strength and agility of body, or even
extraordinary dexterity and skill in the use of
arms, though they are far from being of no
consequence, are, however, of less consequence.
The nature of the weapon, though
it by no means puts the awkward upon a
level with the skilful, puts him more nearly
so than he ever was before. All the dexterity
and skill, it is supposed, which are necessary
for using it, can be well enough acquired by
practising in great bodies.
Regularity, order, and prompt obedience to
command, are qualities which, in modern
armies, are of more importance towards determining
the fate of battles, than the dexterity
and skill of the soldiers in the use of their
arms. But the noise of fire-arms, the smoke,
and the invisible death to which every man
feels himself every moment exposed, as soon
as he comes within cannon-shot, and frequently
a long time before the battle can be
well said to be engaged, must render it very
difficult to maintain any considerable degree
of this regularity, order, and prompt obedience,
even in the beginning of a modern
battle. In an ancient battle, there was no
noise but what arose from the human voice;
there was no smoke, there was no invisible
cause of wounds or death. Every man, till
some mortal weapon actually did approach
him, saw clearly that no such weapon was
near him. In these circumstances, and
among troops who had some confidence in
their own skill and dexterity in the use of
their arms, it must have been a good deal
less difficult to preserve some degree of regularity
and order, not only in the beginning,
but through the whole progress of an ancient
battle, and till one of the two armies was
fairly defeated. But the habits of regularity,
order, and prompt obedience to command,
can be acquired only by troops which are
exercised in great bodies.
A militia, however, in whatever manner it
may be either disciplined or exercised, must
always be much inferior to a well disciplined
and well exercised standing army.
The soldiers who are exercised only once a-week,
or once a-month, can never be so expert
in the use of their arms, as those who are
exercised every day, or every other day; and
though this circumstance may not be of so
much consequence in modern, as it was in
ancient times, yet the acknowledged superiority
of the Prussian troops, owing, it is said,
very much to their superior expertness in
their exercise, may satisfy us that it is, even
at this day, of very considerable consequence.
The soldiers, who are bound to obey their
officer only once a-week, or once a-month,
and who are at all other times at liberty to
manage their own affairs their own way,
without being, in any respect, accountable to
him, can never be under the same awe in his
presence, can never have the same disposition
to ready obedience, with those whose whole
life and conduct are every day directed by
him, and who every day even rise and go to
bed, or at least retire to their quarters, according
to his orders. In what is called discipline,
or in the habit of ready obedience, a
militia must always be still more inferior to a
standing army, than it may sometimes be in
what is called the manual exercise, or in the
management and use of its arms. But, in
modern war, the habit of ready and instant
obedience is of much greater consequence
than a considerable superiority in the management
of arms.
Those militias which, like the Tartar or Arab
militia, go to war under the same chieftains
whom they are accustomed to obey in peace,
are by far the best. In respect for their
officers, in the habit of ready obedience,
they approach nearest to standing armies.
The Highland militia, when it served under
its own chieftains, had some advantage of the
same kind. As the Highlanders, however,
were not wandering, but stationary shepherds,
as they had all a fixed habitation, and were
not, in peaceable times, accustomed to follow
their chieftain from place to place; so, in
time of war, they were less willing to follow
him to any considerable distance, or to continue
for any long time in the field. When
they had acquired any booty, they were eager
to return home, and his authority was seldom
sufficient to detain them. In point of obedience,
they were always much inferior to
what is reported of the Tartars and Arabs.
As the Highlanders, too, from their stationary
life, spend less of their time in the open air,
they were always less accustomed to military
exercises, and were less expert in the use of
their arms than the Tartars and Arabs are said
to be.
A militia of any kind, it must be observed,
however, which has served for several successive
campaigns in the field, becomes in
every respect a standing army. The soldiers
are every day exercised in the use of their
arms, and, being constantly under the command
of their officers, are habituated to the
same prompt obedience which takes place in
standing armies. What they were before
they took the field, is of little importance.
They necessarily become in every respect a
standing army, after they have passed a few
campaigns in it. Should the war in America
drag out through another campaign, the
American militia may become, in every respect,
a match for that standing army, of
which the valour appeared, in the last war at
least, not inferior to that of the hardiest veterans
of France and Spain.
This distinction being well understood, the
history of all ages, it will be found, bears
testimony to the irresistible superiority which
a well regulated standing army has over a
militia.