The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1890-10-23
EUROPEAN ARMY NOTES.

of allowing soldiers who have come to
blows to settle their quarrel with the
sword
The death ratio per thousand in the
Spanish army is 13.4o; in the Russian,
S.S; in the Italian, T.04; in the Austrian,
GOA; in the French, 600; in the English,
5.13: in the belgium, A.; in the Ger
man, 3.9T. In France tho illnesses of
consumption number &c, the deaths LII
to the thousand: in Germany the ILL
neSSeS 3.l2, the deaths, .S3 per thousand.
:tisn
The prospective rcorganizat ton of the
Dutch army will raise its total fighting
force to 100000 men. The present peace
army of the Netherlands contains G5, 900
mon, and may be increased in case of
war by 4l,000 active militia and 1925
inactive militia. Tho total army on Il
war footing is, therefore, approximately
$50, 900 strong.
Emperor William the III laid himself
open to considerable criticism in the
Silcsian manmuvrcs by exposing his
cavalry to Il murdcrous fire from an in
fantry regiment under the command OF
Lieutcnant-Gcneral Won Krosigh. Al
though the critics of the mannuvres
the advance of the imperial horscmcn,
they directed attention to the fact that
against real enemy such an attack
would have resulted in most disastrous
Tcpulsc. Count Waldcrsee, Field Mar
snail Prince George. OF Saxony, and
Northumberland Won Rosenberg, the
Judges of the man0uvrcS, expressed this
opinion, and the Emperor agreed
NM
a plan for colossal manUuvres of
German and Austrian troops on the
plains Of SaXOny next summer is being
discussed by the military men of the
two great central European powers.
The idea originated in Vienna, and
King Albert Of Saxony is said to have
been intrusted with the quasi diplo-
matte duty of directing young Emperor
Williams attention to the obvious adj
vantages of such an experimental COM
bination of the allied armies. The
Austrians would be present only in com
para lively inferior numbers, merely for
the purpose of showing the relative
value of the two armies in question, and
of gathering all possible information as
to the proper methods of cooperating
with their ally.
The amount of German blood in the
veins of Russian army officers is sur
prisingly great. Six of the eighteen
chiefs of corps are of German ancestry.
OF the corresponding general staff chiefs
seven have such thoroughly German
names as Meier, Rauch, Scaffhauscn,
and Rohrber. OF the forty-cight com
handlers of guard, grenadier and army
infantry divisions, eleven are Germans,
and among the corresponding general
staff chiefs, are Klaus, Monck, Buch
holz, Burger, etc. Thirty-four of the
ninety-siX brigade commanders, and
twcnty-nine of the commanders of the
regiments LOO are E'ischerS, Schmidts
and the like more. The Guard Brigade
is under Grippenbcrg, the Caucasian
under Treitcr, the Trans-Caspian under
Voh Albach, the East Siberian under
Degcn. In all the rifle brigades together
the proportion of German to Russian
commanders is six to five. OF the nine
Finnish rifle battalions only three have
Russian leaders, and the chief of all the
troops i'll Finland is named Willebrand.
&::H
NJ. Desbouvcric, in Roubaix. France.
has made many experiments recently in
the use of swallows instead of carrier
pigeons for postal service in war. Not
long ago he let out from their cage fiji
teen swallows three weeks old. They
scattered in all directions, and all the
persons whom NJ. Dcsbouvcric had in
vitcd to observe his experiment told him
he would never see the birds again. In
twenty minutes swallow came back
and pcrchcd on his finger. Within thirty
minutes the last of the fifteen was in the
cage again. NJ. Desbouvcric says his
repeated tests of Shc capabilities of the
swallows have convinced him that in
war they can be made much safer and
swiftcr carriers than pigeons. They fly
higher than the pigeons, have quicker
movement, take their food on the wing
without stopping, as do the pigeons,
have more affection for their homes, and
arc many times moro intelligent. NJ.
DcSbouverie hes on several occasions set
FREQ all his swallows, and has then left
home on long pedestrian tour The
swallows have always flown along with
him, lowered over the restaurants he ate
in, perchcd all night in the trees around
the houses he slept III, and eventually
turned up with him all right at home.
lie plans to make experiments shortly
to show the superiority of carrier swal-
lows to Il commission OF FTcnch military
men.
Gen. Won Kaltcnborn Stachau the new
German Minister of War, receives this
record from the Rcichsanzciger; lilo is
one OF the most talented and capable
officers i'll the Prussian army. lie first
left the cadet corps April 30, 1854, to be-
come Second Lieutenant in the Twenty
seventh Infantry Regiment at Magdc-
burg, and is accordingly to-day in his
fiftics, or thercabouts. Between 1858
and 1860 he attended the Universal Mill
tary Academy. For several years no was
occupied in the Geographical bureau