The farmer talks of seasons and his crops; the merchant of traffic and his gains; and the soldier, though less narrow in his range of topics, often dwells on the incidents and characteristics of military life.  In answer to some very loose notions on the subject of discipline, L’Isle mounted his hobby, and said that he had pretty much come into the mechanical theory on military matters.  “An army is a machine; the men composing it, parts of that machine; and the more their personal and individual characters are obliterated, by assimilating them to the nature of precise and definite parts of one complicated organization, the better will they serve their purpose.  Now, a machine should be kept always in perfect order and readiness for instant application to the purpose of its construction.  An army is a machine contrived for fighting battles; and if at any time it is not in a condition to fight to the best advantage, it is in a state of deterioration and partial disorganization.  Troops, therefore, should be kept, at all times and under all circumstances, under the same rigid discipline, and in the full exercise of their functions, equally ready at all seasons for action.”

Lord Strathern took up the cudgels and maintained that though an army might be called a machine, its component parts were men, who necessarily had some perception of the contingencies and emergencies incident to military life, and that great as were sacrifices they might make, and the restrictions they might bear with when there was obvious necessity for them, should the same exacting course be pursued as a system, it would only break their spirits, freeze their zeal, and disgust them with the service.  “We have seen enough of your mechanical armies, drilled and regulated to perfection, as soulless mechanism.  We have seen how, on the dislocation of this machine, the parts became useless and helpless, without resource in themselves.  In short, it is the Prussian and Austrian system which has given half Europe to the French.  No; if the bow need unbending, still more does the soldier need relaxation, to give vigor and elasticity to body and mind.  A little ease and pleasure chequering his career only beget desire and the motives for new adventure and fresh exertions.  How is it with our horses,” exclaimed his lordship, who was a jockey of the old school.  “Do we not give them a run at grass, to refresh their constitutions and renew their youth?”

But L’Isle unshaken maintained his opinion, “With such materials as make up a large part of our army, for his majesty gets the services of many a fellow who can be put to no good use at home, your lordship’s relaxation system would only tend to sap its moral and physical strength, and make it a curse to the country in which it is quartered, whether at home or abroad.”