fusion, they got out, fell in on the platforms, piled arms, fell out, and remained near their rifles without chattering; indeed, with hardly a word except in an undertone. Prompt and unquestioning obedience in everything is the motto of the Japanese soldier. Their courage at the storming of Tientsin city, on the march to the capital, and at the capture of Pekin won the admiration of all the Allies, and their behaviour and self-restraint in the hour of victory were equalled only by their gallantry in action. No charges of cruelty to inoffensive peasants or women and children could be substantiated against them; and they treated the conquered Chinese with great kindness. They employed their prisoners to work for them and paid them liberally for their labour. Their conduct in garrison was admirable. Well armed and equipped, well officered and led, the Japanese Army is now a powerful fighting machine, and would prove a formidable enemy or a useful ally in the field.

Throughout the campaign a remarkable spirit of comradeship existed between the Japanese and the Indian troops. The Gurkhas were their especial friends. So like in appearance that it points to a common ancestry in the past, they hailed each other as relatives, and seemed quite puzzled to find no resemblance in the languages. This did not seem to slacken their friendship; and it was amusing to see a mingled group of the two races

chatting together in an animated manner, neither understanding a word of the other's tongue.

The men of the American Army were equalled in physique only by the Australian Contingent and our Royal Horse Artillery. Their free-andeasy ideas on the subject of discipline, the casual manner in which a private addressed an officer, astonished and shocked their Continental critics. I heard the remark of a German officer who, after a slight acquaintance with their ways, exclaimed, "That an army? Why, with the Berlin Fire Brigade I would conquer the whole of America!" The speech was so typically German ! But the men, accustomed to think and act for themselves, were ideal individual fighters; and for scouting, skirmishing, and bush-whacking could not easily be surpassed. Their troops in China consisted at first mainly of marines and regiments diverted when on their way to the Philippines, and consequently were not well equipped for a long campaign. But soon after the outset of the expedition all deficiencies were made good and ample supplies were forthcoming, their hospitals especially being almost lavishly furnished with all requirements.

The new American Army, like their excellent goahead Navy, is a force to be reckoned with in the future. We hear much of the effects of "influence" in our army. It is nothing compared to what goes on in the American. With them to be the near connection of a Senator or a prominent politician

is infinitely more advantageous than to be the scion of a ducal line or the son of a Commander-in-Chief with us.

If the Continental troops suffer from too rigid a discipline, which destroys the power of thinking for themselves in the lower ranks, the Americans, perhaps, err on the other side. They are too ready to act on their own responsibility, to question the wisdom of the orders they receive, and act, instead, as seems best to themselves. This was particularly evident in the case of the volunteer regiments in the Philippines; but instances of it were not wanting among the regulars and marines in North China. Democracy is impossible in an army. But the material at the service of the United States is unquestionably magnificent; and when the pressure of events in the future has called into being and welded together a really large army in America, there are few nations that can hope to oppose it successfully in the field. How rapidly the sons of the Star-spangled Banner acquire the art of war was evidenced in Cuba and in the more difficult and trying guerilla campaign in the Philippines. Their faults were those of inexperience.

Of their courage there can be no doubt. At the taking of Tientsin city nearly a thousand American infantry and marines served with the British under General Dorward. In a letter to their commander this officer warmly expressed the honour he, in common with all his men, felt in serving alongside