THE AMERICAN SOLDIER.
THE few words which General Pershing spoke at the memorable ceremony in Westminster Abbey on Monday went to the heart of the matter, because when he spoke of the obligation laid upon British and American soldiers to maintain " the Christian spirit " he implied that it is necessary for the true soldier to use ideals and principles as his motive. There is a story that the Duke of Wellington, who happened to see one of his soldiers rever- ently entering a church, remarked that that kind of man was bad to beat in the field. The training of the American soldier has always left him ample margin to think for himself ; he has never been an automaton acting as the senseless implement of some mighty military machine, destructive in its progress and acquisitive in its aim. It can be established from history that every war which has been fought by Americans—with the possible ex- ception of the few small wars, like the Mexican War, which Americans themselves freely criticised—has been conducted with a generous motive and not for material aims. Americans fought for freedom in their war of Independence ; they fought in their Civil War to settle the great issue between the union and the assertion of individual State rights ; they fought against Spain in 1898 to release a subject people from oppressive treatment ; and they fought in the last war because they felt that if they did not there would be no room left in the world for honesty.
It is impossible not to feel a deep appreciation of this kind of soldiering, practised not in the belief that a militant spirit is meritorious in itself, but in the belief that good and brave fighting may be in the last resort the only way of defending justice—may be, in fine, a distasteful but neces- sary means of preventing worse evils. We gratify our- selves by reflecting on the likeness between the American and the British methods ; both nations fight and fight desperately when they see no other way, but neither has ever been a militaristic nation with a great standing army and foaming with threats against its neighbours. For our part we are delighted that the King, in response to the honour which has been conferred upon our Unknown Warrior, should have decided to confer upon the American Unknown Warrior the Victoria Cross, the highest recog- nition of valour which it is in the power of Britain to give. The Victoria Cross is more free than any other decoration from traces of make-believe. It has never been granted except for what was genuinely believed to be a genuine case of very exceptional courage.
Although we do not want to go into any matters which might seem to detract from the harmony of an exchange of solemn courtesies, it might defeat the object we have in view of affirming the appropriateness of sending the Victoria Cross to America in exchange for the Congres- sional Medal of Honour which has been placed on the grave in Westminster Abbey, if we did not recognize that there has been some criticism of this transaction. It is said that if it is right to confer the Victoria Cross upon the American Unknown Warrior it should have occurred to the Government that it would be even more right to confer the Victoria Cross upon the French Unknown Warrior. Judging merely on the military merits of the case, every- body will acknowledge that there is justice in this criticism. But the military merits do not exhaust the matter. All Englishmen, we imagine, acknowledge that the sacrifices and the bravery of the French were unsurpassed, and that, moreover, the French are by instinct the most truly- martial people among civilized nations. But it ought to be remembered that there is a diplomatic usage in all ceremonial exchanges. When Congress decided to send their highest military decoration to Westminster Abbey, it was right, we might almost say inevitable, that we should respond with our own highest military decoration. There may be an opportunity for sending a Victoria Cross with every circumstance of graciousness to the French, and personally we should be extremely pleased if it should happen so But the burial of the Unknown Warrior at Westminster Abbey was the first act of this kind—Britain led the way—and if a Victoria Cross had been sent to France it would have been in return for some signal honour which had been conferred by the French upon the British Unknown Warrior. Whether the French Government contemplated, or actually proposed, the sending of a decor- ation to celebrate the services of the nation which rushed to the side of France at the beginning of the war we do not know. Anyhow, it was not sent. Possibly it was suggested, and conceivably our Government committed some stupidity, of which we know they are quite capable. But whatever may be the truth about that, it cannot affect the truth that the proper response to the gift of the Congressional Medal of Honour was the Victoria Cross. Even in the negotiations for the visit of General Pershing to Westminster Abbey the Government bungled and seemed to be ungracious. All that is past history, however, and we will say no more on the subject, except that we believe the American people understand that though we often do things in a strange way, we generally do the right thing in the end. It is beyond dispute that the satisfaction of the British people at the visit of General Pershing and at the thought of a similar compliment being paid to America is unreserved.
The American army is one of those armies, like our own, which just because they are not kept ready to hand for maleficent purposes, spring into activity and enthusiasm at a special call, and then fall back again into comparative obscurity. After all the great conflicts and alarms of recent years, the American army is now very much what it has been for generations. Every visitor to the United States must have been very much struck by the fact that the regular army thoroughly succeeds in hiding its light under a bushel. A visitor to any of the great centres is conscious, so far as he comes into contact with military life at all, that he is in the presence of the National Guard. The National Guard is the organized militia of America, and in cities where it is supported by fashion and favour often attains a great popularity. But meanwhile the regular army makes little show, for it is scattered about, doing what is in effect police work at various outposts.
