James F. J. Archibald

“ But every individual bore his allotted portion of privations and danger, with a firmness and resolution which at once commanded the admiration and thanks of their superiors. Honour, country, liberty,—words to the military slave, or mercenary, unknown,—carries the British soldier through every danger and difficulty, and makes him lay down with pleasure even life itself, if by such a sacrifice, offered on the altar of his country, he can transmit to his posterity, untarnished and unimpaired, the liberties and honour of his native land. ”

“ Once in touch with the workings of his great brain, his untidy appearance was forgotten, and you thought of him as a magnificent relic of the noble Dutch blood, one who had reclaimed a new continent from wild beasts and wilder savages; a man who had fought his way, foot by foot, into the great veldt and into the mountains, and had built a home for thousands of contented followers, only to be driven out by a more powerful nation. ”

“ Happy would it have been for Napoleon Bonaparte, for France, and for all those countries into which he carried his arms, had he viewed war in this light, and considered it more glorious to employ his military talents in defence of his people, and in securing them all the blessings of a lasting peace, than engaging in hazardous enterprises, from which he never could have expected any greater reward than a portion of that phantom glory, which in all ages has proved the ruin and the death of millions. ”

“ In a severe campaign in a distant or foreign land, the idea of home finds a meaning to matter-of-fact and apparently unimaginative soldiers which they cannot express, but which stirs infinite pathos. When a soldier lies weak from a burning fever, but with all his mental faculties more than ever alert, or when he is on solitary outpost duty against an active enemy, with time to turn the situation over in his mind, it is then that he thinks of home as at no other time, and it is then that he will appreciate all that he knows will be done for him should he happen to be found by death. ”

“ On the occasion alluded to, the querists must unquestionably have forgotten, that when an army is composed of troops drawn from various nations, it is almost impossible for a general to infuse into the breasts of all his followers the same daring spirit, the same ardour, and the same praise-worthy disposition, to emulate in deeds of valour, those who have gone before them in the path of danger, of honour, and of glory. ”

“ But in this act of grace the American War Department maintains a system which is in the highest degree praiseworthy and which commands the deference of the world.
It is purely a matter of sentiment that prompts any particular disposition of the bodies of those who fall in a fight, or who succumb to the ravages of fever; but to the fighting man in the field it is a tender sentiment that means much. The body of every American soldier who falls on a foreign shore is sooner or later brought home and buried, with all the honors of war. ”

“ In a thick wood, a little farther to their right, Joseph had thrown a considerable body of infantry to protect the passage of the Zadora, and keep up an unbroken line of communication between the right centre divisions and the extreme right of his army, which extended along the river to a point rather beyond Vittoria. It is a singular fact, that instead of damping the spirits of our soldiers, the latter appeared more and more delighted, as the French battalions successively appeared from behind their numerous artillery. One heart and one soul appeared to animate the whole. ”

“ It was a prophet’s opportunity, such as comes to but few preachers in all history, to stand at the final threshold of a nation’s life, to bid farewell to the men leaving for the forlorn hope of the last struggle, and to embrace in one cry of faith both the heartbreak and the resolution of a people. ”

“ Will posterity credit the fact, that 2600 British troops not only retained the key of their position, in despite of the utmost efforts of 11,000 of Bonaparte's best infantry for nine hours, to wrest it from them,—but on receiving a reinforcement of 1000 men only, actually re-captured about a mile of the ground which the enemy had acquired in the early part of the day? Will posterity believe that 400 British soldiers stretched 1000 Frenchmen dead or maimed on the bed of honour, in less than half-an-hour? ”

“ There is no resemblance that would come so near my idea of a soldier killed in battle as that of an unclean, sweating, and unshaven unfortunate of a crowded city, struck by a street car, and thrown, bleeding and torn, into the mud. ”

“ From this candid acknowledgment of the dangers to which officers are exposed on joining their corps for a first time, some may think it totally impossible for a youth to escape the wiles of the enemies of virtue. But I request all those to bear this in remembrance, that the moment an officer joins his regiment, he is from that time surrounded with men of high character and honour, who are ever ready to throw a protecting shield round the head of a junior brother, against which the shafts of vice, from whatever quarter they may be directed, usually prove pointless. ”

“ It has been argued that our distances are too great to justify such an extensive plan of peaceful operations, but that very reason should be the incentive to our government to appropriate sufficient funds to carry on the work. It would be a simple matter indeed were the operations of our forces confined to as small a territory as those of England, France, or Germany; but when the sudden call of troops means a mobilization from many quarters and a journey of several days, to leave the problem to the last moment before solving it is indeed a perilous hazard and one that is incredibly irrational. ”

“ With admirable spirit, the French ascended from the valley to the crest of our position, and for sometime seemed quite determined to retain possession of their prize. But their opponents being as fully determined that they should not, a desperate conflict ensued, which ended in the enemy being driven down the slope of the eminence with great slaughter. Never did French troops display more bravery, and never were they more signally defeated. They appeared to us at times to throw aside the character of man, and allow their courage to border on the ferocity of the tiger. ”

“ He works day after day like a galley slave, endangers his life night and day, and yet he is but the tiniest portion of a great machine, of whom no one has ever heard, and who will be forgotten before the ink is dry on the treaty of peace. ”

