The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1901-09-04
Impulse Of Soldiers.

- i Il q. :
The Sultan decree Of exile against
she oiacers Of the army that broke the
windows Of aaAe palace they were in in
trying TO get out G. the time of the re.
cent earthquake in Turkey, brings up
the interesting question Of how far
such acts OF fear should be punished
IN fact, our Paris contemporary, La
France Militaire, mentions au officer
OF high rank who has maintained that
suoh displays Of alleged cowardice are
no more to be reprehended than lying.
This officer, who is himself model of
military scrupulosity, admits that the
man OF war ought, Of COURSE, 70 res
pect his word and never fail in honor,
out there are occasions, he points out,
where 1t is not only praiseworthy not
TO teH the truth, but where tits ac-
tually indispensable to conceal it. if
only to deceive the enemy to give con-
fidence to ones own troops.
Napoleon never had any scruples
against proolaiming himself victorious
even when he had been half beaten.
He did not fail in his bulletins to
swell his electives, to give inexact
figures of his Losses and of the
losses of the enemy. He never
hesitated to present matters in the
light that would be the most favorable
to the deceiving of the world. In the
matter of bravery he had himself Civ
en- many examples of signal courage,
and while raluing highly this soldier
~ attribute he did not place it in the
front ranA Of military virtues. He
knew that bravery suffered eclipses;
that the nerves have part in the at
titude one shows under fire, and that
there are moments when the most in
trepid feel their old carcass
shake" as one old warrior used to
say.
| So this French officer takes up the
cudgels for the Turkish officers, and
iuveighs against condemning pitiless-
ly those who yield to passing seizure
of spirit attributable to some physio-
logic crisis. He cites an incident at
the military camp at Chalons, where
an officer was instantly killed by q
stroke of lightning, and another officer
witnessing it was so overcome by the
awfulness Of the event that he fed
and hid under bed. Not even the
intery anton of brother officers was
sufficient to make him come out from
his retreat. The colonel was SO moved
by this display of fear that he had the
man dismissed.
| While freely admitting the suscep.
tibility of men to sudden impulses, in
a sense beyond their control, still, se-
we're discipline, bringing with it the
fear Of punishment. can create in them
habits of body and mind in time come
to be second nature and instincts in a
certain sense new. The danger Of
yielding to these momentary feelings
lies in the results that may flow from
a panic and the force Of example. One
man by losing his grip before the en-
emy may endaDger whole atmy. It
was probably with this feeling the
Sultan found his officers state Of
mind in the face Of an earthquake re.
prehensible. Still, there are facts Of
seeming cowardice that are really che
manifestati ons Of the most commend
able prudence. One can conceive Of
no better time for q person to seek to
leave building than during an earth
quake, and unless the act Of the Tur..
kish officers compromised the safety
Of others it is hard to see the justice
Of the Sultan's order Of exile. It may
be that this punishment will in the
end be injurious TO the Turkish
army, Tor there. is always oleanly
marked line between cowardice and
prudence.
One needs but to read the accounts
Of the foolhardiness Of British officers
who, in South Africa, thought the
highest duty Of the soldier was rashly.
to disdain cover and make himself an
unexpected mark for the enemy's bull
let's. One Of the excellent results Of
the Boer war has been TO. dignity che
style. OF fighting that Washington tried
in vain to beat into the thick head Of
Braddock before he fell at the hands
OF the Indians.
a Certain Care For Dyssntsry ana