The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1870-07-13


special kilograms and otherwise, does not
convince us that France abates anything in
her extravagant demands. 1t is just as mani
fest that Prussia is not disposed to do any
thing Which Will seo5l to imply the abandon
ment Of her rights. Spain even sno"S- niucK-
a good deal more than was expected. The En-
peror Napoleon has found it necessary to
return from st. Cloud to the Tuileries. Baron
Werther, the Prussian Ambassador, has
returned from Ems, where he was closeted
with his royal master, and is now in Paris.
Olivier still talks big, but whether he talks
without or with full knowledge of Baron
Werthers mission we are as yet left to conjec-
ture. 1t has been rumored that King William
is not unwilling to advise Prince Leopold to
withdraw his name as candidate for the
crown of Spain. This, however, he does as
head of the house of Hohenzollern, not as
King of Prussia. It is also rumored that
France will not have this, regarding 1t as q
subterfuge which would leave her morally
worsted. On the part of Prussia now, as we'll
as on the part of France, preparations for war
60 on apace. From o Paris source we learn
that the King Of Prussia has had frequent
audiences with Baron de Moitke. Moltke, it
will be remembered, was the soul of the sue
cess Of the campaign against Austria in 1866
that most brilliant Of campaigns, which, in six
short weeks, laid the mighty power Of Austria
low. The corps at Cassel, at Hano-
yer and in the Elbs provinces are
to be reinforced. Seventy thousand troops
are ordered to the line Of the Rhine. The
Bourbons, younger and older, encourage
Prince Leopold to accept the Spanish crown
and brave the consequences, believing, no
doubt, that the complications which might
result from the same would rebound to their
advantage. Accusations and recriminations
were rife on both sides, in Paris and Berlin.
Paris was vastly excited; Berlin looked to
the front. The Empress Eugene was accused
of war agency-Of fomenting war in the
interest of the Prince of the Asturias. Prim
proclaims "Nioe rEspagne." In the French
Legislature the oppositionists derided the war
idea Of Bonaparte, and ridiculed the notion of
a ''decrepit invalid" heading the army Of
France. England supported the Prussian
position, but recommended peace by the with
drawal of Prince Leopold. Excitement still
prevailed on Change and the continental
bourses 1t was said, indeed, that the Prince
had withdrawn.
Al the present moment, therefore, war is as
likely as not. France seems to wish it, and
=. c-o;l l.
it will be after q fashion such as the world has
never seen before. The military art has
shared the advantages Of modern progress
The vast and rapidly accommodating resources
of science are as available for purposes of
destruction as they are for ameliorating the
condition of mankind. War between France and
Prussia, the two most gigantic military Powers
of Europe-if always we leave Russia and
Great Britain out of the question-will be
short, sharp and decisive beyond every pre-
vious war on corresponding scale of magni-
tude in the whole history of the world. In
our own civil war, in the war of 1866 between
Prussia and Austria, in the war of 1890,
between Austria on the one hand and Italy
and France on the other, we had glimpses fthe
new agents which, by making war destructive
beyond all conception, promise to hasten the
time when war will be numbered with the things
that were. 1t was the railroad and the, tele-
graph, more than our superiority in numbers,
that gave us the victory over our Southern
brothers. 1t was the skiful use of those two
agents that gave Prussia the victory Of
Sadowa ard that added to the glories of the
French empire the names of Magenta and
Soferino. Had the First Napoleon been privi-
legged to make use of those two agents his
wondrous faculty for combining and concen-
trating his forces would have made
easy not the conquest of Europe only,
but of the world. For ages war was
conducted very much on the same prin-
ciple. The first great revolution in the art of
war was the Roman road. This it was which
made the conquests of Rome more rapid, more.
extensive and more enduring than those of
Greece. With the decline of the Roman
power came the decay of the magnificent cause
ways that made the Roman empire practical
unit. War in consequence, during the Dark
Ages, was conducted very much after the
fashion Of village brawls. The dawn of
modern Europe was marked by the invention
of gunpowder and the use of firearms, as we'll
as by the discovery of the art of printing.
With increasing knowledge war gradually
assumed larger proportions and revealed more
dangerous tendencies. The armies Of the six
teenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
in point of bulk, recalled the armies of ancient
the firearms then were, made war infinitely
more destructive. The wars that grew out of
the Revolution of 1889, the wars of Napoleon
and Wellington, made the wars of Condo and
Turrenne, of Marlborough and Eugene insight