New-York tribune., 1900-08-19
WALDERSEE'S HARD TASK.
DIFFICULTIES WHICH ALWAYS BESET
THE COMMANDER-IN-CH OF
ALLIED FORCES.


of the past, and that these msgivings are shared
by the governments of the United States,
Great Britain and France is demonstrated by
the extreme reluctance which has characterized
their consent to the Kaser's proposal and by
the restrictions of one kind and another with
which they have sought to limit the authority
of the German Field Marshal
For 4 command -in-chief to be effective and
successful IN field it is Indispensable that it
should he unrestricted, unquestioned and so
complete that the generalissimo can resort to
extreme measures in order to enforce his own
notions of discipline and the strict and even
blind obedience to his command. The very fact
that certain of the allied Powers have seen fit
to accompany their acquiescence to Count Won
Waldersee's appointment with stpulations as to
the extent of his authority is certain to consti-
tute serious a source of embarrassment to
him in the execution of his various projects that
it is difficult to understand how a soldier pos
sessed of so much experience he should
have accepted the mission Whenever he finds
t necessary to give order to the foreign Off
GERS under his command they will consider
themselves justified in delaying compliance un-
til they have convinced themselves that the
directions do not conflict with the instructions
which they have received from their respective
Governments or exceed the limitations of the
authority cOnfded to him by the latter In GER
tam cases tney might consider tnat lney ndu a
right to refuse obedience, and any attempt
his part to enforce it would inevitably lead to a
withdrawal of one or more of the allied contin-
gents from the main body to full fedged
battle among the relief forces.
GERMAN ARROGANCE.
OF course it is impossible to deny that Count
Won Waldersee in addition to being an extremely
brilliant soldier is a diplomat of the most
traordinary tact those who have knowledge
OF the services which he rendered to his country
when connected with the German Embassy in
Paris after the of 1870 will doubtless recall.
But 1t is impossible to expect that every German
officer his staff should possess the same skill,
patience and tact in dealing with foreign
capabilities, and it is certain that no amount of
expostulation on the part of the gallant Field
Marshal will succeed in convincing the German
officers under his command that a certain de-
gree of elasticity in matters of discipline must
be tolerated, and that there must be entire
abandonment of that affectation of superiority
in matters military and even of arrogance,
which among their most displeasing char
acteristics. German ideas of discipline in
many respects in complete contradiction to
those in vogue in the French the American and
the English armies and while the one hand
1t Is impossible to conceive of non-CIerIlan
troops submitting to the Teuton regulations and
ethics bearing upon the subject, it is equally
difficult to expect the average German officer
especially the untraveiled one to tolerate with
out remonstrance and tokens of disapprovaI the
Infinitely greater degree OF liberty of initiative
and of freedom of control to which the soldiers
OF the United States and Great Britain are ac-
eustOmed.
The officers serving the personal staff of
the Kaiser may be credited with possessing GER
tain courtierlike qualities of well bred courtesy
and tact. Yet at St Petersburg at Vienna and
Rt Rome angry stories are current to this day
concerning the undisguised Contempt the sneers
and even the ridicule and hilarity to which Of
hcers Of high and low degree in Emperor Will
lam's suite gave expression when anything hap
pened to go wrong at the sham fights and re-
views held in honor of their master in the
three capitals in question. If this, then is the
attitude of the officers of the Kaiser's own staff
men belonging to the old aristOcracy and to
the crack regiments of the service how is it
possible to expect anything better on the part
Of the regiments of the line, from which the
German expeditionary force for China is mainly
recruited?
GERMANS LACK EASTERN EXPERIENCE.
Campaigning in either Asia or Africa, against
foes more less barbarous, ignorant of the OBJ
legations of the rules of among Christian
nations or else wilfully blind to them, is so
radically different from the methods of con-
Quoting hostile operations between civilized