New-York daily tribune., 1859-05-23
NAPOLEON !. AND NAPOLEON III.

air and that The bolt would soon fall. They knew
also that the crash of sacked cities and the cries OF
broken armies would soon be heard. II Is not quite
with the same certainty Of havoc thst we follow the
fight of the tanner Eagle If the B0naparte family. He
has taken all his precautions he has left the Empress
all the functions of the Regency, and has weighted
them with those proper restrictions when ne tnlhks
necessary TO prevent the operation of amable weak.
ness or feminine rresolution in matters Of State In
his absence be has left her his orders and lnstruc-
tons to guide her, and his photograph, newly taken,
TO console her. II we look back for precedent for
an event of this c0urtly importance, must rest upon
the magnificent ceremonial which accompanied the
departure of the uncle Of the present Emperor in the
moi h Of May in the famous year lsl2. Then, also
an Emperor Of France recommended 10 the protection
of his people his wife a1d his chld and went Tor
ward in a peutude Of magnifcence which even Napo-
leon ii cannot yet emulate TO take the command of
half million of men in arms, and TO direct the thun
ders Of 800 guns. Even the huge armies now on foo
are not 10 be compared with such tremendous arIna
ments. nor will there inerpOse between Paris and the
seat of war any so magnificent delay As that which
drew together half the SOvereigns OF Europe TO do
homage the Great Napoleon at Dresden, and showed
the world -four Kings and crowd OF Princes waiting
in the Imperial ante chamber, and an Empress of
France treating with somewhat cOntemptuOus con-
descension the Imperial Archduchesses, her German
relatives.
If we thus recur TO history il is that the events Of
the las, few wears seem To have brought the great
wars of the First Napoleon nearer to our own time
In the forgotten days OF peace, some seven or eghJ
years ago, the present generation felt itself divided a
by gulf from the tremendous conflicts ot tine Kepub-
lie and the Empire. We could scarcely imagine that
in the streets of Paris walked about surrounded by
the children If those who had seen tumbrils in OF
unforunates 20 TO the gulotinr, and had formed par
of armies Of n quarter of n million, operating along
line of two or three hundred miles. But these mighty
events now seem less strange and less foreign TO our
own experience. We have become accustomed To the
rumors of and alliances the Dispatch of regiment
and ships the news of successful sieges and hardly
won fights We turn to our histories to find that the
armies maTshaled under the banners OF rval States
are now vastly more numerous, expensive ana
well equipped than those which fought at the
outset of the Great War The vessels which
contended at the Nile and Trafalgar were
nutshells in comparison with the stupendous bulks
which will be brought into action, should the only two
great Naval Powers which remain IN Europe oppose
each other in war. These facts may seem common
place: but still il is of the utmost importance To reco
ec that the struggle into which the European nations
may be drifting, is quite as large scale "a
that which exhausted their energies a. the beginning
of this century. True, as recent speaker observed,
great French Revolution does not happen every
fifty years, ard any of the present day may want
the ieIceness and enthusiasm which prolonged
former one for twenty-five years. But ruin may come
iust as well from war unwillingy commenced and
1angudly prosecuted, as from one which engages the
passions Of every peasant The burdens OF war, the
horrors of war may be as terrible when both sides
are wishing for peace and asking the reason Of the
fight as when revolution is battling with Kings, or
crowned soldier placing his relatives and hs comrades
on the thrones OF Europe.
Let us. then. consider by the light of history the
preparations which now being made by France and
Austria for the conduct of the present war. The cam
paign which began by the entry of French troops into
Piedmont and by the passage Of the Ticno by
the Au-trians, is on a scale which very far eX-
ceeds any former struggle in those countries In the
long wars of Napoleon l. il may be observed that the
armies continually increased in number while, it i
said the genius OF the command der and the proweSs OF
the indiN dua soldier diminished The brilliant cam
Il. Ianh Al
few thousand men. Marengo itself was gained BY
5000 but the war of 1905 actively employed about
80 600 French, while in the campaigns OF Nagram,
Moscow. and Leipsic we have incomparahly larger
armies brought into the field on both sides. Now the
war of 1859 begins on the colossal scale of the later
Empire, aud the armies employed may attain dimen-
sions such single State has hitherto been capa-
bic of producing. Presuming the struggle To be
confined To France and Austria, and To the field
of Northern Italy, shall have the spectacle of
combat in closed lists such as the world has never
before witnessed. If both the antagonists fight well
and stubbornly, the conflict will be interesting TO
the military critic grieyous to the philanthropis
Both France and Austria will be able to march almost
all their enormous forces to the seat of war. Germany
will, while the war is confined to Italy be sufficiently
the ally OF Austria to guarantee her from any attack 10
the from Russia, but not sufficiently 10 disturb
France by any demonstration the Rhine. II may
be said that, for time to come at least, the infu
Of Germany will have the effect of leaving both
sides free to use all their strength against each other
lhdl tnev VIII use IL tnefc Is no uOuOl Inc seat OI
adjoins the territory Of each, railways aud steam
transport their troops easily and most of the long
marches which enieebled aud diminished armies
in the days of Napoleon will be avoided. Enormous
masses Of armed men can be taken 10 the coun-
try they to fight in comfortably a. If
they were merely making change of quarters.
With this facility OF transport, and this power OF
using the whole Of their great standing armies, We
must expect 10 two hosts gathered together the
plains OF Italy such single States ever yet
opposed 10 each other. The numbers we do not even
pretend to guess at. The French pushing troops
over the Alps and loading their ships Of war with sol
diers for Genoa. The supply of food will be the only
limit to the number which can thus be brought into
the field. The French probably have their Eforma-
tion about the Austrian army, a. the Court of Vienna
has its own about French proceeding But English
men are allowed TO know little about the matter.
There j., however, no doubt that the power which
sent quarter Of million OF men 10 Seyastopol within
eighteen months viii be able send that number into
Northern Italy. Considering that the whole OF Italv
with - eco 600 people NAV shortly be in insurrection
and that Sardinia has 80 900 troops OF her own
already il NAV tbe reckoned without exaggeraton
that more than 300 O10may in the next two months be
put in line 10 drive the Aastrians from their
carefully chosen aAd famous positions in
On the other hand, Austria can, aud viii,
no doubt bring an equal force into the field. She
does not want men, for the empire contains 8 900 900
souls without counting the Italian Provinces II the
Finance Minister can 6nd the money To keep 10000
men on foot in Italy, Gen. Gyulai viii fnd work for
them al. They will not be men to fight with the spirit
and dash of Frenchmen, but they will be fine, steady
troops superior in physique TO their enemies they viii
have all that science has achieved in the way OF per-
feet weapons Of destruction, and they will be COM |
nanded by officers who know that the eyes of Europe
sre upon them and that they mus. fight now for tie
very existence of their Empire.
These are the prospects of the campaign and cer-
ainy as far as man ean divine, they promise mos,
OBSTINATE contest. The combatans fairly matched.
France, with Italy at her back, and less iupover-
shed eXchequer, may be expected 10 have the supe-
-. a.sN..
and, viii probably, after their raid into Piedmont,
light defensive battle aud then they will b. on ground