The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1877-06-21
Foreign Army Commanders n D. .
and Turkey. ass'

ing it upon borrowed u" mo wag.
out less notice has been taIsi
OF yet more significant 'a taa
that most OF the best officers on a; aas
side are borrowed likewise. n i s'.iisi
gular enough to remark how invar;a IN
every commander who has distinom;isds0l I
himself in Turkey for years past n a,sase
to be foreigner. Omar Pasba p mo,
Hungarian; Behram Pasha q So "ss
man; Iskorder Bey, one of the eV bas
Turkish cavalry officers of the Cr S 10y
war, a Polish refugee, his true mama 4
ing Mikhail Tchaikovski; Nasmvth J.. !,
Butler, the defenders of Silistria IN ls ~
were English officers; Ibrahim Acs =.
originally an Edinburg punsm ~
Thomas Keith by name; Hobart Passa
who has just signalized himself by nv
ming the gauntlet of the Russian haiti, tsa'
les on the Danube, is an Englishmss
and it is well known that manv HI
commands, both in Turkey and Ecys
are held at this moment by officers finn ras
the United States. M
Nor is Russia whit behind her riy,,
in this curious species of importat;oa
From the very opening of the ceutrr
till now the victories Of Russia have bess
the triumphs of foreigners. Bepnins
sen, who fought the battles of Eylau asI
Friedland in 1907, and defeated Nam
leon himself at Heilsberg on the Al| Fs
was a German. His colleague Cstss
man Tolstoi was from the Baltic prs
inces. Barclay de Tolly, Commando
in-Chief in 1912 till superseded by Il.
Russian Kutuzoff, was Hanoyenan
Langeron and Wittgenstein, the heroes
of 1Sl3-14, were of foreign blood, as VA
also Count Diebitsch, the victor Fl
Adrianople in 1929. Prince Paskieyiteb
the conqueror of Erivan, sprang from !
Hungarian family. Gems. Auref, Scbl.
ders, and Luders, who figured in tbel
Danubian campaign of 1858, were AMI
foreigners. Gen. Todleben (by far tie
best engineer whom Russia possesses)u H
a Courlander; Gen. Nepokoytschitski. Il
Pole. In fact, it is difficult to run owed
the prominent names on either sds|
with recalling the old meSs-room stor|
of the English Interpreter, who, whia
watching with delight the meeting Of /
fierce looking Russian General with Il
shawled and bearded Pasha, was sud
denly petrified by hearing Turk and
Russian break forth simultaneously
"Eh, Donald Campbell! are We here's
Lord keep us, Sandy Robertson. ca,
this be you?"
Nor is this to be wondered at. Til
bitter proverb which one hears SO ohaI
in the great manufacturing towns Of ths
Volga, that "there are many foreig
overseers, but few foreign workmen,
exactly defines the two contendin4
races. The sluggish fatalistic Osmanf
the submissive, initiative Slavonian, al
naturally fitted to obey rather THANH
command; and the armies Of EastenI
Europe, as compared with those Of b
West, are the phalanx against the Lego
the moving machine with its vsG
soulless force, contrasted with the Y
gregate of sentient units, each with
life and intelligence of its own. AZ
one who has seen Turkish and Russf
troops on a campaign, or has studs
their military history, must have
marked that when a column is lett
itself through the loss of its officers
cOllapses at once into a helpless, q
reasoning mass, having Gas Henry
Welsh esquire pithily said of the Frens
at Agincour) "neither the courage
fight, the grace to yield, nor the sem
to run away" Such would hardly
the case, under any circumstances, WI
a body of German, American,
English soldiers. "We fon't," saaI
veteran of the War of Independents
describing the battle of Lexington, ~
fou't every man on his own hook a.
the power of doing this at need, whl1
is as prominent with the TeutOn and
Anglo-Saxon as it is defective IN
Slavonian and the Tartar, stands iof
most among the qualities which cou9
tute the real efficiency of an army
But on the side of Turkey, at lev
there is another and yet stronger reas
for the preference given to forelggns
viz: the impossibility of trusting
natives. Bribery has always been
surest weapon of the Sultan's enema
The surrender of Varna in 1923, WE
opened Roumelia to Diebitsch's aal
advance in the following spring, WI
mere matter of sale and barter,
battle of Nizeeb, in. 1889, was decA
against the already victorious lurhs
the desertion to the Egyptian slahus
of three or four previously brloea
ments; and the supersedlng o.
Pasha, in 1858, by the veteran ~
barely saved silistria from
"knocked down." to Prince fasklesr
In fact, one may say Of Constantine
as Jugartha said of Rome, !" Z cn 'ai
sale when purchaser comes; q. anu Il
state of the Sultan's forces IS aPuy
med up by military critic who mas Nh
more Of them than most men -
more than a year l had shared 'ns
tunes of Turkish army; ! naa So
merits of these poor, palenl,. . o,