Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1870-08-16
Contest of the French and Prussians.
In speaking of the contest of the French ant
Al a R:ol~aexI ILL., ro.,a


Whatever may have been the secret motives
toa trial of strength, the war itself will be that
of their respective people. Each has inherited
legacy OF hate against the other; each has
military disgrace to wipe out; each has inva-
sion and spoliation to avenge. The one remem-
bers how the Corsican adventurer encamped In
the walls of Berlin; the other has never for
gotten how the Landwehr and Kaiserliks de-
stroyed the fields of Alsace and Lorraine, and
how Prussia's marshal fired his cannon down
the bouleyards of Paris. There is no hate be-
tween nations like that which has passed from
father to son. Time intensifes it; delay of
vengeance embitters it, And the crash which
shall resound along the Rhenish frontier when
first the great antagonists come face to face will
be only the open blow of war which has been
raging in their Hearts for five and forty years.
The monarchs know this. In their DEGREES and
proclamations it is not to any present cause for
combat that they address themselves. They
both appeal to ancient injuries and recall form
er strife. The animosities awakened are those
which have slumbered but lightly since the
violation of Schonbrunn preluded the degrade
ton of the Tuilleries. r--a
Some writer's have ridiculed the '.great Ma
poleonic ring" which has marked the military
addresses of the present Emperor. Perhaps
there might be more originality shown by Louis,
but scarcely more shrewdness. He strikes a
chord that never failed to respond, in thus re-
producing the fire and gorgeous bravado which
have already proved maddening stimulants to
the most impressible and ardent soldiery in the
world. f.@. --+.st -14 ,.,,-.
The French Emperor is entirely conscious
that the largest part of his influence over the
army, which in France is the people, is deriva-
tive not from his personal feats of craftsmanship
nor of arms. Great these may have been but
his eagles tell more eloquently of Bautzen and
Wurtschen than of Magenta and Solferino And
when the General passes his grand army, and
banners wave, and cries of 'Vive l'Empereur''
rend the air, there will be present to the fam
ing eyes of guards and chasseurs a picture of
years long gone--a stern cold face, ponderous
head, an eagle glance-the master of war, the
idol of his troops. His nephew does well to
foster these memories, more active than all else
to enthuse French battalions-memories recall
ing the proud chorus of the first Marseiaise,
and trembling with echoes of those mournful
drums beat the Old Guards march to death or
Waterloo. ;....
The spell will work on Germans too. They
have not forgotten how old Blucher rode in the
front of war for Vaterland. Talk of the long
white hair and short black pipe will go round
many piquet fire these summer nights. The
songs and pass words of the Tugend- bund will
be revived. The past will give up it's dead to
show the living how to die 5a
Y es, In the ranks of both armies are riding
spectral leaders, meters of bleodshed as ghast-
ly and as potent as the Moorish Gid. When
such encounter, strife must be desperate slaugh-
ter terrible. -7it