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the constitution of modern tormies and in their principles of tactics , and show us how this error an d vvea I ness are being pushed to a climax ; and we shall obtain a clear view of the elements of strength in a national force , and of the manner in which the superior numbers of a People may first be brought to bear against the army and conquer it , and then to demonstrate ttie inutilityof - standing armies , and the inherent power of a People to resist an invasion without any Jong training or expensive establishments .
The true principle of warfare is forward move ' merit , to conquer an adversary ; the absolutely defensive in war is an absurdity . It may be necessary to retreat , or it may be necessary to occupy a defensive position in the presence of a superior force , and until reinforcements arrive ; but if one party is not strong enough to face its opponent in the open field , and has no expectation of being
eventually strong enough , then it would be better not to provoke a quarrel at all . "If two armies stand opposed in a fair field , all the men who are killed by an exchange of fire , after lines or columns of attack can be formed , are uselessly sacrificed ; while two bodies of troops fire , the loss is tolerably ¦ equal . Nothing to be thought of but the offensive . Quick inarches , energy in attack , the naked steel . No prepared theory
for a battle , act vigorously as opportunity offers . " These were maxims of Marshal Sttwarrow , * and are substantially correct . The brilliant successes of that savage old warrior against the Turks , and against the French at Adda , the Trebbia , and Novi , prove what enormous advantages may be gainexLhy a bold initiative , and straightforward > persevering advance without hesitation or delay ; while his many failures may be attributed in the first place to Suwarrow ' s soldiers being Russians ; brave men , no doubt , but without intelligence , without the feeling of a purpose , or- the enthusiasm-and devotion of a great and- glorious
cause—mere machines , men in whom the noblest and loftiest impulses of humanity were crushed by despotic ill usage , or from the sheer brutal ignorance of their breeding arid habits had never become developed ; and in the second place , because the masses of his armies were composed , in the universally received modern fashion , of musketeers > whose weapons , and whose induced habits and instincts , render them utterly unsuited for the dashing forward movements and close combats which the Russian Marshal wished to produce , and which every General , Who has confidence in his troops , ought to carry into effect with as little preliminarymanoeuvring and as little stationary firing as possible .
The universal arming of modern infantry with muskets and bayonets renders them utterly unfit for close combat . After the introduction of gunpowder into warfare , jjs effects appeared so terrible that its use has gradually superseded that of all other weapons , and completely smothered the art of war ( which is , no conjuring art ) with its smoke and noise . The musket , rifle , or firearm of any sort , is a weapon the use of which ought to be strictly defensive and preliminary ; it can be employed with advantage in
inaccessible positions and other places of defence when necessary , and in covering , hiding , and protecting the advance of an attacking body , or the retreat of a retiring force j in skirmishing order , en tirailleur , where the men have elbow-room , are not blinded and choked by jsmoke , and have an intelligent duty to perform without the depressing influence of being stationary , and without a purpose . But the absurdity of massing musketeers into columns , or drawing thorn out in closely packed lines , each man with his pouch full of cartridges , is best seen in its results . Battles are fought without the combatants approaching within a hundred yards , they are prolonged to the very
verge of human endurance , very indecisive results follow in the majority of cases ; and it is only the long period during which the firing has continued ( frequently eight or nine hours ) that makes up a number of killed and wounded , which conceals from most people the contemptible destructive effect of musketry and artillery fighting , Yes , the work of destruption by cannon and musketry is a slow and tedious work . It is an absolute fact , easily verified , that one hit in a hundred shots is a tiur average for the work of an infantry soldier in a modern battle . Missiles cannot conquer , however many they may kill , and the brave man will not be stopped in his career by any amount of noise . E . V .
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The other day we announced , the exi $ tence of a new poet in Glasgow , and quoted with hearty admiration a lore sonnet he had written—a sonnet fervid with the strong pulsations of a novel passion . In it Alexander Smith / with daring felicity , sang these lines : — . « ' «* On a bosom white , "Which came and went beneath me like a sea , An Emperor I lay , in empire bright , Lord of the beating heart . "
Luxurious imagery , is it not , and truthful ? But the narrow notions which blaspheme against the divine beauty there is in life , —which forget that the body of man is the holiest of Temples , —which presume to question the wisdom of the Creator , and try to thwart it by asceticism- —these notions perverting the healthy morals of our land appear to be shocked by the " animalism" of Mr . Smith ' s poetry ^ One of pur correspondents wrote us a gentle sermon on the text . We printed it in Open Council , where we especially welcome opinions adverse to our own . Its appearance there seems to have startled and irritate'd several of our friends .
A pile of letters in indignant answer lie before us . For the most part they are excluded from our columns by reason of thek attributing motives to W . M . We object to motives being attributed . W . M . may have meant well by his remonstrance , and he may have meant ill ; but who shall undertake to read his motives ? To indicate the tone , however , we will give two letters : — - Newcastle-upon-TyncVDecember 22 , 1851 .
