Show COURAGE IN BATTLE LORD OF THE SUBJECT the young company officers when in moti time to gauge the feelings or character of his bis brother officers 01 e rs his time Is fully occupied iu in 99 fighting 4 t ing harband bar har dand a determination pos besses trim kim to do his bis duty at all costs or to attract attention by reckless bravery in the neck or not nothing lift 99 double or quits game of self seeking for distinction when however the position of leader is reached and he must be content to say in calm tones I 1 go on 11 his bis opportunities for study aug ii g the thermometer of human courage are endless As a rule in the case ot 01 a commander success most largely defends upon the gift of knowle how to ta select men who will do his bis bidding best the flery fiery spirit who will volunteer for all services of danger and go st straight to the point to td which he is ordered is often worth a kings ransom to an army arms and to the nation whose bause it is fighting it is impossible to put down the value of such an officer and next to the sensations which vibrate through every nerve nerva and aad muscle of the man himself I 1 know of nothing that stirs P the e whole mental and bodily fiber more completely mple tely than to watch such a hero bero as he be brunds forward in front of his bis men into some deadly breach when the affair is over and he be has cooled down irom the white heat which the electrical electric 4 currents running through him have engendered ask him about his bis sensations they are difficult to anal analyze Sze still more difficult to describe id ia words I 1 am however tolerably certain that teat almost every man who has ever led a storming party across the open in full view of the enemy will acknowledge that his bis prominent and all absorbing anxiety from first to la last t was will my men follow me H lie has no shadow of misgiving as to his own courage and determination to lead the way but that norrid horrid question and the doubt it engenders robs him of much of that frenzied enjoyment which is past the understanding of all who have not taken part in such an enterprise all maddening pleasures seem to be compressed into that very short space of time and yet every sen bation experienced in taase fleeting moments la is so indelibly indeli indel oly iDly impressed on the brain that not even the most trifling inci delft is eer r f forgotten r otten in after life what grat de the leader feels for ever afterward to those two or three men who stuck close to ins his heels whose eyes met his whenever he looked over his shoulder to see how those behind pere were following I 1 kho know tv men whom I 1 believe t to 0 be wanting in natural daring but whose minds are so well ordered whose wills are so se under control thit that wrose in n action they will voluntarily undergo serious danger as a matter of df calculation because it is necessary to their ambition I 1 Ine need ednot not add that they are not the men whom others follow instinctively as born leaders their will however so rules rates over the craven spirit that their hearts and nerves are forced to work in strict obedience to the indomitable resolve what must be their tortures hence arises the question as to which is more worthy af of respect the man who conquers his ignoble spirit and in soloing serves the state effectively or he who born with all the instincts or natural virtues which go to make oh the brave man I 1 wiles as the hero her 0 V v r heroism is needed whatever r anay ay be the answer there can be little doubt as to which is the more lovable cha character rafter you may respect the former but you are whether you riep tik it or nott drawn irresistibly to the latter there is nothing so fascinating in a man as reckless courage the philosopher with his feet in hot ho i water or in the enjoyment of an easy chair over a comfortable fireside may in MY strive to persuade others and himself that the man who triumphs over his tears fears and is thus enabled to act when in the face ot of danger the part of a brave man is the more to be commended his fits logic i may be good his bis reasoning unanswerable but in that I 1 crowd of men whick which constitutes an army in the field prejudice will be I 1 against the man who hati has to conquer himself and with one accord the daring fe fearless ariess young fellow will be the leader whom all will applaud and prefer ferto to follow the resolute purpose the force of will that enables ille he weak spirited to act the part of brave men Is entirely distinct from what we call moral courage nor do I 1 believe that men who are devoid of nerve can ever possess that quality in any remarkable degree decree my own experience leads me to 10 think that what strains the nerves most meat is to to ue beat at a distance from operations for which you are entirely over which yon yoh cannot exercise any direct rector or immediate control itle it ie not tuc toe danger that is around you I 1 and that you see that appals appala on the contrary the excitement of action the didiot diDi bt voice of conflicts conflict toe very smell of powder exercise an encouraging influence but that dreadful 4 in the morning sort fort of courage which is demanded of the man who condemned by cruel circumstances to remain some marches in the rear has to receive