nations, and by a far greater steadiness and self-subsistency than
that of the French. It is more closely connected with the character
of the individual. The courage of an English army (he used to say)
is the sum total of the courage which the individual soldiers bring
with them to it, rather than of that which they derive from it. This
remark of Sir Alexander's was forcibly recalled to my mind when I was
at Naples. A Russian and an English regiment were drawn up together
in the same square: "See," said a Neapolitan to me, who had mistaken
me for one of his countrymen, "there is but one face in that whole
regiment, while in that" (pointing to the English) "every soldier has
a face of his own." On the other hand, there are qualities scarcely
less requisite to the completion of the military character, in which
Sir A. did not hesitate to think the English inferior to the
continental nations; as for instance, both in the power and the
disposition to endure privations; in the friendly temper necessary,
when troops of different nations are to act in concert; in their
obedience to the regulations of their commanding officers, respecting
their treatment of the inhabitants of the countries through which
they are marching, as well as in many other points, not immediately
connected with their conduct in the field: and, above all, in
sobriety and temperance. During the siege of Valetta, especially
during the sore distress to which the besiegers were for some time
exposed from the failure of provision, Sir Alexander Ball had an
ample opportunity of observing and weighing the separate merits and
demerits of the native and of the English troops; and surely since
the publication of Sir John Moore's campaign, there can be no just
offence taken, though I should say, that before the walls of Valetta,
as well as in the plains of Galicia, an indignant commander might,
with too great propriety, have addressed the English soldiery in the
words of an old dramatist -