River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1885-06-04
Ten. Drum and Gen. Hazen Discuss
the Opposing Armies.
Washington Dispatch.


If the Army, spent two months in Eng
land last simmer. He is an enthusiast
tic admirer of English troops, and be-
ieves that England and Russia will get
10 fighting before long. He says that
Russia has been quietly working down
towards the East India possessions of
England, and that conflict in the flu
lure is inevitable. "The English sol
der" said Gen. Drum, sis the finest
10 the world. / make no exception. A
regiment of Englishmen is the finest
body of soldiers ever gotten togeth-
er."
"You will not even except our volun-
seer troops of the last WARP"
"No," said Gen. Drum; eve had no
regiments of the purely American type.
They were mixed with the foreign ele-
ment always"
(Which nation do you think would
win in a fight-England or Russia. ?"
II do not believe that the English
troops can be beaten by any nation.
They love fighting. They are men of
high intelligence and their officers are
plucky fellows. The weak feature of the
English army at present is the absence
of any staff system. They have no reg
ular staff as we have In our army. No
officer is trained up to hold an executive
position. Officers in the British army
are too apt to be placed in responsible
positions through favor of influence.
This is the great fault of the service.
The Scotch make wonderful soldiers.
They are the only troops that have
made a reputation in military history
for capacity to rally under fire. Unite
them with the British and handle them
well, and you have an inyincible army"
Gen. HaZen was sent abroad during
the Turco- Russian war, as military OBJ
server, and had his headquarters at Vi
emma. He was with the Russian troops
for sometime, and was with Gen. Sko-
belief for several days. Gen. Hazen
SAYS that Russia came very
near having war with England
at the close of her war with
Turkey. If she had been fully pre-
pared for it there would have certainly
been war between the two nations at
that time. II had good many talks
with Russian officers" he said. They
all are preparing themselves with one
idea, that is to some day test their
strength with the English. l saw
great many of their regiments on pa
rade. The unceasing question that was
asked me was. How do our men COM
pare with the English? The Russian
soldiers are very fine body of men.
They have greater personal devotion
to their officers and to the Emperor,
their chief, than is known in any army.
Russia has been preparing for war
with England for a long time. / sup
pose that the Emperor will be very
largely guided by the desire of the Rus
sian people. He has very large debt,
it is true, but it may be easier for him
to go ahead and have war to divert the
attention of the revolutionists at home.
The Russians have been moving south
for some time 1t is inevitable that the
Russian Empire, great as it is. will
sometime control the outlet through
the Dardanelles to the Mediterranean.
1t is necessary to the prosperity and flu
ture growth of this great Empire.
Gen. Hazen has as high an opinion of
the Engllsh troops as has Gen. Drum.
He thinks that they are the finest sol
diers in the world. England does not
believe in maintaining large standing
armies. but her reserves represent the
very best possible material. The Ger
mans and the Austrians are perhaps
better machine soldiers. They are
more inclined to develop the profession
al soldier than the English. The latter
are democratic in their ideas. very much
like the people in this country. Ii the
war comes it will be a severe and pro-
tracted one. Gen. Hazen did not think
that other nations would interfere, al
though certain alliances might be made.
He thought 1t possible that Russia was
more inclined to fight at the present
time than at any other, because Eng
land Is in certain sense at disadvan-
tage through having other complica-
tions upon her hands. He did not be-
lieve that there would be any trouble
in Ireland in the event of a war. The
Irish are SO fond of fighting that he felt
certain England would receive all the
support that she needed from the peo-
pie of that pugnacious island