OUR HOME LETTER.

Timaru Herald, Volume XVII, Issue 818, 20 November 1872, Page 3

OUR HOME LETTER.

[FIiOAI O pit OW.N 1 UcIItUESpjNDKNT.] London, Sept. 18, ]872. For some weeks past, the autumn manoeuvres have been the leading topic of conversation, and of discussion m the newspapers. They are now- at length over, and the troops are moving back to winter quarters. We have yet to decide, however, what are the main lessons to be learned from this year's campaign. That a good deal of real value may be gathered even from these harmless encounters of comparatively small armies, is hardly to be doubted. There are failures and bunglings on the part of the commisariat, misunderstandings of orders, and instances of absurd red-tapeism leading to discomfort and confusion, which, occurring on simple straightforward marches to and fro over ground that has been well surveyed and ought to be well known, have their, lessons on their face, and a warning voice of their own. I happened to be present myself at the arrival of about 9,000 men of the Northern Army, to their camping ground on Burgtifield Common. I stood at a point where four roads meet. Up two of these the troops approached. Down the other two they had to go to pitch their camps — some down this, and some down that. Instead of the orderly disposition of the regiment that I had expected, there were marches and counter-marches m plenty, upon the very ground that had been so carefully inspected for the camp. Tired troops that had passed us to the right were brought back and passed again to the left, looking angry and disgusted — et vice versa. Among the officers there seemed to be no decision ; scarcely anyone appeared to know for certain what was to be done. Then, when men had most of them found their stations and settled down, there was a bother about water, and weary horses were rattled over the ground m search of what the officers should have known as well how to find as if they had been at the ponds of their own village-greens. It is hard to say how far this kind of improvidence is peculiar to English armies, or whether it would have been fruitful of very ill results m real warfare. Perhaps, too, a civilian. is inclined to over-rate the appearances of confusion m so large a force. But this rnnch I know : — A party of engineers, from one of whom I had the information,

had come down a week or more before the arrival of the troops, and thoroughly surveyed the ground and reported on it to head quarters, on purpose to avoid such troubles as we witnessed. It is painful to contrast this mis-management with the wonderful precision and order w»th which the Germans are credited. If these things are so amongst our ' Regulars ' m the deliberation of peace-time, and af tw ample preparations, what would be the case with our Volunteers m the hurry and scramble of war 1 On the fields of battle — as they arc fondly called — the forces seem to have done very fairly. The rolling downs o! Salisbury fjlains are excellently suited to the employment of cavalry and artillery. By the S-mthern army thess advantages of the ground were used well. Colonel Baker, with his cavalry, completely outwitted the foe ; using the hills as a blind he made it appear, m places where he had only a small force of men m view, and none behind, that 1 there were ever so many more '.just over the brow.' In this way he had on one occasion kepi nearly half the opposing army m checlc, when suspicion having been roused, it was found that at one point where he was supposed to have mustered a large number of men, there was only a squadron of about sixty ! . - The artillery, too, did good service. In an'actiuii at Codford, the Southern army brought forty-two guns to bear on an important position, where Sir R. Walpole, who commanded the Northern army, could not, for want of information, bring more than twelve pieces to oppose them. Of the handling of these two arms of warfare; the autumn campaign clearly gives good opportunities to judge. As a great military critic has remarked, 'the absence or presence of artillery, the intelligence brought m by the cavalry, speak for themselves.' It is about the infantry that there is so muchroomfor disagreement, for they have, asa rule, neither skilful manoeuvres to perform, nor strong positions to choose and remain m all day. Their movement is mostly a slow steady advance ; and, since they cannot be hurt, advance they still will m the face of everything, when with ball cartridge they would long ago have been turned. And what umpire or ■parcel of umpires m this world is to say the exact moment when they ought m sham fig&t to consider themselves routed, or what should be the degree of their discomfiture ? The amount awarded to America by the Geneva Court of Arbitiation, you will have heard long ago by telegraph. It has caused neither great surprise nor disappointment m this country. The loss of three millions and a quarter will not be very much felt here, when it is spread over Ja whole year. Tt is said to fall short of two pence m the pound of the income tax. That a lump sum has been preferred to the award of particular damages, is a matter for general thankfulness, and if it be rather larger than we expected we must not complain : better that it should be so than too small. Trifling compensation would only have made our Government look small for all the trouble they have taken, and excited afresh the animosity of America. At the same time we may congratulate ourselves that we are convicted m every case upon one or other of tlio tln-oo new rules laid down m the Treaty of Washington, and it is only by ex post facto legislation, that we can be shown to have neglected our neutral duties at all. The Alabama, the Florida, and the Shenandoah with their tenders, are the only vessels for whose depredation we are held responsible. The other Confederate cruisers, such as the Georgia, are excluded from the award. The prospeuts for the coming winter have scarcely improved. Sanguine men may be heard fo.etdlting a sudden fall m coal bjfore long, but their ruas ms tor expeoting such a boon are hardly m proportion to their hopes. Two pounds a ton ia already an average price for coal m the South of England. And it appears, judging from the show of coal-trains upon the Great Western Railway, that some speculative merchants have been buying up large quantities m the hope of a further rise. Jf this example is generally followed, we may expect the demand to be soon out of all proposition to the home supply, so that the price will receive an additional impetus. Already a large importation is reported from France, and it is said to be the first on record. In many countries the foot and mouth disease is still raging among the cattle, sheep, and pigs. It is severe m Berkshire, Dorsetshire, Hereford, Cambridge, Norfolk, Suffolk, Huntingdon, and Yorkshire. A further increase is reported from Gloucestershire. In Norfolk it is said to be on the decline ; last week, however, the official returns showed an average of 1,000 attacks per diem m that county. It is a very ill wind that has brought such disease into our herds just at a time when the price of everything else is going up so fast. , but there is a bright side to the picture, which those who have friends m the colonies will often turn to. The present prevailing want here may be a godsend there. Now is the time.to push forward the preserved meat business. The want of good cheap animal food is felt m England daily more and more. Australia and New Zealand could supply it if they would, the only great obstacles are the prejudices and ignorance of the British poor. -Let the different kinds of preserved meat become more generally known by means of pamphlets, advertisements, and such like ; let the preserving companies find out and j make known what . are the most suitable methods, whether for rich or poor, the choicest as well as the cheapest, of serving the several kinds of meat m a palatable form, and a great step will have been taken. And above all,, let them take every precaution that there may not be any foundation for enquiring minds to discover, m justification of a report which one sometimes hears, that the great English agents for preserved meats kill and pot down poor and even diseased English animals and palm them off upon the public for those of Australia.