The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-08-24
The pru.s,an military System.

4 lerQ. 1tS luuuameutdl pliuClpte Sno
every citizen owes his services to the coun
try. At tap Of the drum everybody is il
arms; nothing can keep them back-neithe
business, affections, workshops nor families
Prussia has proved herself to be the only
country which, in time Of peace, is prepared
for war. By law, every Prussian is sol
dier; and the Prussian. armies are in yer!
| truth the best blood and bone and sinew o
the people.
II Prussia has been spoken Of as an army
| holding q country rather than q country
having an army. The regular army consists
OF men from twenty to twenty-five years oil
age, in which Unjust serve three years, ex-
cept professional men, students, &c, whose
term of active service is one year. This
term being served, the Prussian enters the
Land,rehr, or militia, which is divided into
two levies. The first comprises all men from
twenty-six to thirty-two years Of age, and in
war is employed the same as the regular
army. The second levy consists OF men from
tbirty-three to thirty-nine years of age, and
is liable to be called out in time OF war for
the purpose OF garrisoning the fortresses.
There is also an irregular force (Landstu,m)
composed of men over thirty-nine and un-
der sixty years Of age, which is, however,
only a local force for defensive purposes,
and is never called out except in extreme
cases When war is declared there is no
Edelay The militia, so-called, but who are
in reality graduates Of the army, are, be-
sides, regularly drilled every year, so that
when they are summoned to arms in any
village or town only few hours elapse be-
fore they are efficiently in the ranks, on the
way to the point where their services are re-
quired. -,
Another important fact, which gives an
unparalleled facility Of movement to Prus-
sia's military operations, is that they are not
encumbered with an unwieldy commissariat,
but in towns where there are no barracks the
troops are quartered upon the citizens. A
European correspondent states that the city
receives them from the government and the
individual families from the city authorities,
with no privilege Of appeal. For their keep
| ing an established allowance is afterwards
paid by the government. For example,
when Heidelberg lately received her quota,
this instruction concerning them appeared:
The Einquartierten (the quartered soldiers)
shall be contented with the board enjoyed
by the quarterer and his family. Wine, beer
or cigars they shall not demand. In case
either party is dissatisfied, the following
legally established bill OF fare is to be adopt
ed as the daily allowance Of each malone
and half pounds bread; three quarters
pound fresh or salt meat, or half pound
smoked beef or mutton, or third pound
bacon; Of vegetables, quarter pound rice, or
the customary groats, or half pound meal,
or three quarters pound potatoes; OF salt,
one-quarter ounce; Of coffee, three-quarters
ounce Drowned, or seven-eighths ounce un-
Drowned. The great convenience OF this ar
rangement is obvious at glance. On the
other hand, while the Prussians have pos
sessed this important advantage, there are
complaints by the French that their commits
sariat, owing to the suddenness OF the war,
has been badly supplied.
The immense Prussian military machine is
susceptible Of being put in motion as readily
as if it included only the hundred men who
used to compose the standing army OF
small German princlpality. Net only is the
machine ss powerful as it can be made by
human ingenuity, but it seems to be operat-
ed by engineers OF consummate ability. The
war OF Prussia with Austria disclosed the
fact that there was master spirit in the Or
gauization OF armies and the conduct OF war
at the head of Prussian military affairs. 1t
did not need that contest to demonstrate
Prussian yalor, but what astonished the
world was celerity of military movement
equalling that OF the French, who used, in
the times of Napoleon, to dash upon their
enemies like thunderbolt, and overcome
them before they had fairly warmed up to
their work
Much has been said Of the needle-g gun, but
it is clear enough now that the chief sgnifi-
canoe of that improvement was the evidence
| it afforded of the sleepless military enter
prise of Prussia, showing more wakefulness
I than France in that respect, for the inven-
ton of the chassepot might never have been
made but that it was stimulated by the sue
cess Of the needle-gun. Certain it is that
the chassepot, though said to be a superior
weapon to the Prussian gun, has not availed
to overcome those who carry the latter, thus
seeming to show that it is the military sys-
tenn, the discipline and the leadership, the
whole inspired by an intense national ardor,
which must be counted among the promi-
nent agencies of Prussian success. All ac-
counts represent that this last most impor-
tant element OF strength has never been
more fully developed in Germany than at
the present moment. 1t is not at all proba-
BILE that the German love of country is great
er than that Of any other people. That pas
sion, so powerful in the human heart and
waich has been recognized as sacred even