The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-09-12
THE GRAND DUKE NICHOLAS

THE GRAND DUKE NICHuLAs
 From the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
 The announcement that the Czar has
 assumed personal command of the Rus sian armies and that the Grand Duke
 Nicholas has been appointed to the com paratively unimportant post Of Viceroy of the Caucasus should, probably ee taken to imply the yelled substitution Of some famous general. For, though the czar firmly believes in the divinity of his prerogative, he can hardly imagine him self possessed of the Napoleonfc genius which Russia requires, at this crisis Of her fate. But it would be distinct hu- initiation of the late generalissimo, If man not of royal blood were chosen for the post. The same result will be accom- plshed in a more consderate way, by letting the new generalissimo give orders as the Czar's chief of staff. There are, of course, innumerabe precedents. In the war of 1S7o for example, the present Kaisor's grandfather was nominally the
 generalissimo, while Moltke conceived tho
 plans and carried them out So, too, the present crown prince has nominally com
 manded around Verdun, while some great CT soldier, of whom the world hears little. | or nothing, has the real power. | And certainly, the Grand Duke Nicho- las deserves no humiliation. whatever his shortcomings may be; for. despite suc- cessive and almost unparalleled defeats, he kept his armies intact, infiicting ter rible punishment upon. the foe meanwhile. Nor can he be blamed for the defeats, | if current reports about Russia's lack of ammunition are half true. The bravest troops, however ably commanded, cannot
 win without an adequate supply of gum fcod, the more especially if the foe has gun-food Ito burn" Time was when
 such disadvantages might be offset by resolute use of the bayonet, but trench | warfare has changed all that and | Actresses can no longer be defended, except by victorious armies in the open. From this distance. it would appear that | the grand duke having lost fateful campaign, through no particular fault of his own, is to be the scapegoat for others
 who had left Russia impotent to face such a crisis Every war brings cases of this
 sort. In war with Japan, Kuropatkin
 was vicarious sacrifice for the sins of the grand ducal coterie which, through boundless speculation and graft, had un- 1 fitted the army for it's work.
 l And change of fortune for the Rus | sian arms would by no means prove the l grand dukes incapacity, since his re- moval may chance to coincide with an
 adequate supply of gunlSood, We know l that Russia, like Britain. has reorganized her war industries. That the British re-
 organization begins to tell may be inferred from the free use of British guns in France during the last week. Besides,
 Russia must be getting the benefit of i'm
 mense orders placed in this country
 months ago. In that event, turn in the eastern battle tide may appear to
 convict the grand duke, though entirely innocent.
 1 The truth about these and kindred mat ters cannot be known until a complete
 history of the war is possible On tha
 face of the record, Napoleon lost Water
 loo. whereas experts tell us that per feet plan of campaign was torn up by
 lazy or ;4.eless subordinates. No human foresight can provide for contingencies
 which arise from human nature itself.