Oarsman

“ Fancy having to remember, night and day, that a Sergeant, who can perhaps just spell and cypher, is a monarch to be approached in respectful spirit; that the Regimental Sergeant-Major, perhaps coarse, rough, and ignorant, is an emperor to be approached with fear and trembling; that a Subaltern, perhaps at school with you, is a god not to be approached at all. Fancy looking forward to being “branded with a blasted worsted spur,” and, as a Rough-Riding Corporal, receiving a forfeit tip from each young officer who knocks off his cap with his lance in Riding-School.... ”

“ The room was crowded by officers of every rank and arm in the service. The old, gray-headed general of division; the tall, stout-looking captain of infantry; the thin and boyish figure of the newly-gazetted cornet,—were all there; every accent, every look that marked each trait of national distinction in the empire, had its representative. ”

“ And it shall be the special duty of the Secretary of War to keep for constant reference of the Commander-in-Chief a full list of names of persons nominated for office, or elevation, by officers of the army, with the name and rank of the officer nominating, stating distinctly but briefly the grounds for such notice or nomination. The Commander-in-Chief shall not have power to remove or punish any officer or soldier; but he may order their arrest and trial at any time, by court-martial. ”

“ As John went up last Summer he wrote me five letters the last of which is from Laponite Lake Superior 11th Octbr 1836 ... he says, "for the exertions I have made, the Commander has given me the Commission of Major in the Cavalry, I am extremely satisfied with my promotion, as it increases my pay." I must here remark that the General is a self created one, and he may from his own authority appoint them all Colonels, Generals, Vice Roy, if he thought proper, but from whence shall they be paid, and where is their regiment? ”

“ Employment of Cavalry.—It is a fundamental axiom of all military action that the officer commanding the cavalry of any force comprising the three arms of the service is in the strictest sense an executive officer under the officer commanding that particular force as a whole. The latter again is himself responsible to the political power he represents. When intricate political problems are at stake, it may be, and generally is, quite impracticable that any subordinate can share the secret knowledge of the power to which he owes his allegiance. ”

“ M. le Commandant,—I have given orders to the General Lamothe with a police commissioner to attend at your barracks, and to read before you and your Cohort the decree of the senate consequent on the receipt of the news of the death of the Emperor, and the cessation of the Imperial Government. The said general will communicate to you the Order for the Day, which you will be pleased to further to the General of Brigade. You are required to get the troops under arms with all possible despatch and quietness. ”

“ Life has now become real and the Emperor's soldiering days have begun—never to conclude! His regiment is his world; parades and drills, the orderly-room and the barrack square occupy his time; and would seem monotonous and hard but for the little Eden with its Eve close beside them.
The Emperor turns uneasily, for his thoughts recur to the painful circumstances of his accession; but calmness soon succeeds as the curtain rises on the splendid panorama of the reign. ”

“ General Grant: The nation's appreciation of what you have done, and its reliance upon you for what remains to be done in the existing great struggle, are now presented with this commission, constituting you Lieutenant General in the army of the United States. With this high honor devolves upon you also a corresponding responsibility. As the country herein trusts you, so, under God, it will sustain you. ”

“ Come, officer, as loud as e’er thou canst, cry.
OFFICER.
All manner of men assembled here in arms this day against God’s peace and the King’s, we charge and command you, in his Highness’ name, to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use any sword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death.
GLOUCESTER.
Cardinal, I’ll be no breaker of the law;
But we shall meet and break our minds at large. ”

“ His warlike son enlisted in the troops as a common soldier, successively rose to the rank of a centurion, a tribune, the præfect of a legion, the inspector of the camp, [20] the general, or, as it was then called, the duke of a frontier; and at length, during the Gothic war, exercised the important office of commander-in-chief of the cavalry. In every station he distinguished himself by matchless [258 A.D.] valour, [21] rigid discipline, and successful conduct. ”

“ I can think of nothing more beautiful than this, that he may be an earnest officer who turns an experienced eye upon life, unbending as iron in everything which constitutes the chivalry of the officer’s position, stern with himself and maintaining in strictest self-control the traditions of his house and of this great regiment. May he go his way untroubled by voices from without, with his eye firmly fixed upon his goal, and responsible only to his God and to his father! ”

“ That the general commanding the Army has, under the terms of this section, the right of assigning general officers under his command to the duties of the general staff without reference to the authority of the Executive is plain from the other sections, which declare that the President is to appoint, with the advice of the Senate, the staffs of all general officers other than those who command armies. ”

“ The officer in command of the regiment, and how much more, the captain of a troop, or the subaltern under him, knows nothing beyond the sphere of his own immediate duty; by the success or failure of his own party his knowledge is bounded, but how far he or his may influence the fortune, of the day, or of what is taking place elsewhere, he is totally ignorant ”

“ We will not by reason of any small serjeanty which any one may hold of us by the service of rendering to us knives, arrows, or the like, have wardship of his heir or of the land which he holds of another lord by knight's service. ”

“ The process of development in this country will be more easily understood when it is remembered that the Marshal or Earl Marshal was in former times, with the Lord High Constable, the first in military rank under the King, who usually led his army in person, and to the Marshal was deputed the ordering and arrangement of the various bodies of troops, regiments, bands of retainers, &c., which ordering was at first facilitated and at length entirely determined by the use of various pictorial ensigns, such as standards, banners, crests, cognisances, and badges. ”

“ That you shall have power to punish all offenders: That you and your lieutenants may exercise the employments of admiral, viceroy, and governor, in all things belonging to the said offices, or any of them, and that you shall enjoy the perquisites and salaries belonging to the said employments and to each of them, in the same manner that the high admiral of our kingdom does at present. ”

