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SOME MIGHTY BATTLES.
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THAT OF LIO-YANG IS RECORD
BREAKER. -
No Fight of the Napoleonic Era Rival
~ led the Struggle Between the Jap
anese and the Russians—Battles
of the Civil War.
' b
Never in the history of modern war
fare has there been a battle between
armies of greater magaitude than
thiose that have been struggling for
supremacy upon the Manchurian plain
about Liao-Yang, if the numbers
ascribed to the combatants are cor
rect. To find a parallel to the num
bers of Japanese and Russians one
has to turn back to the days of Alaric
the Goth, Atilla the Hun, Xerxes the
Persian or Genghis Khan the Mon
gol. These, however, led untrained
and undisciplined nations rather than
armies. While the army with which
Napoleon started for Moscow, num
bering over four hundred thousand
men, exceeded in total that of either
combating force at Liac-Yang, no bat
tle of the Napoleonic era rivalled the
present struggle. The Franco-Prus
sian War offers no rival, while Gettys
burg, Chickamauga, and even the des
perate battle in the Wilderness, frcm
the Rapidan to Petersburg, in the
Civil War, seem inconsiderate in com
parison.
Two confliets in the nineteenth cen
tury, however, both in the magnitude
-of the contest and in their actual phy
sical surroundings, suggest the strug
gle in Manchuria. One was the bat
tle of Leipsic, where Napoleon en
dured his first great defeat and the
grande armee its first route. It was
waged for a week about the old city
of Leipsic, in Saxony. Russians,
Swedes, Prussians, Austrians and
numberless contingents of smaller
States overwhelmed the French in
the battle, which is still known as
“the Combat of the Nations.” In
the several battles of Leipsic 150,000
French and over 280,000 allies were
engaged. The bhattles were fought
for several days on ‘several fields,
from October 16 to 18, 1813. In the
end the French were driven through
the city, thousands captiired, more
were drowned in the untimely des
truction of a bridge acrcss the Elbe,
and the total French loss in killed,
wounded and captured exceeded 78,-
000, while the allies lost more than
63,000. The results of the battle,
while not immediately conclusive,
since Napoleon managed to extricate
the wreck of his army and retreat to
France, practically marked the end
of his empire. T
The other example of warfare about
a city situated like Liao-Yang was the
struggle about Metz in 1871, when
the French, under Bazaine, were
forced back into the city by a flank
ing movement similar to that prac
tised by the Japanese, Marshal
Bazaine was driven back from the
road to Paris and finally captured.
In Gravelotte, the deciding battle of
this campaign, the Pruss:.ans wover
whelmed the French by force of num
bers, the forces engaged in this fight
comparing favorably with those en
gaged in Manchuria. 't'he French
numbered nearly 150,000, while the
Prussians exceeded 200,000. The
French loss amounted to 14,000, the
Prussians to more than 21,000.
As a direct consequence of this
fight, Bazaine was penned up in Metz,
as many expenrts expected Kuropat
kin would be at Liao-Yang, and two
months later surrendered over 173,
000 men, the entire regular army of
France, together with a vast number
of cannon- and huge supplies. The
battle of Sedan, which ended similar
ly, was not dissimilar in geocgraphi
cal conditions; and the French army
under Marshal MacMahon, with Na
poleon 111. by his side, was surround
ed and captured after a bloody battle
lasting a single day. Her: Von
Moltke and the Prussian army suc
oeeded in driving the French into the ’
valley cf the Meuse, surrounded on‘
three sides bv heights occupied bv
Germans, and on the fourth by'the
Belgian frontier. The numbers en
gaged here were smaller than at
Metz. r
The Civil War presents few in
stances of huge numbers mesting in
battle, At Gettysburg less than 175,-
000 were engaged on both sides,
while in the battle of the Wilderness,
where fought the largest number of
men in the war, the Confederates
numbered only 62,000, while Grant
had 120,000, a total less than half the
number believed to have fought at
Liao-Yang. The Confederate Icss
exceeded 15,000, and that of the
Union forces was over 18,000, Un
like the other battles mentioned, it
was a drawn fight, both fcrees leav
ing the field soon after the fight at
Spottsylvania. Sherman n his march
to the sea, had little more than 75,-
000 men with him.
