The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1867-04-30


| shaken. There are some people in the world who
| explode, as it were, in numerous places at all
! sorts otuneXpected andinapproprate moments.
! When everything seems to be going on well,
! they go off suddenly with great violence,
! throwing their friends into the air, disordering
! their own plans, frustrating their own wishes,
and planting in onlookers the seeds of per
! petual distrust. Mr.. Gladstone appears to be
man of that kind, and the feeling of inse-
! curity which the discovery of the fact inspires
! Is likely to mar the usefulness of his public
life.
LuIem bOurg-Its Importance to Franco
The Position of Prussia.
! From The Herald.
| Luxembourg was eXacted as one of the guar
antees for the peace of Europe when the powers
never be threatened by anybody but the great
disturber, France. This alone indicates the
importance of the little scrap of territory to
the Government which now demands posses
sion of it. Indeed, while Luxembourg is in
! the hands of her enemies, France is, to a GER
! tain extent, under bonds to be civil and i / is
! her desire to be free from such restraint that
| moves the present agitation. 1t is not uues-
| tion of dominion; for there are less than a
| thousand square miles, and less than two
| hundred thousand inhabitants. 1t is a ques-
| tion of strategy, and, in that sense of safety.
| 1t is question of a thorn in the side that
| keeps one restless and wakeful; because any
! chance may stir it and make it cause of un-
enduTabe evil.
Between Alsace and the sea, following down
the Rhine, there are three zones of country of
primary Importance in view of any military
operation against France They open on the
Rhine at one end and into France at the other
| They are formed by the relation that the Meuse
and MOselle bear to the Rhine. The first lies
between the Upper Rhine and the Moselle,
opening on the Rhine below Coblentz: the
second between the Moselle and the Meuse, and
the third between the Meuse and the German
Ocean. In the latter zone lie such famous
points as Oudenarde Namur, Ramilies Nj
velles, Jemeppe, and Waterloo. 1t is because
the Netherlands lie so much in this division
that they became IN so many wars against
France the cockpit of Europe" But since
the days when the wars of the Spanish success
| sion, the republic and the empire were fought
| over almost every mile of that district the in
| PRODUCTION of railroads has made some modif-
| cation of strategy. We have an illustration
| of it here. Luxembourg lies in the middle
! zone-at the upper extremity of that zone
| where the waters of the Meuse and Mo
| selle are nearest together as they rise in
| Ardennes. 1t is not at all in the route of an
army marching to France by the lower Rhine,
yet by its rail communications it can com
mnnd any point on almost any line O.
operation in that direction. 1t can by the
same means command all important points in
the upper zone, and the march of foreign
army by the middle zone would not be feasible
if Luxembourg and a well organized French
force were in the hands of an active and reso-
lutte commander.
But in the hands of the Prussans this i'm
portant scrap OF territory is foreign wedge
forced in at the vulnerable point of French
defense. This point in hostile hands, and
France lies almost naked to her foes. March
ing from the Prussian frontier by the middle
zone, they have an easy line to the Marne, and
the direct route to Paris, with no good defen-
sive line between. 1t is obvious, therefore,
that France would never willingly have seen
garrison of six thousand Prussians placed in
that vital fortress. Such a possession is to
her constant reminder of the humiliation
that followed the dreadful days of Leipsic and
Waterloo. PROSTATE before Europe, she had
to accept the law, not give it, and assent that
others should have the material guarantee
of way to her heart. Prussia claims that
she holds the fortress by treaty right mean
ing the treaty right given at Vienna-that
treaty right by which there existed a German
Confederation, and which treaty right she
smashed to atoms last summer. But Prussia
though she has Obliterated so much of the
system then established, wishes to preserve
the advantages IL gave u6Ts one can lardly
expect that others should consent for her to
preserve what she pleases of a system de-
stroyed by her, when that preservation must
be at their expense. 1t has not escaped the
keen eye ruling in France that the destruction
of the treaties of 1915 has left Luxembourg
out of all the realms, and made it accessible
once more to its natural owner; and it is only
natural that Napoleon, in view of so much
European reconstruction should demand and
require the reconstruction for France of a de-
fensible frontier.
France, having once mooted this point. very
naturally hesitates to recede. tits a topic too
vitally important ever to have been started
until the determination had been reached to
carry it to settlement by diplomacy, if pos
sible, or war, if absolutely necessary. That
| was the French purpose. But it appears by a
| cable despatch that the Emperor Napo-
| leon has signifed his willingness to take part
| in negotiations now in progress, and which are
| likely to eventuate in the assemblage in Lon
| don, some time in the month of May, ola
| general conference of all the great powers of
! Europe, having for its object the final settle
ment of the Luxembourg question. Another
| despatch informs us that the Prussian Govern
| ment has also signifed its acceptance of the
| proposition OF the Queen of England for the
/ assembling of such conference, and that
! King William is not averse to treating the
| question on the basis of the naturalization of
the Grand Duchy. In the meantime it has
been agreed that the fortress in dispute shall
be dismantled.
Our Great National Reproaeh-The In-
dian War.
M n.