Page:The invasion of the Crimea Vol. 4.djvu/319

 AND PREPAKING. 289 warlike asceudancy, it is a great advantage to Ije c fi a p. posted ill close proximity to the enemy, if only it " so happens that (for political or warlike reasons) his forces may be expected to abstain for a time from any decisive attack. In such circumstan- ces, the soldiery whose self-confidence has been brought low can be encouraged to undertake petty enterprises against the enemy's outposts; and, since these attempts aim at very little, and com- monly take effect by way of surprise, they often end in a way which can be represented as suc- cessful. Thus, for instance, a few men who have well formed their plan, and well watched their moment for surprising a picket at night, will be likely enough, if not to bring in a prisoner, at all events to capture some trophy — a flask, perhaps, or a haversack, a kettle, a greatcoat, or a blanket ; and even if they have no such token of their prowess to show, they at least can bring in a report of what they may have been able to see within the enemy's lines. The fame of these little ventures soon spreads and expands in an army (which only, of course, hears one side of each story), and if they are followed, as they probably will be, by a few more enterprises of a like kind, but on a somewhat larger scale, a change most astonishing to those who are unacquainted with such things is speedily produced. A soldiery which but lately was cowed by disaster, and unfit for an immediate encounter in the open field, may be so easily exalted in spirit by a little of this sort of training, that after a while VOL. IV. T