The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-08-09
He Criticised
His Commander
BY JAMES BRAINARD

worlds war for the first two year
and was then deposed by the car. vii
doubtless be rated by historians as {
great military leader. Sent to the eau
casus, he was equally successful In tina
field.
When the grand duke was goine
southwark to his new command hs
was travelling alone and incognito one
day in a railway carriage In which
there was young man In the uniform
Of a lieutenant OF engineers. The grand
duke. who Is a very tall, spare man
of serious mien, leaned back In a cor.
ner wrapped In his cloak. The lieu.
tenant, on the contrary, was alive to
everything about him and disposed to
be garrulous. He told every one I'm the
compartment that he had Just been
graduated from the Russian military
school for officers and had been or
dered to engineer duty In the army In
the Caucasus. At this the grand duke
looked at the young man and said:
You must have been a good scholar
to be appointed to the corps Of en-
gineers."
II stood first In my class"
you will serve on the general starr
II suppose so. What do you know
about the army, sir? You cannot be
a soldier or you would be In Uniform"
Almost any civilian could tell you
that the engineers require scientific
education. 1t is an engineers part to
think; the other corps Of the army
have only to die"
How about the generalsy' asked the
lieutenant
THE generals are to act"
Just SO. If the grand duke had act
ed in the recent push of the Germans
on Warsaw he would not have been
deposed from the command Of the
army"
You do not consider a successful re-
treat evidence of generalship, / sup
pose"
1.-THE grand duke was at fault In not
having prepared the ground behind
lay great stress on general having
ample defense ready in case he Is
forced back"
"In other words. he should have
eyes In the back of his head as well
as in front?"
The lieutenant looked at the grand
duke inquiringly.
"For my part" the grand duke con-
tinued, ~ don't believe the books hereto
fore written on the conduct of war are
OF any value"
what, them" asked the lieutenant
sis the use OF military schoolsr'
'They are no use In teaching the art
Of war. They are useful In preparing
men to use such methods as their nat
ural fitness for war may suggest"
Then l am 10 understand that /,
who have been educated In the science
OF war. am no more fitted to be gen.
eral than your"
you assume to be better fitted for
leadership than the grand duke"
How sor
You have criticised his leadership In
the recent campaign"
WELL" rejoined the lieutenant .
may not I, who have so :
studied the art of war, be :
more familiar with 1t than the grand :
duke, who, presume, studied It some !
thirty years agoT !,
There is no such thing as the art
Of war. There is that which we as q
sumo at different periods to be the art n
of war, but these assumptions are con- G,
'tantly changing. The great Napoleon a
demolished the art as 1t existed at the a
beginning of his career and made a 8,
lew one. At present there is one art
If war on the Russian frontier and an m
other In the west. Our enemies have G
developed a new art Of war In the HI
present struggle, based largely on SCI
sntthc discovery. This scientific dis. IL
,overy, or, rather. development, of nat ii
lral resources has changed war on a,
and as the battle fifty years ago be- W
:ween two American ironclad vessels
hanged it on the water" 90
The Heutenants eyes and mouth by N,
his time were wide open with aston j,
shment at listening to this man with r.,
Tut brass button on his clothing dis
curse upon the art of war ~
II thought. sir" he stammered, that ~
had learned something about war at 90
he military school. I admit / am am ~
dtious to lead a great army, but In -,
ny event / shall not do that for per- Il,
APPS twenty or thirty years. BY that -
ime what / have learned will likely be
bsolete." =
You have learned what there is to -
. learned up to the present war Take 90,
are to notice as the years slip by -,
hose developments that tend to mod ~
y the past" -.
The grand duke wrapped his cloak -,
bout him, leaned back again in his
orner and was soon asleep. g.
When the lieutenant arrived at his -
ost Of duty he was sent by the chief
7 engineers one day to the general
with a message for the
eneral commanding. What was his
stonishment, his horror, to see in the -.
II, spare man with grizzly whiskers ~,
no received him the Grand Duke "i
icholas. he remembered that he had
lwittingly criticised his commander
I'd the uncle Of the emperor, and his
ices knocked together. But the gen ~
al gave no sign of remembering him
ID received his message without re- +
rring TO having conversed with him of