fair chance of r.p ying.
/ Ii should follow that, after really de-
cisive move on the attacking side, the off
GERS Of the defence will be unable to ka Z
! their men together. The temptation OF
snug carriage on the strategic railway
will prove too strong for lads who are lit
| tie better than raw recruits, and the chief
object OF their general will BE- to prevent
the retreat from degenerating into a rout
And with the Improvement in the range
OF projectiles increasing the distance be-
! tween the two armies, the beaten force
| will get much longer start than it did
such comparatively short time ago as
| 1870. This, again, should make for VIC
| tories far less bloody than the amateur
stratesist imagines, since the pursu will
find it beyond human endurance to OVER
take and Overwhelm. We may add that
/ the conscience of Europe, as expressed,
however imperfectly. in its dpI3macy.
| will recOil from the spectacle CT an army
! being butchered like sheep in the sham
bles, and that Old Guards. which die but
never surrender, will become evel more
mythical than that OF Waterloo. Whas,
then, if warfare, instead OF resolving it
| self into carnage on an unpFecedentaI
scale, should revert to the theatricalitiss
of the Renaissance in which the armies
manuevred and counter manuevred, but
very few We're killed? The theory may
sound startling. but it may. nevertheless.
| be realized, now that the soldier is edu-
Gated and has been persuaded By men o.
science that he is ueuToiic