The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-10-06
THE CREAM OF TIE NAR NEWS.

Spirit md Stendincss of the German
Troops.
A correspondent OF the Independence Beige
gives the following account of the German
troops after the terrible fights from August 2sth
to September I'd, resulting In the s'trreheefef
Marshal McMahon's army:
Nh trace of the terrible part which this army
had inst acted. Soldiers descended 10 tne next
brook to. fetch water for their horses. flrgs
had been k!nded. over which Lne soup @ns d.
ready boiling. Here and there qulet groups,
soldiers who brushed their unlor"si WeuIu Is ,unn.
their clothes and sewed on buttons. IL 10 won,
derf,l This peaceful care for regularity ana
neatnpss these domestic trlties On the mo- .ow
of q bloody tragedy, this common oroer aiter
the mnrdero,ls license, this petty domestic lite, !,
when Mt once succeeds the dreadful blows OF
the war, this powerful contrast mas moVed us
deenly. This is the Prnssian character ana lne
Prus ussian temperament. Thesc men certalnly yale
heroic. but they have not the passionateness
and excited Imagination which this heroism
wouI6 lead YOU to suppose. They are very
strunp. and they are very well governed
| They are very courageous and very quiet.
Carefully and methodically stationed, they eX-
ecute their task with great clrcumspecton,
risKinr their lives in cold blood. they never
FORGET their discipline, and YOU might say that
even the horses observe theirs. Yes, Their
horses also respect the rules, and do not
ev;ncp a useless ardor In the wrong place. We
have seen lonr rows of horses resting and Ut
jiherty: they remained In line handsomely, and
obsrryrd lie observation-disclosures on the pas
ture and while feeding. As 10 the picturesque
| ness of The Prussian army, lind it striking
enough in this mixture OF citizen-likc stmpl-
CITY and lnnexible resoluteness. Imagine to
\ r In hrnlUn
sneclacles. and you nearly have the Prussian
army. You might make u statue of it. But
| the Germans only seek German unity and
Greatness. not the postures and groups Of
Greece. These men, a French officer told me,
have q steadlness and confidence that cannot
be shaken. You would think that they COR
| slider themselves the executors OF divine or
ders. One does not feel degraded, added the
| same officer, when beaten by such q people.
The .Prussinn Field Guns.
As so much has been said OF the merits OF
the Prusslan field guns, 1t Will De We'll to quote
irom fhe letter of the experienced German
correspondent respectiDr the superiority Of
rhe frt on his own side, as observed at Spiche-
ron Metz and Beaumont, which makes no al
insjon TO the breech-loading question proper,
but ascribes tie advantage to the percussion
fuse solely: "On every side the French shells,
| striking often hardly ten feet from one anoth-
er, made large, deep noes nos In n Inc. Inc ground,
and leaving 1t of q brassy color To do this Is
| fine nature of time fuses. / have never seen
anv of these marks made by our Prussian
shells: they strike and explode at once, smash
inc everything around them. In tile second
camu cautured at Beaumont saw g group of
French corpses. three OF which had their heads
actually cut off by a sheii pursuing, Wnlle tne
fourth, struck in the oach, was altogether
burned up
Nitro-Glycerine I'm the War.
The surrender OF Strasbourg has saved 1t
from great peril. 1t has been declared on
SO rood on authority as that Oh ltle Mancnestc
Guardian that Two balloons, held in tow by
snitahIe lines. were to be sent up over the D e.
S;a%ad Town to n height of Que thousand feet.
Thsnce they were to drop nitro-Slycerin
hnmhs into the powder magazine. 4 man
named Walter is said 10 have been the inven-
| tor and the Intending operator OF This prett
Internal machine, which would certainly nav
been tried in few days llal. iot uenerai oiri
surrendered. Powder magazines are USUAL
nrotncted by casemates, or something lik e
| ithnm and the chance OF balloon, at the
hanht If only three hundred yards, escaping a
rain of chassepot bullets would appear to be
hnt mt omall m However, it is quite as well that
the experiment in question was not tried.
| 1y.rf,re on the Modern PIan.
One ot the frat military writers OF the day
Iiantrntant.C Colonel Chesney, author OF "rh
Military Resources of PRUSSIA ana France" "
has lately set forth, in q surprising way, now
r,Se nsnencea s,ta nv modern improvements in weap.
lnnu nns All that these do, he atlrlns, is to dis
nense with the old styles of field msnenpres, s
which are not practicable now Ill re lace and ~
an enemy, because of the greater range anu
accuracy of the new arms. But masses, ne
are strong as ever and the bayonet at
close n5 auarters, m stll beats either the needle
sun slua1 or fuu the chassepot Campaigns must now
s Se short 'l and sharp. Railways and telegraphs
Increase facility Of movement. Concealment
of men until the last moment, ana rapla COL
still still as in in the time of the first Napoleon, the