Evening star., 1898-05-21


all Its operations. constituting for IL troops
OF flying rifles. strengthening IL In it's Of
lensiVe operations. and increasing its con-
ndence Being constantly in the foreguard
the bicycle rifles Will nearly always have
10 struggle against the adverse cavalry
Ihen the patriotism OF France is shown the
picture OF one OF these innovating COM
panles IN the act OF intimidating an ap-
preaching division of cavalry. Forming
themselves in a hollow square they con-
stitute a terrible obstruction: for. should
they be passed on either side they are still
capable or attacking the horsemen in the
rear, while from their mobility and quick
ness teQual to that of the cavalry itselO.
from the advantage cf their repeating
arms. and their final trick Of scattering,
falling TO the ground making of to-
gether, either In pursuit or flight. they
must be recognized as possessing all the
precious irresponsibility of a troop of mis-
chievous schoolboys in the face OF a squad
of policemen" Is IL not delightful?
Dogs Of War.
Ii is certainly delightful: but helas, the
next rumor is to the advantage Of the other
side. The bicycle infantry of France Is to
be ravaged by the war dogs of Germany.
Yes actually dogs. real dogs the ferocious
mastiffs Of Clm. which are being trained
by thousands just across the Rhine Daily
they are set upon lay figures dressed ito
put IL automatically in foreign uni
forms" The French pretend to make great
fun OF 1T. declaring that no one OF these
four-legged Prussiens will be capable of
resisting sausage at the psychological
moment. Must poisoned sausages. then, be
added TO the list of fin de steele imple-
ments of war?
The Germans enlist dogs, and the French
rise to the occasion in enlisting pigeons.
Every one recognizes that in the military
engagements Of the future the field of op-
erations is bound to be extremely devel-
oped; whence arises the problem of inter
communication OF orders and information.
The telegraph and the telephone will play
their parts; for for them wires must be laid
-whlcn may be cut. The carrier pigeon has
no such disadvantage. Carried in little
cage. strapped to troopers back. he may
be launched on the air with his precious
message from any point. at any moment"
VOLTA! Doubtless the Germans will have
carrier pigeons. too-and then the question
of the uniform Will come up again. No one
will want to shoot down his own sides mes
senger, and Yet the Uniforming of the bird
will be the advertising of it to the enemy.
War is, indeed, becoming complicated.
Said without Prejudice.
And all this is without prejudice to bal
looms, terrestrial and maritime torpedoes.
submarine boats, rapid-firing and long
range guns, smokeless powder. rife pro-
jectiles capable of penetrating fifteen men
at / 500 yards, with all the train of high
explosives, mines, applied electricity and
the more obscure resources of science,
darkly supposed to be kept secret by each
BILE of terroriZing the honest French citizen.
of starting up and setting wild the popular
imagir alton, has been invented and prom
ised for the dreaded war of the future"
OF course there are thoughtful people who
shrug their shoulders nevertheless. Those
who know something of past wars know
that, since men first fought down to the
present time. the more inoffensive the
arms the more murderous have been the
battles
The theory runs something like this: In
whole ar re-
duced to hand-to-hand conflict, with
swords, daggers and spears. the Vanquished
disappeared entirely. Later on, when they
could get at each other without touching
body to body, distance replaced the shield
and they augmented only the force of pro-
jectiles. When the muskets of our grand
fathers carried 300 yards our grandfathers
generally lined up against each other at
$50 yards. Today the magazine rifles carry
800 yards; they will line up at 1Goo yards.
On q Percentage Basis.
1t is well known that the best of troops
have never been able to support. at any
given time, more than a certain proportion
of losses. They disband; they get away. 1t
is well known they do. At Waterloo, IL you
believe the famous legend that The Old
Guard dies, but does not surrenuer, you
must believe that the Old Gaurd lay there
stretched out on the field of battle, coz in
death But the truth is that they went
away when they had lost 10 per cent of
their effectiveness. When one man out OF
every ten is dead and several others wound
ed, the nine, or eight, or seven leave the
spot.
They will not do better, regularly, in the
future The optimistic theory relesates to
the domain of phantoms those future heca-
tombs which have been promised, and de-
clares that the land battles OF the future
will not pass in the following fashion: A
million of men will be lined up to face an
other million of men. The machinery will
he started. and very promptly everybody
will he killed. There are those who dare to
believe that the battles of the future Will
not have that degree of admirable sImpici-
ty But the mass of Frenchmen and Ger
mans do not know it, They believe all the
fairy stories they are told. and II is because
of this credulity they have lost taste for the
only kind of warfare that means war 10
them--land warfare, the engagement or
great armies.
The uayy-that's another matte. There
are still thirty and more stay-at-homes
quite willing to protect the gunner ana
the engineer out to the ship. And II France
shall seem TO be preparing fol some kino
of naval intervention" in our own affairs,
the theory will not suffer. but be fortified.
Because the great mass OF the people wlll
he left behind, quite safe to ''whoop ii up;
because 1t will be hoped to gain some real
advantage in the continental chess game
that has taken the place Of war; because
instead of threatening war their action
will tend to confirm the peace OF Europe.
No one who lives among them can imagine
the French intervening in our naval war
with Spain without an understanding with
the otner powers
They Don't Want to Fight.
The French will do anything for the sake
cf the peace of Europe. No one wants to
fight in Europe. because, in n word, peo-
pie have always gone to war in the hope OF
coming back again. AS has been eloquent
ly said you go to war for the victory, not
for the struggle. If you weaken the hope
of return you weaken the movement
toward war. And IL you destroy that hope.
If you demonstrate that nobody is to come
back, nobody will desire to go out.
In the old times every company in every
army had its veterans-men who had seen
war, who had seen comrades fall beside
them. Yet in the conversations of the can
teen they We're never wont to let the young
soldiers suspect that IL was even posi-
ble to be killed. And that was one of the
reasons why regiments went out singing
ind hurrahing Today whole iit5-aiUre
flaf for its work to maks the fiIneIa al bels
;Ing perpetualiy in the cars Of the conti-
mental conscripts forced Elilita:y service
by the law. From his entrance to the Gag
erne the DE Profundis'' strikes the young
ErenC Chman cold And are Won then Fsfon-