“ For more than thirty years, that illustrious Prince laboured incessantly to improve the discipline, increase the comforts, and raise the character of the British army in the eyes of surrounding nations, and almost every person knows that by diligence, perseverance, and the most assiduous attention to the duties of his office, he at length succeeded in raising its character to a point of excellence, unequalled for discipline, bravery, and moral worth, by any other army under the canopy of heaven. ”

“ The present British army and the present generation in England have been accustomed to exceedingly harsh measures against their foes, who have usually been of half-civilized races; measures which were absolutely necessary in order to make any impression upon the sort of enemy they were fighting. The conditions during the present war are entirely different, and Lord Roberts has done all that he could—all any man could do—to bring matters to a close. It is deplorable that such a magnificent soldier should be unfairly criticised by those who keep at home. ”

“ A man like him, previous to being placed at the helm of affairs, is continually muttering something about public liberty, and public good, but the moment he fancies himself so firmly fixed in the royal-seat that he cannot be removed, his song is instantly converted into personal honours and personal riches. When a sovereign, like Napoleon, permits all his views to centre in family interests or personal aggrandisement,—when the sole object of his pursuit is worldly success, rank and fortune, can his people have any other feeling towards him, than unqualified hatred and contempt? ”

“ There are shoals of Englishmen who cannot stand the drudgery and discipline of the ranks in time of peace, but who flock to the standard as soon as there is a chance of fighting. The recruiting sergeants say that nearly all of the material they are getting at present is of a better class. These men want to fight for the love of fighting, and not as a refuge from starvation. A few weeks of training licks them into shape. As long as the outbreak of war affords such a stimulus to recruiting as this, there is no need to despair of the British race. ”

“ How much more unpleasant, therefore, must it be to a poor soldier in a dark stormy night, on a road covered to the depth of several inches with mud and water, and a surface so uneven, that every twenty or thirty yards the foot either sinks deep into a rut, or comes bump upon a stone, throws the owner completely off his balance, and precipitates him headlong into the puddle. Such were the pleasures we enjoyed on our trip from Aleseda to Malpartida, which occupied the whole of the night. ”

“ Tactics are not to be confounded with strategy. Strategy, speaking largely, is the planning of the thing which an army has to do; tactics is the manner in which an army does it. The strategy of a campaign may be carefully planned by the wise men of the War Department or by the commanding general. It may be infallible on paper; but if the tactics of the general officers in the field cannot follow the lines thus laid down, the strategy is a drag anchor on the success of the army. ”

“ Spurning the airs which Generals sometimes assume, not with the view of rendering their troops more perfect in their field movements, but to annoy and harass those very individuals by whose exertions they are endeavouring to raise themselves to rank and honours, Sir Rowland Hill's sole delight consisted in providing for his troops,—seeing them comfortable, contented, and happy,—easing them at all times of as much fatigue as his duty would permit,—and, when an opportunity offered, in directing with proper effect their warlike energies against the enemy. ”

“ I have heard a Frenchman curse his squad by all the saints in the calendar; but I know of nothing half so effective as the quiet sarcasm that the English or Irish drill sergeant can command when he is completely out of patience with an awkward “rookie”; it is more deadly than oaths or blows; it always accomplishes the end. Up to the present, the British army has been almost built, trained, and run by non-commissioned officers, many of whom are superior to the officers over them in all but birth and breeding. ”

“ Any general may have the laurel torn from his brow, however conspicuous his military talents may be; but a shameful defeat is rarely the reward of that individual, who, as far as his means will permit, provides against every contingency; who adopts every precaution in his power to prevent a surprise; and who never for a moment leaves any thing to chance, lest fortune, if trusted too far, may prove faithless; and, as in the case of General Gerard at Arroyo-del-Molinos, entail on himself and followers, defeat, and an overwhelming load of disgrace. ”

“ Now comes the time when aptness in society, polo, and cricket does not cut any figure in the problem to be solved. Actual war with a keen-witted enemy stares the gorgeous officers in the face, and they suffer from their own ignorance simply because, with all their personal courage—and there are no braver in the world than some of them—they have not learned their most obvious business. ”

“ For as the whole range of regimental duty lies so immediately under the eyes of the non-commissioned officers and privates, any deviation from the prescribed regimental rules or regulations, is instantly observed, noted, and may, when least expected, rise up against them, and oppose a barrier to farther promotion.
The duty devolving on the regimental subaltern of the day, is by many looked upon as one of form, not of utility. This is a complete delusion; for the comfort, the health of every man in the service, depends in a great measure upon the manner in which this duty is performed. ”

“ He must not only understand the tactics of attack and defense, but he must be able to tell the quality of hay and of butter. He must understand weights and measures as accurately as an ordinary shop-keeper. Real war of this day has a great deal of everything except fighting. Hundreds of men and officers go through an entire campaign and never hear a shot fired; instead, they study columns of figures, great sheets of warehouse returns, and manifold way-bills of freight shipments. They may worry over the price of wheat or the weight of live stock on the hoof, but never over bullets or bayonets. ”

“ What would an American soldier think of a special privilege created in a regiment because there came a time when all the officers were killed or wounded, and the non-commissioned officers took the regiment through the fight? There is an English regiment in which the non-commissioned officers all wear their sashes over the same shoulder as do the commissioned officers, because in a long-ago battle they led the regiment when their superiors were put out of action. ”