messengers at all hours from the front can only be fully realized by those from whom it has ocen neen required it may be vanity but under tsuch buch circumstances it always stems seems that had one been present in ID person things weald have gone differently you could at least have brought your individuality to bear and self esteem causes to fancy that it coulp have had bad weight and would have the alie result resale to be aroused from sleep by the arrival of a mei mek who may be be the bearer of disastrous news is appalling enough even IQ imagination illation but me reality is a trial a tast test 0 of f nerve more terrible than any othey other I 1 nave have ever known men are I 1 think much more likely to do add say pay foolish things in moments ol of victory or upon tle the receipt of 0 f glorious news than in defeat failure is not so apt to throw the whole mental and bodily organization out of gear as great success coming as it usually does docs after hours or days or weeks of great mental strain when every nerve has ideen all the T time me at the very highest tension la in such a moment the danger is A that with plenty still to do and think of joy way may so take possession of all your heart and toe ane con congratulations gra crib of all ail around you may so c carry a rry you apay as to slacken all your men mental tal rigg rigging ing and thus for a time rob your intellect of its natural energy courage that is a stout heart and a firm grasp of all your mental and bodily powers is even more necessary in moments of victory than in moments of defeat nothing affords a more curious study than temporary lapses into cowardice which at times overwhelm large bodies of tuen men in presence of an enemy such sach paules panics usually occur at night I 1 nave have seen a whole divi division siou literally crazy cray with terror when suddenly aroused in the he dark by some senseless ben selesa alarm I 1 even officers to tackle and wound their own comrades upon such occasion reasoning men are tor for the time reduced to the condition of animals stricken with terror will charge walls or houses ho uses unconscious of what they do in one odthe of the worst panics I 1 ever witnessed ai an officer near me engaged a man an against whom he jostled in the dark and mistook for or on an enemy my I 1 friend who wasalin wa was a fat little fellow was soon knocked down and as he be fell lie be fired the last chamber of his revolver at what be thought was his enemy but which to his sorrow proved to be his own foot which showed at the moment against the rising moon in that nights panic several lost their lives and mavy many still bear the marks of then deceived I 1 have heard it s aid that small men are genera generally y braver raver than au men but one of the moet stolidly and immovably brave men I 1 have ever known is several inches over six feet in height I 1 have often seen him from efrom pure laziness when relieved from duty in the advanced trenches before sebastopol sevastopol Seba step out calmly in fear of the parallel paralle where he happened at the moment to be and take a bee line for camp exposed for mariy mapy hundred yards yarda to a heavy rifle iorii asa from the advanced works of the russians Itu asians he might have walked home through the trenches in safety but he be was too lazy or too ear careless eless of his life to go so far around I 1 remember a instance of his hia imperturbability some years afterward when I 1 met him in china in the assault of the taku forts we had to co cross two ditches filled with water on oa of these was sufficiently wide and deep to require a bridge to be thrown over it in carrying up a light try pontoon bridge to launch into this ditch a round shot went through one of the pontoons pon to launch it in that condition would have caused it to sink i and we bad great difficulty in getting the injured pontoon out of the bridge under the close severe fire to which we were exposed from the works behind the ditch in common with all oe atje mounted officers I 1 had bad left my horse at a sale safe distance behind under some covet cover I 1 was therefore astonished when upon stand standing lwy up after working a atas little bridge on the ground 1 to see beside me a very tall man on a very tall hore the position was actually comical and as well as I 1 remember I 1 laughed as I 1 saw my cool ceol friend there at ac the edge of the ditch a regular cocks bot for every chinaman near him ift said something to me which owing to the great din and noise tt the moment I 1 coble not hear so moving nearer to him I 1 carelessly put my hand on ls leg lie ile winced a little us as I 1 touted him and calmly saying don dont it put your hand on my leg fori haver lust just had a bullet in there 11 went on with his bis conversa tiou tion afflic only onla a inos mosquito quito had bad bitten him tait nian is now known to all as lieutenants Lieuten ans general sir gerald graham V U C who commanded a brigade st at tel ret el kabir and aad who was afterwards in chief command at atel el teb and tile the many other bloody engagements gage ments which took place near shakim point to any one man and say he was the bravest maa I 1 ever knew kaew but bat I 1 think that captain sir william peel of the royal koyal navy possessed courage of an order