The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-09-06
THE PRUSSIAN SOLDIER.
WY TIE FRENCH WERE BEATEN.
The Mathematical Precision of the Ger
man Movements.

l
man Movements.
We take the following admirable statement
of the peculiar exceencies Of the German
military system from letter of Mr. Friedrich
Kapp dated Berlin, August II, printed in the
Nation of Thursday last:
In reading the French papers, you will find
| that the defeat is attributed by them to the
greater numbers OF the Germans. l admit
! That thus far We have been stronger on every
| field and at any given point than the French.
But does this fact speak in their favor2 Theil
population aud our is about equal. They have
between thlrty-seven aud thirty-eight millions
of Inhabitants, while, on the other eide, the
| North German Confederation has thirty, ba-
ysria FIVE, WuItembere, Baden and Southern
Hesse three and a half-a total OF thirty-elght
weeks ahead OF Us when they declared war, but
they did not move beyond the frontier TOR the
first blow. Nevertheless, they considered
| thems elves so strong, and were so sure OF the
! victory, that they neglected the most ordinary
precautions. Why, then, were they beaten
| We Germans are better organized tor war.
we have a better and more thorough way OF
doing things in that line, than the French.
rhey are courageous, gallant, and full OF spirit,
but they do not care for the details Of the
service: they labor under the mistaken idea
rhat everything can be done and carried out
by impetuositv and bravery.
The strength Of our organization does not
lie in the one per cent. Of the population which
forms tile regular army, but in the number OF
those who have served their time, and in case
of war are called IN as reserve and landTehr.
Every year10O, 900 fully drilled "a en- aIe muster
| ed out of the standing army, who, IN case war,
are liable to active daty in the field for nine
more years. Thus, while the standing army
numbers only 300 600, our reserve and land
wehr are 100000 strong. They are the flower
Of the nation none younger than twenty ana
none older than thirty-two. The French have
ouly enlisted men. Their las; effort to lmltate
the German system was hustratedb by the eSot,
ism of the ruling classes. who did not 1eel
dis osed to devote part Of their time, ana, IN
case of need, their lives, to the service OF thelr
country.
When the German troops moved towards
the frontier. everything was ready for battle;
the smallest strap Of the knapsacE, the last
bntton on the coat OF the steward. we're IN their
places. Formerly, the normal time for mob
iiizing the army was fortnight. Inns time
less than a week was required; IN some lG-
stances, the work was done IN tour DAYS.
Arain. formerly the forwarding OF an army
CORPS by RAILROAD took either i've, or at the ut
most eight, days, for it was supposed that
railroad could not forward more than twenty
or twenty-four trains Of troops day. Each
army corps requiring one hundred and thirty
to one hundred and fifty trains, the whole
number of trains for ten to eleven corps thus
amour, ed to from thirteen hundred 70 elgnleen
hundred, We have five trunk lines running
from east to west at our disposal, and, instead
of ten to eleven days for forwarding the army
| to and beyond the Rhine, only slx days we're
reouired: instead OF thirty, We had forty anu
! fifty trains day, the government dispatchlne
| train about every forty-hve minutes. on
coming from Cologne TO Berlin. cnunted
slxty-three military trains, each OF wnicn con-
| tain about one thousand men. battery OF
artillery (sx pieces) occupied five to seven
cars. THE service was done with wonderful
promptitude and exactness. Not one tram
was behind time, and only Two acciocnts
happened. The soldiers, who were expressly
drilled for this kind OF railroad service, entered
! and left the cars with as little noise and delay
as the passengers OF an express tram. was
present when the Second Regiment OF the
Guards-three thousand mep-left Berlin; they
marched along the platform, and each car
| having the number it could hold marked on
the outside (ae, for i.stance: forty men or SIX
horses, &c., they were seated IN aoout three
! minutes.
After the fret weeks service, the employees
were so &C .ustomed to their work that they
| dispasched trains laden with soldiers as rapid
IL as passenger trains. The whole Second
! Army Corps (Pomeranlans) were sen, IRON
| Berlin to Neukirchen. near Saarbrlcken, In
! fifty hours, (feeding, drinking and marching
included and arrived there punctualg to the
minute.
This spirit OF punctuality and strict obe3i-
ence 10 the or Iers of his superior has beer. in
| culcated into every Prussian and North Ger
man from his esrliest youth. The Die
| training of the nation s pre-eminently mill
| tary. and, whatever bad effects 1t may have
| in other relation and a! other times, IN eoer-
gencies like the present one 1t ls wonderfully
adapted tor carrying OUT even tue moss dim-
cult military task. These qualities cannot, be
drilled into man in month or year; they
must be interviewer with his feeling and think
! ing; they must work by tradition as we'll as By
| present practice. In Prussia these traditions
and practices are now two hundred years old.
Blu. higher than this personal efficiency I
| value the moral tone Of the German army.
| Our soldiera go 10 war to defend their hearths
and homes, to repel an attack, to settle our
re,atlous to France so fully and thoroughly
| that she will never again venture to provoke
us. II ia bad job. you can hear every land
Hher-map say, but it must be done; we know
that we ruin our business, but no the time
for defeating the French once and forever has
come. There is an earnest resignation and
firm resolution in these men Which deserves
the highest admiration from every impartial
observer. All classes Of society are represent
ed in this popular army. Even New England
reni nept could not find so many educated men.
While you had the scholar, professional man,
and artist by the dozen, we have them by the
hundred in every regiment; they constitute il
our armies the came percentage whlca they %
in common LIE. For instance, the other dar,
read sma.I pamphlet written by PGusslan
sergeant Oh the part he had taken IN the Bo-
hemlan war Of 1866. The night before the
battle OF Konirgratz he had dispute, be says:
with 4 comrade. 1t was about the ""perlpeta
of Sophocle's Antleone, ana LIS 1rlenu we WEE
lust gong to answer him when the DIR I'M sud-
denly called the soldiers to arms. This same
material we have now-of course not all 80
well educa.ed, but on tue average as good IS
the best of our nation. Each one one OF these
educated men is as good as two others.
There are abundan: indications 10 SEQ"
that the Prussans have good reasons ior the