SOLDIERS v, SETTLERS. [From the Army and Navy Gazette.]

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 7, Issue 361, 17 September 1863, Page 4

SOLDIERS v, SETTLERS. [From the Army and Navy Gazette .]

As we appear, for the time, to have got over our self-made troubles in China with more pi’ofit and less loss than might reasonably be expected, it may be worth our while to turn from tlie Tartar we have caught and done for, to the Tartar that lias caught and done for us at the Antipodes, where the shine has been taken out of us in a fashion that may serve us for a caution when inclined to brag overmuch and to think, because we have tall men and strong—rifles that kill on the other side of a hill, and cannon that cany death as suddenly and almost as far as the thunderdolt—that we are quite out of the ordinary human category, more like gods of war than mere men. We may discover now, as we discovered to our cost on many previous occasions—at PrestonPans, par example , where bare-breeched wild Highlanders gave us a lesson in the broad-sword exercise ; in the Amei'ican wai*, and notably at New Orleans, where inferior numbers of raw levies, ignox-ant of goose and balance step, drilled us to some purpose ; at Jamaica, in the Max-oon wai-, where runawv-y slaves instilled their px-actice into us; in Kaffrai*ia, at the Water Kloof, or in the Wolf's Glen, whai-e we got rnoi-e than one from dwai-fish, drunken Hottentots, one degree removed, moi-ally and physically, from the neighboxu-ing baboons—on all these occasions, and on many others to numerous to mention, we might have discovered, and did just temporalily and locallj r discover, that your ved-coated disciplined soldier, who will fight to the death unflinchingly in a regulated, tactical manner, opposed to weapons of 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 of eye, fighting for his own hand—harassing an advancing enemy from impenetrable cover, or inaccessible rocks and ravines, or closing ravenous for blood, with a retreating or dispirited foe.

In a savage war of surprises and ambuscades, individual efficiency is of far moi-e importance than numbers, or than that tactical, machine-like discipline which works by rule and regulation. Wherever a lai-ge compact foi’ce moves, it merely scares away the encounter, it affects to invite. The Savages, hanging about the flank and real-, ai-e as ixnttackable as a cloud of midges ; but they ai-e ready in a moment to pounce on stragglers or to cut of a detachment, scared or panicstruck at finding themselves so cut off; and the large force, with its m initiated or abandoned feelei-s 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 their extreme contempt for the disciplined, helpless mass they have worried and harassed to their hearts’ content. The Armstrong guns have proved an :incumbrance ; and long Enfield’s, with prodigious waste of amunition, have wounded trees, and left their marks on rocks at inconceiveable distances ;"£and the bayonets have been carried in the vain hope of a chai-ge, but when wanted by unlucky individuals have never been fixed in time to pari-y the close onslaught, with the short-handled tomahawk, of the vigorous savage, bounding from jhis liar, like the panther on bis prey, What, then, is wanting is to put our men, as far as posible, individually on the same footing as the savages, and this is not to be done with the every-day machinemade soldi ex-. The men must be carefully picked, and the training of a special character. For the men should be taught to be self dependent, ready, and active ; and, above all, patient and steady, requiring nothing in action from their officer but the word when to advance, to stop or l-etx-eat. Tlxe officers must be even more carefully picked than the men. It is needless to say that sxxch special qualities ai-e not to be found in every red-coat; the entire .force-.in New Zealand might not be able to provide much more than a company of such men arid officers ; but among the colonists tliei-e must be many active, intelligent woodsmen adapted for such a service, knowing both countiy and natives well—and quite able to cope, with the intricacies of the one and the savage nature of the other. Such men, like the noted 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 an .enemy who will fight 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 whalei-s were individually so formidable with and harpoons, and because the enemy nevei-jknew 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 should he a word of terx-or 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 v-ould startle the panic-sti-icken savage with their warcxy from his midnight sleep ; who would leave the enemy but scant and uncertain

time for 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 tlie open ; that fighting at their leisure, and in 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 invariabl produce a pauic and one or’ two successful surprises or ambushes paralyses.them completely. Our tactics, therefore, must be such as will eliminate the pleasureable excitement aud fun of harassing red-coats, and harrying settlers ; and which will deter the frolicsome youths and amateurs of other tribes from joining in the fsport. For such a warfare we must have earnest men, who fight for their homes and hearths, for their children’s safety and their women’s honour, in a country they know, against an enemy who is their own personal foe. The col T ohists who legislate for themselves, who are prosperous, able, and independent, who have everthing to lose or gain in such a war, should take a van in such a service, leaving the regular troops in reserve to cover the settlements, or to take the lead only when the prey Was marked down, or shut tip in his stockades, where superior arms and discqiline might be of some avail.

Picked men from the regular forces might be encouraged to volunteer to the 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 tlie 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 some young, active soldier—a young Washington, Napier, Jacob, or Hodgson—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 woi'king of a force that could not and should not come under any ordinary red-tape rule or regulation. Since these remarks were written, intelligence has arrived of the defeat of the maoris, but not one word of the article is less applicable to the situation in consequence of that event.