266 
BATTERY MESSING. 
recruit follows suit, and commences to grumble. They will be told 
that the men wont eat this and can’t do that, and dislike the other 
thing, but let them be quite assured that it is all nonsense, and that 
these reforms have now been thoroughly tried and proved to be sound ; 
they will find that the difficulties will all vanish in time; they were insur¬ 
mountable when I began first to agitate in this matter, nearly fifteen 
years ago, but they are not so now. 
I will conclude by trying to refute an old standing objection con¬ 
stantly made that the whole thing is grandmotherly legislation and 
that it would be much better to teach the soldier to look after himself; 
it sounds plausible, but there is nothing in it. The question is not 
between individualism and organisation, the regulations absolutely for¬ 
bid the former, but between bad organisation and good, and put thus 
there is no doubt which should carry the day. 
If my opinions are stated too positively, it is only to save the per¬ 
petual qualifications <( I think ” and similar phases. 
