94 OUR INFANTRY. 



connections, and never on account of their 

 talents. 



The situation of an officer in a campaign 

 doing duty with his regiment is very different, 

 as he can see little beyond the ground it occu- 

 pies, and does not come in contact with the 

 general officers. 



The public believes that much talent is not 

 required by officers of the army, which is true 

 as respects infantry officers doing duty with 

 their regiments during the best part of their 

 lives, but it is impossible to read the "Dis- 

 patches" without feeling assured that no posi- 

 tion is more difficult than that of an officer in 

 command of an army in the field ; and that to 

 be long successful in that situation, he must 

 combine much natural genius for war, with an 

 almost unerring judgment. But such talents, 

 however great, require to be exercised before 

 they become impaired, either by age or by a 

 too long course of idleness. 



What would now be the condition of all 

 difficult professions, trades, and arts, if those 

 who entered them, and were clever, relied for 

 their success on their connections rather than 

 on their talents ? Would such a system make 



