The Sun.
London, England, 1870-08-08 00:00:00

WAR TOPICS.

It may be said that the whole available effective mili-
tary force of France and Prussia is in their respective ar-
mies. The defeat or overthrow of the army of one or
other of these nations would practically imply the subver-
sion of its military power for the time being. In the
event of one of these armies being defeated in battle, the
successful side would follow up its victory quickly
prevent the re-establishment of the enemy's shattered
ranks, and attempt to push onward to the enemy's capital
whether it be Paris or Berlin. Louis 'Napoleon, in de-
claring war without " a Pretext," has a most illustrious
personage to keep him company—a monarch named Ako
Jumbo, residing and reigning somewhere upon the western
coast of Africa. His Majesty Ako has marched against
the tribe called the Ooobos, and has announcedhis gracious
intention of exterminating that unhappy peopl. Before
this he has probably slaughtered most of the Ooobos, has
burned their villages, ravaged their fields, reduced to
slavery their young men and maidens, and returned to his
own dominions covered with blood and glory.
.There
this to be said for Ako Jumbo, that he may possibly have
a real grievance ; whereas the person upon the French
throne is making war without any respectable motive
whatever. It was impolitic in the French Em-
peror to attempt to sting German pride by say-
ing that the " victors of Jena still survived."
If the Germans still remember the humiliation of
Jena, they have not forgotten the tremendous
i demon-
stration of power and patriotism that followed t. It is
now certain that the South German States—Bavaria,
Wurtemburg, and Baden—about whose attitude the
French papers assumed a doubt, are as firmly united in
support of the German side as Prussia herself. All these
Governments have been very prompt in putting their
forces under the control of Prussia; and we ,learn by
Cable that the authorities of Bavaria, in putting the
Bavarian army at the command of King William, con-
gratulated the monarch, and issued a patriotic exhorta-
tion to the army. It -was supposed that, as the anti-
Liberal and anti-Prussian party are in power at Munich,
there might be some difficulty in regard to this .matter;
but all doubts are dispelled by the latest dispatches.
Since Prussia is so greatly inferior, to France in naval
power, she will; doubtless, so far as the naval defence of
her rivers and coast is concerned, resort to some of the
expedients that were so successfully tried in the Ameri-
can war by one side or the other. It will be remembered
that the Rebels improvised some very effective and for-
midable war ships by taking old wooden vessels and
covering them hastily with iron plates, railroad iron or
bars, or any sort of iron plating or railing they could get
hold of. The havoc-playing Merrimac was got up in
this way, and so also were some of the, destructive Rebel
rams used at Mobile, New Orleans, and else-
where. By means of this sort, the Prussians could make
good fighting naval ships for service on their coast
and rivers. When Napoleon was wrangling with Bismarck
four years.ago, he was foolish enough to proclaim his desire
to carry the French frontier to the Rhine. This announce-
ment of his aggressive determination has been kept before
the German people, and has produced in them the °feeling
that the present war is a war of territorial defence and
,unity, as well! as self-government and independence.—
New York Tribune, ,