Volumes of other facts and statements might be quoted to show that military service is exhaustive of vital force more than the pursuits of civil life. It is so even in time of peace, and it is remarkably so in time of war. Comparing the English statements of the mortality in the army with the calculations of the expectation of life in the general community, the difference is at once manifest.

Of 10,000 men at the age of twenty, there will die before they complete their fortieth year,—

British army in time of peace, 3,058
England and Wales, English Life-Table, 1,853
According to tables of Amicable and
Equitable Life-Insurance Companies, 1,972
New England and New York, according
to the tables of the New-England
Mutual Life-Insurance Company, 1,721

DANGERS IN LAND-BATTLES.

This large amount of disease and mortality in the army arises not from the battle-field, but belongs to the camp, the tent, the barrack, the cantonment; and it is as certain, though not so great, in time of peace, when no harm is inflicted by the instruments of destruction, as in time of war. The battle, which is the world's terror, is comparatively harmless. The official histories of the deadly struggles of armies show that they are not so wasteful of life as is generally supposed. Mr. William Barwick Hodge examined the records and despatches in the War-Office in London, and from these and other sources prepared an exceedingly valuable and instructive paper on "The Mortality arising from Military Operations," which was read before the London Statistical Society, and printed in the nineteenth volume of the Society's journal. Some of the tables will be as interesting to Americans as to Englishmen. On the following page is a tabular view, taken from this work, of the casualties in nineteen battles fought by the British armies with those of other nations.

TABLE 1.--NINETEEN LAND-BATTLES.
BRITISH
Casualties
Killed in battle
Officers ---------------
and men Per 1000
Date. Battles. engaged Number engaged
------------------------ -------------------- ------ ---- ----
1801, March 21, . . . . . Alexandria . . . . . 14,000 243 17.3
1806, July 4, . . . . . . Maida . . . . . . . 5,675 45 7.9
1808, August 21, . . . . Vimiciro . . . . . . 19,200 135 7.
1809, January 16, . . . . Corunna . . . . . . 16,700 158 9.4
" July 28, . . . . . Talavera . . . . . . 22,100 801 3.6
1810, September . . . . . Busaco . . . . . . . 27,800 106 3.9
1811, March 5, . . . . . Barrosa . . . . . . 5,230 202 38.6
" May 5, . . . . . . Fuentes de Onore . . 22,900 170 7.4
" " 16, . . . . . . Albuera . . . . . . 9,000 882 98.
1812, July 22, . . . . . Salamanca . . . . . 30,500 388 12.7
1813, June 21, . . . . . Vittoria . . . . . . 42,000 501 11.9
" July 25 to August 2 Pyrenees . . . . . . 30,000 559 18.6
" November 10, . . . Nivelle . . . . . . 47,600 277 5.7
1814, February 27, . . . Orthés . . . . . . . 27,000 210 7.7
" April 10, . . . . . Toulouse . . . . . . 26,800 312 11.6
1815, January 8, . . . . New Orleans . . . . 6,000 386 64.3
" June 16-18, . . . . Waterloo . . . . . . 49,900 2,126 42.6
1854, September 20, . . . Alma . . . . . . . . 26,800 353 13.1
" November 5, . . . . Inkerman . . . . . . 9,000 632 70.2
------- ----- ----
438,205 8,486 19.3
Estimated deaths among the wounded . . . . . . 4,894
Estimated casualties among the missing . . . . 1,137
-----
Total 14,517 33.1
TABLE 1.--NINETEEN LAND-BATTLES. (cont.)
BRITISH. (cont.)
Deaths in battle
Casualties (cont.) from wounds, and
Wounded among the missing.
Number. Per 1000 Number. Per 1000
Battles. engaged engaged
-------------------- ----- ----- ----- -----
Alexandria . . . . . 1,193 85.2 393 28.1
Maida . . . . . . . 282 49.1 87 15.3
Vimiciro . . . . . . 534 27.7 215 11.2
Corunna . . . . . . 634 37.9 257 15.4
Talavera . . . . . . 3,913 17.7 1,455 65.8
Busaco . . . . . . . 500 18. 183 6.6
Barrosa . . . . . . 1,040 198.8 360 68.8
Fuentes de Onore . . 1,043 45.5 379 16.6
Albuera . . . . . . 2,672 296.6 1,358 151.
Salamanca . . . . . 2,714 89. 770 25.2
Vittoria . . . . . . 2,807 66.8 890 21.2
Pyrenees . . . . . . 3,693 123.1 1,197 39.9
Nivelle . . . . . . 1,777 37.3 675 14.2
Orthés . . . . . . . 1,411 52.2 404 15.
Toulouse . . . . . . 1,795 66.9 582 21.7
New Orleans . . . . 1,516 252.6 625 104.2
Waterloo . . . . . . 8,140 163.1 3,245 65.
Alma . . . . . . . . 1,619 60.4 559 20.9
Inkerman . . . . . . 1,878 208.6 883 98.1
----- ----- ----- -----
39,161 89.3 14,517 33.
Total 91.9
TABLE 1.--NINETEEN LAND-BATTLES. (cont.)
BRITISH AND ALLIES.
Officers Casualties.
and men
Battles. engaged. Number. Per 1000
--------------------
Alexandria . . . . .
Maida . . . . . . .
Vimiciro . . . . . .
Corunna . . . . . .
Talavera . . . . . . 56,000 6,268 112
Busaco . . . . . . . 57,000 1,300 23
Barrosa . . . . . . 14,500 1,610 111
Fuentes de Onore . . 35,200 1,469 42
Albuera . . . . . . 37,000 6,500 176
Salamanca . . . . . 54,200 4,964 92
Vittoria . . . . . . 95,800 4,829 50
Pyrenees . . . . . . 65,000 6,540 101
Nivelle . . . . . . 90,600 2,621 29
Orthés . . . . . . . 43,600 2,200 50
Toulouse . . . . . . 54,400 4,641 85
New Orleans . . . .
Waterloo . . . . . . 230,600 36,590 159
Alma . . . . . . . . 55,000 3,545 64
Inkerman . . . . . .
------- ------ ---
888,900 83,077 92
Estimated casualties
among the missing . . . . 3,787
------
86,864 98

