New-York tribune., 1870-08-05
H1R TOPICS.

Weissenburg, which the Prusslans are re-
ported to have stormed yesterday, is small
French town on the right bank of the Lauter,
"a miles from Strasburg, and about 10 miles
above the junction of the Lauter with the
Rhine In history it is famous for the " Wes-
"senburg Line" of defenses, built by Marshal
Villars during the war of the Spanish success
sion. and extending from this town along the
Lauter TO Lauterburg on the Rhine. They
were abandoned in 1867, but have never been
destroyed. The town itself is fortified with
walls and towers.
The abandonment of Saarbruck by the
Prussians is a puzzle. We call it an aban
donment, because, having neglected to occupy
it in force when they had the opportunity
they clearly did not think it worth defending
Nevertheless, it is the key to the only railway
communication between Treves and Central
Germany, or, in other words, between the right
and left wings of the Prussian army. That
King William has made no attempt to hold 1t
is proof that the valley of the Saar Is not
to be the first Prussian line, as people gener-
ally supposed A day or two at most will
show what the real plan of campaign is.
=" Louis and | were in front, where the bull
"lets fell about us. Louis keeps ball he
"picked up The soldiers wept at his tran
"quillity" These are the words in which Ma
poleon III. writes his bulletins of battle. We
don't remember anything of the same sort in the
bulletins of Napoleon |. A popular writer
said recently that there were some things so
absurd in themselves that they could not be
burlesqued travesty was sure to fall below
the exquisite nonsense of the original. Is the
Emperor of the French one of the things
that can't be burlesqued9 His soldiers will
fight, we are sure, like a million heroes; but
Napoleon writes like Fenian general. We
are afraid indeed that Louis and l" are the
greatest frauds of the campaign.
After ALL it will not be so very bad Por-
tugal has declared her neutrality. This, of
course, narrows the contest immensely. And
yet, strange to say, that formidable kingdom
seems up to this time to have been completely
overlooked. Turkey Sweden, Ireland, Canada,
and various other Powers have given us more
or less anxiety; but we don't believe the
world has so much as thought of Portugal for
the last three months.
The excitement in London has led to an
increase of between so and 70 per cent in the
sales of the leading daily papers Such an in
crease would be impossible in the United
States, because here almost everybody reads
the papers daily, war or no war. England has
a much larger reserve of readers to mobilize
than we have
Rear Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, who was
second in command of the British feet under
Admiral Dundas at the siege of SebastOpol,
said of the officer now at the head of the Sixth
French Army Corps: "Canrobert was fine,
honorable, chvalrous fellow, but miserable
commander-in-c -chief-brave as steel person.
ally, but he burst not take responsibility. He
chad, on four separate occasions, made arrange
"ments with Lord Raglan for assauting the
"plaee, and each time made excuses when the
moment arrived for getting Off he has been
heard since to confess that he burst not have
attempted it.n Canrobert will probably not
be troubled with too much responsibility in
the present campaign, for it seems likely that
the greater part of the army is to be kept
concentrated under the eye of the Emperor
that is to say, of Marshal MacMahon. What
CanrObert can do as q fighting general he
showed much better in Italy than in the
Crimea
The minor gossip Of the Cable has men
toned one or two facts which curiously illus
trate the hasty nature of the concentration of
the rival armies. Some Of the French divisions
seem to have outmarched the commissarat,
and to have been fol time actually short of
supplies, while the Prussians are said to be
suffering from deficiency of camp equipage.
Probably there has been no great hardship on
either side; but that there should have been
any at all, at this stage of the war, in armies
so perfectly organized, shows that the advance
to the frontier must have been made with
extraordinary rapidity. ... .-