SOLDIERS V. SETTLERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 608, 25 July 1863, Page 7

SOLDIERS V. SETTLERS.

(Frovi the Army and Navy Gaxetie )

A 9 we appear, for the time, to have got over our self-made troubles in China with more profit and less loss than might reasonably have been expected, it may be worth our while to turn from the Tartar we have caught and done for, to the Tartar that has caught and done for us at the Antipodes, where the shine ha 9 been taken out of U3 in a fashion that may serve U3 for a caution when inclined to brag overmuch, and to think, because we have tall men and strong — rinc3 that kill on the other side of a hill, and cannon that carry death as suddenlj r and almost as far as the thunderbolt — that we are quite out of the ordinary human category, m<)re like gods of war than mere men. We may discover now, as we discovered to our cost on many previous occasions — at Preston-Pans, par examjile, where bare- breeched wild Highlanders gave us a lesson in the broad-sword exercise ; in the American War, and notably at New Orleans, where inferior nnmbers of ratf levies, ignorant of goose and balance step, drilled us to some purpose ; at Jamaica, in the Maroon war, where runaway slaves instilled their practice into us ; in Kaffraria, at the Water Kloof, or in the Wolf's trie.), where we got more than one drubbing from dwarfish, drunken Hottentots, one degree removed, morally and physically, from the neighboring bibjons : — on ali these occasions, and on many others too numerous to mention, we might have discovered, and did just temporarily and locally discover, that your red-coated disciplined soldier, who will fight to the death unflinchingly in a regulated, tactical manner, opposed to weapons of the most death-dealing and bloody-minded description, may not have the skill to oppose, or the nerve to face the naked savage, quick of (not, keen of eye, fighting for his own hand — harassing an adj£nera o r enemy from impenetrable cover, or inaccessible rocks and ravines, or closing, ravenous for hlood, with a retreating or dispirited foe. In a savage war of surprises and ambuscades, individual eiSciency is of fur more importance than numbers, or than that tactical machinelike discipline which works by rule and regulation. Wherever a large compact force moves, it merely" scares' away the encounter il aflects to invite.' The savages, hanging about the flank and rear, are as unattacftable us a cloud of mi 'ges ; but they are ready in a moment to pounce on stragglers, or to cut off a detachment, scared aid panic-struck at finding themselves so cut out off; and the hrge force, with its mutilated or abandoned feelers and flankers, returns to its camp dispirited, disgusted, and tirea, with the savages at their hsds firing long shots, exulting in ©ppwbiguj ter.jn.ij w <j fagging p geytyira

indicative of their exf fewer contempt for the disciplined, helpless mas 3 they have worried and harrassed to their hearts' content. The Armtrong guns have proved an incumbrance ; the long Enfields, with prodigious waste of ammunition, have wounded trees, and left their mark on rocks at inconceivable distances; and the bayonets have been carried in the vain hope of a charge, but when wanted by unlucky individuals have never been, fixed in time to parry the close onslaught, with the short handled tomahawk, of the vigorous savage, bounding from his lair, like the panther on his prey. What then is wanting, is to pnt our men, as far as possible, individually on the same footing as the savages, and this is not to be done with the every-day machine-made soldier. The men must be carefully picked, and the training of a special character. For the men should be taught to he self-(b pendent, ready, and active ; and, above all, patient and steady, requiring nothing in actio.i from their officer but the word when to advance, to stop, or retreat. The officers nni^t be even nvre carefully picked than the mc-n. It is needless to say that such special qualities arc not to be found in every red coat ; the entire force in New Zealand might not be able to pro\ ido much m >re than a company of such mon and officers; but among the colonists ther* 1 must he many active, int lligent woodsmen adapted for such a service — knowing bo f h country and natives well — and quite able to cope with the intricacies of the one and the savage nature of the other. Such men, like Daniel Boouc and his brother pioneers among the Red Indians, would soon render themselves more formidable than any mere military forco parading and fighting by rule against an enemy who will fight oiily at his pleasure, and when opportunity serves. We know, too, that in New Zealand die rough whalers of the coast were feared by the very savages who now deride and defy the disciplined s-oldicis of the same race, because those whaleis were individually so formidable with buckshot and harpoons, and because the enemy never knew when to look f ir their attack by night or day.

We would gladly see our mere soldiers kept in reserve, and a special corps of Rangers raised and trained for the special local service — men whose names should be v a word of ter ror in the Maori hut — men who, without parade or fuss, would be lying in wait at the gates of the pah when the day broke, or who would startle the panic-stricken savage with their war-cry from his midnight sleep ; who would leave the enemy but scant and uncertain time for hurried meals, and but little peace and comfort for their digestion. Savages are all alike in this, that they thoroughly enjoy blazing away under cover at an enemy in the open ; that fighting at their leisure, and in picked spots, is rather pleising excitement, spiced with very little danger ; that war, with the surprises and plundering and ravaging all on one side, is jolly fun ; but no savage can stand continuous harrassing. The bare idea of their rear being threatened will invariably produce a panic, and one or two successful surprises or ambushe3 paralyses them completely. Our tactics, therefore, rrtust be such as will eliminate the pleasureable excitement and fun of har rasping redcoat*, and harrying settlers ; and which will disincline frolicsome youths and amateurs of other tribes from joining in the sport. For such a warfare we must have earnest men who fight for their homes and hearths, for their children's safety and their women's honour, in a country they know, against an enemy who is their own personal foe. The colonists who Jegislate for themselves, who are prosperous, able, and independent, who have every! hing to lose or gain in such a war, should take the van in such a service, leaving the regular troops in reserve to over the settlements, or to take the lead only when the prey was marked down, or shut up in his stockades, where superior arms and discipline mijiht be of some avail.

Picked men from the regular forco might be encouiaged to volunteer to the Rangers, and they should be well equipped and liberally paid by tt.e colony, and be rewarded, at the termination of hostilities, by a grant of land, forfeited iro'ii the enemy, to be held under t' nure of military service.

We need not say that it is not every respectable old major-general who happens to be in the Australian Colonies who should be entrusted with the leading of such a force ; the old fogey might he left in reserve, too. and some young, active, soldier — a young Washington, Napier, Jacob, or HoJson — not too old, too pedantic, or too nervous to learn, even from the enemy, may bs found, either in. the colony, or at home, to have the untrammelled working of a force which could not, and should not come under any ordinary red-tipe rue or regulation. Since these remarks were written, intelligence has arrived of the defeat of the Maoris, but not one word of the article is less applicable to the situation in consequence of that event