It is simply impossible to estimate with certainty the numbers
of the armies to be employed in the next campaign. The Russians hope to have half-a-million of men, but they take no account of the desertions, the wastage from disease, and the differences between the muster-rolls on paper and in the field. Nor are they clear as to the extent of the burden which the carriage of food as well as of munitions imposes on their one railway. The Japanese, on the other hand, though they hope to have at least as many, and are much nearer to the scene of action, are much farther from the European manufactories of arms, have forty-five thousand wounded in their island hospitals, and are considering a plan for in- creasing the term of military service. The best conjecture is that in the second campaign a million of men on the two sides will be under arms, but it may prove in practice to be a considerable exaggeration. The scale of the war will, however, be in any case tremendous, and must be a subject of anxious reflection to Lord Kitchener.
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