The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-01 00:00:00

1807 AND 1870.

"It will be our lot to exhibit Prussia as it were in her
last agonies, and to' record the dying confessions of her
misguided statesmen," said a writer in the Quarterly
Review for July, 1815. He was reviewing Grentz's
" Journal of the Last Fourteen Days of the Prussian
Monarchy." As we turn over the yellow leaves of an
essay which, written when the resuscitation of that
Power was but a recent event, ably epitomised the
long history of its disasters, the mind draws

an involuntary comparisoil between the Prussia
of 1807 and of 1870. The battle of Jena
had just laid her prostrate at the feet of
Napoleon. His troops had virtually annihilated her
army, had occupied her cities, and had made her feel all
the bitterness of a conquest for which the vacillation of
her King and the incompetence of her generals were alone
to blame.. Tempted by the prospect of Austria's humilia-
tion to remain in a state of friendly neutrality toward
France, Frederick William 111. had, in spite of the en-
treaties of his people, his statesmen, and his Queen, that
he should declare in favour of Russia and -Austria, ac-
cepted from Bonaparte the bribe of Hanover,
But, however well this pleased the King, he
was destined to find that he could not defy
the • popular feeling with impunity. The degra-
dation of French vassalage, and the series of insults
to which Bonaparte subjected them, roused the entire
nation ; and the King, who had delayed action while it
might have availed in concert with other Powers, was
forced by his—subjects intofdeclaring war, single-handed,
against the victor of Austerlitz. The reason given by the
Marquis Lucchesini, Prussian Minister at Paris, just
before the rupture occurred, demonstrated the contempt
into which his Government had fallen. " The character
of Prussia was," he says, "so completely gone that it
was vain to attempt any negotiation with the other States
of Europe without some strong demonstration of sincerity
on the part of the Prussian Cabinet ; and that could
only be shewn by having recourse in the outset to that
expedient with which it would have been desirable to
conclude, viz., a recurrence to arms." Thus compelled to
take action, the Prussian King found himself within a

few months reduced to the possession of a single city and
a few square miles of territory, and the star of the
House of Branderburgh had, to all appearance, set for
ever. But the Prussia which suffered the disastrous hu-
miliation terininating in the peace of Tilsit was thence-

forward destined to enter upon a career of progress
such as has but few parallels in the annals of
European States. With a spirit worthy of
the descendants of those whom the Great Frederick
had so often led to victory, a feeling of patriotism, and,
consequently, of hostility to French influence, arose
throughout all Germany, sufficiently strong to unite in the
ties of common interest its various States. Thanks to the
far-sighted statesmen who controlled her destinies,. Prussia
had by the year 1813 resumed her place as one of the
" Great Powers " of Europe, and an effective army of
nearly 100,000 men was ready to co-operate with
the allies in withstanding the power of Na-
poleon. Into the history of the eventful period
which followed, terminating in the British and Prus-
sian victory of Waterloo, it is unnecessary to
enter. From the proclamation of peace in 1815 until the
Schleswig-Holstein question again saw her forces in the
field, the interval of nearly forty years was judiciously
employed in perfecting that system of military service
which, originated by Frederick William 1., improved by
Frederick the Great, and, disorganised during her time of
reverse, remodelled by the genius of her great Ministers,
Stein and Scharnhorst, is the undoubted source of Prussia's
late successes. It furnished the material which needed
but the guiding hand of statesmanship to render it for-
midable. Without this it was but as the powder in the
magazine, the cannon in the arsenal—a gigantic weapon
of offence if skilfully used, but otherwise an expensive
and inert body of warlike materiel. The Prussian 'mili-
tary system, codified by the "Law of 3rd September,
1814," has been often enlarged upon, but seldom epito-
mised ; and not one-half of those who peruse with
unfailing interest the accounts daily published of the
great war at this moment convulsing Europe have any
clear conception of even its general provisions.
The whole of Prussia proper was, in 1733.
divided by Frederick William I. into districts,
each of which was bound to maintain • the
effective strength of a regiment. This was the
basis of the Landwehr system, improved by Frederick the
Great so as to create a miniature but complete army
within each province. The amended scheme of 1814
established four bodies, which comprised : 1, a standing
army; 2, a Landwehr of the first call ; 3, a Landwehr of
the second call ; and, 4, the Landsturm. The standing
army was to consist of volunteers of two classes, and of a
sufficient number of the youth of the nation, called out
between the ages of 21 and 25, a service of from one to
three years being compulsory. The Landwehr of the first
call was a militia liable to serve either at home or abroad,
in case of war, but in peace time compelled only to un-
dergo such exercise as was necessary for training. It
was composed of all ycung men between the ages of
twenty-one and twenty-six not serving in the regular
army, of volunteers trained in the light battalions, and of
the rest of the population up to their thirty-second year,
not having completed twelve years service. The Land-
wehr of the second call consisted of all who
had left the army and the first call, and all
other able-bodied men up to forty years of age;
while the Landstrum include all men not otherwise al-
lotted up to their fiftieth year, all who had completed
Landwehr service, as well as all youths able to carry arms
of the age of seventeen. These latter are called out only
when the province in which they reside is actually
threatened—an eventuality which has never arisen
since their organisation. With so all-embracing a
scheme of service, applied as it now is to all
those States recently absorbed by Prussia, her
immense military power is easily understood.
Less oppressive, or at all events more popular,
than the French conscription, owing possibly to its uni-
versality and the general impossibility of providing sub-
stitutes, it is more efficient, and seems to appeal more
successfully to the patriotic instincts of the people. A
comparison of Prussia as she was in 1807, and Prussia as
she is in 1870, reflects immense credit upon the adminis-
trative ability of her military authorities, impracticable
as some details of her system would be under other forms
of Government. And this remark holds good, quite
irrespective of the result of the present conflict-1V ew
Yovlc Times.

The directors of the Bank of FranCo have, it is
said, determined to remove a large portion of their reserve
of bullion to one of the western seaports, Brest or Havre,
for safety. Many foreign bankers have already transferred
securities, plate. and other portable effects to London.

The Hon. William Brodrick having succeeded to
the peerage by the death of Lord Midleton, there is a
vacancy in the representation of Mid-Surrey. This
vacancy will be in all probability filled by the election of
another Conservative, as a good candidate is ready to
come forward at the proper time.—Globe.
A. LIVING WORTH HAVING.—The Rev. Frede-
rick Carlyon, a younger son of the late Dr. Carlyon, of
Truro, has been presented by his brother-in-law, the
Bishop of Ely, to the Rectory of Leverington, Cambridge-
shire, value £2,190 a year, with a desirable residence and
a glebe of ninety acres. The population is 1,267 only,