The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1870-07-28
THE WAR.

1he fall OF bloody rain, says the PhIla-
delphia A9e has not yet commenced in
Europe. 1t is, however, daily expected.
The contest cannot long be delayed, az
the armies are getting into such positions
as will make the postponerpent impossible.
Five French army corps are on the from
tier OF France, and the Emperor's bead
quarters will be at Nancy. Large de-
tachments from the army of Algiers are
daily arriving at Laseilles, and pushing on
to the scene of action. These troops have
seen much service, and are hard, deter
mined fighters. Their officers are also
among the most skilled in the French
army. The Emperor and Prince Impe-
rial will take the field in a few days. and
then the whole line will be put in motion.
The journal O6iciel publishes procla-
nation from the Emperor to the people of
France, in which, after putting the cause
Of the war upon Prussia, he declares that
"the people composing the great G erman-
ic nationality, shall dispose freely of their
condition" This is a willy movement
The headquarters of the Prussian Army
are at kreutzenach, town and watering
pace of Rhenish Prussia, on the Nahr,
eight miles south of Bingen, and the gar
den spot of Germany. General de Ker-
boch will command the Fifth Army Corps,
and Lieutenant General de Colborn the
Eighth Prince Royal, Frederick Will
liam, commands the left of the Prussian
Army, Prince Frederick Charles the cen>
tire, and Herwarth Won Bitteufield the
right. The defences of the coast will be
entrusted to General Won Falkenste;n.
The different corps are in fine condition,
and anxious for the fight All Germany
is aroused, and the volunteer corps filling
up rapidly. They will hold the depots
while the volunteer troops are actively
engaged. King William is welcomed
wherever he appears, and the enthusiasm
| IS intense. 4 competent military au-
thority in speaking of the condition of
France, says: "The geographical posi>
ton Of France, as well as the enormous
| amount of her population, renders her ca
pable of prolonged resistance. Bounded
on the south by the almost impassable
| Pyrenees, on the west by the broad ocean.
on the north by the English Channel. she
has but to spring forward to her eastern
line, oVerrunning Belgium, as she must
! and VIII, and lay her legiuEs in uuintuple
strength, all along her natural boundary.
the Rhine. Reposing there, with her
Spanish frontier protected by The Pyrenees.
she may rest forever without tear of pene-
tration by any outside force. Her base
of operations is her centre, where her peo-
pie grow their food and her lines of cons
munlca;Ion to the armies on the frontier
are short interior lines. The lines of the
outside armies, on the contrary, must
widely radiate, and depend upon bases Of
! operations more or less distant from the
point of attack The armies Of France
therefore, after having acquired the whole
OF Belgium and the entire left bank of the
! Kline, which is all that she desires. would
be equal, through her short lines of COM
| munlcation and facility of striking from
her center to all points of the exterior. TO
five times the number Of tie enemy.' In
order to make the plan of the campaign
complete, the Prussian troops have fallen
back and are concentrating between the
tortresses OF Coblentz and Mayence, Op-
| poslfe Cobientz, across the Rhine, is the
celebrated Prussian fortress of Ehren-
breiistein. This fortress has ALWAYS been
considered mpregnable. 1t has succumbed
only twice TO an enemy; and on these oc-
caslons the event was brought about at
one time by treason and the other by
famine. 1t has, on the other hand, been
repeatedly attacked unsuccessfulIy. In
1868, 1t was in vain beseiged by the
| French under Marshal BoufFIers. thopnh
the celebrated Vauben directed the work
against 1t; and even Louis Xiv repaired
to the spot in order TO be an eye-witness
to its surrender. Again, in the course of
tie wars of the Revolution, it was cre-
quently invested by the French without
success. If Napoleon means to invade
Frussla he will have to attack this place,
and that viii be an undertaking Of the
greatest magnitude.