' Sib , —* To * h . e pure all things are pure / There isi however , without question , a very large class of persons who are not pure ; who starve their souls , and feed and fatten their animalism on literary garbage , of which , God knows , there is just now , most shocking abundance . I , therefore , agree with W . M ., that , in estimating the worth of any literary effort , or , indeed , of any artistic production , we should never be unmindful of its probable moral influence . But what W . M . discovers in A . Smith ' s sonnet so offensive to true morality , somewhat puzzles my
powers of comprehension . How he will determine my moral status , when Iconfess that reading it occasioned me the intensest delight , I ennnot tell ; but such is the fact . And whatever can he think of the * modesty ' of some lady friends of mine , to whom I was simple or wicked enough to read it , and who , without blush or hesitancy , expressed only unqualified approval ? For , singularly enough , I , all unwittingly , adopting the very test suggested'by W . M ., I read it to my sifite-. And this I can assure him : a thought ojf the ' indelicacy' or ' animalism' of the
piece was never once suggested . The fact is , I was so gratified with the sonnet , that I read it to a number of friends , who I knew took interest in such matters — amongst them were several ladies , the tone of whose moral feelings was of the' purest—and from none was there the slightest expression of disapprobation on account pf its immorality . That was first revealed to me by W . M . " I do not presume to offer any criticism as to the literary worth of Smith ' s poetry , but simply state the way in which it was received 'by several persons of fine moral feeling .
" I thank you lor the opportunity you have afforded us of knowing the new-poet , and pray you , when he sings again , remember us us . " Yours respectfully , S . Cam , J . "
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* ' Manchester , December 20 , 1851 . " Sir , —I see in your number of to-day that a very modest correspondent , W . M ., is outraged at the sonnet of Mr . Alexander Smith , given with other extracts by you , a week or two since . ' Will you permit me through the Leader to ask W . M . whether it has over occurred to him that he may possibl y lack the imaginative faculty requinite for the appreciation of glowing pictures of the eternal passion , and that as a consequence he sees only " mere animalism and
puerile indelicacy " where others see tho joyous outburst of a youthful , passionate , strong heart ? W . M / a excruciating modesty seems to me to be of tho ladiefl ' -bonrding-echool class , which puts frilled trousers on the table legs , supporters , perhaps , I ought to Hay . Tho ajhaniefaceancss of the fig leaf , not the modesty of nature . " . I have no doubt tho ' sisters and daughters' who read tho Leader ( of whom I hope there are many ) , are exceedingly obliged to YV . M . for- his compliment to the sex *
" . « An author who is , and that justly , worldrenowned' ( how patronizing of W . M . ) , says : — . " ' Men may construe things after their fasbion , Clean from the purpose of the things themselves . ' ¦ "R .
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One of the most painful things to the Man of Letters is to see the reckless disregard , of ordinary morality , which persons out of the Literary world conceive to be perfectly justifiable and a matter of course . When gentlemen of a " literary turn " condescend to enter the arena , they are constantly betraying their conviction that Literature in not bound by ordinary rules of right and wrong . An instance is- brought' before ua by one of our Correspondents , the Reverend W . G . Baurett , whose letter we insert here :- — ' Royjiton , II « rts . December 17 , 1851 .
11 Sin , —Will you allow me tho help of your columns to expose a gross literary fraud i A short timo Bince I published a t . nin » lation from the French of two discourses on Woman , by the Iteverend Adolpljie Monod , of Paris , and Professor of Theology ut Montaubun . In a recent number 6 f the Athcnasum , I euw advertised as follows-: — " ' Woman , her Mission and her Life ; a Ducoune in iwcloe chapters : — -Womau a Help meet for Man—
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ddkics are not the legislators , but the iuagesjmd police of literature . They do not make laws—they interpret and try ' to enforce liiem . - * -Edinb urgh Review .
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Jan . 3 , 1852 . ] ® $ t fteaitt t * is
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These letters express their writers * dissent from W . M . ' s feeling , but they do not touch the real question . The gravamen of the charge against the sonnet is its truth of description . Had the poet indulged in vague generalities , and only said" Last night the blushing maid her . love confessed , I clasped her xotidly to my rapturous breast , *' ( We believe that is the chaste style !) W . M . would probably have raised no objection—and we sh 6 uld not have quoted the verses * Yet there is as much " animalism" in these lines — and no
poetry . The question mooted is this : Ought poetry to give utterance to real emotions , to real passions , or must it shrink from the truth lest the truth be thought immoral ? If love—if the furor Amorisis an immoral passion , the dowry God has given to his noblest children for their—perdition , let it be said so at once and without disguise . As to " animalism " - —koni soit qui mal y pense ! The passion being granted , its poetical utterance is
consecrated ; for Art seems to have a higher privilege , derived from its more elevated nature , which permits it to withdraw the veil thrown over forms hidden from the vulgar eye . That which is held sacred from the gaze of the curious , is willingly thrown open to Art . The Princess who sat naked as a model to Canova , would have died ere she sat so to another man . Art purifies everything , not by keeping what is essential in the back ground , not by ignoring , but by elevating it into , the region
of Beauty . It chastens and refines by training the passions , not by suppressing them . It cannat , like fashion and ethics , ignore humanity : from human passion it draws its life , its strength , its usefulness . All is permitted to it , because its aims are noble . Therefore may poets and painters deal openly with subjects veiled from less consecrated treatment ; therefore may we hear verses and see pictures representing things that elsewhere would not be tolerated .
W . M . must be told that poetry is not compatible with " animalism' * in the degrading sense of that term ; because it is poetry it must elevate the subject it treats ; and as to the true sense of the word " animalism , " until Love can be found without ituntil we can become all pure thought without the organization of human beings—poetry neither can nor will shirk it , because in so doing poqtry would abdicate its throne , betrav its function .
There are men whose first—and perhaps lastthought on seeing a statue or a nude figure in painting is a gross one . That cannot be helped ; not for them did the Artist labour . So likewise there are men ( Tartufe was one ) who cannot hear of Nature ' s having created a woman ' s bosom ( so very " improper " of Nature !) yet we do not find those persons leading the purest of lives , for as Goethe says , " Your modest Ears \ yill not listen to what modest Hearts cannot dispense with . "
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1916/page/15/
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