When the present writer was in America more than twenty years ago he was deeply impressed by the workmanlike character, the conscientiousness, the simplicity and modesty of the typical American officer and man of the regular army. West Point, which is the military academy of the regular army, provides one of the best educations available in the whole military world.
The Great War has, of course, endowed America with a far larger number of trained officers and men than she ever had before, and the effect is to some extent seen in the present military organization. The authorized strength of the regular army now amounts to nearly 300,000 men, including the forces serving in the Philippines. Enlistment in the regular army as a private soldier is for one or three years, at the option of the soldier,. and re-enlistments are for three years. The Officers' Reserve Corps is at present almost entirely composed of those who served as officers during the late war. It contains over 60,000 officers. The Reserve Officers' Training Corps corresponds to the British O.T.C. in the colleges and schools. The Enlisted Reserve Corps is composed of men voluntarily enlisted but eligible for enlistment in the regular army. The period of enlistment is three years. In the National Guard service is purely voluntary. The National Guardsmen are the local troops of -the various States, but they are subsidised by the Federal Government, as, of course, they also serve a national purpose. The present authorized strength of the National Guard is about 180,000, but as a matter of fact only about a third of that number is enlisted.
As the Americans came late into the Great War, the ordinary Englishman, who judges by what he sees and not from history, is not quite in a position to estimate the true worth of the American soldier. The great test was, of course, the American Civil War. Estimated in the light of the comparatively low pitch of efficiency to which engines of destruction had been brought in the 'sixties of last century, the slaughter which North and South inflicted and endured was colossal. Never was a war fought with more determination. Many readers of history will, per- haps, agree with us that there is no recorded war which has such a power to thrill and to disturb the emotions as that great struggle. Both sides were inflexible ; the long- drawn-out conflict was hideous, and yet so long as the stalemate continued nobody shrank from going on. And yet all the time each side retained its respect for the other ; there were very few cases indeed of the military scutcheons of these men, who had leaped from the farm, the factory and the office to become soldiers, being smirched with crime. The fighting was as fair and as honourable as it was stern. The culmination was terrific. Grant at last by sheer weight of numbers wore down the resistance of his Southern opponents and compelled Lee to see that further bloodshed would be wicked because it would be useless.
Is there any incident in war more touching than the well- authenticated accounts of how Grant met Lee in Appo- mattox village to receive his surrender I The very aspect and dress of the two men in a way expressed the difference between the two sides—the difference between the less showy North—business men largely—and the Southerners with- their peculiar pride and their greater affectation of the airs and graces of life. Lee, it is recorded, wore a handsome grey uniform and a splendid sword ; whereas the Northern victor was dressed in a rough travelling suit with the straps of a lieutenant-general stuck on it. For some time after the two generals had met a conversation, friendly and courteous, continued on various subjects as though neither were willing to come to the painful point. It was Lee who at last reminded Grant of the reason they had met, and asked what, the terms were to be. Generous terms they were—terms which have always made the name of Grant handed on with respect in the South. Officers were to retain their side arms, their horses if they were their own property, and their private baggage. They were to be allowed to go free on parole. Lee hesitated to request that his troopers and gunners who owned their own horses might also be accorded the privilege of officers and be allowed to keep them. But at length he ventured on the request. It was at once granted ; the horses were wanted, of course, for " the spring ploughing." Finally, Lee departed from the interview wearing his splendid sword. Grant, of course, was conscious all the time that he had the temperate and magnanimous Lincoln behind him. It was Lincoln who said to one of his coun- sellors who had urged that Jefferson Davis should be hanged, " Judge not that ye be not judged " ; it was Lincoln who said at the beginning of the discussions about reconstructing the country, " I hope there will be no persecution."
The Great War has brought the British and American types of soldier nearer together. If the British regular soldier used to think that there was not enough discipline in the .American armies, that there was too much of the man being as good as his officer, he has now to acknowledge that things are possible which were not dreamed of in his philosophy. The achievements of sonic of the over-sea forces of the British Empire proved that. The conclusion of the whole matter is that no soldier will endure longer than one who has reasoned with himself about the objects of his fighting. There must be a motive ; and a high or spiritual motive is a thousand times stronger than a militar- istic one. As Lowell wrote during the American Civil War, when he addressed John Bull in a poem that was meant to explain the aim of the North :- " God means to make this land, John, Clear thru, from sea to sea, Believe and understand, John, The wuth o' bein' free."
The common motive of the two nations now must be so to think and manage that war shall never be possible between us two and very difficult for anybody else.
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