s arriving an hour late at their appointed
position. Discussing the Germans one day with a Japanese officer, his
criticism on them was, "Very good soldiers, but I tink too much drill
drill."

If the Germans suffer from too much mechanical "drill drill," the
Americans certainly suffer from the opposite. Self-reliance,
independence, and individuality of action are all very desirable
qualities, but the Americans suffer immensely from the want of
discipline and drill. Perhaps the democratic feeling of the States
does not lend itself so easily to discipline. Each one of Napoleon's
soldiers was supposed to carry a marshal's baton in his knapsack. The
American soldier has taken it therefrom, and is rather inclined to be
a marshal unto himself, thinks himself quite as good as his superior
officer, if not better, and, more than any other soldier, is given to
grumbling, and spends a lot of his attention, which should be
concentrated on merely obeying, to expressing his individual opinion.
The United States soldiers are far and away the best fed in the
world. Their standard of comfort, not to say luxury, is immensely
higher, and would be absolutely ruinous in an army the size of any of
those of Europe.

Comparing the various forces--as I had an opportunity of observing
them in China--with those of our own in South Africa, I am filled with
a much higher idea of the latter than before I had such a standard of
comparison. Our army, composed as it is in part of Colonial regiments,
is now a combination of various admirable qualifications. The
resourcefulness and individuality of action, which is the most
admirable thing to be found in the American army, was quite equalled
by men who composed such regiments as the Imperial Light Horse, the
South African Horse, Brabant's Horse, the New Zealanders, and the
Canadians.

The inspiring, ingrained fighting spirit of the Japs is to be found in
the Irish regiments, who are probably the best fighting men in the
world; the chivalrous gallantry of artillery in action, which Zola
wrote of in _La Debacle_, I saw in quivering vitality at Elandslaagte
and Rietfontein, and not by the hastening of a step was the old
tradition of our artillery (to go into action at a gallop and come out
at a walk) forgotten in actions outside Ladysmith. Superior-speaking,
long-range critics talk disparagingly of our soldiers in the
Transvaal. Germans talk of how things should have been done,
forgetting that the littl