The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-11-29
Material and National Inspiration Of the
Land Forces Of the Car.
FIGHTING MATERIAL OF THE EMPIRE.
Field Artillery and Great
and Small Gums.
The Ammunition and Gum Car.
riage Questions.

Russian empire which was prepared and published
In England towards the clese Of the year ls60-and
in view OF . coming crisis between Great Britain
and the Czar-supplles the following interesting
facts, which are OF very decided value to-day when
taken In connection with our cable news kilograms
frsm the Old World capitals.
Russian F0rtrcsses and Thcir Railroad
Arteries-Ths Strategic System Against
Foreign Invasion. Ft
Whatever may be the opinion. Gays an English
writer, OF modern thinkers regarding the wisdom OF
national standing armies, 1t may DO taken Tor
granted that all persons even moderately patriotic
recognize the necessity and duty OF providing by
some means or other for national defence. For.
merly it would have been supernuous to prove that
fortresses must be built and kept in state Of pre-
paration II country was TO be defended at ALL The
habit OF governments was TO overforty rather than
to neglect this evident means OF providing against
invasion; but the rapid man9uvres ana brilliant
daring Of the first Napoleon and the comparative In.
frequency OF sieges In later wars together with the
0so,oing democratic tendency or the age IN tohich
sos Tue, hare brought about a FEELING agatnt FORT
resseS and caused certaia Impotence OF expcndi.
ture upon them. There exists an impression
that the multiplication OF roads and railways has
rendered fertilization obsolete, because the military
engineer cannst promise to arrest the march Of an
invading army. In truth, there IS difference, but
net SO great as Is commonly imagined. Fortresses
are now not so much barriers as pivots upon which
an army can turn. The old rule, which Is still found
classical works the defence Of States was that
OF fortresses should be built within another,
sometimes even as many as three or four such
ranks SO as to confront the enemy with number of
places, each impossible, except after regular
siege. Some military writer's considered that these
fortresses should not be more than days march
distance from each other and others believed that
their number could not be too great at least only
checked by the financial possibilities OF the country
srategical point Of View and the system has given 0
place to an entirely new one. 1t would, however
be extremely dangerous to run away with the no.
ton that because military nations are demOlishing
some Of their strong places and allowing others to
fall into decay therefore the days of permanent de.
fensve works are over The fault Of the old system
was that II caused large number Of troops to be
taken from the field army and locked up within the
enemy, yet could not be abandoned without leaving
him SO many points Of vantage No single garrison
vader's lines q communication Nor 10 harrass him
to any purpose.
=. The modern ideas on national defence, 50 far as
they apply to the building OF Notifications, are
chiefly these:-
raThe principal line, of approach should be occupied
Valleys dsae ali sorts, ROAD.
marshy district through forests bridges
enemy safe rapid ira IL:
Ias the safety
Or
TaraTo create strong Places which may serve as bases
assse nc 0T popon 70 Se S
the country and the number Of available lines which the
f0~a-oonsderng frontier FORTS whether permanen
OF as advanced posts to construct behind eac
camp With e.aSs than an Ordiaar
Of s s 4s al to position e.
Is Of real necessity, Il must be fortified
In countries like France and Prussia for instance
La nuhf hat anI,tn AitIr liz
would be 10 reach Paris or Berlin and 1t would be
OF the grea est importance to know that the capital
field armies would he free to form daring combina.
tons without necessarily Always covering the
The general rules which we have given are liable
TO arrangement and complication in particular
cases. one OF the provinces might be IN a chronic
state OF simmering rebellion. Then small refugees
ana great place OF arms must be constructed to
save the scattered and suddenly attacked detach.
may march forth as soon as collected and recon-
quer the revoted districts: II we examine map
she has not to fear Invasion from the East. Her
southern boundary is the Black Sea; and here we
tlfylng Kertcn strongly against naval attack. Be-
yond this there is little 10 be done or dreaded The
great steppes and the immense distance from vital
point render Invasion in this direction highly
improbable. Nevertheless, the same refuge
Is provided tor the beaten on this side as on the
capital Of Russia, holy city, the key Of the lower
Dnleper, the point OF conveyance OF many reads,
u
being connected with Odessa by railway actually
IN progress. A line OF rail Is protected to run
viii connect Brzesc Litewski with ODESSA and Kiev
II VIII be place Of many advantages, and probably
the future capital Of Russia Yet one more probable
to be the base from which q Russian army pene-
trating into Hungary Will draw its supplies
with no great fortresses, only old works such as
Kamenetz, opposite Czernswitz the present termi.
nus OF the Austrian Cracow- Lemburg Railway. But
long before reaching the Kingdom OF Poland, Holy
Russia Is guarded against her western neighbor by
the great I1nsk marsh nor could an army march on
the high road from LemDerg to Warsaw, along the
valley Of the Wieprz, because OF the defences OF
Zainesc, which was once the strongest fortress In
Poland, and might still do much TO check an invader.
On the other side Of the great marsh Is Bobruisk,
commanding the country between the Duna and
the Dnieper, being seated the Beresina, not I'M
known to history.
We are now In the Kingdom OF Poland, and how
comes 1t that we are brought face to face with the
TWO strongest iortresses In the Russian empire
nay, with a nest OF strong fortresses, or fortified
camp rather-the quadrilateral OF Russia Partly
because Poland IS easily .penetrable by an enemy,
chiefly because the Kingdom itself needs to be kept
down by the strong haEd When Russia attacks al
last, unless the time be long delayed Poland will
be one OF the first thoughts OF the enemy. There
will be risings in the towns, and many man Will
risk all 10 escape and join the Polish legion that Will
be lighting against Russia. This is why the gov
eminent OF the Gar, IN spite OF enormous yearly
upon keeping up and strengthening warsaw,
Mo q and
named are Dunaburg, a the crossing Of the railway
lines Warsaw-St petersburg and Riga -Smoenski,
&C., a most important point; then, on the seacoast
OF tue Baltic, Riga, with railway to Dunaburg;
sweaborg, newly fortified and partly armed since
the Crnean war, when, according TO RUSSIAN mill
tary authorities, 1t must have surrendered had the
bombardment continued half an hour longer; and
the great Cronsadt works, protecting ST Petersburg
against attack from the sea. or all these strong
places that we have named the most important are
undoubtedly those Of the Polish Quadrilateral, with
It's outpost towards Austria Zam0sc, which has
seacoast Qualifications, and behind them Kley
and Dunaburg The strongest defences IN the
Russian empire IRE the iron batteries or
Cronstadt, the great earth heaps of Modlln and
BrZesc Litewski, The new works at Kiev and Kertch
one moe fortress Is to be built entirely by military
labor at Czenst0chow, on the railway from Cracow
TO warsaw, because the line runs parallel with and
close the Prussian frontier from Warsaw until IL
arrives at CZenstochow. Warsaw H. however. now
a-.tr ~ ron I'M