In the Napoleonic era, although
the armies were larger than those of
the previous century, and far greater
than in the Civil War, the numbers
were comparatively small. At Aus
terlitz, the most famous of the earlier
victories 'of Napcleon, the French had
only 70,000, while the Russian and
Austrian forces did not exceed 85,000,
35,000 of whom were killed, wounded
or captured in the struggle. The
French lost less than a quarter of
this number. At Wagram Napoleon
had 160,000, his allied opponents cnly
110,000, and although the French pre
vailed, the losses on either side were
about 30,000. At Borodino, the blood
iest battle cf the nineteenth century,
125,000 French defeated 132,000 Rus
sians,” the former losing 25,000, the
latter over 50,000. Waterloo, al
though the most decisive battle of the
last century, was fought for the larg
er part of the day betwegp 72,000
French under Napoleon, and 66,000
British, Belgians and Dutch wunder
Wellingten. Late in the afternoon
Blucher brought up one division after
another cf his force, until over 62,000
Prussians joined in the fight, and Na
poleon’s army was destroyed. The
French lost 32,000 men in this bat
tle the allies 22,600. ~
In the -eighteenth century the
armies were smaller than those of
Napoleon’s time. Frederick the Great
seldom had beneath his standard a
force of more than 30,000. At Ross
bach, the most famous of his victor
ies cof the great Prussian, he had
less than 23,000 under his command,
while his foes mustered more than
60,000. The Prussian loss in the con
flict was 500, while the Austrians
lost 2,700 Kkilled and wounded, and
more ‘than 5,000 captured. The wars
of the age of Queen Anne, when the
great Duke of Marlborough and
Prince Eugene humbled the pride of
the aged Louix XIV., were on a large
scale, though insignificant when con
trasted with thicse of the nineteenth
century. Blenheim, Malplaguet and
Ramillies, which were the most ra
mcus of these battles, were all fought
between less than 150,000 men. At
Blenheim, the most decisive, Marl
borough and KEugene had 52,000, to
oppose 56,000 French under the in
competent Tallard. The French
were almost annihilated, losing 30,000
in Kkilled, wounded and captured,
while the loss cf the allies was only
13,000..
Some Balloon Ascents.
International balloon ascents, hoth
manned and unmanned, were made in
November and December, 1903, in
many European countries (the British
Islands excepted), and kite observa
tions were also made at the Blue Hill
Observatory in this country, The
highest altitudes attained were Trapes
(near Paris), 16,000 and 14,800 me
ters, and Itteville (near Paris), 11,200
and 10,800 meters. At Zurich the bal
loons reached 13,000 and 17,000 me
ters.
To Escape Jury Duty.
The British Courts recently exposed
a ruse by which Londoners were es
caping frem jury duty by registering
their wives as tenants at cheir resi
dences instead of themselves. |
NOTES AND COMMENT.
The Philadelphian who complained
mn the thirteenth of the moath that
~another man had used thirteen ways
to alienate his wife's affections prob
ably attaches some importance to the
thirteen superstitions, says the New
York World.
' In California recently the National
i Guardsmen and regu:ars were in camp
together for a week. The Guardsmen
returaed to their homes with painfully
Iscre feet and doleful tales of over
] work and abuse by martinets.
| Another illustration of the effect of
l late hours is shown by the automobile
out at St. Louis that undertook to
climb a tree at 2 a. m. An automobile
will always do its best to show its
owner that it is not above enjoying
a lark with him, declares the New
York Tribune. i
~ An Indian chief in British Columbia
bought a coffin and a keg of powder
and .then proceeded to blow himself
to pieces. His relatives are now won
dering what he wanted with the coffin.
Artlessness is held to be the pre
rogative of childhood. But why should
so valuable a“jewel be denied older
people? . Is there any virtue that is
really unbecoming an adult? asks the
Burlington Hawkeye.
The man who says “0%, fudge,”
when he feels profane may be a bet
ter example to the children, but some
how it doesn't seem that he would be
as much of a protection against bur
glars in the night, declares the New
Haven Union.
| The interesting announcement was
made at the congress of geographers
in this city that there are depressions
| in the floor of the Pacific Ocean more
than 29,000 feet deep, says the New
York Tribune. llnto one of them,
then, the tallest mountain in the world
could be plunged and he entirely sub
merged—with room for a deep
draught vessel to sail overbead with
’ out danger of grounding. :
’ What has King Alfonso been doing
that he prepares such a big sop for
l his conscience as the enforcement cf
bluer laws than we in Boston have
had for the keeping of Sunday? He
certainly must have heen cutting up
“something awful” to undertake such
a penance as this, says the Doston
Transcript.
