THE BRITISH ARMY.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XII, Issue 157, 5 July 1877, Page 4

THE BRITISH ARMY.

-M?t Gat^orne Ha;rdy ia proud of thei 'British army, and well he may be,) Though amkl l compared with Ejiifopeao! armies, it is probably the most efficienti in tbe world ao far as mere fighting! qualities are concerned. Io returning 1 thanks lor the British army at a piibjjici <han.quet, Mr Hardy . said "If you | %outd reflect," said the SecreCtary oj i War r tp his. hearers, " upon^he stuff, of which the army is made, I would refer yo.u |p that which, I think, no one • ooald have read this day without emotion, or without a feeling of pride in \ thinking that such men as these heroic miners fill the ranks of our army. ,^he dangers in battle ,ara great, but they are compensated for bythe s en-| iha^iaSm which is excited by surrounding Circumstances; but in the darkhe'ss bi -Ibe -mine, with uuknown horrors uwhioh may bdrst forth at any moment, \whea iyou find men in tho calm recognition of their duty— working on, hoar after hour, and day after day, with the i|pla. Vi QW of rescuing a /aw ; ofj their comrades from a painful and horrible death; when you find, that. at the last supreme o^tomant, with unknown dan•geta befdre^theia -from air,- from water, ani /rotaigas,; those men' want forwaVd^ soma _ight of them, in the _ame spirit that animated our soldiers on -board the Birkephead, nobly discharging their duty to God and man— when you have B_ajh, jpaterial dos su' army, fm Weed not ba afraid to trust it in tbe fidldf." It was said of Colonel Armine Mountain, that if jha .had fte«n,r .Sacked: in battle into twenty: pieces, .avafy : piece *tfmd; hava died V J^rittsb! gentleman j and ; such an eyeht as this most gratifying Oresoae might iveil excuse: the boast that whenever soma sudden -need calls upon the rank and file of British msnhbodCthe work-o'-day 1 attiff ana wars to the historic sample. Then the gold comes but bright and beautiful, from tha 1 native tock; and there is pretty sorely found tha conscience, the courage, tha profound recognition of duty, the .quiet sternness of mind to discharge ie, and most and beat of all tha spirit "pt fellowship, which have made our annals what they are. MrHardy is right. With & story to draw ,upou in th^ thick of the population like that exhibited by those glorious pkmen ot Pontypridd, a War Minister of; £bglaud need not envy the mbb-ii_e of :o6her nations. He can rely on its raw material, and on its *• lauding proof; for go where he will^-ay, as low down and apparently with as little selection as has bften been the casa-nthe British brad metal comas forth with the British brad flesh and bone. Those sea-lions who stood around and fought with Ndlson at the Nile and Trafalgar were tho -waifs and strays of our seaports. Those boya who laughed death in the iaco"' at -Qaatrd Bras-4-as Miss-Thomp-son's fiua battle-piece depicts for us— ~ wera gathered from cowsheds -.and plooghtails. The soldiers, of Birkeuheiad ware recruited at hazard; and those Walsh miners— whose names are so pathetically common that we blunder as we try: to discriminate hero from hero, confusing Jenkinses, Morgans, ahd ; Thomas — were but ao ordinary band of tha collier class.