Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1885-10-14
THE RUSSIAN ARMY.
A Formidable Force Made Up Of Brave
soldiers and Dishonest Officers.

A Formidable Force Made Up of Brave
soldiers and Dishonest Officers.
TCor. San Francisco Chronicle
The Pail Mall Gazette, which, albeit
an ostensibly radical paper, can see
nothing but good in the Russian
despotism, calls particular attention
to an article in this months Contem-
porary Review on the Russian army,
and suggests that if the English people
think of going to war with Russia they
should first adopt the system OF en-
forced military service as it prevails
on the continent. And very good ad
vice TOO, as far as it goes, for il, as the
article in question assures US, the
czar'S forces number more than two
millions of men, it is quite evident that
we, with adisposable military strength
of some seventy or eighty thousand,
are IN no condition to meet them,
either in their own country or any
where else. ES en- if we throw in the
volunteer and militia and a corps
Q'arnee from India the odds would
still be terribly against US. In these
circumstances it is comforting to think
that the Russians are more likely to
come to us than we are to 60 to them.
Even the most ultra Of our jingOes
land there are some awful fools among
them do not propose to invade Rus
STA, and by the time the car succeeds
In shipping his two millions to these
shores | dare say we shall have invent
ed something Tor some smart Yankee
for us), self-acting torpedoes or au-
tomato machine guns, that will blow
them sky high as fast as they land,
without any loss of life on our part.
But where are the two millions?
That is the question. If war were to
break out next week between Ger
many and Russia, Germany would
have 100000 men under arms in ten
days, and before the end of the month
a million on the frontier. How many
would Russia be able to muster In the
same time? That nobody can say
for certain, not even the car himself,
but certainly not half as many, as
even in the last Turkish war, after
months of effort, she was not able to
send TO the front more than 100000.
In fact, the 100000 exist in great
measure only on paper. One million
would be nearer the mark, and when
it is considered how vast is the area,
over which this force is scattered;
that the garrisons of Poland and the
Caucasus absorb more than 20O,-
900; that the frontiers of the empire
contiguous to China and India have
to be well guarded, the European
frontiers have to be watched, the sea
coasts to be protected, and the Nihi-
lists to be kept down, it is clear that
The force available for a foreign con-
1est must be relatively small, and that
9ussia's civilized neighbors-India in
3luded-have much less to fear from
ler aggressive tendencies than is gen
orally supposed.
For all that, the Russian army is a
ormidable force, and in different cir.
2umstances might become so danger
ous that the nations OF Central Eu-
rope would be forced for their own
protection to enter into defensive al
lance against Muscovy, as they once
lid against Turkey. "There are two
-hings that makes me respect Russia,
md regard her as a formidable pow
r." said to me the other day one OF
he most distinguished of English
journalists; ''the battle of Zorndorf
md the passage of the Balkans" At
he battle of Zorndorf, fought by Fred
erick the Great on the one side and
Fermor on the other, on August 25,
1853, the Russians, after losing TWEEN
ty-four thousand men out of a total
of fifty thousand, refused either to
Weld or retreat, and bivouacked on
the battlefield. To effect the passage
of the Balkans during the late war
with Turkey, they sacrificed third Of
their entire army, not in fight, but on
the march-march in the depth of win
ter, the wretched soldiers undergoing
hardshibs hardly less terrible than
were experienced by their fathers in
the pursuit of Napoleon's army after
the burning of Moscow.
These two incidents reveal the Sc
cret O. Russia's military strength,
which consists in the courage and de-
votlon OF her private soldiers and the
recslessness with which Russian gener-
ais sacrifice the lives Of their men.
Brave, patient, hardy, and docile, the
mOulIk, If he were better instructed
and had a little more dash, would
probably make the best soldier in the
world. As it is, he makes one of the
best. Though ne gets no pay, lives on
coarse black bread, Is beaten unmer-
cifully by his officers, and during a,
campaign has often neither shoe to
his foot nor coat to his back, he fights
Ike a hero and dies like saint. Chow
is IT," I asked Stepniak one day
chow is it that Russian soldiers, ig-
norant, III used, and badly fed as they
are, fight SO well ?'' because they are
50 unhappy" was the prompt answer;
fEtheir lot is so wretcbed that they do
not want to live" AS Stepniak has