Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1885-06-12
Gen. Drum and Gen. Hazen DISCUSS
the Opposing Armies
Washington Dispatch

Gen: Drum and Gen. Hazen DISCUSS
the; Opposing. Armies.
Washington Dispatch,
r.. G.. Drum, the Adiutant. General
of the Army, spent two months in Eng
land last,snmmer. He is an enthusiasts,
tic admirer Of English troops, and be-
Iieves that*England AM Russia will get
to fightingtbefore long, He says, that
Russia has been quietly working, down
towards the East India possessions Of
England, and that o. conflicts in the fu-
tuneisinevitable. The: English SOL
der" said Gen. Drum; is, tho finest
I'M the world. make no exception. A
regiment Of Englishmen is tho finest
body. OF. soldiers ever gotten togeth-
en-
"You will not even e1cept'our volhn.
teer troops of the last WARP"
"No," said Gen. Drum; 1--WE had nc
regiments of the purely American type.
They were mixed with the foreign .ele-,
ment always"
(Which nation do you think would
win in a.fght-England or Russia. pm
Il 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 anexeeutive
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 aoapacity to rally under fire.: Unite
them with the British and handle them
well, and you have an invincibleAarny."
Gen.. Hazen was sent abroad during
the Turco- Russian war, as military OBJ
server, and had his headquarters at Vi
enna. 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 a 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 a. war between the two, nations at
that time. II had a good many talks
with Russian officers" hee said: They
all are preparing themselves with one
idea, that is to some day test their
strength with the English. L saw 6
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 a war
with England for a long time.. I sup
pose that the Emperor will lie very
largely guided by the desire of the Rus
sian people. He has avery large debt,
it is true, but it may be easier, for him
togo ahead and have war to'divert the
attention OF the revolutionists at home.
The Russians have been moving south
for some time It is, inevitable that the
Russian Empire, great as. it is. will
sometime control the outlet through
the Dardanelles to the. Mediterranean.
It is necessary to the prosperity and fu-
ture growth of this great Empire"
Gen. Hazen has as<high an opinion Of
the English 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. If the
war comes it will be 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 a disadvan-
tage through having other complica-
tons upon her hands. He did not be-
lieve that there would be any trouble
in Ireland in the event of 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.