The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-03-23

SS~-Srs|S-s-S
his Turkestan troops played the lead
ing part in the slaughter.
He is a great leader of men. The
march of his Turkestan contingent
across the almost unknown deserts o.
Central Asia, in order to join Skobelef
for the siege of Cock Tepe, was as fine
an achievement as Lord Roberts's IA
nous march to Candahar.
"Kouropatkin," said Gen. Annenkoff
who met him at the end of the march
| had been for twenty-six days march
ing over sandy and waterless desert
yet his force marched in clean and
| trim, and as fresh as a daisy
| An English newspaper correspondent,
who attended the funeral of SkobeIeff
at Spasskoe Selo, was there thrown
| into company with many Of the dead
Generals favorite officers.
More than once he said, 81 heard
controversy among them as to
whether Kouropathn was not almost
as good a leader as their lost General.
'Kouropatkin,' said a Turkestan
officer to me, during one of these dis
cussions, possesses all the characteris-
ties of Skobeleff cast in a cooler mould.
They worked admirably together, Kou-
ropatkin imparting GOODNESS and call
culation to Skobeleff, and Skobeleff fire
and enthusiasm to Kouropatkin. We
are desolate now that Skobeleff is gone,
but it is a consolation that we have
still got Kouropatkin. He is now the
Skobeleff of Russia
During the first few days succeeding
Skobeleff's death a strong and angry
feeling prevailed in Russia against the
Government. 1t was felt that the dead
hero's merits had never been properly
appreciated by the State, and L en-
countered various officers at Moscow
who were persuaded he had been poi
soned,
ITO appease the army the Emperor
felt that he could not do better than
summon Kouropatkin from Central
Asia and give him a high appointment
at home. Since then he has been treat
ed as a favorite at Court, and if he has
secured little notoriety abroad it is sim
ply because he has always devoted HIM
self to his profession and let politics
alone.
''Skobeleff had in him all the elements
of a great statesman, as well as those
of a great General. His political in
fiuence was becoming positively en-
barrassing to the Cars Minister when
he died.
''Kouropatkin has never sought to
form party in Russia-he is quite con-
tent to be a great General, and nothing
more
The judgment was pronounced away
back in 1885. 1t does not hold good
now.
Gen. Kouropatkin is now the unchal-
lenged head of the war party in Rus
STA. He believes in pushing Russian
troops to the uttermost ends of Asia.
In the movements toward the Indian
frontiers, which have alarmed England
in recent years; in the absorption of
tacks on Korea, his hand is plainly to
be seen by any one familiar with Rus
sian politics.
Before becoming Minister of War,
Kouropatkin commanded the Russian
army. He would probably command it
again in the field in any campaign that
amounted to a national emergency, for
he is unquestionably Russia's greatest
General.
He is the idol of the army, for Sko-
belief is a name to conjure with in the
Russian service. and he was Skobeleffs
right-hand man in four campaigns-the
Russo-Turkish War, the Khivan expe-
dition and the Khokandese and Merv
campaigns.
One of Kouropatkin's strongest sup
porters today is the same Gen. Amen
koff who admired his march through
the desert to join Skobeleff before Cock
Tepe.
Gen. Annenkoff made great reputa-
ton by building strategic railways in
Central Asia, and his was the vast
scheme for a Transsiberian line to the
Pacific. He first outlined that plan in
detail during a visit to Paris in 1891.
Many so-called practical men laughed
at him then, but his ideas have since
produced the greatest railroad in the
world, at an admitted cost of e55, 100000
and perhaps a great deal more.
Annenkoff is one of Skobeleff's men,
like Kouropatkin. No General is
thought much of in the Russian Army
unless he is able to say, Il was with
Skobeleff at Plevna," or 4 fought in
Turkestan under Skobeleff.'' There is
hardly a single prominent General in
the service who is not one of Skobelen's
men.
That great commander showed I'M
erring judgment in picking his subordi-
mates The unknown subalterns whom
he chose for his staff officers and the
Captains and Colonels to whom he en-
trusted the command of small armies
have since become, almost without ex-
ception. famous Generals.
Michael Annenkof was born in 1888,
and received his first commission in the
Russian army in 1868. He is an older
veteran than Kouropatkin. for he serv-
ed as staff Captain during the Polish
instruction, and rose = the rank of
Colonel at the remarkably early age
of %.