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    MUSKETRY TEACHING- AND ARMY REFORM.

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    of Moslems , to scorch up , Infidel corn crops , to shell Moorish cities is Christian and holy work , and will secure Par adise for certain to all who leave . their bodies on African soil ; bat the war will remain , for all this , as unjust as ever . TI 13 real cause of this iniquitous invasion is , that the Moors , - ' aggravated , justly , more and more at the Spanish Torts reared upon their shore , arid encouraged by , the demoralization , cowardice , and degradation of this race of so-called Christians ; have latterly grown more and more audacious in their attacks ; many a camel load of Spanish heads has been lately driven into Fez—many a Spanish aggressor has been forced to plough the land he tried in vain to conquer ; many a Spanish soldier , lounging over the embrasures of Ceuta or Melilla , has fallen back dead among his drowsy comrades , the just victim of some clumsy and despised Moorish matchlock . These attacks , growing in Melilla to a dangerous blockade , stimulated by hurt national pride , restlessness of an unused army , and a general desire for booty , have at last roused the indolent ministers , and lit up a war , inconsequential and foolish , enough to be called " a modern crusade , " to end perhaps as crusades have ended before . The Times correspondent , " coached" by Spanish officers almost as ignorant as himself of military matters , affects to laugh at the Moors , who cannot abide the bayonet , who are slow in firing , who wear dirty white robes , and carry antiquated arms . So laughed the Italian patricians when Valerian rode forth to chastise Sapor and the Persians ; so sneered pur journalists when English troops were sent , to chastise the despicable Affghans , who . slew us among their passes like sheep . To some men history teaches no lessons , and the past is a useless blank . The bravery of the Swiss , and the victories of the Tyrolese , afford no lessons to a degraded people , bent on chastising an old enemy , Avith whom iVorn the days of King Rode kick they have never been at peace . Ouce the war was just ; but from , the time that the Cross i-ose above the Crescent on the red-bell-tower of the Alhambra , . ¦ sca ring the Moor from the . rich plains that he loved so well and compared io those of Damascus , the Moor has once more got the right on his side . . ' ' The Times may ' deride ' -the scantily dressed Moor , with his long cumbrous matchlock , and- his fierce but imdisciplined cavalry ; but those who have seen the Moor and Spaniard side by side can laugh at the sophistries of a prejudiced rei 3 ortei \ The Moors , as competent observers assure us , are tall , stalwart , clean-built men , of unimpeachable courage and great strength . They dress light because of the burning climate , they are dexterous swordsmen and good shots . Some of their tribes are horsemen , fierce and skilful as the old Mamelukes or the murdered Janissaries—as superior to the ill-mounted Spaniards as our own Hussars are to our rustic yeomanry . They inhabit a country without roads , and which in the rainy season is impassable ; in winter , rains , coming down in deluge rivers , will torment and cow the Spaniards ; with the summer heat , a " dira cohors " o , f fevers will fight against the invaders , who will find their paltry artillery poor weapons against sun-strokes and the unseen blows of African malaria . Our readers , too ; , must remember that these Spaniards are not the Spaniards of the Oid , or of Ferdinand , and Isabella ' s reign . They are the degraded , priest-ridden , demoralised subjects of a modern Mjessalina , sons of the men who fled from the French whenever bayonets were crossed —men who the Iron Puke always spoke of with disgust , as Peterborough had done before : " her officers the greatest robbers , her soldiers the greatest cowards " - —men who to this day hate us for winning the victories they deny we won . The Moors , we must moreover remember , are men not enervated by civilization ' s down bed ; they are staunch believers in a pure J ) eism- » -in Morocco less than iuTurkey corrupted by Mahommqdan innovations' they tight for their wives , children , and homes ; , they know the country , and bide their time . Heat and famine will fight their quarrel , and drive the Spaniard to his ships . As for Moorish civilization , even its ruins in Spain are certainly grander than any Christian work existing in that country . The Alhambra , the Granada system of aqueducts , the Seville Giraldn , ai'e wonders of the world . What has Spain to show , against these , but unfinished churchos , arid , plains , Ugly palaces , and an impoverished people P But apart from suoh reasons for rebuking the Spaniard ' s unjust contempt , let us remember witl * gratitude as Englishmen the kind relationships that have long existed between the Moors and ourselves . It is from them wo get all the beef that keeps the bloodworm round the hearts of English garrisons at Gibraltar . The Moors have been our true friends ever since wo held that bone of contention . But for them , there have been times during French sieges when avo should hav , o been starved out ^ over and over again . ' " '" Let us not imitate repudiating Spain ' s ingratitudq , and forget our " friends in need ; " let the Spanish historians leave out all mention of our saving victory of Salamanca , but lot u « not forget

