The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1870-07-16
WI

YESTERDAY France formally declared war
against Prussia, and in few days the forces
of the rival powers will in oil probability be
Joined in battle. In this contest the French
Emperor has everything to win or lose, and
he is now playing his last and greatest stakes
with fortune. If he comes out of the con-
fiict victorious and with his opponent hum
bled, his throne may be considered secure, at
least during his own lifetime, and he will
leave it to his son with presiiggee ts1r sTnnort Of
lar towards Spese6fpie peefii If he is defeated Napo-
leonism may be considered as practically at
an end, and all the discomfort that success
ful Wsr would stife in France would break
forth in irrepressible fury.
With Prussia the case is different. for at
the most she can only be thrown back to her
old position of a second-rate power. The
stability of her throne will not be menaced,
and a defeat may even be a benefit to the peo-
pie by stimulating them 10 extend the bounds
of liberty, and to lay deeper and broader than
over the foundation of that great united
German empire that has been the dream of
centuries. In craftsmanship Bismarck has
shown himself thus far moro than the master
last twenty years has assumed to be the arbi-
ters of the destinies of Europe, and now
that an appeal has been made to arms, it re-
mains to be seen whether Napoleon can
regain the prestige he lost when the United
States ordered him out of Mexico, and when,
the diplomacy of Bismarck being crowned by
the victory Of Sadowa, the influence of Pr1s-
sia threatened to overshadow that of France.
In the contest about to be waged France
means Napoleon, while Bismarck means
Prussia and German unity, The French
armies will fight for the perpetuation of the
Bonaparte dynasty, while the victory of Prus-
sia will be guarantee that the bounds of
liberty will be enlarged and that the political
instability Of France will no longer be per-
mitted to disturb the peace Of Europe as it
has heretofore. The sympathies of the peo-
pie of the United States thus far have un-
mistakably been with Prussia, not merely be-
cause she has been insulted and bullisd by
France, but because it is believed that the
overthrow Of the military power of France
will be beneficial to the peace and
prosperity of Europe, while the extension of
Prussian power and influence can scarcely be
otherwise than favorable to the growth OF
liberty and the progress of enlightenment
and civilization. In the contest
that is about to commence decisive victory
by the nation with the best free school sys-
tenn and perhaps the highest educational
average of any in the world-not excepting
the United States-will mean something more
than a triumph of the Hohenzollern family
and the glorifcation of Bismarck
1t is almost impossible at this time to form
any idea Of the possible extent and duration
of the war. 1t may be as short, sharp, and
decisive as the campaign of Koniggratz and
Sadowa, when Prussia humbled Austria, or il
may precipitate q general European conflict.
This, indeed, is most likely to occur, and it is
already rumored that Prussia has secured the
assistance of Russia.
With France engaged in a war that is
likely to tax all her military resources to the
utmost, the opportunity is certainly a favor
able one for the Czar to attempt to realize the
object of bis fathers ambition by seizing
Constantinople, and to pay back some of tho
old Crimean scores by aiding in the destruc-
ton of the power which was chiefly instru-
mental in defeating Russia in that contest.
Austria and other nations all have grievances
on one side or the other, and all the indications
are that such conflict as Europe mas not
seen since the days of Napoleon 1 is lm-
pending.