The Madisonian. (Richmond, Ky.) 1913-1914, 1914-08-18
-, -. y,,ros his recov-

cry was in the nature of miracle.
But he seems to bear charmed lie
Thus. some years previously, he was
very ill, suffering from Malta fever, on
board the battleship Victoria when II
was rammed by the Camperdown and
sent to the bottom of the Mediter-
ranean, off the coast OF Syria, carry
ing down with her Admiral Sir George
Tryon and more than 600 officers and
men. He was one of the very few who
escaped.
England's military forces are under
the supreme control of her foremost /
soldier and most successful command
er in chief, Field Marshal the Earl
Kitchener Of Khartum, who has been
appointed minister of war. Fis
achievements as the conqueror OF the
Sudan and as the victor of the battle
of Omdurman in 1898, the success with
which he put an end to the Boer war
three years later. his complete reor-
ganization of the army and military
defenses of India and more recently
his magnificent constructive work as
British plenipotentiary in Egypt are
familiar on this side of the Atlantic.
The chief command of the English
forces in the field has been allotted to
Field Marshal Sir John French, who
heads the troops dispatched to the as
sistance of Belgium He until few
months ago was chief of the general
staff of the army, a post which he re-
signed owing to his differences with
the government in connection with the
military dispositions for dealing with
any disturbances resulting from the
armed movement in Ulster.
He enjoys the well merited reputa-
ton OF. being the most able cavalry
leader of the British army and won
fame as such during the Boer war, es-
pecially in connection with his memoir
able dash at the head of large force
of cavalry to relieve the siege of Kim
berley. He also assisted Lord Kitch-
ener in the crushing of Cronje and in
the capture of his entire force.
Cars War Minister.
Russia's gigantic army-which on
it's present war footing is estimated as
numbering over six million mems
under the chief command of two men,
General Sukomlinoff and the Grand
Duke Nicholas Nicholaiovitch. The
latter is to direct the operations in the
field as generalissimo, whereas the for
mer remains at St Petersburg as min
lister of war
Unlike most of his predecessors at
the war department, Sukomlinoff is
Slav and Russian Nationalist. His
work, until summoned from Kief a
few years ago to assume the task of
reorganizing the military forces of
ly concerned with the strategic prob
lem of the western frontiers of the en-
pire.
By profession he is a cavalryman,
and If Russia is today in a position to
show a bold front to Austria and Ger.
many, instead of being compelled tc
comply with their demands, as in 1909
when owing to the unreadiness of the
cars army the empire was humiliatet
in the sight of the entire world, it is
wholly due to General Sukomlinoff.
Grand Duke Nicholas.
AS for Grand Duke Nicholas Nicho.
laiovitch, he is probably the tallest
member of the reigning house Of Rus
| STA, and looks what he is, born cav
| alryman, spare of figure and of ex-
| ceptionaily distinguished bearing He
won the st. Georges cross for conspic-
nous gallantry on the battlefields of
the Turkish war in 1877, is rated by
the German war department at Berlin
and by the military experts of Europe
as the most clever and brilliant caval.
ry leader now living. and has for sew.
eral years past been at the head of
the military distric. of st. Petersburg
and of the capital, and as such respon.
sible for the safety of the czar, the
reigning house, and of the government