Oil is accomplishing wonders for
the comfort of railway travellers and
of those who live along the steel high
ways; it lays the dust on the roadbed
and annihilates the mosquitoes of its
meighborhood at the same time.
A Smithsonian Institution authority
na3 predicted that within a few cen
tories the Wlonde typ> will have disap
peared entirely, and the Boston Tran
script adds that New York business
men’ are helping along the fulfiilment
.of the prediction by giving employ
ment only to brunette stenographers.
Managers of Western railways will
arm engineers, firemen and trainmen
of the passenger trains, the New York
World states. The success and fre
quency of hold-ups has called for some
action and it is believed that arming
the trainmen will insure some prote:-
tion.
A little application of the old-fash
ioned maxim about the wisdom of go
ing to bed ecrly might do a good deal
toward solving the problem of the
city child’s nervousness, opines the
Chicago News.
Rear-Admiral Watson was retired,
having reached. the age of 62 years,
but the Japanese ficld marshals, one’
of whom is 65 years old ard the other '
66, continue to do good work, as does
General Nodzu, at 63, aad other offi-'
cers above the retiring age in the |
United States. Sixty-two years is too ’
young, as a rule, for a man to retire |
from active service, the Philadelphia
Press declares. ?
It is announced that the menacing
third rail is to be covered from one
end of the subway to the other, so
that no possibility can it become a
source of accidents. On every rail
road line, surface, elevated or depress
ed, the formldai)le current ought to he
shut in 30 that it can cause no fatali
ties, says the New York Tribune in
commenting on the statement.
Subscriptions are pdurlng in for the
gelting up of a statue of George Wash
ington in the capital of Hungary. That
covntry gave birtt to an unselish
and devoted patriot in Kossuth, who
was enthusiastically welcomed in this
Republic. It is fitting that the mem
ory of the man who did so much to
bring about Americgn independence
should be honored in Budapest.
At the close of the Manassas maneu
vers, one-half the troops participating
| were reported practically used up by
the fatigues of the week’'s operations.
They may think with interest of what
might have happened to them bad
they been engaged in the liao Yang
maneuvers instead of those at now
peaceful Bull Run, says the Buffalo
Courier.
If only this discovery of a trafficking
in foreign titles had come sooner, per
haps we might have been spared some
talk about international marriages
“for a coronet.” the Boston Transcript
daclares. Why should a thrifty mil
lionaire pay a good slice out of his
fortune for the sake of ‘getting a
bunch of crested notes-of-hand into
the family, at the further sacrifice of
his daughter's well being, poassibly,
when he can purchase a German baro
netey for $50,000 or a lesser, but stil)
very respectable degree of nobility for
$30,000, to say nothing of Spanish and
Portuguese mark-downs? Certainly
here iz a laudable enterprise being
nipped ia the bud. :
T Y
"' A Raw Recrult, T
| Majcr General Henry C. Corbin,
who js to succeed General Taft in the
Philippines, was reared on a farm in
Ohio, and takes a great interest in
recruits, particularly if they be from
his own State,
“They are amusing and pathetie,
' the raw recruits from thz farms and
villages of the West,” said General
Corbin recently. “And they make in
the end*the best scldiers . the world,
“But at first they are too ingenu
ous, too boyish, too naive. For in
stance—
“An Ohio lad was doing his first
gentry duty. To and fro he paced.
The landscape was fertile and lonely
[and quet, and the young recruif, as
’ he regarded the green fields, fell into
- a reverie, His pleasant inland home
E rose up before him. He thought of
his father and mother, his sechool days
and his sweetheart,
“In the midst of his dream the laa
jor passed, and the youth forgot to
salute.
Instantly the major turned on him.
“‘Don’t you know whe I am, sir?
he said in a terrible voice.
“‘No,’” said the recru.t, softly, and,
thinking it was a friend from home—
some friend of his family—he asked
in a gentle voice:
“‘Do you know me?’”
“Rushing” Work. P
Prof. Thomas Oliver, addressing the
industrial hygiene section of the san
itary congress in Glasgow, said the
system of “rushing” work introduced
into Britain from Amer*ca, not cnly
caused unwholeso'me fatigue and
many accidents, but “predisposed the
individual to ill health and created a
taste for stimulants, unhealthy recrea
tion and love of excitement such as
was offer=d by theaters and music
halls.”
To take out iron-rust, cover the spot
with fine salt and saturate with lemon
juice and lay on the grass. Repeat if
necessary. J