The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1870-08-10
THE NEW SITUATION IN EUROPE,
Comments of the Press.
From he ". y. Times.
THE nRTssTAN VICTORY.

rum tHt ~" ! = 4tHIeSs
THE rRUssIAN VICTORY.
The whole face OF the campaign is
changed. The French have sustained q
defeat so Overwhelming that VIC very
much question whether it will be possible
for the Emperor and his Generals TO re-
trieve it. Napoleon, instead oroccupying
an offensive position, has now all bis work
10 do TO defend Paris lie acknowledges
in dispatch to his Ministers that his com.
munications with Marshal NIcMahon have
been interrupted fact which In itself
reveals the magnitude the disaster which
has overtaken the French forces. The
Dispatch from our special correspondent
throws additional light on the great event
now made known to lis. When We read
the general dispatches, the first question
that arises in the mind Is, what has be-
come Of the French forces which were
pushed into SnarhruCkcn from ST. Avoid
and Forbach? A clean sweep seems TO
have been made Of them all. 81 am going
10 place myself in the centre Of the posi-
tiOn," Napoleon telcgraphs to Paris. The
truth Is be can scarcely be sHid TO have n
centre tn bOaSt Of The entire army is
driven back to Metz. The position ut
Saarbrucken Is lost-On that line, indeed,
everything is lost. The Pr1lSsians caught
Mcmahon in one place, and FrosSard in
another, and utterly crushed them both.
The loss must be tremendous. -Four
thousand prisoners were taken by the
Prussians, thirty guns, six mitraiIleusc
and two standards. France hns never re.
ceivcd such blow since Waterloo. All
Europe must be convulsed by such M
event.
From he World, (NdpoIton SyTapdthi2er)
The news which we publish to-day is,
in certain very grave aspects, the most
monentous which has reached America
from Europe since the proclamation Of
the French Republic, in 1913. In the
presence Of the sudden possibilities which
Il disclOses, the mere details OF battle and
victory at this point or at TINT, the retreat
of Mcmahon, the peril Of Strasburg, the
pious thankIulncss Of old King William
over the success Of sour Fritz"-nay, the
dismal, dreadful vista itself Of actual hu.
man suffering opened to ls by the curt
but awfully significant tale Of positions
tiercely assaulted and us fcrccly hold-all
these sink into comparative instgnifcance,
Between the. victories Of Hagcnau and
Worth anil Saarbruckcn and the fall Of
Paris intervene many serious matters IN
army actually in the field, from Strasburg
to Nancy and Metz 10 Vcrdun, Of nearly
half million Of men, two.thirds at least
of them veterans Of the regular forces;
many fortified places; the indomitable
hatred OF the most passionate ind dan.
gerous of European peoples. Yet the EN-.
pcrOr calls upon MI FrGnChmcn to rise and
save their country, and the Ministers
Of the Emperor declare the capital
in state Of siege. This, TO
our thinking, is supremacy tho signiti.
cant feature Of this days news-and this
means not SO much defence against the
Prussiaus rs menace to Europe. For il
means plainly this, TINT II the empire can.
not within very brief period rcpcl the
Germans beyond the Rhine, France will
rise to repcl them in her own fashion, as
Of old, and in her own fashion, us OF old,
10 follow them, with the flag Of the re.
public in tile van Of her armies. This
truth, blazing up In night, means moro
and worse 10 the King and the royal
princes of Prussia, Il they would but secit,
than all tho mitrailcurs Of McAlahon and
all the Chassepots Of BazAinc. 1t means
rs much and rs much evil TO other princes
and sovercigns also; and those who know
how deep anil how wide Nre the mystcri.
Gus qualifications throughout the European
Continent Of the new revolutionary spirit
and tho still newer revolutionary organiza.
ton Of our times, know well to-day that
things infinitely more serious than the
glory or the downfall Of dynastics, more
serious, too, than the political unity or the
political parcclling Of race, are hanging
In the balance Of the tremendous conflict
the first fierce clash Of which breaks on
our ears today. Everything now com
pols to action, to action prompt, fierce,
and decisive. No intervention Of foreign
powers could do aught but Hggravate the
general peril u Europe which shoulders
In tho particular peril 10 France Of the
nrcsent moment. Whether that Bmould.
ering peril shall burst out into flame. the
events of very few days-0t an hour,
ono may almost sIy, who compares the
swift moments with their pregnant
md dreadful p0ssibilitiGs-must decide,
To draw the sword is one thing, to
sheathe IL another A decisive defeat Of
lie Prtlssians and the invasion oil Ger.
many BY the French may still save the
empire from expulsion. Itmay be doubt.
ed gravcly today whether even such sue.
ccsses MS these can still save Europe from
revolution.
From @E " =. Ntrald.
In snitn Of the moral advantages which