Of those who were engaged in these nineteen battles one in 51.6, or 1.93 per cent., were killed. The deaths in consequence of the battles, including both those who died of wounds and those that died among the missing, were one in 30, or 3.3 per cent. of all who were in the fight. It is worth noticing here, that the British loss in the Battle of New Orleans was larger than in any other battle here adduced, except in that of Albuera, in Spain, with the French, in 1811.

In the British army, from 1793 to 1815, including twenty-one years of war, and excluding 1802, the year of peace, the number of officers varied from 3,576 in the first year to 13,248 in 1813, and the men varied from 74,500 in 1793 to 276,000 in 1813, making an annual average of 9,078 officers and 189,200 men, and equal to 199,727 officers and 4,168,500 men serving one year. During these twenty-one years of war, among the officers 920 were killed and 4,685 were wounded, and among the men 15,392 were killed and 65,393 were wounded. This is an annual average of deaths from battle of 460 officers and 369 men, and of wounded 2,340 officers and 1,580 men, among 100,000 of each class. Of the officers less than half of one per cent., or 1 in 217, were killed, and a little more than two per cent., or 1 in 42, were wounded; and among the men a little more than a third of one per cent., 1 in 271, were killed, and one and a half per cent., 1 in 63, wounded, in each year. The comparative danger to the two is, of death, 46 officers to 37 men, and of wounds, 234 officers to 158 men. A larger proportion of the officers than of the soldiers were killed and wounded; yet a larger proportion of the wounded officers recovered. This is attributed to the fact that the officers were injured by rifle-balls, being picked out by the marksmen, while the soldiers were injured by cannon- and musket-balls and shells, which inflict more deadly injuries.

DANGERS IN NAVAL BATTLES.

It may not be out of place here to show the dangers of naval warfare, which are discussed at length by Mr. Hodge, in a very elaborate paper in the eighteenth volume of the Statistical Society's journal. From one of his tables, containing a condensed statistical history of the English navy, through the wars with France, 1792–1815, the following facts are gathered.