    the friendly Moors and their timely cargoes of beef . That rock is a sore sight to Spanish eyes . There may come a day when . Moorish beef will again be needed at " Gib , " and Tetuan will be the nearest place to get it . The motive is Hot a-contemptible one . A man cannot face death on potted meats , and Moorish oxen will again be sought . Gibraltar—that fattens on Moorish trade , that lives on the money of Moorish merchants , and that depends on Barbary for food—has surely no reason for wishing to see the Spaniards victorious . But if our conclusions are just , the Moors need no sympathy from us . They have right on their side and weapons in theiihands . If their matchlocks ore antiquated , their bullets can at least kill , and their enemies' lead can do no more . The Spaniards have to drag their guns over a roadless country , where unlimited numbers of men will swarm around them , and cut them off piecemeal . A retreat from Moscow , with hot sand instead of cold snow , is before them , unless they keep prudently with one foot on sea and one on shore , their backs to Ceuta , ready to ' safely retreat when a single rout sends them panic-stricken to their ships . The Moors liave all Africa at their back , the desert steejis of Atlas , the populous cities , of Tetuan , Tangiers , and Fez to retreat to ; they have broad plains for their troops of cavalry , mountain fastnesses for their matchlock men ; they have provisions inexhaustible , and climate and disease ready to do their bidding . As long as the sea is open between them and Spain , we admit the Spaniards , even if defeated , with reasonable : fortitude , are safe ; but once let them get entangled in trackless- ; passes , where cavalry cannot move or guns act ; let them be once netted in a maelstrom of sabreing Moorish horsemen , howling , fierce , and irresistible ; let their powder blow up or become immovable on some pathless rock , then will the fates of CrAssus and of Vakus have their modern parallels ; then will braggingcowardice and a desire for unjust conquest again meet its merited fate , and the Moors will for another generation be left alone by / Ehe Spanish crusader . Englishmen , as free and brave men , respecting all people who fight for their own homes . own faith , whose children still weep over the sufferings of the Waldenses , and rejoice over Napoleon's downfall in . Russia , where Azrael , with his icicle javelins , smote his power to the heart , must sympathise with the invaded rather than the invaders . We have not now , like men of "Chepe" in / Richard ' s time , to exult in the Cross rising above , the Crescent . Christianity was never spread by the sword . The . religion that uses the sword to spread its doctrines must be a false one . We have no longer anything to fear from Mahommedanism ; the jaw-teeth of that monster were broken out longago at Lepanto ; its claws were clipped by Sobieskt ; its navy got a moral lesson " between the eyes , " to use one of Mr . Kingsley ' s metapliors , at Navarino ; its Crescent will never grow to the full moon but if anything could render dangerous and violent again the decrepit monster , it would be a persecuting and unjust war , such as Spain is now levying against the Moors .

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    TT is still a common notion that the chief danger of a soldier s •* - life in . active service , arises from his liability to wounds and death from the hand of the enemy ; and war looks dreadful to civil eyes in proportion to the destructive nature of the weapons employed . , No opinions , however , are more fallacious , Sir George Ballingal quotes with approval the remarks of Mr-Alcock , in his " Notes on the British Legion in Spain : " " That the period of smallest loss to an army is a victorious and vigorously prosecuted campaign , with frequent battles and much marching ; " and every improvement in the . einciency of destructive implements has been marked by a diminution of the total loss on both sides . The Crimean War was no exception to these ^— ^

    rules ; the bulk of our losses arose from want of vigour and capacity in our generals and heads of departments;—and when the real fighting had to pe done , although it was of the most murderous description while it lasted , it accomplished in a brief period results , which would have been obtained witli greater delay , and at a heavier sacrifice , with inferior arms . Evon in . war , skill is beneficent , and ignorance the most crutil and destructive . The philanthropist may therefore look upon factories for the fabrication of rifles and Armstrong guns as benevolent

    institutions , and , without much violence to las imagination , regard instruction in musketry as the teaohing of a Iloyal Humane Sppiet y for the preservation of human life . To diminish the sanguinary waging of war to the lowest possible point , and to do whftt must bo" done as scientifically as possible , is the problem of statesmanship applied to military affairs ; and . it is gratifying to know that our lumbering machinery of Horse Guards and Wnr-oflico is moving , though slowly , in the right , direction , and may , by adequate whipping-up on the mutt of the

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    34 The header and Saturday Analyst . [ Jan . 14 , I 860 .

    Musketry Teaching- And Army Reform.

    MUSKETRY TEACHING- AND ARMY REFORM . _ ___ __ m m a ^ h 4 % I ' 1 1 V f t

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 34, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2329/page/6/