GENERAL LESSONS OF THE CAMPAIGN 211 



the same sort of second-nature intelligence on the 

 battle-field as that which prompts a cricketer to play 

 forward or back according to the pitch of the ball, 

 and a football-player to " pass " when he sees that 

 he cannot take the ball on himself. The importance 

 of this sort of intelligence, if the game is to be won, 

 is well known to every school-boy. 



In our army we seem to have such a desire for 

 uniformity that it almost amounts to a craze. 

 Such a craze is apt to beat down the well-grown 

 heads rather than to bring on the poor ones. In 

 the hunting-field all men are equal, and each one 

 has ample scope for individual action. It is here 

 then that the well-grown and ambitious heads can 

 top the poorer ones without let or hindrance, and 

 learn that self-reliance and decision of action which 

 the want of scope, consequent on their subordinate 

 positions, prevents them from doing in the ordinary 

 routine of work, and without which they can be of 

 little use as Officers. 



In contra-distinction to the uniformity sought 

 after in the army, it has always been England's 

 policy to give full scope to individuals, hence we 

 have buoyancy as a national characteristic. Hunt- 

 ing can develop this to the fullest extent. Buoyancy 

 also means two other important characteristics for 

 modern troops, flexibility and adaptability to 

 circumstances. 



The author of With the Ambulance in the Fi'-anco- 

 German War says that, in his opinion, one of the 

 reasons of the failure of the French Army in 1870, 



