THE Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1866.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume I, Issue 200, 25 October 1866, Page 2

THE Nelson Evening Mail THURSDAY, OCTOBER 25, 1866.

The great successes of the Prussian arms are attributed to three causes! First, to the circumstance of the Prussian soldier being armed 'with a better weapon than that used by the Austrians ; secondly, to the high professional capacity of all the Prussian officers ; aud, thirdly, to the superior intelligence of the rank and file of the army. We are told by a very reliable authority, the Army and Navy Gazette, that our fighting apparatus, neither by sea nor by land, can be compared for one moment in point of organisation with that of Prussia. And yet we spend millions upon millions more upon our army than does the Prussian Government upon theirs. We never enter upon a war without at first breaking down most lameutably. Whether we fight upon land or upon the' ocean, our earliest achievements generally prove miserable reverses, and the laurels which England has won for itself have most assuredly been gained under the most disadvantageous and discouraging of circumstances.. Our first war with America was a deplorable exhibition of professional imbecility on the part of generals appointed through poetical influence and Court favor to the command of our armies. The second conflict with the United States showed that the English Admiralty was as bigoted aud as blind-, fold as the authorities at the Horse Guards. Instead of sending out ships of sufficient size to cope with the large class American frigates of the period, the Admiralty despatched old-fashioned, under-sized vessels, which stood no chance whatever when pitted against their more formidable opponents. In consequence of this stupid policy, the English flag was struck so frequently to the American that public indignation was at length aroused against the Admiralty, and ships of a superior class were sent across the 1 Atlantic. This change of conduct resulted in the capture of the American frigate Chesapeake by the Shannon, a ship of about equal force with the enemy. Then there was that disastrous campaign in Flanders, conducted by, perhaps, the most incompetent commander that ever headed an armv, by the late Duke of York, which resulted iu a fearful sacrifice of human life, and made us the laughingstock of the old world. The blunders of the Crimean campaign lost us an entire army ; and had it not been that the indomitable gallantry of the English soldier redeemed the flagrant imbecility of his leaders, complete defeat and disgrace were inevitable. Wars now-a-days are so sharp and short that there is scarcely time for redeeming the earlier errors of a campaiga. The army that • is not so well organised, as ably led, and as well officered as that to which it is opposed must be crushed at the first onslaught. Railroads and rifle guns to a very great extent prevent the reorganization of a discomfited army. The Austrians never had breathing time to recover from their first disaster. They were hotly pursued by the Prussians, and defeat followed defeat with surprising celerity. Is the Duke of Cambridge the right man iu the right place ? We doubt it. He is entirely wedded to the old system. He is said to have throAvn cold water upon 'the breech-loading muskets. We know that he upholds the purchase system, and likewise the cat-o' -nine-tails. Now the first is the means of introducing a set of rich youug men into the army that never intend following it as a profession, and, hence, when they find themselves face to face with an enemy, like the Guardsmen in the Crimea,, they clamour to return home "on "urgent private affairs," or some other equally shallow pretence for shirking the hardships and dangers of war. The cat-o'-nine-tails prevents the recruiting Serjeant obtaining a more intelligent and better educated class of men than .now constitute the rank and file of the army. Qui* soldiers are as brave as those of Prussia, but they are uot so well educated. Tn these days, gallantry can do little against science. Phy'si-

c'al prowess , is impotent .when opposed to mental ingenuity; consequently* if we had at the head of our army a man of comprehensive views, and possessed ofintelligeuce'suflacient to note and profit by the signs of the times, he would strive to induce'a more* intelligent and better educated class of men- to enter the ranks of the army than ' can' possibly be obtained so long as- promotion from the ranks is exceptional, and the cat-o'-riine-tails remains a military institution.