The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1900-01-08

ian minds. II was this form that was In
use In the Peninsular war, where more
than at any other time or in any other
part of the world the bayonet won its
tome. British bayonets'' became in those
days a synonyme for the military power
of the British empire, though II would
have been only fair to say "Hiberno-Brit-
ish bayonets,' considering the share, OUT
OF all proportion to the population of lit
lie ireland which the Irish soldier had in
making Wenington's bayonet charges ter
ribie. An Irish tradition goes mat thanks
TO the bayonet, we may sing Garry
owen Whatever degree Of truth there
may be In the story of the Peuinsular war
with which this saying is connected It
has often been remarked that the superior
hy OF British infantry in the bavonet
charge could never have been without the
admiNture of M least an equal part of
Ceidc blood TO give elan to the steady,
stold lighting quality of the Anglo-Saxon
Teuton.
In the earlier part of this century the
authorities of the United States Army We're
tully alive 10 the importance of skill with
the bayonct Gen. George b. Mcclellan
wrote the manual of hayonet exercise,
which was the authorized text book for the
army at the beginning of the Civil War.
II is interesting now to the lay reader
chiefly on account of the deliberately nil
mute instructions on position. In those
'siS = IlhNu STRESS was lal1 upon the ell
tectlVeneSS as military spectacle of a
large body of men going through the bay
onet exercise. McClelan's book is now OBJ
solete, ana bayOnet drill in the United
states Army has taken the form of an
athletic exercise like boxing carried on
with bayonets made safe by pads attached
10 the points. In the British army to
judge by the complaint of a recent writer
in The United Service Review" the idea
OF bayonet exercise as an affair of parade
ground display has prevailed until recent
ly though many commanding officers have
worked hard, and, 1t seems, with some
success, TO substitute for the formal pa
rade drills of companies and battalions
man TO man contests with blunted wea-
pons, small prizes being given to the VIC
tors. Gen. Mcclellan, il must be said,
contemplated the same practice In his
Manual there are plates, curious
enough to look at after the lapse of half
century showing infantrymen of that
period wearing the padded "plastron to
protect the body and going through what
look TO the eyes of this generation like
very STACEY movements, with specially
made whalebone bladed bayonets The
whalebone blades are made detachable
from the hilt of the bayonet so that
blade broken by "palpable hit' can be
replaced.
In the article In 1.-THE United Service
Review already mentioned the writer ev-
Identity takes the view that the day of the
bayonet Is by no means past. The "trowel
bayonet" designed by Col Rice in the
seventies, with the Idea of furnishing the
infantry soldier with a convenient and
ever ready intrenching tool, was never a
success in a practical sense. The idea OF
II, however, serves TO show how little i'm
portance was attached to the bayonet as
a weapon twenty-five years ago But since
that time the bayonet has been gradually
improved to the prqsQnt form Of
broad-bladed knife, attached by a spring
below the barrel of the rife, TO which II
adds less than one pound in weight and
about twelve inches in length