第23章 VI(1)

The American Army I SHOULD very much like to deliver a dissertation on the American army and the possibilities of its extension.You see,it is such a beautiful little army,and the dear people don't quite understand what to do with it.The theory is that it is an instructional nucleus round which the militia of the country will rally,and from which they will get a stiffening in time of danger.Yet other people consider that the army should be built,like a pair of lazy tongs--on the principle of elasticity and extension--so that in time of need it may fill up its skeleton battalions and empty saddle troops.This is real wisdom,be-cause the American army,as at present constituted,is made up of:--Twenty-five regiments infantry,ten companies each.

Ten regiments cavalry,twelve companies each.

Five regiments artillery,twelve companies each.

Now there is a notion in the air to reorganize the service on these lines:--Eighteen regiments infantry at four battalions,four companies each;third battalion,skeleton;fourth on paper.

Eight regiments cavalry at four battalions,four troops each;third battalion,skeleton;fourth on paper.

Five regiments artillery at four battalions,four companies each;third battalion,skeleton;fourth on paper.

Observe the beauty of this business.The third battalion will have its officers,but no men;the fourth will probably have a rendezvous and some equipment.

It is not contemplated to give it anything more definite at present.Assuming the regiments to be made up to full complement,we get an army of fifty thousand men,which after the need passes away must be cut down fifty per cent,to the huge delight of the officers.

The military needs of the States be three:(a)Frontier warfare,an employment well within the grip of the present army of twenty-five thousand,and in the nature of things growing less arduous year by year;(b)internal riots and commotions which rise up like a dust devil,whirl furiously,and die out long before the authorities at Washington could begin to fill up even the third skeleton battalions,much less hunt about for material for the fourth;(c)civil war,in which,as the case in the affair of the North and South,the regular army would be swamped in the mass of militia and armed volunteers would turn the land into a hell.

Yet the authorities persist in regarding an external war as a thing to be seriously considered.

The Power that would disembark troops on American soil would be capable of heaving a shovelful of mud into the Atlantic in the hope of filling it up.Consequently,the authorities are fascinated with the idea of the sliding scale or concertina army.

This is an hereditary instinct,for you know that when we English have got together two companies,one machine gun,a sick bullock,forty generals,and a mass of W.O.forms,we say we possess "an army corps capable of indefinite extension."The American army is a beautiful little army.Some day,when all the Indians are happily dead or drunk,it ought to make the finest scientific and survey corps that the world has ever seen;it does excellent work now,but there is this defect in its nature:It is officered,as you know,from West Point.

The mischief of it is that West Point seems to be created for the purpose of spreading a general knowledge of military matters among the people.A boy goes up to that institution,gets his pass,and returns to civil life,so they tell me,with a dangerous knowledge that he is a suckling Von Moltke,and may apply his learning when occasion offers.Given trouble,that man will be a nuisance,because he is a hideously versatile American,to begin with,as cock-sure of himself as a man can be,and with all the racial disregard for human life to back him,through any demi-semi-professional generalship.

In a country where,as the records of the daily papers show,men engaged in a conflict with police or jails are all too ready to adopt a military formation and get heavily shot in a sort of cheap,half-constructed warfare,instead of being decently scared by the appearance of the military,this sort of arrangement does not seem wise.

The bond between the States is of an amazing tenuity.So long as they do not absolutely march into the District of Columbia,sit on the Washington statues,and invent a flag of their own,they can legislate,lynch,hunt negroes through swamps,divorce,railroad,and rampage as much as ever they choose.They do not need knowledge of their own military strength to back their genial lawlessness.

That regular army,which is a dear little army,should be kept to itself,blooded on detachment duty,turned into the paths of science,and now and again assembled at feasts of Free Masons,and so forth.

It is too tiny to be a political power.The immortal wreck of the Grand Army of the Republic is a political power of the largest and most unblushing deion.It ought not to help to lay the foundations of an amateur military power that is blind and irresponsible.