Those who succeeded
were men always noted for caring something more about the hearts than
the whiskers and buttons of their men. That the officer who delights
in harassing his regiment in times of peace will fail with it in
times of war and scenes of peril seems to me to be a rule almost as
well established as that he, who in the junior ranks of the army
delights most to kick against authority, is always found the most
disposed to abuse it when he gets to the higher. In long intervals of
peace, the only prominent military characters are commonly such
martinets; and hence the failures so generally experienced in the
beginning of a war after such an interval. Whitelocks are chosen for
command, till Wolfes and Wellingtons find Chathams and Wellesleys to
climb up by.
To govern those whose mental and physical energies we require for our
subsistence and support by the lash alone is so easy, so simple a
mode of bending them to our will, and making them act strictly and
instantly in conformity to it, that it is not at all surprising to
find so many of those who have been accustomed to it, and are not
themselves liable to have the lash inflicted upon them, advocating
its free use.
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