The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1904-03-06

When Commander Alexander Bou-
+akoff, the naval attache of the Rus
sian embassy at Washington, was in
formed that the cruiser Variag had
been sunk, instead of having been cap
tured, he said:
ct is better so, for if the report
that she had been taken by the Japa-
nese was true it would mean we had
surrendered. We never surrender"
OF course, this was a piece of fam
boyant patriotism verging upon boast
fulness; but it expressed, with fair
accuracy, the spirit which dominates
the Cars soldiers and sailors. There
are towards among the Russians, as
there are among all peoples, but their
number is very small. There are sur
renders in Russia's military history,
but they are few.
The Russian soldier has been much
misrepresented in this country. He
is supposed to be simply a dull, heavy
Witted peasant, devoid of all spirit and
patriotism, a clod who is driven into
the ranks on peril of the knout. and
kept there by brutal officers who are
nothing better than Slave-drivers.
Thus, the Russian army figures in the
American mind as a machine-made
article destitute of intelligence and of
that ardent spirit which is essential
to the winning of victories, however
great the disparity of the opposing
forces may be.
This view is altogether incorrect.
Comparisons are odius, but there can
be no question in the minds of men
who know both armies, that German
discipline bears much more hardly
upon the enlisted men than Russian.
Russian officers are usually beloved
by their men; German officers GER
tainly are not. There is probably no
large army in the world in which the
officers are more popular, as gen.
eral rule, than they are in the Russian
service.
Russians First Lesson.
This will surprise most people, but
the reason is plain. All government
in Russia is autocratic, and the sol
diers have been brought up under the
system. They learned the lesson of
obedience from their earliest youth.
1t is the same with the nobleman and
the general as it is with the peasant.
Everybody in Russia obeys, except
the Garland he has been rigidly
trained to obey his conscience and his
God. Therefore, when the conscripts
are drafted into the ranks, they do not
chafe under the discipline, strict
though it may be. They accept it as
part of the natural and right order
of things to which they have always
been accustomed. 1t is impossible for
them to cherish bitterness against
their officers, as do the soldiers of
socialistic Germany and other demo-
cratic countries.
OF course, all this is not true of
bn ,f,Nfes @xrvI,1 h., o4o.1
by the teachings of the Social Revo-
lutionary party, better known as the
Nihilists; but they are only as drop
in the bucket in the vast organization
of the Russian army.
An immense gulf is supposed to sep
arate the nobleman and the peasant in
Russia, the officer and the private SOL
der. In a measure that is true, but
at the same time there is a keener
sympathy a greater comradeship be-
tween them than there is between
similar classes in any other country.
In Russia the nobleman gives the beg
gar the kiss of Christian fellowship,
and the colonel asks the raw recruit
all about his home and his people.
There is no sense of condescension; it
Is a matter of course.
Friendships I'm the Army.
Within their degrees, officers and
men commonly strike up warm friend
ships, which often last for life Most
OF the officers who go into the army
from country estates are accompanied
by some young peasant from the an
cestral Landslide son of an old family
retainer who in his day served the
offlcer's father when the latter was in
the army. The young officer contrives
10 have the peasant enrolled in his
troop or company, and they serve to-
gether throughout their military ca
leer. Often they are foster brothers.
Gen. Skobeleff, the geatest hero of
the Russian army, had a favorite SER
manner from the days when he was a
sub-lieutenant. This sergeant was
Killed at the storming of Cock Tepe,
When Skobeleff won his great victory
over the Turcomans.
Skobeleff was inconsolable" said
an officer who was there at the time.
lie had won a magnificent victory
Where other generals had failed. The
1urcomans had been utterly routed
after a months terrible fehtiro. VT
the victor wept like child when the
news of the death of his humble friend
was brought to him. He was melan-
choly for days. and could take no in
lerest in anything"
Many people imagine that the Rus
Sian soldier is not required to think for
HlInself, and that any display of ini-
uaJlVe or intelligence is frowned
upon, and sometimes even punished.
ms is not the fact. True, he is not