THE NEW COPY BOOK: GETTYSBURG.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 635, 12 October 1909, Page 4

THE NEW COPY BOOK: GETTYSBURG.

■ o Gettysburg, it seems, is the new copybook for the English Army. The manoeuvres carried on in the Thames Valley have boon devised •in imitation of the movements whereby the distinguished Confederate General, Robert E. Lee, carried his army out of Virginia and invaded Pennsylvania in tho summer of 1863. For the English Army any imitation of the "moves" in tho American Civil War cannotbe regarded as other than the most radical of changes, and is no doubt to be traced directly to the strategic leanings of the late Commander-in-Chicf— Lord Roberts. Up till the time that he. took over the command from Lord Wolseley the great model for all English peace training had been the Franco-Prussian War, and nothing could have been more intensely German than Lord Wolseley's "Ked Book" of 1896, which was the. general guide for all ranks in the army when tho Boer War began. Certain chapters of that book wero simply an abridgment of Prince Kraft's "Letters' on Artillery," while Von Scherff's "Theory of Modern Infantry" was also extensively drawn on. All that is thrown overboard now. There is, of course, no absolute theory of successful war, but it is generally admitted that a work entitled "War" by a German theorist named Clausewitz is the nearest approach to a perfect theory that has ever been formulated,, and Moltke's simple rule as a General was to so arrange all German and Prussian preparation .in .time of peace that the theory of "absolute war" formulated by Clausewitz might be at least approximated on tho actual field of battle. The war against France in 1870-71 being entirely successful, something of a halo was naturally thrown round everything Gorman, and rising young officers in England made all hasto to copy "their big sister Gretchen" over tho way. From 1880 to 1900 practically; all. English' military works drew. their examples from the Franco-German War, and it was a com ; paratively rare thing to. find so much as an allusion to the events of tho American Civil War. .-"' •■■; - . . ■

The disadvantage of the German model for the English; Army was that it'.demands a preparation in time of peace which, owing ; to political and other-con-siderations, is not usually obtainable. To minimiso this disadvantage Lord Wolseley always endeavouMd,, to 'gather, round him. "thorough'*' Subordinates' l - such'/as ■BULLEB, BItACKENDURY, and BuTLEn. But ■.despite his .bast .'efforts his, system!.can nover be, said to hayo.beon so entirely sup;cessful as the theory of Clausewitz demands. The authorities .now "seem to have given : - up the idea of "absolute war" for English troops, and are •: apparently endeavouring to copy one of the best of armies". that thb world , has ever known, viz., ■ the "Army of Northern Virginia.", Up to tho time, of the Battloof ■Chancellorvillo, when this army was manoeuvred in two corps under the respective commands of.-. : "Stonewall" Jackson ' and General • Lokqstheet, there can bo .no doubt that.it left little to be desired as a fighting machine.. That, then, is now the model. ■ Soon after Lone Roberts :took over the command he gave, as it were, his official countenance to a work by Colonel' Henderson, on Jackson's little campaign,in tho Shenandoah' Valley. That work has been studied for ■several years past by Now Zealand as well as by English officers. It is of course only the A B G of the American Civil War, for Jackson's Valley' campaign was only a little side-issue to more momentous events going on in other parts of the theatre of war. Tho present imitation of Gettysburg is something on a ( larger, scale, and it will bo interesting when English files ar-; rive to note how closely.or otherwise Jingliah officers Succeeded in- imitating the movements of that very brilliant General —Lee/' ■" .'■; • ■ - .■. , •: ■ i