The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1870-09-01

are several highways, two or three days narc1
will bring the bulk of the French through it
Whilst the columns converge to unite In the
lower ground of Saxony, the Prussianss, dis
covering that they are being turned and out
| Hanked to the east of their line, will draw in
towards their own left to meet the enemy. The
deep valley of the Upper Saale, of great i'm
portance in former German wars, divides the
east end of the Thuringian country from the
rest, and will naturally separate thetwo armies.
The passages of the Upper Saale all converge
about Jena. 1t is pretty certain, therefore, that
the Prussians, unless much wiser than take
them to be, will have to fight for these pas
sages, and there is, therefore, fair reason to
foretell that great battle, on which the fate of
the kingdom is to depend, will be fought in the
neighborhood of jena"
Such we may suppose to have been the train
of thought which led to prediction, by then
obscure writer, which has made his name more
noted than the most elaborate of all his books.
But matters are not in 1870 as in 1906. A hun
dred Jominis, if they were to meet in council
at the Tuileries this week, could not possibly
foresee the resultant of the tremendous forces
about to be brought into collision. No one
knows exactly the available armies which may
be gathered by certain time. The French
boast that they can put $4,000 men on the
Rhine in few days Very possibly; but the
Germans can certainly assemble $780, 900 men by
corps daymee in a fortnight. The French de-
clare the Chassepot better weapon than the
acknowledgements. Very possibly; but the
Prussian gun has stood the brunt of war, and
bears the prestige of the most rapidly success
full campaign on record. The French put faith
in their new mitrailleurs all recent experience
tends to lessen expectation of great results from
complicated forms of light artillery. The
French believe that the Prussians have lost the
practice of one sort of tactics, and not fixed on
anything to take its place. The Prussian
writers allege that, with any shortcomings,
their new system is far in advance of those of
other nations in its adaptation to the breech-
loader. The French point to the strategy that
gave them Magenta, and the tactics that won
Solferino. The Prussians say that the one was
lost by the paltering incompetency to the Aus
trian staff, the other by the meddling of Fran
els Joseph with matters far beyond his grasp.
The French are proud of the active intelli-
gence of their democratic rank and file, and
their self-made officers and generals. The
Prussians have faith in their patient, sturdy
soldiers, and the high professional spirit which
animates their officers from the Kings son
down to the youngest ensign. Out of all the
war of words and controversies on theory this
truth rises clearly up, that no man can at this
moment pretend to fathom the probabilities,
since no man has the knowledge which would
make his judgement worth having The most
important element of all in an equal war is the
power of the leader. In this case each has
been tried in but one campaign, and each
against an adversary whose blunders prepared
defeat The military aspect of the war is in
fact as uncertain as its effect upon the politics
of Europe.
With the views We have announced it will
not be expected that we should attempt to fore
caste the events now near at hand. 1t will be
our cndeavor rather from week to week to sum
up the facts, and analyze or apply them only as
far as means permit. The belligerents are re-
solved to keep the world thoroughly in the dark.
Happily this is hardly possible, and we will do
our best to pierce the cloud not looking to the
political side of the question, nor pointing out
whether French ambition or Prussian aggran-
dizement is the more sinful. For seven long
wears Count Bismarck has steadily and success
fully pursued policy which has, step by step,
brought his country into a more leading posi-
tion. Step by step he has reused the jealousy
of his neighbors. At last Prussia finds herself
rated us the first military power in Europe.
But that position has been claimed by another;
and no homilies, nor chapters on political econ
omy, nor declarations on the rights of man and
solidarity of the peoples, can avail to put off
the long preparing contest, which has sprung
from causes no nearer their final extinction
then when Rome made war upon Carthage.
This said in exposition of our purpose, we shall
keep henceforward To our task of chronicling
and explaining events which must interest
deeply even those who deprecate them most
Saturday Reriew.
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