Therefore, all armies are the finest in the world.

In France the illustrious Colonel Marchand understood this when, before the passage of the Yalou, being questioned by some journalists about the Russo-Japanese war, he did not hesitate to describe the Russian army as the finest in the world, and also the Japanese.

And it should be noticed that even after suffering the most terrible reverses an army does not fall from its position of being the finest in the world.

For if nations ascribe their victories to the ability of their generals and the courage of their soldiers, they always attribute their defeats to an inexplicable fatality.

On the other hand, navies are classed according to the number of their ships.