ivate must use his wits; on
outpost, or patrol, as a scout, an orderly, or when his immediate
superiors have fallen, momentous issues may hang on his judgment and
initiative; and in a good army these qualities are sedulously
fostered by constant instruction in field duties. Nor is the fear
justified that the strict enforcement of exact obedience, whenever a
superior is present, impairs, under this system of training, the
capacity for independent action when such action becomes necessary.
In the old days, to drill and discipline the soldier into a machine
was undoubtedly the end of all his training. To-day his officers have
the more difficult task of stimulating his intelligence, while, at
the same time, they instil the habits of subordination; and that such
task may be successfully accomplished we have practical proof. The
regiments of the Light Brigade, trained by Sir John Moore nearly a
century ago on the system of to-day, proved their superiority in the
field over all others. As skirmishers, on the outpost, and in
independent fighting, they were exceedingly efficient; and yet, when
they marched shoulder to shoulder, no troops in Wellington's army
showed a more solid front, manoeuvred with greater precision, or were
more completely under the control of their officers.

Mechanical obedience, then, is perfectly compatible with the freest
exercise of the intelligence, provided that the men are so trained
that they know instinctively when to give the one and to use the
other; and the Confederates, had their officers and non-commissioned
officers been trained soldiers, might easily have acquired this
highest form of discipline. As it was, and as it always will be with
improvised troops, the discipline of battle was to a great degree
purely personal. The men followed those officers whom they knew, and
in whom they had confidence; but they did not always obey simply
because the officer had the right to command; and they were not
easily handled when the wisdom of an order or the necessity of a
movement was not apparent. The only way, it was said by an Englishman
in the Confederacy, in which an officer could acquire influence over
the Southern soldiers was by his personal conduct under fire. "Every
ounce of authority," was his expression, "had to be purchased by a
drop of my blood."* (* Three Months in the Southern States. General
Sir Arthur Fremantle, G.C.B.) Such being the case, it is manifest
that Jackson's methods of disc