The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-12-15


II want more head and less tongue" sail
the greatest of modern leaders and statesmen
when selecting men to ill the various office
of a new government that he was organizing
He meant that silent and steady work which
allows attention to DO fixed and concentrates
on the task in hand, instead of being diverted
and FILTERED away by endless discussion an(
garrulous, noisy comment that, moreover
dseloses to all the world and places at thu
disposal of open or hidden enemies wha
should remain the treasured secret Of the gov
crning and controlling power alone. In thu
later days of the second Napoleonic empire
talk and fanfaronade took the place of that
silent will and persistent onward movement
which gave such apparently resistless and I'M
varying success to its military enterprises and
its diplomacy in the beginning of its dashing
career. Meanwhile, precisely the opposite
system had been adopted and was prevailing
in Prussia Bismarck is thinker and
toiler. not windmill of words, and from the
moment when his intellect began to sway the
destinies of his country babblers began to dis
appear from positions of high trust and conf
dence Noise ceased to be an element OF
official life. ''Silence in the ranks J" became
the civic as we'll as the military order OF the
day. Everything was thoroughly organized
and put in shape, and when an Austrian Cab-
net with loud mouthed threats and pompous
bulletins advanced to win an easy victory, as
it believed, in 1866, the overwhelming defeat
at Sadowa suddenly and terribly revealed to it
such skill, discipline and resources in the
Prussan antagonist as had not been even sus-
pected at Vienna. Nay, at Paris, London,
and even in New York, predictions had been
nearly all upon the other side. The year 1870
has brought conspicuously before the world
repetition of this lesson, the more remarkable
after so striking an example precedent.
In July last the French Cabinet, composed
of boastful takers, who inflamed the pride and
egotism Of the nation, repeated the folly that
Austria committed four years ago. In the
meantime Prussia had been extending and
developing her system of quiet preparation,
and when collision came the hastily
assembled French armies saw them
selves utterly outnumbered, outgeneralled
and overpowered at all points. On
the persons of captured German officers of
inferior rank were found maps Of the smallest
localities and crossroads in the districts that
the invaders were approaching, such as were
hot in the possession even Of the imperial staff
Of Napoleon iii. After MacMahon's defeat at
Woerth that distinguished marshal had to in
quire the way, when retreating from the field,
Of the neighboring peasantry, and with no
little difficulty escaped the victorious Germans,
who were rapidly and easily outfanking him
through their superior Typographical iaforma-
ton Again, at Sedan the French generals
were evidently surprised, owing to similar
superior knowledge of the ground on the part
of their antagonists. Silence and celebrity pre-
pared and massed the Prussian forces, led
them to the field, won for them the victory and
hurled them upon the very heart Of France.
Talk was beaten; work was the conqueror.
Russia, sternly warned by the disasters Of
the Crimean war and the humiliations of the
bitter Treaty Of Paris, has also been acting on
the silent plan. Gathering up aud reconstruct
ing her naval and military forces, extending
her telegraphs and railroads with feverish
rapidly, purchasing the best arms and enginery
Of war and periecting her administration
at every point, she, too, possesses, while we
write capacity to strike how, when and
where few, if any outside of her dominions,
or not in high office within them, can pretend
to know. She never would have dared to
brave The British lion in his den, as she is now
doing, unless she knew secret Of tremen-
dous power and had it in her grasp. A
HERALD correspondent, conversng recently
with Russian gentleman of high standing in
the empire, repeats the statement from his
lips that the Gar has now four hundred
thousand men not far from the Austrian
frontier, possesses five hundred thousand Rem
incton rifles and two thousand mitrailleuses,
along with naval force ''that is little known
and has always been under estimated" Again,
a reliable letter, dated at st. Petersburg but a
month ago to-day, uses precisely this Ian
guage EFT is known that the new armame nj
of our forces is completed, and that the con-
tineent amounts to more than one million Of
well drilled soldiers, while, as regards morale,
it is far superior to what we possessed during
the Crimean war" Another letter received
from the Russian capital by the latest Euro
pean mail and dated November 26 says thai
the new law levy now in progress viii
Weld five hundred thousand fresh troops
and that ''devouring activity" reigni
in the War Office there, while a
Kertch, naval port of great strength
quietly constructed on the coast of the Sea o
Azof everything is in readiness for an impos
ing demonstration Of iron-clads on the Black
Sea, should occasion demand. At the ga me
time an indescribable enthusiasm, almost fana.