The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-10-08

The sword and flame. At the end of this
campaign there was not, said Turenne, a
sin gle enemy in France who was not pri-
soner. Louis XIV, during this year, had re-
pear.t { ly begged Turenne to return with the
Il oops and defend his kingdom, but he re-
fused in a bold letter, which ended in these
words:-
81 know the strength of the Imperial
troops, the generals who command them, the
conntly where am take all on myself, and
accept the responsibility of the result.
''iurenne, says Voltaire, ''never won one
of those great battles that decide the desti-
nj, of nations; but still he was one of the
greatest captains of Europe" Conde envied
him, and Napoleon praised him.
Early in life 1urenne, sent by Mazarin to
raj V the troops of some German allies had
pi ssed the Rhine at Breisach U6iD and
beaten the enemy he was now to fall beside
the Rhine. In 1876 he had to stop Monte
cuculi, the great imperialist general, from
ps sssing over the Rhine and ravaging Alsace
and Lorraine. For six weeks these clever
players mannuvred without leaving an open
ing tor he adversary. The moment at length
came; and Turenne, who was on the German
side of the Rhine, seized it.
''I lave them, he cried, and prepared to
crush them between his army and the river.
The battle was fought at Saltzbecb. Tu-
repne was cannonading the church and
chateau, and giving directions for the erection
of a FIRE sh battery to stop column of the
enemy, when q shot struck him. The horse
moved on twenty paces then Turenne fell
dead.
No general remained 10 carry out his unde-
veloped plans, and the soldiers, wearied of
mistakes, at last called out in irony, Turn
out our fathers piebald mare, and she will
lead u.s."
"a soldier is dead to us, said Montecu-
culi who has done honor to mankind"
The French retreated, pressed hard by the
1mperialists but Conde soon arrived to pro-
tect them; and the Germans then fell back.
In the wars of the revolution, when the
Prussians threatened Alsace, Hoche, who had
risen from the ranks, distinguished himself,
although constantly repulsed by the Duke
of Brunswick, in despatching corps of
twelve thousand men to harass Wurmser,
and to Join Pichegru on the Rhine. The
result of this man9uvre was the dislodging
of the Austrians from the line of Wisse M
burg, the relief of Landau, and the liberation
of Alsace. In 1894, when the Austrians were
feeling secure, the French suddenly
plunged across the Rhine and seized
Dusseldorf. They then, under Cuisine,
stormed Mannheim, after six different
assaults, and committed frightful atrocities on
the inhabitants. In 1897, when Napoleon
was in Italy, Hoche, with eighty thousand
men, strove to establish Rhenish republic.
Having concentrated at Andernach, he at
daybreak crossed the Rhine at Neuwied and
carried the Austrian redoubts at the point of
the bayonet. An obelisk at Neuwied still
records the bridge that Hoche threw across
! to the island in the middle of the river. In
! the mean time, before LIE Fevre could seize
Frankfort, Moreau had also crossed the Rhine
and fought the Austrians at Diersheim. 1t
| had been Carnot's great plan, in conjunction
with Napoleon and .Moreau, thus to give the
! ctr;a ,yr,r Tina
the army of the Sambre and Meuse, was to
have pressed forward on the eastern
frontier of Germany, supported on the left
! by Jourdan and the army of the Rhine,
until Moreau should be in position to COM
municate with Bonaparte through the Tyrol.
| The combined armies were then to advance
on Vienna. Jourdan in front drove War
tensleben back, as Moreau did the Archduke
Cballes not Nithstanding the Austrian gen.
eral showed superior military genius. Leaving
force to employ Moreau, the archduke sud
| denly Joined Wartensleben, and with a su-
perior force overwhelmed and routed Jour
dan. The German peasantry rose and har-
assed his rear guard, while Moreau, by a
brilliant and daring retreat through the Black
Forest, with difficulty saved his army.
Before crossing the Alps for the campaign
of Marengo, Napoleon left the army of the
Rhine in charge of Moreau, who was to watch
the Germans and to cross the Rhine near
Schaffhausep, and, marching on alone with
his whole force, to place himself in the rear
of the greater part of the Austrian army.
But Moreau was too cautious for such dar-
ing scheme; he crossed the Rhine, however,
at the end of April, reached Augsburg by the
18th of July, and kept the Germans from
interrupting Napoleon's invasion of the
AIilanese.
Bonaparte did not fight many battles on
the Rhine. His great ambition flew with
such an eagle-fligh as soon to sweep beyond
boundaries so pupy. His great victories
were far away from Frsnce--in Italy, in
Egypt, on the Danube, and on the Elbe.
Marepgo was in Piedmont Austeritz in
Moravia. In 1913, after that terrible defeat
of his exhausted army at Leipsic, when the
allies killed or captured fifty thousand
Frenchmen, there was much blood again
shed round the Rhine. The battle of Hanau,
in Hesse, was really fight for the road to
the Rhine, for the Austrians and Prus-
SLAMS were pressing close on the retreatine
emperor Wrede and forty-fve thou
sand Bavarians barred the path to France.
The fight began in q wood near a small river
and a village called Neuhoff. The French
ttTditearS fought from tree to tree like deer.
stalkers, and the Bavarians, seeing two bat
talions of the guards arriving to their aid, and
thinking the attack was in force-always an
unwise supposition, that needs confirmation n
gave way; at the same time a dash OF
sabres on their left chased their cavalry be-
hind the river. The road to Frankfort was
now open; but the French rear-guard, OF
eighteen thousand, under Mortier, was still
behind, so Marmont was left with three corps
of infantry to cover their retreat while Ma
poleon pushed on to Frankfort.
.h e Al.