The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-08-09
10. o, JOHNSTON ON TIE VAR.
Comparison OF tho Opposing Troops aa;'
49, Generals.

Next to General Lee, General Joseph l..
Johnston is about the mcss celebrated OF tho
surviving generals of the Confedcracy, and in
this view. it may be. interesting to know ,t9c
opinions Of that officer on Tue Franco-GormIn
war. A correspondent OF tho Richmond Dis
patch writes. in substance, as follows: :
Towards the close of last m on,h Genera
Johuston was at the Sweet Chnlybente Springs.
in Virginia, and ia represented as speaking
very freely there upon the wan IN Europe. Ihc
s]owhees Of the opposing armieshe 1nclines 10
think q natural and necessary result OF the
plan Of clmpaign adopted-!hst ipiap; y bis
opinion, bsiIg one res.oyed On 'by b2:h 'be
Freroh aud Fnssian forces, and consisting
simply in an advance upon the soil Of the Gppo-
site party. To successfully inaug0.ate such q
campaign would Of coufee, require hrst cou-
centratlon oftroops; and, second, an acculnula-
tion or war material on veyT large sca:e, and
even with European facilities 40 htfie time
would be required to. make such preparations.
AS to the rank and file Of the two armies, he
was Inclined to suppose that the Pruss!au
troops were the better framed, baslce this
view un the fact that, as the PIu>sap conscr1p-
ton is bat for three years, @hlle the Freoch ls
for seven, the Prlsslau ranks were more con-
s.auily chaug .ng aad the diffusion Oh military
kpowledse amo4c the people Was therefore
however, be gave the superiority decidedly 20
the Frepch. Tie, have be en- thoroughly tried
il The Crimean AID Italian wars, hotn ofth em
contests OF great magnitude. not to speak ofthe
constant practice ifJraed in Algeria: The
Pruss,ap generals on the other nand. had not
bad on oppor.unityt TO chow their Eaerlts, the
Austrian war Of 1856 belng void o. actions
ana Goyan eats sufficient to adjrd sftest OF
military arih:y. Won Moitke, y: pait cllar, he
Thought. i: not merit the reputation be pcs
sssses, his renown being based only on detea1-
ling "a old aud incompetent general OF Sadowa,
when, 50 detective WAS his plan OF battle there,
he would have been utterly defeated had his
antagonist been general of tact or ability.
/ To instance: the Prussian plan OF battle vas 10
advance two columns frou two different points
upon Bendek. There beng no communication
between these columns; 1t WaB the, first dictate
OF generalsh,p to advance. the whole Austrian
amy upon the nearest c1.urln, and crush 1t
before the sec2pd could, re up. This done.
it would have been easy to turn upon the re-
manning column and defeat that. Instead OF
which General Bepedek calmly awaited tue
junction OF the columns, and suffered himself
to be engaged 10 front by one while the other
took him IN the rear. Napoleon the First would
never have done this, or "our own Jackson" !"
They.would have advsI 'ed rapidly N tull force
on the separated columns, engaged aud de-
feated them serlatim.
An s"1rreconci'able" here observing that
Won Moltke then was. after all, a1 oyerrated
man, and little deserved his reputation as did
Grant, General Johnston replied that Grant
would never have renamed still as Benedek
did, but would nave advanced and engaged the
hostile columns separately. Passing from the
mere strstegical view OF the case. The Genera!
remarked that be was surpr:s d to know Of 30
much sgmpa'hy ia The saa!n tn e Yor Prussia. Ma
poleoh, he REGARDED s. .ise and sa$ac:oas
ruler, who had made France one Of the traaaat.
countries in Europe, aud that nowher.j could
man ind better protection tor hir lite and prop
eIty than there. rho sswJathies Of Europe
snoulo oe NTH HIM. Us certainly II the French
.rrnies were defe'ted the result would be the
dethronemeat Of the Emperor, and such ian
event would oopEulse Europe for long time
to come.
! To playful suggestion that General Lee
and hmself snonld be sent over to settle bis
little matter, General Johnston laughlpk ~ re-
bIied that neither oouiu do much with their
limited knowledge Of G,rnan. "A general
should know hls men, and just here. he thought,
Was the error N the emplo. o.meut OF American
officers with the Egyptian troops. II was
very we'll for the officers who were we'll paid,
but would DOT be su well tor the Egyptlans.