“ II. Officers of the rebel army not above the grade of captain and of the rebel navy not above the grade of lieutenant, except such as have graduated at the United States Military or Naval academies and such as held a commission in either the United States Army or Navy at the beginning of the rebellion, may be discharged upon taking the oath of allegiance. ”

“ While an immense extent of country was included in one Department, and theoretically under one chief, yet practically every officer, no matter what was the strength or nature of his command, who happened not to be troubled with a senior immediately at his elbow, planned and acted for himself and with a perfect indifference to the operations of every one else. ”

“ The men and the Emperor are in the presence of each other. The soldiers cry to him that they are his, and the impressive chief, whose imperial will directs the masses that move around, salutes his devoted army. He and they plainly comprehend each other and absolute confidence is expressed in every face. ”

“ He takes account of the strength of every regiment as often as he pleases; reviews them, sees that the horse are well mounted, and all the men well armed and clothed. He receives and inspects the muster rolls, and knows exactly the strength of the army. The British have created an inspector general of cavalry, which answers every purpose for which that of muster master general was intended.
Commissary-general of stores, a civil officer in the artillery, who has the charge of all the stores, for which he is accountable to the office of ordnance. ”

“ Some officers that we have seen have cut a very grand appearance.”
“Passing by, for the present, the dress of general officers, staff officers, the personal staff attached to general officers, the staff of garrisons, the Royal Military College, the Royal Military Asylum, the Cavalry Depôt, garrison of Chatham, and the civil departments, I will come at once to the dress of officers of regiments of cavalry. These are, as I have told you, the life-guards, the royal regiment of horse-guards, the dragoon-guards, and heavy dragoons, the light dragoons, the lancers and the hussars. ”

“ In our armies there is a regular gradation of rank; and every officer feels that he holds his commission by a tenure as high in origin, as secure in possession, and as independent in its exercise, as that of the general who commands; and the soldiers all know and feel that the places of those officers, who are killed or disabled in action, will be immediately filled by those next in rank, who are equally trained to command, and whose authority none will dispute. ”

“ No, Sir, when this respectable minister interposed his authority between the magistrate, and the people, and signed the mandate, on which, for aught he knew, the lives of thousands depended, he did it from the deliberate motion of his heart, supported by the best of his judgment.
⁠It has lately been a fashion to pay a compliment to the bravery and generosity of the commander in chief [6] , at the expence of his understanding. They who love him least, make no question of his courage, while his friends dwell chiefly on the facility of his disposition. ”

“ Here240 will be seen an officer, high in rank and still higher in reputation, commanding a corps of the most uniformly victorious army which ever graced the military annals of any nation whatever, writing in familiar language to a subaltern officer, showing anxiety for his interests and using every exertion to forward his promotion from no other motive than the belief that he had fully discharged his duties to his king and country to the utmost of his abilities. ”

“ The officer in charge is in regimentals, erect, apparently looking straight ahead, but the side glance of his eye is on the recruit on his right, his hands in trouser pockets, a nonchalant upward tilt of his head, while a stub of a pipe lends companionship as he steps into a new and compulsory chapter of his life. ”

“ Can another instance be cited of denying to a general-in-chief in the field, at the head of a large army, or even a small one, the selection of his chief of staff—that is, the chief in the department of orders and correspondence.
Early in the following January I asked that a general court martial might be appointed, on the part of the President, for the trial of two officers (named by me) for conduct each had committed that endangered, in a high degree, the success of the impending campaign ”

“ In the 16th century an officer was a lieutenant of, not in, a particular regiment, and the higher officers were general, lieutenant-general and major-general of a particular army. When their army was disbanded they had no command and possessed therefore no rank—except of course when, as was usually the case, they were colonels of permanent regiments or governors of fortresses. ”

“ The duke called a council of war, in which he said, in an animated yet haughty tone,—“I have always prayed God, gentlemen, to inspire my soldiers with a determined firmness and a fiery courage, so that, without fearing or reasoning, they would rush headlong to meet death, and expose themselves to any dangers when commanded to do so. But I ask other qualities of officers: much prudence and great phlegm, to moderate the impetuosity of the soldiers—that is the way by which they attain the rank of great captains. ”

“ This place surrendered to Admiral Sir Charles Napier in the civil war which deprived Don Miguel of the throne of Portugal.
ARTICLES OF WAR. Section 1342. The armies of the United States shall be governed by the following rules and articles. The word officer, as used therein, shall be understood to designate commissioned officers; the word soldier shall be understood to include non-commissioned officers, musicians, artificers, and privates, and other enlisted men, and the convictions mentioned therein shall be understood to be convictions by court-martial. ”

“ One need only glance during a review at the commander-in-chief, intoxicated with self-importance, followed by his retinue, all on magnificent and gayly appareled horses, in splendid uniforms and wearing decorations, and see how they ride to the harmonious and solemn strains of music before the ranks of soldiers, all presenting arms and petrified with servility. ”

“ What service would his long line of dead ancestors, or his multitude of motionless statues, do his country in the day of battle? What could such a general do, but, in his trepidation and inexperience, have recourse to some inferior commander, for direction in difficulties to which he was not himself equal? Thus, your Patrician general would, in fact have a general over him; so that the acting commander would still be a Plebeian. ”

“ What, sir! an officer in one of her Majesty’s regiments—the son and grandson of officers,—is such a one to be mixed up with a family that has lost caste,—to flirt with or make love to girls who are not above making gowns for my butcher’s wife? ”