HOW WAR WITH SAVAGES SHOULD BE MANAGED.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 93, 25 September 1863, Page 6 (Supplement)

HOW WAR WITH SAVAGES SHOULD BE MANAGED.

The following appeared in the Army <md Navy Gazette two years ago, and "had special reference to the operations in New Zealand under General Pratt ; ;,but its re-perusal now will be found ' interesting, and, to those of our number ■who intend to volunteer for New Zealand, instructive :— As we appear, for the time* to have pot over our self-made troubles in '"China with more profit and less loss than might reasonably have been expected, it may be worth our while to turn from the Tartar we have caught and done for to the Tartar that has caught and done ;for us at the Antipodes, where-the shine has been taken out of us in a fashion that may serve as a caution when inclined to brag over much, and to think, . because we have tall men and strong — -rifles that -can kill on the other side of a hill, and cannon that can carry death *as suddenly and almost as far as the thunder l bdlt—--tliat we are quite out of -the human catag< ry, more like gods of war than mere men. We may discover . now, as we discovered to our cost on many previous occasions — at Preston Pans par example, where bare-breeched ■Highlanders gave us a lesson in the broad-sword exercise ; in the zVmerican War, and notably at New Orleans, where inferior numbers of raw levies, ignorant df goose and balance step, us to some purpose ; at Jamaica, tin the Maroon war, where runaway -slaves instilled their practice into us ; dn Kaff raria, at the "Water Kloof, or in •the Wolfs Glen, where we got more than one drubbing from dwarfish, drunken Hottentots, one degree removed, •morally and -physically, from the neighboring baboons — on aU these occasions, and on many others too numerous to mention, we might have discovered and did just temporarily and locally discover, that your red-coated, disciplined soldier, who will 'fight to death unflinchingly in a regulated, tactical manner, opposed to weapons of v the most death-dealing and bloody-minded description, may not have the skill to oppose, or the nerve to face the naked savage, quick of foot, : keen oi eye, fighting for his own hand — harrassing an advancing enemy from cover, or inaccessible rocks and ravines, or dlosing, revenous •for blood, with a retreating or dispirited ffoe. In a savage war of surprises and -ambuscades, individual efficiency is of far more importance than numbers, or than that'tactical machine like disciplaa which works by rule and regulation,, "Wherever a large compact force moves, it merely scares away the encounter it affects to invite. The savages, hanging about the flank and rear, are as unattackable as a cloud of midges ; but they are ready in a moment to pounce on stragglers, or to cut off a detachment, scared and panic-struck at finding themselves so cut off; and the large force, with its mutilated or abandoned feelers and flankers, returns to its camp dispirited, disgusted, and tired, with the savages at their heels firing long shots, •exulting in opprobrious terms and indulging in gestures indicative of the extreme contempt for the disciplined, helpless mass they have worried and harassed to their hearts' content. The Armstrong guns have proved an encumbrance ; the long Enfield's, with prodigious waste of ammunition,have wounded trees, and left their marks on rooks at inconceivable distances; and tho bayonets have been carried in the vain hope ofa charge, but when wanted by unlucky individuals have never been fixed in time to parry the close onslaught, with the short handled tomahawk of the vigorous savage bounding from his lair like a panther on his prey. What, then is wanting, is to put our •men, as far as possible, individually on the same footing as the savages, and this is not to be done with the everyday machine-made soldier. The men •must be carefully picked, and the training of a special character. For the men should be taught to be self-depend-ent, ready, and active; and? above all, •patient and steady, requiring nothing in action from their officer but the word when to advance, to step, or retreat. The officers must be even more carefully picked than the men. It is needless to say that such special qualities are not to be found in every redcoat ; the entire force in New Zealand might not be able to provide much more than ■a company of such men and officers ; but among the colonists there must be many active, intelligent woodsmen adapted for such a service — knowing both country and natiyes well — and quite able to cope with the intricacies of the one, and the savage nature of the other. Such men, like Daniel Boone, and his brother pioneers among the Red Indians, would soon render themselves more formidable than any mere military force parading and fighting by rule against on enemy who will only at his pleasure and when opportunity serves. We know, too, that in New Zealand the rough whalers of the coast were feared by the very savages who now deride and defy the disciplined soldiers of the same race, because those whalers were individually so formidable with buckshot and harpoon, and because the enemy never knew when to look for their attack by night or day. We would gladly see our mere soldiers kept in reserve, and a special corps of Rangers raised and trained for the special local service — men whose names would be a word of terror in the Maori hut — men who, without parade or fuss, would be lying in wait at the gates of the pah when the day broke, or who would startle the panic-stricken savage with their war-cry from his midnight sleep ; who would leave the enemy but scant and uncertain time for j hurried meals, and but little peace and comfort for their digestion. Savages are all alike in this, that they thoroughly enjoy blazing away

under cover at an enemy in the open ; that fighting at their leisure and in picked spots, is rather pleasing excitement, spiced with very little danger ,* that ,war, with the surprises and plundering and ravaging all on one side, is jolly fun ; but no savage can stand continuous harassing. The bare idea of their rear being threatened will invariably produce a panic, and one or two successful surprises or ambushes paralyses them completely. Our tactics, therefore, must be such as will eliminate the pleasureable excitement and fun of harassing red-coats, and harrying settlers ; a-nd which will disincline frolicsome youths and amateurs of other ! tribes from joining in the sport. For j such a warfare we must have earnest men who fight for their homes and hearths, for their children's safety, and j tbeir Women's honor, in a country | they know, against an enemy who is their own personal foe. The colonists who legislate for themselves, who are prosperous, able, and independent, who have everything to lose or gain in such a war, should take the van in such a service, leaving the regular troops in reserve to cover the settlements or to j take the lead only when the prey was marked down, or shut up in his stockade, where superior arms and discipline might be of some avail. Picked men from the regular force might be encouraged to volunteer' to tlie Rangers, and they should be well equipped and liberally paid by the colony, and be rewarded at the termination of hostilities by a grant of land forfeited from the enemy, to be held under tenure of military service. We need not say that it is not every respectable old major-general who happens to be in the Australian colonies who should be entrusted with the leading of such a force ; the old fogey might be left in reserve, too, and seme young, active soldier — a young Washington, Napier, Jacob, or Hodson — not too old, too pedantic, or too nervous to learn, even from the enemy, may be found, either in the colony or at home, to have the untrammelled working of a force which could not or should not come under any ordinary red tape rule or regulation.