Russian officers, stories made all the more probable in the light of
the Russian Commander Kuropatkin's memoirs to the same general effect.
"Why, the English would put one of their admirals against the wall and
shoot him like a common seaman for such gross neglect of duty as went
entirely unpunished among Russian generals," was one man's comment as
he talked with me. "The Rooshians were good fighters--fought 'and to
'and with the butt of their muskets--and if they 'ad 'ad good
commanders the Japs would never have won," said an Englishman who had
seen service in India. A railway man also told me of the debauchery
and profligacy of the Russian officers, disreputable women travelling
regularly with them to and fro, drunkenness being also common. About
the same charges were reported to me by a Japanese officer. In fact,
it is said that the Japanese contrived to get a very considerable
quantity of champagne to the Russian headquarters one day, and the
next day made a slaughter-pen of the Russian camp while the Cossack
commanders were still hopelessly befuddled from too much drinking!

The truth is that the Japanese, from camp-followers to
commander-in-chief, were prepared for war and the Russians were not.
From the day that Russia, aided by France and Germany, forced Japan to
cede back to China some of the fruits of her victory over the Chinese,
from that hour Japan nursed and fed fat her rankling grudge and bided
her time as deliberately as a tiger waiting to spring. While I was in
Japan an Englishman told me that immediately after Russia forced Japan
{72} to give up her spoils of victory he was amazed to see the
tremendous interest in the military drills in all the Japanese
schools. When he asked what it meant, there was one frank answer: "We
are getting ready to lick Russia."

It should also be observed that when the war came on the Japanese were
not only in a state of preparedness so far as battleships and army
drill and munitions of war were concerned, but they were also prepared
in the vital matter of proper medical attendance.

"When your American soldiers went with Shafter into Cuba the army was
utterly without proper medical corps and equipment, and the death-rate
was disgracefully high. But the first Japanese who fell in crossing
the Yalu were taken at once to the best of Japanese surgeons and cared
for in the most approved of modern military hospitals." So said a
frank Scotchman to me yesterday, and in the ligh