Cleveland morning leader. [volume] (Cleveland [Ohio]) 1854-1865, 1859-05-11
Modern science in the Coming War.

We are apparently on the eve of the most tre-
mendous armed conflict which the world has
seen since the downfall of Napoleon the Great
The wars OF Imperial france were bloody wars.
as the world knows. No slaughtered heca.
tomDs were ever piled so high as the great En-.
peror piled them. The dead never Law so thick
ly on any battle field, of which history makes
any mention, as they lay ON llyau and Borodi.
no and Waterloo. What amount of destruction
and misery science, in the hands of genius
could, in given time, deal out on a given mum
ber OF men, was there amply demonstrated
But 1t IS not saying too much to say that if
tue European powers let their armed horIcs
loose upon one another this summer, ruthless
destroyer as Napoleon was, he will be shown
before three years are over To have been mere
tyro in the art Of destruction Since his dav
all the arts have advanced with rapid strides
hut none with strides 30 rapid as this one. 49,
The weapons with which his soldiers wcro
armed, with which the bridge of Lodi was car
rlcd,und Austerlitz and MarengO were won, bear
much the same relation 10 the rifle of the present
day as the matchbox bears TO the frelock. Dea,l
did not in his time flash from the solid ranks un
til the foeman stood two or three hundred wards
apart 1t now flies in the air nearly three
quarters of mile, 30 far as the sharpost eve
can mark a human figure. His siege artillery
would be to day by no means heavy field pieces
Welington's heaviest preaching guns at Bada.
jos and Salamanca were twenty-four FOUNDERS
The Russians at lnkerman, at the British al
Tchernaya brought thirty-two FOUNDERS into
the field with ease and effect But the adyan-
tage which heavy guns have always had over
light ones, hitherto for the ordinary purpose of
field artillery, has been rather in the length of
the range than in the size Of the ball A
twelve FOUNDER rushing through column OF
iuf ip f,li iua 4
mOralizing as one treble the weipht but for
merly it could not be projected nearly so far.
Science has, in our day, destroyed the differ.
renee between them. Recent Inventions, some
Of them those Of our own countrymen, some
Englishmen, and some Of the present Emperor
OF France, have furnished light feld.peecs,
which four horses can whirl at the widest gal.
lop from point to point, with more than the
deadly power which, forty years ago, belonged
only to weapons which sixteen horses could
move with difficulty, and which were always
pieces de position.
Moreover, facilities have been created since
Waterloo was fought for bringing together
masses OF men thus armed, anI dashing them
against one another, such as the great Nepo-
leOs in all widest dreams never drenmpt of
We all know how the rapidity of his move.
ment dazzled and astounded our fathers We
know how he strobe over Europe like
magician, taking armies upas it seemed in those
days, in the hollow Of his hand, ard in hnging
them in the twinkling of an eye on every point
where his giant plans needed them. We know
how the pupils Of Turenne and Biontecucu |
culli recoied in dismay before lepions which |
struck like thunderbolt after having advanced |
like the wind. But great as was the perfection |
to which he carried the art of rapid Goncentra- |
lion, II becomes the crawling of a turtle when |
with the power with which railwsys |
have armed the Generals of our day. When |
Napoleon started on his expeditions, armies were |
of necessity divided into columns which. in |
order to secure the bare means Of subsistence |
and of transport, were compelled either TO fol- |
low each other At lolerably long intervals or |
Else march on the same point by different cir. /
,ultous routes. And they did narch-lteially /
''arched, trudged every inch Of the way on foot,
and the eagle h1ppped his wings over them
n appreciation II they achieved fifty miles ia
.ho twenty four hours. The maddest imna
enoe Of the maddest conqueror had in those
lines to adapt Itself 20 the csDabililies Of human
egs and human stomachs.
Ii took, even in the hands of Napoleon, a
ong while TO concentrate Two hundred thou
iand men at a point three hundred miles dis
ant and when they were there It required
tupendOus energy and stupendous resources
~ i'NN tA'hA AAH hh' BihAu olu heroes ndu 10
axe pork and flour into their gTandest caloula-
ions and pork and -four, alas have TO be
aried about TO be of any use.
The other day, we were told, Ia contrast with
his, that the present Emperor was able TO send
wenty five thousand men in day from Paris
0 LyOns--a distance Of about three hundred
niles. II would have taken his uucle a week
4 forced marches 10 accomplish the same ub
eet Austria is sending troops into Italy al
he same rate. Moreover, the same power
which rsnlers this rapid concentration OF troops
enders their subsistence. while concentrated,
not az easy. The railroad dumps the soldiers