Literature. REVIEW.

Colonist, Issue 12, 1 December 1857, Page 4

Literature. REVIEW.

The Theory of War, illustrated by numerous examples from military history, by Lieutenant-Colonel P. L. Macdougall, Superintendent of Studies at the Royal Military College.

As a manual of professional education the merits ©f this work are so generally admitted—ln fact, they are so obvious in respect of the clearness and conciseness with which they expound and illustrate the principles of the military art, that it would be superfluous on our part to affect to set forth the further grounds of a scientific nature on which it has obtained the approval of professional judges. In the breifest compass the student is here provided with a complete treatise of strategy and tactics, —that is to say, according to the arbitrary distinction commonly recognised, with a view of the principles which regulate the movement of an army on the theatre of war, whether the «nemy is, or is not, actually present or visible. How to preserve and how to forward an army to the place of battle, and how to make the most of its resources in the field, on the choice of a base and of a line of operations, on the attack and defence of positions, or manoeuvring with the three arms, and on the moral as well as material instruments at a commander's disposal,-r-on all these topics this little volume contains the fullest information in the form best fitten to impress the reader. General propositions, and even details on such a subject, are of little use without a copious reference to diagrams and examples, and here the diagrams are not only simple and intelligible, but the examples are furnished in sufficient number from the best known campaigns of the most celebrated commanders. Thus this work is available to the general student at the same time that it is expressly dedicated to the younger officers of the British Army, "in the hope that they may be induced to study the principles of their profession." Though we do not, as we said, affect to criticise its substance, one or two considerations coupled with this latter object induce us more particularly to call attention to it at this moment, as it is most important and opportune that such points should be enforced with the sanction derived from so distinguished an authority. Every great military Power, as the Lieutenant-Colonel observes, with the exception of England, has organized the education of its officers into an institution of State. Even the United States, which have no standing army worthy of mention, have provided, by their establishment of West Point, a scientific professional education for all their officers, and for such numbers of their citizens as (though not ostensibly in the array) would qualify them to be excellent officers in case of need. In England alone the professional education of officers previous to joining the army has been purely voluntary up to the date of a

recent regulation, by which they are required to pass an examination. But little or no guarantee of professional qualifications is thus afforded, for no part of this examination is professional, except in fortification, the amount of proficiency required in which the Lieutenant-Colonel asserts may easily be acquired by any youth of average intellect in a week. Such is the sum of the professional training and probation thought requisite for youths before they are permitted to enter and take rank in the British army. The new system of depot battalions and of large camps will unquestionably afford them greater opportunities of receiving such training after joining their respective regiments. But it is to be feared that these will be opportunities only, and will not amount to obligations capable of overcoming the vis inertice and the natural indisposition to confinement and study, feo far as examinatiens for promotion have been tried as a stimulus to professional education they are "an admitted failure," and the Lieu-tenant-Colonel evidently thinks we have accomplished very little if we turn the schoolboy just emancipated from school into an officer and expect him to qualify himself voluntarily for his profession afterwards. His plan would be rather to dispense with the general education which is now required, or to leave this to be voluntary, as it used to be, and to substitute the professional training as the indispensable element. He would therefore oblige all officers before appointed to pass six or eight months at a central military school, where they should receive practical instruction in field fortification, surveying, outpost duty, reconnoitring, &c.,—all based, however, on a good elementary teaching of the theory of the art of war, commonly called " strategy and tactics." Let the State be less solicitous about the general qualifications of the officer, for these may ordinarily be calculated upon, and will indeed be included to a very great degree in the special education of the soldier; but let it, all events, insure his military training by taking that special training into his own hands. Then the officer will come under charge of the State with such an amount and such a description of knowledge as will enable him to profit to the utmost by the practical instructions which must follow his entry upon military service. He will be more likely then to desire to be something more than a peg on which to hang a red coat, and will probably devote his attention to learning his duties, and because of the interest with which they are invested by his fuller knowledge of their bearings he will therefore be more disposed to perform them conscientiously. On the subject of these duties any young officer will unquestionably do well to study the present volume, for on some even of the most elementary functions of his profession he may learn to look with new interest in consequence of its instructions. We subjoin a specimen of this latter class as more fitted for selection here than discussions of the merits of campaigns* and plans of battles:—

"Ist Drill.—This must not be acquired mechanically, but intelligently. The ' reason why' of everything should be puzzled out. Many young gentlemen go through it as an irksome task, the fulfilment of which will set them free from the 'horrid nuisance' of those three daily parades. When dismissed drill it must not be supposed that everything is, but that everything is to be, learnt. The young officer should study the manoeuvres in the drill-book, and practise himself in his own room, with wooden divisions, in all the movements of the company and battalion, until he, masters both thoroughly. He must not be satisfied, however, with being able to move bodies of men in the various formations laid down'by regulation; but he must study the advantages of each formation and know under what circumstance sone is better than another, and why.

" 2nd. All the details of the management and interior economy of his company should be thoroughly learnt by the young soldier, comprising arms, clothing, food, payment, punishments, rewards, &c, after which a knowledge of the management of a regiment will be easily acquired.

" 3rd. Orderly duty should be done conscientiously and with interest. A gentleman should consider it to be as disgraceful to sign his name at the bottom of a report of which the items are not strictly true as to tell a deliberate falsehood. Every day on which an officer has performed his duty negligently he has morally obtained money (viz., his pay for that day) under false pretences.

" 4th. To command men worthily it is not sufficient to hold the Queen's commission in one's writing-desk. An officer should acquire such influence over his men that they would be eager to do his bidding and to follow him anywhere. The possession of that influence is the peculiar mark of a good officer; and it cannot be acquired without the knowledge of the names of the soldiers and the study of their individual characters. Some officers never even learn the names of the men of their own companies, much less study their dispositions. A knowledge of character, however, is indispensable in the proper management of men. "If two men were framed like two locomotives, of precisely the same number of pistons and cranks, urgedt)y the same amount of steam, the same management might do for both, but since that is not the case the same treatment will have a very different effect on different characters. In dealing with men, therefore, knowledge of human nature as well as discretion of temper are required. Some officers, from their peculiar temperament, work themselves up into a passion when ordering a punishment. An officer should never allow a soldier to think that he is punishing an offence against himself personally. Mildness of manner is quite compatible with inflexibility of action, and produces a far greater effect than violence in combination with it.'*