Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1870-08-04

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mainly ee5w near the Rhine, On one or
tie otheF de. The following account Of
the forsiGaasioos. therefore, viii be read
with iuAeeust:
Fssc1 ENTHUSIASTICALLY the French
towns On the west hank ofthe river. Stras-
burg u enc of the most noted. Il has
&. 900 nhabitsnts. chiefly vi German de-
scent. The fortress has been lately
strengthened and the numerous outvoris
and detnehed forts. including the citadel,
render . : plaoe ef great strength. A
bridge hsre crosses the Rhine, which is
stroa NJ fdst;6ed on the French side
Though partially upon the Rhine, the
town lies chiefly upon The river III. which
is also bridged.
Farther up the III are Colmar and
Schlettssadt. both strongly fortified. and
securing important Communications.
Nea Breisach il on the Rhine canal q
mile west Of the Rhine. Ii has strong
towers, and Fort Mortier. nearer that riv-
er, i strong forti6cation.
Nets, on the river Moselle, 10 the most
important strategic point in the eastern
part Of France, and has q most powerful
fortress. which il yet uncompleted. The
city contains 90, 900 inhabitants, and q
garrison Of IL, 900 men. A strong wall
with bastions surrounds it, and the fortifi-
cations ut large are constructed with due
allowance for the force Of modern proiec-
tiles. They stand On four commanding
sitcs. The river Settle meets the Moselle
ut this point. and in case of seige, the
water OF both streams can be raised sufi-
GENTLY to inundate the low ground to the
south and southwest of the town.
Montmedy. Verdun and Longwy, on
! the Rhine. are all strongly fortified; and
Eear to Metz. on the Moselle, is Thion-
vile, within few miles Of the Prussian
frontier. The river is bridged at this
point, and the Notifications are strong
The Moselle furnishes the most direct line
Of operations between France and Prussia,
and struggle will in every probability
take place for its several strongholds.
The Weissenburg line is chain of light
works running from the left bank Of the
Rhine fifteen miles along the Lauter, in the
ncighborhood of Basic The line was
abandoned in 1867, but the works were
not RACED
The Vosges mountains run parallel with
the Rhine, and form an additional barrier
for the French frontier. They average
1000 feet in height, and are twenty-five
miles wide. ALI their practicable passes
are fortified. The most northern of these
is the fortress at Bitsch. which in 1898
and ISIS, withstood two Prussian at
tenn Pc. The central passages of the Vos-
ges IL by way Of Saverne, and is held by
the fort at Pfalzburg, supported by Stras-
burg ut short distance. Between Sa-
verne and Belfort there are but two prac-
ticable passes, that BY way of St. Die and
that of Remiremont These are we'll
guarded by the fortresses on the neigh
boring plains and BY Belfort. The latter
is in the centre of the opening between
the Jura and Vosges mountains, and being
in the direct line between Basic and Pa
ris, is an important junction for land CON-
munications. 1t has been much strength
ened of late.
Prmssian Forifcofions.-Of the for
tresses on the Rhine and its vicinity the
the most important are Mayence, Rastadt,
Ehrenbreitstein and Cologne.
Mayence was formerly city Of the Ger
man Confederation. the old Zollverein,
and was garrisoned BY Austrian and Prus-
sian troops. Its peculiarly dangerous po-
sition being on the left bank of the Rhine.
and greatly coveted by the French, led to
its Notifications being of the strongest
character. 1t was originally garrisoned
by 5000 men, but after the decisive de-
feat Of Austria in the late contest it was
agreed by the treaty Of Prague that its
Notifications should be dismantled and its
garrison Withdrawn. This stipulation
was insisted on BY Austria, but the Prus-
slams have never carried out the condi-
tons. and Mayence is at this moment one
Of the strongest cities in the world. The
four lines of works are greatly strengthen
ed BY outworks and detached forts, and
BY Fort Weisenau, which is on the upper
bank of the Main. The city of Mayence
is opposite 10 the mouth Of the river.
which here falls into the Rhine about
twenty miles west Of Frankfort, to which
it is connected by railway. A bridge
some 1000 feet long connects it with the
fortified suburb of Castel. II has now q
very large garrison, and is commanded
by Prince Waldemar. ofSchleswig Holstein
Rastadt is on the right bank Of the
Rhine and is very strongly fortified. 1t
is in the territory Of Baden-Baden and
formerly held garrison for the German
Consideration, but since Sadowa its gar
rison has been Prassian. 1t is situated
fourteen miles south of Carlsruhe and some
thirty from Strasburg, and will undoubt-
eddy be a point Of capital importance du-
ring the coming struggle. Its forti6ca-
tons are on the vauban system, aud de-
clared to be the perfection Of engineering.