Litchfield enquirer., 1866-10-11
Alis1ella,,p.
.THEGAMPAIGN IN GERMANY.

For the last two months have been wan. dering about Europe in search of a war. From variety of causes, which I need not enter in- to here, have always--north as we'll as south of the Alps been just too late for the battle
 It is true that. if had been present at the SC
 ries ol great victories by which Prussia has overthrown the military power Of Austria, should probably have known very little more than do now. People talk vaguely about seeing battle but it IS only those who have seen battles who are aware how very little is to be seen after all. The instances are very rare when, from the con6guration of the ground, spectators caE see much of fight and actors have neither the time nor the op- portunity to mark much of what is going on around them. Sondenburg was one of these rare exceptions; the battle-6elds of Bohemia 1! and Siesia, as far as can learn, were not. At any rate, wheth CT there was much to be learnt by actual observation or not, did not learn it. Still l 6atter myself, rightly or wrongly, that what lost was not altogether uncompensated by corresponding gain. # have had very considerable opportunities of judging of the Prussians and their army that engaged in actual war, if not in actual lighting 1 have heard much froM all sort Uf quarters about the campaign and from my own observation, and the information have collected. have formed decided opinion of my own as to the causes of the Prussian sue cess. It is that opinion, and the grounds on which is based, which want to explain in this article. At the time I lett England not only was the public sympathy very strongly in fla vor of the Austrians. but the almost universal conviction was, that if France did not interfere to help her, Prussia would inevitably be de- feated. Every English officer almost pooh poohed the notion that the Prussians could possibly defeat the Austrians. That Benedek would be in Berlin before month was over, was received article of faith at all regiment al messes and the diplomatic world was equal ly conviaced that Prussia would have to cede the Rhine provinces to France, as the price of the intervention which was to rescue her from utter destruction at the hands of Austria.
 Ionly allude to the state of public opinion which proceeded the Austro-Prussian war, in order to point out the danger of jumping to a premature conclusion about the causes of the non-ful6lment of of our expectation. Women, so their detractors say, have way, when their assertions are dlsproved by unmistakable evi- depce, of arguing that they would have been right after all, if they had not omitted some thing from their calculations they could not reasonably be expected to remember; and this feminine style of argument seems to be in fashion with us on the present occasion.- We have all agreed, by sort Of tacit consent, that, whatever people may choose to think, we were really correct in our assumptions, and tuat Austria would certainly have won, if it had not been for the peedle-gun, about which we knew nothing. Now, that our military men did know nothing or little about breech- loaders believe to be the truth. Though our military administration is the most costly in the world, we never seen1 to have any officers competent to profit by experience at any place where experience is likely to be learnt. Our military attaches are generally well-connected officers,-out of employment or out at elbows;
 to whom the post is given as convenient sin
 ecure while in time of war, We either, as in Sechleswig, send out no professional commits sioners at all. or else, as in the case of this last conflict, we send them out just too late to be of any practical use. Still, though we ind- vidually were unacquainted with the 'ZuLdna- del Gewehr' yet other nations-and Austrla above all-had studied the weapon carefully beforehand and, though. different opinions were formed as to it's imperative excellence, no competent military judge even imagined for one moment that the possession or non possession of the needle gun was of sufficient importance to decide the fate of campaign
 Of course the whole world may have been mis- taken; but, to say the least the antecedent probability is immensely strong in favor of the supposition that the campaign was decided by many other causes besides the especial efficacy of that peculiar weapon. Some few ot these causes may be ascertained easily enough by any one who is content to look at the facts as they are. ... ...... .....4 F.. In the first place Prussia is united country, whilst Austria is mere experimentation of diff ferent nations connected by a dynastie unioL. Hungary Bohemia, Croatia, Venetia, 'Gallicia Si!esia, and Austria proper have little other tie between them than that which for hun dred years bound France to Fog land Whey do not like each other, and most of them have no particular affection for their common soE- ereign. But in Prussia the case is different.
 If we omit part of Posen, there IS not more homogeneous country in all Europe than Prus- sia. She has no Venetia, no Algeria, no Ire
 land. Her people speak the same language. are trained with the same unifol m system,
 have to great extent the same common faith. Any persen who has followed at all attentiyely the long. wearisome conflict between the Prus- sian Parliament and the Court, must have been struck by two circumstances. First, that, even when the struggle was at its bitter est, and when Herr Won Bismarck pressed
 most cavalierly on the popular party nobody even proposed or mooted the idea of change of dynasty; and, secondly, that there peyer was the slightest talk of any disruption of the monarchy. It is lttle more than century ago since Frederick the Great took Silesia by force from Austria, and yet this province is now as loyal and as intensely Prussian as Brandenburg itself. And, when the whole force of the kingdom was engaged in gigan- tic struggle the Rhine provinces were left ut teriy dennded of troops, without the least ap- prebension of any local outbreak being even possible. .f-...-.- .-.-. .,.5 .,.,..t.. In most things which affect the daily life of ordinary men, Prussia is, and has been for years excellently we'll governed. In all social relations there. is absolute personal liberty :; justice is administered with proverbial fairness and the bureaucracy, however vexatious' in its dealiBgs, is utterly free from the taint of corruption the people are very lightly taxed 1; there is next to no national debt , and the whole government of the country, from the Court downwards, is conducted with more than re
 publican economy. Now, notzone of these statements could be applied to Austria. With an enormous debt, an ignorant and priestTid
 den population, an enormous taxation, a body of officials notoriously corrupt, and an aextraya- 0ant admin; ;af rof ofinn shQ entered tho lisfc