Lynchburg daily Virginian. [volume] (Lynchburg [Va.]) 1852-1861, 1859-05-16

Tn calculating the probable effect Of the antici-
pated war in Italy upon ourselves, it will hardly
do to take the late Crimenn war ns cur standard,
The theater of that war distant region,
which neither England nor France could reach
except by long watcr-carriage, that beng the
only means for transporting thithcr, not only th,
men and military troops but provisions for the
troops and every article needed for the prosecution
Of the campaign. or course n vast amount tf
shipping wns called into rcquistion. n demand bf
which our shpowners felt the beniht, not mercy
in the direct employment giving To their ycsselsns
transport but still more in the opening made for
them clscw here by the withdrawal of so largonn
amount of British and French shipping from the
REGULAR routine of commercial employment.
Nothing of this sort can be expected from the
present war Neither Auslrians nor Sardiidans
can have any occasion nor transportation by water
Their troops already face to face in the lcs-
tined field of contest The French troops willalso
enter Italy mainly by land. A part of them will
be sent by water from Marseles and Toulm to
Genoa but the passage is short--not morathan
twenty four hours for stcamcrs-and, by frequent
passages forward and backward, n small n.nlbcr
ofyessel-, compared with that which Frnncenlonc
needed during the Crimean war, will abuntantly
suffice for this service. Even should tho war
spread beyond Italy, and involve Germany also,
that will create No demand for shipping fer thc
transportation Of troops, so that n renewal, of the
harvest reaped by our shipowncrs during the
Crimean war, from the transportation of troops
and munitions, seems, in the present CON ,nctUre,
out Of the question:
The Crmcnn war. restricted as it toa little
corner Of the Crmean peninsula, and anIunting
to nnthin, more than the serge of II single city,
which kept the troops encampcd on single spot.
made it necessary for the French aud EngliII to
bring all their provision from distance. This
circumstance afforded to us of the United Sta;cs
double advantage. We not only furnished hrge
number of vessels for this purpose but the supply
of provisions came largely from us. The circum-
stances of the present are in this respect also
entirely different. 1t will be carried in one of
the most fertile countries in the world, which will
easily, out of its own products, supply the means
to feed all the earmics, however numerous In fact.
Italy is at this moment feeding very nearly
large number of soldiers il is possible for Aus
tria and Sardinia to bring into tho field. The
presence of French army would cause ad-
dtionn pressure. but it could not be of very long
continuance, and would be easily met from inter-
nal supplies.
To Judge from the experience Of the wars Of the
French Revolution it is impossible for the present
struggle to be protracted for any length of time,
whether confined to Italy or spreading into Ger
many. From the day that the first Napoleon
tered Italy at the head ofan invading army,
scarcely year had elapsed before he had driven
the Austrans entirely out of it, and was in po-
sition to dictate n peace. The of 1893
equally short, resulting in just as complete tri-
umph of the combined Austrians and Russians
the French, though commanded by such Generals
as Macdonald and Jouber, being stripped of all
their oonquests in a period as short as it had cost
Bonaparte to make them. The campaig gn of 1900
was shorter still; few months then sufHced to
restore Italy to the French. The warof 1905, be-
tween France and Austria terminated in a single
Summer; deprving Austria of her last remaining
Italian province, and even of tho Tyrol, and
making Joseph Bonaparte King of Naples. The
war of the next year, which overthrew the mon
arcby of Prussia, lasted, so far as Prussia
concerned, scarcely four months The war of
1902 which resulted in the annexation to France
of the Papal dominions, and in compelling Austria
to enter into family alliance with France. termi-
mated in six months. Even the continental war,
which ended in the total destruction of Bona
parties empire, of less than two years contin-
uance. The single circumstance that caused the
wars growing out of the French Revolution to be
SO long protracted was the fact that France and
England were separated by the Straits of Dover
q barrier which the French were unable sndthe