The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-11-04
The Count Won MOltke.

the capitulation of whole French
army-the capture of upwar DIS of one
hundred thousand men, of five hundred
cannon, of generals by tens and officers
by hundreds, men by thousands, and
an emperor to crown the whole-the
King who had shared the battle with
his soldiers sat down 20 dinner, and pro
posed the health of the soldiers who
had fought with him. The speech is
singularly plain and non .egotistic. Said
the King: eve must to-day, out of
gratitude, drink the health of my brave
army. You, War Minister Won Room,
have sharpened our sword; you, Gen
eral MOltke, have guided it, and you,
Count Bismarck, have for years, by po-
litical management, brought Prussia to
its present elevation. Let u.s. then,
drink to the army, to the three l have
named, and every one else present who,
according to his ability, has contributed
to the present success" or those three,
General Moltke has the credit of having
planned all the campaign campaign
80 wonderful In the conception-indeed
its second conception, after the first was
rendered nugatory by the inactivity of
the French-and so admirably success
full in its execution, that we shall vainIy
search history for parallel to it. New
er before-for the vast numbers of an
cient armies are chiefly fabricatons-
were such enormous masses of men op-
posed to each other never were the
appliances of science and art of so ad-
vanced kind brought into the field !;
never was the collapse of braggadocia
and rude daring so complete; never the
triumph of patient learning, endurance,
knowledge, and geist so thorough. The
Germans were as much despised by the
French soldiers previous to Woerth and
Wissemberg as the 'poor, patient Eng
lish" were derided by the French
knights who threw dice for them before
the battle of Agincourt. Yet the Prus.
sian, Bavarian, or Badanese has unde-
niably proved himself the better SOL
dier more intelligent, docile, sitter in
battle, and with great deal more dash
and activity in him. After the surren-
| der of Sedan, the German commission.
ers were kept waiting for some time
an hour or so-in the morning, before
| the French officers had arisen, to ar
| range for the disposition of the captur-
ed men. "Well," said German, "you
Frenchmen are always asleep, while we
officers are obliged to be always awake
think you might have got up II little
earlier, under the circumstances" Who
made the Prussian army what it is ?
Who has given this sweetness and light
| to the heavy German soldier? Who
has been the head-piece? Who could
have designed this success, which was
not chance but certainly? Who
can have thrown upon French soil, on
this the Goth day of October, 1870, G50,-
900 men, and has hitherto fed and sup
| ported them, armed them efficiently,
and has dragged with them enough
guns and munitiOn to invest not only
Paris, but four other impTegnable for
tresses-of which one, if not two, have
already fallen? 1t is the Head that has
| done this. For we must remember
that amongst the astounding follies
which gain prevalence with the un-
thinking, none is greater than that
which talks about SOLDIERS battle" !"
and repeats the rhodomontade that the
men win the battle while the general
gets all the glory. All that private
soldier knows is, that he enters the bat
tie, obeys orders, hears a great noise,
and is ordered to retreat or pursue As
a rule, the battle is won before it is
fought; and the German campaign was
gained before 1t was undertaken. The
head that planned this was-we have
the Kings word for it-that of General
Moltke.