Page:The Cornhill magazine (Volume 1).djvu/93

 artillery and paralyze his operations. To this it may be answered that the enemy will employ riflemen for the same purpose, who will cover his artillery and produce an equal effect upon our own; that new systems of warfare are met with new systems of tactics, and that the advantage is always left with the highest-trained troops. In whatever order numbers of men may be brought into action, success will always attend that party which, cæteris paribus, brings the greatest number to bear upon a given point; and this can be effected only by the organization and discipline of regular troops.

Let us hope, then, that the volunteers will earnestly practise those more complicated exercises which render light infantry the highest-trained body in an army. For this purpose they should, after being pretty well grounded in their business, give themselves up for a few weeks' consecutive service at one of the great camps; this would give them a much better insight into the nature of the service, by which men of their intelligence would greatly profit. It is probable that many individuals in each corps would not be able to attend for such a long period; still, if there were a large party present, a tone of information on the real duties of a campaign would be instilled into the body as a whole, which would be most serviceable.

Another advantage which would attend this occasional service of the volunteers at the camps would consist in their gradually habituating themselves to long marches, and to carrying a knapsack; both of which are matters of deep importance for rendering efficient service in the field: for, as Marshal Saxe truly remarks, the success of an army depends more upon the judicious use made of the legs than of the arms of the soldiers.

Apprehensions have been entertained that our volunteers, composed, as they will be, of men accustomed to the comforts and conveniences of life, would, however animated by daring for fight, be disgusted not merely with the hardships, but (as compared with their usual habits) the indignities of a common soldier's life, such as the hard fare, the necessary but menial occupations of cooking, the care and cleaning of their clothes and arms, and the discomfort of being huddled together in masses in tents, or houses, if they have the good fortune to obtain either. But they will, it is to be hoped, have well considered that such disagreeables are inevitable, and have made up their minds to bear with what will be, probably, the hardest task for them; considering, also, that it would hardly be for any long duration. They will recollect that on many parts of the Continent, young men of the easiest circumstances, and of rank and station in society, serve an apprenticeship in the regular army as privates, and submit to many of the discomforts of a private soldier's life, even without the excitement of a state of warfare. There is more danger of the volunteers failing through want of physical hardihood to endure the fatigue of long marches, exposure to the weather, and the casualties of service in the field; and, therefore, preparatory service in a camp would be needful, not only to make them good soldiers, but to test their powers of endurance: for it should be borne in