Evening star., 1900-08-18
ASIATIC COURAGE.
heasons Why People of the Orient Dc
Not Possess This Trait


Not Possess This Trait.
From the London Spectator
Arabs or Tartars. Persians or Chinese,
they are all Jumped together. and all he
heVed to be. as Pyrrhus said the woman
KIND OF humanity. That description is true
enough IN some ways; but 1t Is not true as
regards the possession of Individual brav-
cry Ihere is one race in Asia-the Ben
saiee-which openly acknowledges that 1t
mas not the heart to fight. though when in
expectation Of any form of non-contentious
oea'h II Is more serene than the European;
but the immense majority OF the remain
ing 1U,OOO,OOO are personally brave men
we DO not say that they are quite equal to
Englishmen or to Germans, or to the picked
soldiers OF any European country, but they
are equal 10 any southerners, or to the
a'eidse fhihua OF any land. The Asiatic
URN is porn soldier. usually quite devoid
OF nervousness as we'll as of fear, and the
i Arao' though much more sensitive. and
therefore more liable to panic, is at least
as careless of death )r physical main He
mas never that we recollect in modern times
iousht with Europeans In Asia, but his half
oro'her, the Soudanese. has extorted re-
spect even from disrespectful TOMMY
An army OF Dervishes led by English Off
GERS would, 1t is acknowledged, face most
armies with success. The Persian is a
laughing soldier, very like a Frenchman
% %no mas done in quite recent times heroic
os.a1s, ueuS, ana VINO avoids battle. when he
avoids 1t, rather from a sort of seIfSbnass
enah from fear The Indians, BengaIess
ana some classes of Madrassees excenteJ
are are quite singularly free from cowardice
Inc lndo-Chinese are not soldiers a,d g. =,
a rule have not the soldierly instincts hs a"
the burmese ''dacoits" that is .kIenttbS..
nal: iiad patriots, half brigands. who so grev
o1siS ~ ,S worried us during the first four wears
VI Wbu ihe conquest, constantly died like heroes
WINE the Roman Catholic Converts nf A.
nam nam accepted martyrdom In thousands
Ghris,t Gh,Li me TRANQUIL constancy of the early
most part to destroy their temnIes ~ 'ie ne
thelr pastors, and be quiet, and thev aa p
cepted death In preference. OF the SiSmaea
we know little except that thev fS.
their way to empire; but Chinese h. .. @ NJ
tehded with each other like heroes The NJ
uaIhnedan Chinese having faced extar-
dr,1Iaa trihation, and the Taepings, who were un-
drilled. having died in scores = thons,uds,
While battling with their urilled fu
countrymen under Gordon,
" ny, then, are they SO often wa ,,,,,.
alinos. na say 80 invariably, beaten by Euro
little noticed is the tnferioritv ~ Siy
weapons. of which, being nervous and sns
pIcious men not made oblivious by drink
tn1 t,.ey are re-, sensitively aware. Hardly anv
troops will face artillery when withGnt 10y ar
tiiery themselves, and Austrian soldiers
VINO are as brave as any in the world nosi
uFely refused after a short experience =,
ence unter the needle-gun while armed oniv
"lth the musket. 1t is little unfair TO ax,
pecf OF Asiattcs more heroism than thairs
or TO require them to die in heans whan
victory is impossible. Another reason 10
.nas we 1udge them too exclusively by heir
conduct when opposed to Euroneans nr
Whom they have an instructive awe NOT do
rived from physical fear at all hut nc 49,
ent In civil life on the field, The anIy
Asla.lcs quite free of this feeling are the
ARABS, and II we ever meet them in the
field on equal terms we shall be surnr,sad
at the magnitude Of the death LIST THO,
know, too. their own inferiority In war CON.
sidefea as science, and expect to be beat
en- by an intelligence they scarcely under.
stand. But the grand reason-we wrIta
this on the evidence of great experts-is
want of confidence in their leaders in tbeir
aoiiity' IN In their fidelity. in their care for
sight that selfishness Of the prosnerous
which they know to be latent in themselves
and at the first check expect desertion or
betrayal, or neglect. So in certain moods
do Frenchmen. Spaniards or Italians. who
like all Asiatics. are liable to be the dunes
Of wild imaginings such as the northerner
is too stolid to entertain. That is the rea
son why In an Asiatic army the death of
the king or the commander-in-chief is so
invariably fatal. 1t Is not physical fear
which moves them. but the influence of an
imagination always far stronger in an Asia
tic than a European, and almost always
pessmistio.
II something be it hate of the foreigner,
or dread Of the empress, or terror of the
powers above. induces the Chinaman to
fight. he has no physical fear to stop him
Kill a third Of the Wei-hai-wei regiment
with bullets. and 1t will still roll forward
and the impulse which drill has given to
Its recruits may come from one Of many
other resources.
Mary Carver of No II Hanover atroat