Los Angeles herald., 1908-04-19
Foreign

Another disinterested witness as to
fighting at close quarters in Manchuria
is Lieut.. Gen. Sir Ian Hamilton of the
British army who was also present,
as observer, and who has wildly re-
corded his experiences in his valuable
work. "A Staff Officers Notebook" +"
From this work we quote the follow
ing description of a single experience:
"A handful of Japanese having
leaped from their cover to fling them
selves to earth within ten PAGES of the
Russians. Unendurable suspense!
Here 1 stand in safety seeing Japanese
and Russians springing up to fire
point black into one another's face,
then crouching down to reload, then
again rising for a moment to fire. 1t
is too much! 1 saw those things as
clearly as If l were part of them, and
the sight of those little struggling fig
lires shouted against the sky will
never be effaced from my mind. For
now the Russians rose In line, and
holding their sharp bayonets before
them, charged down like mountain
bulls. AT their head was a gallant
officer in a white coat, and his sword
flashed as he waved 1t round his head.
Down and back went the Japanese; the
headquarters staff had to turn their
heads away from the longdrawn-o out
agony OF this struggle with bayonet
and sword; but / could not, for / was
lost in amazement. The foes had drawn
apart and stood facing one another at
ten yards distance. 1t seemed an eter-
nifty, and actually it must have been
a minute. Then they closed again, and
seemed to wrestle body to body, and
parted again, and threw rocks and
thrust bayonets, and dubbed their
rifles, bat did not shoot. or if they did,
it was only a very, very little. There
were only some seventy Japanese, and
perhaps fifty of sixty Russians. The
crisis lasted fully five minutes and now
the Japanese seemed beaten; several
of them fell back all was lost. Mol
The fugities turned again. brave fell
lows! The Russians withdrew to their
trench, the Japanese followed close on
their heels. and the position was
taken'
The semi-official Novoe Vremya of
st. Petersburg has made the interesting
discovery that the real purpose of the
United States in fortifying Manila and
establishing great naval base at that
port is not so much to secure American
interests in the Philippines as to en-
force the policy of the 'open door" in
China Our Russian contemporary
says that this statement will be good
naturedly denied at Washington, as
matter of course, but that 1t is true,
nevertheless, the presidents idea being
that soft words are a corollary to the
policy of the big stick" The Novoe
Vremya confidently predicts that when
the defenses of Manila are completed
the doors of Manchuria will fly open
as if by magic.
In a conference at the Royal United
Service institution Col. E. J. Granet,
assistant director of remounts, who
represented the war office, outlined the
British war requirements as $4,000
horses, with 10 per cent reserve, and,
at the end of six months war, complete
replacement, and at the end of a year
a need of $4,000. At the present time
he said. the horses up to cavalry stand
ard in England are only 100000 and
vet the cavalry alone at the end of a
year of war would require 100000 ami
mails Breeding has declined owing to
the diminished requirements for gem
eral purposes. Sir Edward Hutton
showed how Australian horses have de-
cllned.
The Waldeck- Rousseau, of $4,000
tons. one of the largest cruisers in the
French navy, was launched at Lorient
on March 4, after having been nineteen
months in course of construction She
will have engines of 10000 horsepower
and is expected TO show speed of 80
knots. She will carry crew of ESQ.