The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1901-01-09

spising an enemy. Great as was Ma
poleon he had the sense to know thai
all wisdom cannot be carried in one
head and that valor is not confined t.
q single race. Said he: 1T is moi
enough to kill Russian soldier. You
must also knock him down." In thi!
Witticism he summed up the virtues OF
the Muscovite warrior Soldiers of ten
der fiber, high intellect and fine imag
tnation may be very brave. but at the
same time are more sensitive to hard
ship and pain than men of thicker Skill
and more sluggish minds.
The Russian soldier is amazed at
nothing. Nothing frightens him, moth
ing daunts him. In the passage OF the
Balkans in the war of 1877 General
,Gourko's troops suffered beyond meas
ure and endured the hardships without
finching. Says an eyewitness of this
laudacious feat, in every way equal to
Napoleon's crossing Of the Alps:
"rheir greatcoats were in tatters;
there remained but the threads OF
them, already burned by fire. The la
ten missing. They were full of holes,
caused by the soldiers literally throw
ing themselves on the campfres to get
warm. Their coats and their trousers
were rotten. The only linen they had
was for dressing wounds. Mittens and
gloves they had long since left behind
them. The skin of their hands in touch
ing metal would be sadly torn because
of frostbite. In the smoke of the camp
fire their faces had become black and
shiny. Their eyes, red and watery,
were half closed from the smoke, blind
ed from the snow and prolonged wake
fulness.
Thus clothed, lost among the noun
tain peaks, far above the clouds, in the
midst Of an intense frost and of fogs,
covered with snow and assailed by
storms they lived many days, contin-
ually on the alert struggling to haul
their guns into position, with little
means for obtaining subsistence, a
great number succumbing to fatigue or
frost, but the most marching straight
to the goal"
Naturally the bulk of the recruits or
,conscrlpts of the army of the car come
from the peasant class. Military serV-
ice is obligatory upon all, with few ex-
,ceptions, and if the law were enforced
Russia would have an army of 5,OOO,-
600 men in time of peace. With her
population of 10000, 900 Russia should
be able to call out 20,000,O00 ablebodied
men for war. Under the present organ
ization, when all the soldiers are with
their colors, including with the regular
army the territorial army and The mill
tia, there are over 100000 soldiers
ready for the field.
The Russian army organization is
that Of regiments and corps d'armee.
The strength of corps is $4,000 men.
The subordinate corps of engineers,
military trains, railroad electricians,
torpedoists, velocipedists, police, and
so on, are we'll drilled and equipped
for service. The arms borne by the
soldiers are of the newest pattern OF
irepeaters, and the field, siege, noun
tain and horse batteries are supplied
with the best guns money can procure.
The average Russian recruit is vii
llage boy, raw and i'll disciplined, but
he readily yields to army training, for
in spite Of the class distinctions the Of
ficers cultivate a spirit of comradery
with the men. The etiquette of the
camp is severe in the extreme, but
off 1,1Nxy hn nff SOf6iQrc
talk and banter without reserve. In
fighting the Russian soldier prefers
the bayonet. It is a saying among
Russians that 1.-The bullet is clumsy
the bayonet alone is the thing for the
brave"
While the proud necked Germans
looked upon the American civil war as
an affair of the mob, Russia studied
every phase of it with critical eye, anC
from the campaigns of the redoubtablt
Forrest in the west they learned the
proper use of cavalry. For fighting OF
horseback Russia has in her CosSack'
the finest cavalry in the world, will
no end to the battalions she can mus
ter. but all mounted men in the Rus
sian army are taught to maneuver an(
to fight on foot, using their steeds al
Forrest used his-''to get thar fust witt
the mostest men," General Sherman
said that when in Russia he found al
the officers well yersed in the lessons
of the American campaigns. The OLE
idea of the dashing cavalry charg'
with saber had been given up, and thu
carbine came into favor instead. Thu
modern soldier takes to the long range
weapon and one that strikes to kill
The casualty lists of a mounted chargt
where there is a great fioundering o.