The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-08-10

/ ing OF the SORT mas CakeH piace. t1uere uaVe
i been no disturbances; the authorities having
been warned that the International Society OF
Workingmen intended to make derionstra-
tlons, took precautions to prevent them,
! which would have been efectual If any out
break was really contemplated.
~-
W.iR TOPICS.
The LEFT Bank Of the Rhine-A Ger
/ go man View. lgc
a, correspondent writes to the New York
Evening Post as follows:
A superficial glance at the map may posi-
bly, sometimes lead to the impression that the
Rhine is the natural. and thaeit ought there.
fore to be the actual polltica! boundary between
France and Germany. So, casual glance at
the man might lead a stranger to imagine that
the Hudson River ought to be tho boundary,
between New York and New England. Bh5
/ the Germans would not tolerate an assumption
of this kind any sooner than the New Workers.
Indeed, the arguments against /, derived
| from the past history and from the present
state Of things, are much stronger In the case
| Iot the Rhine Than Of the Hudson.
Ii The inhabitants Of the left bank of the Rhine
are. and always have been Germans. But the
province called Esass or Alsace or Alsatla,
which extends along the left bank for the dis.
tance of about one hundred miles below Dasle,
in.Switzerland, was ceded to France by the
treaty OF Westpha!ia In lG4S, by way OF com
peusation for TIE services OF the French TO the
| cause Of the Protestants in the Thirty ears
War. This was the first, rs il is still! the only,
foothold of the French upon the Rhine. Stras-
burg is the principal city OF E!sass. Its popll-
laIiUu, after two .lilndred years OF French
domination, remains German almost as much
as Its celebrated Gothic cathedral. II was
free city OF the German empire, anu Us sicl
entitled to q seat in It's Diet.
| The same may be said Of five other towns IN
iElsass, and also Of the fortified town OF Metz
! on the MoSele, in the province OF Lorraine.
which was once q part OF Germany.
| Following down the left bank OF the Rhine
below the French possessions, We come to
Spires, the capital of Rhenish Bavaria, oOher-
wise called the Palatnate, and then to Worms.
| In the Grand Duchy, Of Hesse Darmstadt.
These oil German towns were imperial free
|cities. and in both of them diets OF the empire
were held. Severa! Of the emperors resided at
Spires, and nine OF them. among them iu.
doph, OF Hansbnrg, are buried In the Vallltse9f
its cathedral. Here, In 1929. the decree oil the
diet against the doctrines OF the Reiormers
was passed. which led 70 vigorous protest
| on the part of the minority, aud hence the
| name of Pyotesta5ats. In 1871, at Worms, was
held the diet at which Luther appeared 6Id
| made his celebrated defence OF himself before
the Emperor. Charles the Fifth.
Continuing the journey. we arrive at the
carrlsoncd town OF Mainz or Mayence, the
Birthplace and residence of Gutenberg, and
the cradle Of The art Of printing. The Arch.
bishops OF Manz were powerful temporal
princes, and were first in rank OF the ELECTORS
of the German. Empire. Crossing the Nnhe at
Bngen we enter the Prussian possessions on
the west side Of tie Rhine, which are cOm-
poscd chiefly of territories that belonged to
the Archb,shoprcs of Cologne and Treves and
the Duchies Of Cleves and Julich, all Of which
were fiefs OF the empire. The towns Of Bop
part and +Diiren in this part of Prussia, and
also Cologne with its German cathcdral,) the
largest and wealthiest town on the. Rhine,
were imperial free cities. So also was Aix-la-
Chapele, or Aachen. situated west Of Cologne
congresses Its diets, IT'S councils and corona
tions of sEmperors.
Mention ought also to be made Of Bonn, on
the Rhine, the birthplace OF Beethoven, and
the seat of a fiourlshing German university,
where Nlebuhr, Schlegel, Arndt and Dahlmann
lived and taught, and where Lange, whose
Bible Commentaries are SO well known IN this
the Prussian. Bayaran and Hesslan terrific
rIes west of the Rhine Is something over three
millions. and about two-thirds Of these are
subjects of Prussia.
The foregoing statement, though necessarily
meagre and imperfect, will serve to dispel any
Illusions as to the reasonableness OF the French
Emperor In his ambition to extend bis con-
Quests to the Rhine, and to explain the una
ni,nity of the uprising of the Germans. They
would as soon think Of abandoning Berlin or
Iepsic TO the Russians as OF surrendering Co
lorne or Mainz or Treves to the French. They
have no central city like Rome, or Parls5 or
London But If there Is anything In the world
which they regard as sacredly their own, It is
the noble river and It's fertile valley, filed with
the ancient seats OF their civilization and The
monuments OF their art and industry-the
faithful chronicles OF their hstory-and they
will most assuredly fight to the last to defend
and keep it from the French, as man will
ioht 10 defend his home aid hearthstone
against robbers.
The Cost Of the European War.
The cost of war is quite beyond estimate. It
hegins the moment that it Is thought OF, and
steadily increases all the time up to an actual
collision, and does not end until long after the
helljperent parties have sought the shades OF
neoce. II permeates every trade circle with
damaaInr effects to every class Of productive
Industry. 1t is, of course, impossible to. ascer
tain even approximately and in figures, the
amount of damage done by mere apprehen-
sion of injury, and, In the language of New
| York cotemporary, '.still more so to track 1t
| through all Tue CllautlcAS "a ioUoeIS duu
misery in which 1t results, at last, IN the prt-
yations. sorrows and RUIN OF unnum6ered
homes" /" But one branch of the work 1t
leaves Ia palpablc. for it is represented
nv the denrecia,ion OF values upon the stock
Exchanges of the world. Every dollar Of the
| pubic Securities issued by different nations Is
held by somebody, and It's owner 1ncs himself
| wnrtT after the declaration OF war, less than
| hetore The London Economist, Of July l6,
hos undertaken to estimate the amount of this
loss as shown by the fall In securities In the
aight DAYS between July 4th, the day before
the fIrst alarm In the French Chamber Of Depu-
i;ss and July r. when the war panic first
reached its height. In this one week the yalhe
of French reptes fell equal to $780, 900;
that ot British consuls s4l, $4,000; that OF TIA
liam bonds s4, SIS, 900; that ut United States
honds sG3. O0O. 600. and the total loss OF value in
the national securities sold in London was
M less than s3sl, ATS, 900, or not lar from
sIOO' 000. 600. without including the stocks
ot GERMANY, Austria Belgium, Holland and
Somn 90 oIhsr countries, of which no sales
orn ,nadn in London. In railway stocks sim
;iar drnression took place, and In those of
alnran nromInenL English lines alone there
was a faIl In price Of sl3, $4,000. The total
loss of nropertv to investors by The mere dec
iaretion of this French Prussian war is certain
Iv far more Than five hundred millions Of dol
lars a greater amount, perhaps, than it IVES
oyer hefore in the power OF two men to de-
str,y and which, as the Economist justly says,
ImniIes Individual suffering difficult to over
estimate. This is the beginning; but it Is not
br ti.rures or by words that men will express
fbe end of such q war. The fright and cOnfu-
sion thus brought into the commercial worlds