GENERAL SKOBELOFF.

Globe, Volume XXIV, Issue 2504, 17 April 1882, Page 3

GENERAL SKOBELOFF.

The " AUgemeine Zeitung," a leading German paper published at Augsburg, has the following remarks on the personal character of the celebrated Buisian general:—General Skobeloff, a man of thirty-eight years of age, is a thorough soldier, and regards war as bis element. He has perfected his undoubted military genius by deep study; he is sow a general of cavalry, Commander of the Order of St George, and—a celebrated man. Great as his military advantages are, the qualities of his character are little esteemed in the circle in which he moves. The good natured Prinoe Michael Nikolajevitch took him with him, on his completing his studies at the Staff Colleges, as an orderly officer, but was soon compelled to send him away. Although he is the national at.d popular hero of the Russian people, he does not enjoy the sympathy of good society. Richly endowed by nature in every respect with an attractive exterior, winning manners and the most polite ways, and educated in positive science, the brilliant young general creates a favorable impression. And yet there is scarcely any bad quality which in St. Petersburg is not attributed to him—not merely by his enemies and those who envy him, who are naturally many, but by the best circlcß in Russian society. He is said to be an intriguer, heartless, brutal, and cynical, dovoid of all noble feeling, unprincipled and unscrupulous. Things are told of his severity and cruelty while in Central Asia whioh make one's hair stand on end. Whatever exaggeration there may be in this, the judgment is too unanimous for one to doubt its truth. And yet this man is the national hero, and decidedly the most popular character i-a tho Russian Empire, the god of the masses, whom he knows how to flitter—a man who, consumed by ambition, treats even fanaticism as a means to an end, and evidently may be destined to play a conspicuous part in the history of Russia. It is characteristic of him that, although he went to the Balkan campaign without any command even on account of his notoriety, his capacity soon availed him, and he returned home after a few months ss one of the most celebrated generals. Tha Emperor Alexander 111., who by no means likes a man who is more than infamous in military life, will keep this general as far as possible from him ; but he may be compelled, in case of serious complications, to appeal to Skobeloff. If he lives, he will be the leader whom one will have most to think about. .