Evening star., 1897-05-08

combatants. Any deliberate attempts
against their lives or safety on the part
of either the Turks Greeks will be re-
sented as a serious insult to our govern
ment. Such an act might lead to bloody
war between the United States and the
offending government.
General Miles will, of course. be the most
conspicuous of the four Yankee represen-
tatives in the field. He will probably spend
the greater part Of his time at the head
quarters of the Turkish commanding gen.
eral. 1t is customary for a neutral for
eign representative of exalted rank, COM
missioned to travel at large for the pur-
pose of war study, to attach himself to
the probably victorious side. There are
many obvious reasons for this. In the first
place the effective engines Of war and the
successful strategic movements can be
studied from the vanquishing better than
from the vanqufshed side. In the second
place it will be much safer and much more
comfortable for Gen. Miles to travel with
the pursuers than with the pursued BY
attaching himself to one side. Gen. Miles
will not indicate that the United States
officially sympathizes with its cause more
tfan with that of the other
In the Field.
General Miles. well as the other at
taches, will wear United States fatigue
uniform I'm the field. He will be lent a
horse by the general Of the army which he
visits. He will move in the field with the
officers of the foreign commanders staff
will eat with them and will occupy the
same quarters while in the field. He will
expect from them the same protection
which a guest expects from his host. This
WILL OF course, be great advantage. He
will touch elbows with the men who are
now controlling events in the east.
Neither the Turkish nor Greek military
u d.
vanced progress. Many valuable and prac-
tical lessons can be learned at the theater
Of any modern battle. The Turks
modern army rif1e--the MauSer of .:u cali
Ger. almost as small as that lately adopted
for our army-the Krag-Jorgensen. The
Greeks. on the other hand. are equipped
with the Gras rifle. .433 caliber. over twen-
ty years old and very similar to that for
merly issued to our regulars and that now
used by the greater part Of our militia, as
far diameter Of bore is concerned. Gen.
Miles and his interiors in the field can OBJ
serve the comparative destructive effects
of these. Comparative values OF artillery
arms. arrangements Of troops. emergency
rations. hospital systems. field signal sys-
TENS. etc. can be studied properly only in
the battlefield.
Gen. Miles will be accompanied by one
Of his aids. Or the other two United States
military attaches In the Levant one will
travel with one Of the armies Of the Turks
and the other with the Greeks Capt. J. H.
Dorst, 4th Cavalry. formerly attached to
the legation at Vienna. was the other day
transferred to the legation at Constantine
pie and authorized to take the field with
the Turkish troops. Likewise, Capt Geo.
P. Scriven. our former military attache at
Rome. was transferred to Athens and or
dered TO follow the Greeks. From this ex-
tensive corps of representatives our War
Department WILL of course, receive elabo-
rate reports of the present battle.
Work to Our Advantage.
vCl.1 to- Of
greater value to government than to
any other of great magnitude. All the in
formation which these official representa-
tives can disseminate among nations III
general is a direct gain to our military
strength. for in military matters the old
adage knowledge is power Is especially
true A war like that now being fought
in Europe is of great value to us in more
than one way. 1t not only makes foreign
products scarce to some extent, thereby
creating a greater demand for ours, but
teaches many wise lessons in military
science. 1t has been wisely said that all
Europe works for our benefit at the busi-
ness of making military experiments. F,u
rCpean nations are ever living in jealousy
or fear of invasion, and hence are COM
PEELED to vie with one another in the per-
fection Of war inventions. Our army and
naval attaches keep us always posted as to
the latest military fad. and we always
have sufTfcient information at our fingers
eDds to equip ourselves with the newest
parapherDalia at moments notice.
Although General Miles will be the first
commanding general Of the United States
army who has ever had such a mission
abroad in time of war. We have always
maintained number of distiE guished Off
GERS abroad to carefully study great strifes
General Scott was in Paris after its occu-
patton by the allied troops, and accompa-
MED the Duke of Wellington during their
review. Colonel DuIlafieId, Major Mordecai
and Captain (afterward GeneraD Mcclellan
accompanied the allied armies at the siege
of Sebastapol. In 1870 Generals Sheridan
ard Forsyth studied the Franco-German
var from the German side During the
var between Russia and Turkey Lieut. F.
V. Green was our attache with the Rus
sian army. Colonel Chambers was at the
same time on the Turkish side, while Gen.
eral Hazen was dispatched to Constanti-
bopie to be ready to accompany the Aus
trian army in case Austria should take q
hand In the conflict Our officers have also
been sent to travel abroad at large, as spe-
c1al military attaches, to make such gem
eral studies as General Miles will make
after having studied the present war. In
1916 General Upton, General Forsyth and
Major Sanger were sent on an extended
military pilgrimage to examine and report
upon all Of the principal armies Of Europe,
land.
During our civil war a number of dis
tinguished foreign military attaches ac-
companied our army. Prince Napoleon was
the army of the Potomac. Lord WoIlsey
the present commander-in-chief of her
majesty's forces, also stayed for a while
with the opposing armies
Gen. Sheridan Aboard,
Gen. Sheridan was the most exalted of
our military officers who ever studied q
| foreign war in such a manner as Gen.
| Miles Is about to study that In Greece
and Turkey. In 1870. when war was I'M
|
| Grant sent Sheridan to Europe, giving him
a special autograph letter, commencing
| him to the good Offices of all of our rep
| resentatives whom he might meet in for
| eign lands and introducing him to all Of
| the representatives, officials and citizens
| Of foreign governments, Sheridan selected
| Germany as the object Of hts study, fndica-
| tions then pointing to the probable victory
/ Of the Germans.
During his trip Sheridan was the spe-
| cial guest Of the King Of Prussia and be-
| came an intimate friend and companion Of
/ Prince Bismarck, sometimes sleeping in the
Il