North Iowa times. [volume] (McGregor, Iowa) 1867-current, 1870-07-20
War in Europe.

fFOW Tue SHicuko 1iIDuHe, July losH.
The declaration of war by Napoleon is
not, apparently, based on the Spanish
question. That had been wholly with
drawn from discussion by the withdrawal
of Leopold, SO the Duke de Grammot and
the Constitutional had declared. France
now draws the sword to avenge an alleged
insult sustained by Count Benedict, the
French Minister to Prussia, at the hands
Of King William. This supposed insult,
in turn, was provoked by Benedict, in alb
ruptly demanding from King William in
person, while he was in the act Of taking
the mineral waters at Ems, that he would
sign direct official guarantee as King of
Prussia, that Leopold would never again
appear as candidate for the throne of
Spain. The arrogance of this demand on
the part of France seems to have been
heightened by the utterly undiplomatic
and irregular way in which it is made.
The civilised world can form but one
opinion of the origin of this war, and that
is, that since the withdrawal of Leopold,
France has had not the vestige of griev-
ance. The war is forced on by the des-
perats gambler who rules the destinies of
France, from ambitious motives of his own,
the purport and object of which are prob
ably not yet known even to his own Min
istry-who are reported to be at the point
of resigning,-certainly not to France or
to Europe. Napoleon III. regards the
casus belt, whether sufficient or insufficient,
as, at best, the mere pretext. He goes
into the fight for what he expects to win
in it.
1t is, therefore, an unprovoked war of
conquest, wholly foreign to the spirit of
modern times. It will bring terrific DESC
lation and havoc into millions of peaceful
homes, and will fill with blood and slaugh-
ter one of the most populous and lovely
portions of the earth. Hundreds of thou.
sands of families will, in few hours, be
fleeing across the frontiers, carrying their
little movable wealth with them, or cow
ering in helpless dread, awaiting the HUI
man tornado, knowing that it means con-
scription, plumber, and the unloosi6g of all
the furies Of the internal world around
them. It is using mild speech to say that
the infection upon mankind of such an
utterable calamity, without cause, is one
of the most fendish crimes ever inspired
by ambition. 1t forms the best rebuque
the French people could possibly receive
for having, few weeks since, endorsed,
by seven millions of votes, all the previous
usurpations and crimes of Napoleon III.
They sustained him as the embodiment
of order and peace! As if one who slew
10000 Frenchmen to obtain his throne
wouM care for peace, when war would
better serve his purpose.
Rhenish Prussia, Napoleon's objective
point, is divided midway by the Rhine.
and comprises an area as large as the State
of Indiana, containing five millions of
people. Itincludes, on its left bank, the
cities Of Treyes, Cologne, Cloves, AK Ia
Chapelle, Conn, and Coblentz. The pop
ulation of all this territory is distinctly
German as that On the east side of the
Rhine. and. indeed. there are more Ger.
incorporating people on the acknowledged
French side of the border than French
people on the German. A river is seldom
; natural boundary between two peoples,
and il far oftener band Of commerce,
uniting in one the populations on both it,
banks. Il has always been 90 in this in
stance, France never having extended her
language or institutions to the lower
Rhine, and only advancing her standards
there, whom, under the First Napoleon,
thsy waved also on the Elbe and the
DaDebe.
Peing down the Rhine, the first Ger
nsn ~ The traveller reaches on the left
bank = Bingsn. Jsst above Bingen q
sleasjy -dsfned spur ;of mountains called