Show iri I 1 nal nfl tim ai A french offic officers er is opinion of the british army A french officer of high rank who hs liza seen spen seeli a great deal cf of service has in a letter io to an english englith officer given his opinion a as to the f state tale of I 1 the b e british army before sevastopol after pral drabing ing our engineers and artillery in the highest possible terms the writer proceed you may think ro perhaps tob too severe in tile the opinion I 1 give of the he en english 1 lish cavalry but were you out here you yon would yourself betl behs still lill more severe the cavalry of an army on field service should be the eves evies and airs of the force in lle ile lie tile english army that arm is 13 neither the he ane one northe other ani sni hig his this with wilh perhaps the very best material in the he world to form an elc excellent ellent eilent cavalry the superior si officers les ies Is lea fi rs of the english draa drag dragoons pons fons know nothing whatever of their duty duly dut dul y beyond how io lo turn urn a regiment out of he the stables and the harrack barrack yard in good order but I 1 mn mil it 4 do them the justice to say hat rat bat the general officers commanding heir their divisions and armies leur leun corps dalees da reail reali really dont know how low to ure use he the cavalry put under tair their command after tile the battle of alma an rat effective cavalry would never have lost sight cf the enemy and ard every mover movement ric hit nit of the latter would have been beer communicate communicated A for forthwith forth timith wih to lord raglan rag R rah ag glan mian but ait was not so an hour houn before the girst first shot was fired at inkermann the Erglis english li general was perfectly ignorant of a single russian bein r near him in point of fact the russian army at t inkermann hermann fell upon the english force just as much as if it the latter had no outposts no guards and no cavalry cai alry airy even at alma alm the E english cavalry might very well have followed the russians cut them up to a considerable extent or at any rate have hasp prevented their retiring retiring ret irin as they did but what did the english cavalry cavala v effect on that occasion nothing whatever the russians ru went away in a good order as if it they were returning f from krotil a pa jade lade ii the only molestation they suffered was wag from the guns of the english artillery the caraby of lord raglans Ra R clans glans army did not annoy arnoy them in the least this combined with their listlessness tise lise at it inkermann caused cau qed sed the english cavalry to he be much laughed at ol detre letre bien reprise me prise by the infantry of that army their leader leaders s name was made the subject of a pun the writer here alludes I 1 ima lma imaino lne ine to lord lucan being called lord hookon glo Lo okon after alm almi A and inkermann this whis leads me to the desperate folly of the charge char e at much iia lie has been said of that charge but in our own army there thera is but one oi is fes to the extreme bravery of those who obeyed the order and rode to certain deatha death and utter madness and culpable throwing away elife on the part of those who gave the order the order was caused by a sort of desperation on the part of the cavalry leaders who preferred death to being sneered at by their comrades in the infantry and now I 1 come to the he consideration of the english infantry of this arm of their service I 1 wiel wirl will say that for the battlefield battle field in hand to hand encounters they are certainly the bravest men in the world but for guarding whether on picket or in the trenches from the surprise of the enemy they are by no means good soldiers very far from it the english infantry as at present constituted should be kept for fightlin fighting 9 and for that alone the work of guarding them in the trenches should be performed by other troops the rhe defect is not the f atilt fault of the officers w who bo seem to urge as much as possible upon the men how bow necessary it is to keep a good and vigilant watch at all times but hut with the soldiers themselves there is a want of thou thought glit an in utter recklessness as to consequence consequences 4 provided the he present hour can be enjoyed nj oyed which is to us frenchmen most must marv elloui but this is a fault throughout the english army from lord raglan down to the he private sentinel no one seems for a moment to give a thought as a to what the morrow may bring forth and precedent seems to them sufficient excuse for any amount of blunder blunders then again the infantry of the english army are dressed and in a manner the most roost absurd they still wear the stiff leather stock which WP discarded lorg ago the white leather belts which in our army gave way to black bels bells beis five years since still find favor in their eyes in olace of a single belt with movable pouch upon it the english foot soldier still has his chest confined by the abominable belt across it ill which must in i n a great eat measure confine his lung alth although 0 u h v very veny ery cry fine and very muscular men they are not trained in any way to walk run f fence ance once or make the best nse use of their limbs limb sas sar as is the case in our infanta infantry y they are merely taught aught to hold themselves erect march with precision and h nolle their arms together ant ani ami as ordered individual intelligence or personal perfection in their profession is never thought rf of to sum up tip the men are as fine or perhaps finer than any infantry in the world but the system is the worst it is possible to conceive their own officers or at any rate such amongst thein them a as are the lovers of their profession see the truth 0 of all thi thih this and lament greatly the duetts defects of their thein army but what can they do to bring about a better state of affairs nothing the seniors seniors are anre so wedded to all that is old oid fa fashioned as to I 1 ok upon every change as a sort of military revolution |