THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN WAR

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 10667, 11 June 1902, Page 1

THE PERSONAL ELEMENT IN WAR

,', Mr T. P. O'Connor Bays thatihe asked a young member of Parliament who had just returned from the war what was the secret of the 'extracrdinary popularity which . Lord Methuen had been able to maintain among- his soldiers in spite of the many dua iters in Vhich he had been involved. The explanation throws a new light On war. There are, roughly speaking, twjo lands of generals who gain the love of their troops. There are the generals 'who ex. tort Admiration by the Bheer force of their genius as tacticians, and) by the sense of victory and certainty which they inspire, Personally, generals of this wfll not be very nroch likted, and may not leave any mark whatever on ' the affections or memories of their solidlers., The other class of general is he who is human, who loves the Iwldier, takes' care of him, shares his! perils, hardships, miseries, and shirks nothing of them all. It is this sense of c< mradeship with the soldier which great genefals'in all ages have sought to inspire; they have, rightly regarded^as part of their stock-in-trade a, power to inspire a sense of confidence which h»lps to snstain their authority 'and to gain : victories. Napoleon, for 'ii stance, though he was essentially a hail man, always i took care to do something on the battlefield which w&b calculated to' inspire the v private soldier with the idea that his commander loved him aid took care of him. A soldier lay shivering on the ground; Napoleon took off hi s cloak and "handed it to him. Another soldier cried' out in agony of thirst: Nnpoleog 'ordered that wine should' be given him fjrom his own .flask. A marshal ay dying: Napoleon embraced hi; a and wept. And thus it was that thi> great General was known to all his troops as "le petit corporal;" that is to sjiy, not -merely as the strategist of geniis who led His troop's to victory," but ,as the man who was proud to be me of themselves; who was jnst as much a 'soldier in feeling as the humble it man of the rank and file who fought under him. ' And commanding officers in the British' army, as well, who kmnr their business, cultivate the' same feeling; and Methuen's extraordinary' popularity which has followed him through j everything, is due to 1 the fact that he always remembered this principle, and always commanded accordingly behind the affection of his followers. They] knew that if they risked their lives, he, risked his quite as recklessly as any of them ; that if they walked he walked; that if they starved, he Btarved ; that if one of them fell he would be the first tjo rush to the rescue and risk his own [life in uvingr his soldiers'. ' It is thia personal element wMch still stands put eVen in the "modern, tattle and gives it still some pictureiqnenees.

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