Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (1907 Volume 8).djvu/176

 roof. They have heard their fathers speak of other times, and their youthful hearts pant for the service of their country; but when the novelties of the camp, the music and the parade of military life cease to inspire them, they lose, for a time, much of their enterprize {73} and spirit. This very circumstance disposes them to disease; and this very circumstance tends to render disease fatal. They are entirely unaccustomed to the habits and employments of a camp; and their health is greatly exposed, by means of the number of troops collected, by being encamped in insalubrious situations, and by modes of living, to which they are entirely unaccustomed. In a time of peace, new recruits may be located in small numbers, in healthy situations, and the habits of the raw soldier be gradually changed.

But a militia force is not efficient. Discipline is, generally speaking, absolutely necessary to success. It produces in battle a sense of general, and in some measure of individual security. The soldier in an engagement knows, that he must take his chance, and he is willing to take it; but it is because he has a confidence in the general security of the army, that he stands his ground: for let him know that there will be a rout of his party, and he will at once become sensible of the extraordinary risque which he must run, and will endeavour to save himself by flight. In proportion to the discipline of an army will be the general and individual confidence of the troops. Besides, there is a great difference between individual and general courage. Individual courage is less common than is supposed. A party of men may fight pretty well in company, when, as individuals, they would, under similar circumstances, act a cowardly part; it is a sense of mutual support, which checks their fears, and furnishes them with confidence.

Where there is discipline,—where every individual feels