that I 1 have never seen so strongly marked iu in any other man during all our bombardments at belia basto pot it wm was his invariable practice to co wals walk about his battery on the me natural plateau ot df the ground where he had bad little or no ao protection from the fire tha he did from no BO swagger but to set an example to his denof men of cool contempt colB cou tempt for danger I 1 can see him now BOW with bis bai telescope under his arro arm in quarter deck fashion halting from time lime to time to watch the effects of chis his battery upon the I 1 works or to direct the attention of his bis inell in charge of guns to some or object in tb the redan or Ma malakoff litkoff he was thus always alin alia in ia view his men could always see him h im and aad as they were down in the trench before win him and so in comparative safety s all aielt that his bis eye aps vaa upon them aud and that it if he in that ix x posed position male made so s o light of hia bia great danger they could not presume to 10 wince under the shelter watch the iho battery afforded them the different sorts of courage possessed by the various race which we enlist men tor for our indica army are very remarkable in many cases some possess a species of daring not always found in the ranks of a Eui Euto army when we burst open the sates I 1 of the Se kunder ba bagh gh at lucknow in 1857 not only t the li gardens garden but the upper stories of the gite gate house itself swarmed with the enemy on each side as you entered there was a little winding staircase leading to the first floor from whence a heavy tire fire was kept up on our men mea below toe the sta stairs iril were so very narrow that evenn even one man at a time found it no easy matter to mount them to be the first man to igo go up seemed to mean certain death our men who had bad behaved with ane most dashing energy and pluck up to that moment hung bung back for a but the sikhs who were in the crowds sprang at once up the stars and in a few moments every man in the upper story had been thrown out of the windows the sikhs knew their enemy whereas our men did not and knew that the affair being considered ever eved when we forced the entrance the defenders would fight no n longer and yet the sikhs who swarmed up that wind ins ing staircase would have shrunk from lacing the british soldier who hesitated to mount it and the latter would have laughed consumedly bad yoa sou asked him it if he would tackle every sikh in the it is curious to study in india how brive brave races can be pampered or rather rath r civilized into becoming cowardly lu 14 the days of clive our eulars ru lars fought well and bravely As years yeara went on and the require eats of civil government according to home notions were more and more introduced into our dealings with the native soldier he seemed jo 0 o lose his former fighting instincts I 1 was in action with them before the mutiny and a mor spiritless body of men than those I 1 was associated with it would be to imagine upon one occasion aline of them cheffi that was lying down was ordered to rise and advance the enemy no exertion sot soL their english officers could however get hem to go tor for ward I 1 was with some british infantry behind them and as we passed over their demoralized bodies I 1 saw some of our men hit bit them with the butts of their muskets and I 1 remember that where I 1 crossed choir line being then only a boy in thy my teens I 1 was not cwm cm alimentary to t a big large stomached native officer oyer whose body I 1 had to upon natives in action the anthie of a single man who is known and r re specter by them as a man of great aar dar ing is most astonishing men who often behaved badly anti ana evinced an entire absence kofl if military spit spirit it when under the command af pf p a leader whom they did not know would bravely follow men like sir dighton V C whose prowess howess was the theme of every camp during ring the muc mu nia c tiny the best native soldiers taking them all around whom I 1 ever served with in india were the madras sappers Sap pere their coolness under fire anre indifference to danger their discipline anil and their pi ide of regiment marked them on all occasions as birst rath rafe soldiers yet strange to say they were drawn toe same race the same class from which we enlisted the rank and of the madras army an army that had not a very high military reputation at that time I 1 could new desire a pluckier man beside me than the madras servant I 1 had during tild the first year of the mutiny ile he was so greedy of loot that he would go through ah any danger to secure a few rupees and in broer I 1 to 0 have opportunities op porta of indulging this passion he be always went into action with any company in the street lighting fighting when we entered lucknow he be was in his glory foche for he plu plunged isRed into every house we came to and went straight as if by iu to the very soot boot where silver had bad been boncea concealed led I 1 have often biear bearo him chaff our men if they ducked from shot or sought for cover his cool indifference to whatever danger he ac burred barred io in his hid learea search for or loot and IMS his contempt for oar enemies had bad a most admirable effect upon the english soldiers under a serious tire |