The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-05-12

start Let him understand that SOL
diering is hard, stern business. and
a mind above golf or cricket. He knows
nothing of drill He can't ride. The
mounted infantry is a farce. a Beers
horse is a part of him If there is
body of them. and you watch them
through glass. each man is of, has
taken cover and led his horse away be-
fore YOU can say knife. But watch
body of British. They have to wait
for orders before they dismount; cover
has to be pointed out to them: they
have no initiative. Napoleon got his
officers from the ranks. Who would
make such a good officer as sergeant
major? Instead of glory when they
come home-glory and guZZling-some
of the officers should get three years
you know where
For some days after Pretoria was
taken, / was much in the company of
officers of the Canadian contingent,
and their views of the South African
forward and enlightening. / talked
with Toronto captain who wore the
ribbon of the Northwest Rebellion, and
had served with Roosevelt in Cuba
merely Tor the fun of lighting, and
asked him what he thought of the
whole show. He was a man whose
Judgment was sound, a man of the
kind that we know as the sound bust
ness man of this continental charac-
ter with prestige almost unknown in
England.
"Wen, he said. 1t isn't the way we
would do IL. is it2 We colonials have
been taught that nothing we could do
could possibly be lust right: nothing
we could say could Just suit the point:
and We are brought over here and
dumped into country with lot of
officers who don't know as much as a
child at home would know about the
game
Throughout the colonial regiments
that sentiment was manifest. for both
the Australian and Canadian forces
were volunteers of the same type that
constitutes the United States volun-
teer army in time of war. Business
men, professional men, and society
men-all sorts and conditions-volun-
teered from purely patriotic feelings;
they each went from a new country,
where every man Is to some degree an
adNenturer. The same spirit that had
sent men to the colonies now sent men
to the war. They are men with intel
igence and courage enough to better
their personal surroundings and con-
sequently are capable of approaching
q situation with daring and executing
IT with success. While the colonials
were in the field in South Africa /
think their opinions of the imperial
officers took the shape of amusement
rather than contempt; but when they
have returned to their homes their de-
rision is bound to become scorn: for
that great respect which they have
been taught to feel is broken and they
have suddenly awakened TO the fact
that they of the New World have oat-
stripped the mother country in prac-
ticality-
''The imperial officer did not hesitate
to show his contempt for the colonial
oflicer-not because he lacked intel
lect or bravery, or anything that
soldier should have, but because his
t~.1 ,R.xe 81 Asa
English idea. 1t was the old-time
prejudice against the man in trade
for the British society cannot under
stand the spirit and life of a new
poor, of high or low birth. is what
they call in trade The colonial of
flcers felt this treatment keenly; for
they soon perceived their own military
superiority; although they did not make
manifest their sensitiveness, they re-
scented the lofty manner of the i'm
perial omcers.
The superior practically of the Amer
lean and colonial equipment is shown,
according to Mr.. Archibald, in drill. tao
tics, and equipment The Canadian, as
he noted. has adopted the soft felt hat
and the Mcclellan saddle, while the I'M
perial sticks to the helmet and the fiat
saddle. suitable only for riding in the
park. In drill. the American is taught
10 seek cover when attacking; the British
,ficeT scorns to do anything of the kind,
and as the Tommy is peculiarly de-
pendent on his leader. this weakens the
of the troops in action con-
siderably. Again, the American officer
personally drills and disciplines his men;
he British officer is apt to leave all that
o his "non-coms" AT any rate, he can
4 he chooses; and whatever attention
ne personally gives to his regiment is
given from love of the work and not be-
,ause he has to do it. There are such
men as Cottar Bobby Wick. and ouless
N the British army, outside kipling' s
world; but, according to the present a(l-
.hor. they are a good deal commoner in
he American army, principally because
hey have to be. A cavalry lieutenant
who had to depend on his man to come
saddle his horse for him would not be
If much use in an Indian campaign. and
when a mans scalp is likely to depend
upon his having his subordinates well
irilled, and being IN thorough accord with
hem, he is likely to see that they are
n that condition. The officers who have
)een kept on active service in the British
army in India and elsewhere are prob
ably not loafers; but the sings and ar
rows of this correspondent are not di-
'ected at them, but at the men who have
nave never done anything but play polo
md go TO afternoon teas. 1t is they who
nave justly earned the contempt of the
,olonlals. For such men as Roberts,
Kitchener, Hector Macdonald, and other
borough soldiers. Mr.. Archibald has as
.veryone must have, sincere admiration.
1t is significant that until the arrival OF
'Bobs"-an old East Indian campaigner-
British success in South Africa was con-
spicuous by it's absence. The fact proba-
ply is that wherever civilized army
comes into collision with fighters more
)r less uncivilized ii learns something
The Beers have been fighting savages
md wild beasts, Just as the Americans
lad In 1776. for something like a CEN
Jury; and they have learned some hun
-ers' tactics. on this point the present
iuthor merely says what about five Amer
cans out OF ten thought during the early
iefeats of the British in South Africa:
THE tactics of the American soldier
have been the outcome of generations
OF Indian wars and of fighting in
woods and mountains. Our colonial
forefathers established the general
principles of our present fighting
methods when they learned the art of
warfare from the natives Of the will
derness. When Colonel Washington
saved General Braddock's defeated
British regulars from humiliation by
the Indians, he employed. in the
main, the same tactics we now use.
Washington implored the British gem
eral TO dispose his men like the pio-
neer volunteers, as individual fighters;
but the royal officer disdained to take
lessons from a colonial. The British
stubbornness was in the end fortunate
for the colonies for the American vic
tories of the War of Independence
were won by the common-sense tactics
natural to men who had handled long
rifles from their boyhood, and who had
learned to hide first and shoot after
~ L.