Lord Roberts never shows the lucidity and comprehensive- ness of
his mind more clearly than when he is dealing with the training of soldiers. On Wednesday was issued an Army Order on the training of troops " approved " by the Commander-in-Chief,—an Order, we may safely conclude, which was inspired as well as approved. Lord Roberts insists upon the paramount duty of teaching men to take responsibility and to show initiative, and upon the necessity of inculcating in them a few simple general principles rather than of forcing on them rigid secondary and deriva- tive maxims which may, or may not, meet the circumstances of the case. To Lord Roberts military training does not mean merely the instruction of officers who are to set mechanical figures at work. He realises that the .whole Army must be conscious from the Field-Marshal down to the private. "It is equally important so to instruct the private soldier that he may comprehend the meaning and object of every movement he is directed to carry out in order that his individual intelligence may be called into play, and that he may be induced to take a personal interest in his own fighting efficiency." But if we once begin quoting this most able Order we shall have to quote it all. We will only say, there- fore, that we hope this good seed will fall not on a barren but on a fruitful soil. We expressed our pleasure last week that recruits were indivisible and could not be split up by the War Office. In the case of Lord Roberts we are tempted to wish he could be split into a hundred Lieutenant-Colonels, and each piece entrusted with the training of a battalion.
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