The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-05-26


put into the field by these opposing
European powers which attracts the at
tention of an American, 80 much as the
expedition with which it was done, and
the thoroughness of their equipment.
On the 9th of July, 1870, Prince Leo
pold formally accepted the candidacy
for the Spanish throne. On the 18th of
the same month, or nine days after, war
was declared by France; and on the
2Sth the Emperor Napoleon took the
field, and was ready to give or receive
battle, being as completely prepared at
all points as at any time during the war.
But excellent as was the equipment of
the French, quickly as their army had
been placed in the field, numerous as
were its legions, they were surpassed in
each particular by their German enc.
mics. Frederick the Great, whose mil
itary genius had commanded the admi.
ration as well as excited the fears Of his
European neighbors more than cen
tury ago, had given the best years ofhis
life, and, indeed, almost the whole of il
to the improvement of the Prussian mil.
itary system. His armies won for Prus-
sia worldwide renown and secured
to her King such fame and prestige as
were and are not associated with the
name of any contemporanious ruler.
The generations which followed him did
not fail to profit by his labors. Upon
the foundations so broadly and deeply
laid a military structure has arisen more
nearly complete than is seen anywhere
else among nations. When war was de.
clared by France the tocsin of King
William sounded, and from the profess
ional closet, the counting house, tho fac
tory, the workshop and the farm, came
the thousands of trained soldiers. The
ever ready sword, sharp and bright,
was with lightning speed unsheathed,
and the armory doors swung upon their
hinges The midhour5 of the night
We're disturbed by the ominous rumble
Of moving cannon and caissons, and the
MONDAY sunbeams glanced from the
barrel of the deadly rifle; and at once,
armies were arrayed, large, diciplined,
and fully equipped. King William
placed himself at the head of his armies
on the 81 day of that sultriest of months,
August. The French had crossed the
frontier the previous day, and captured
the outpost of Saarbruck, thus giving
the Prussians an opportunity for imme.
diate battle.
After twenty four hours of French
luNtSlOD, tllc AL Vi
unmasked its front, and the valleys OF
the Rhine, the Saar and the Mosello
bristled with the bayonets of perhaps
the best neo army the world had ever
seen. Proud, indeed, must have felt
the grey haired monarch, as he watched
his stalwart countrymen hurrying for.
ward to the rescue of the soil trodden
by the foot of the presumptuous inva
der! Wherever he turned his eye the
reflected sunbeams revealed the my
riads of caparisoned warriors, and ht
knew well the mettle of which they
were made. With veterans to plan ant
young chiefs to execute, with united
ardent, loyal people at his back, he hat
no fears for the future and without an.
hesitancy or delay his advance wa
hurled against the invading French
and fierce, bloody, desolating war be
gan!
The French were far from being a
insignificant foe. Eight hundred thou:
and men were in the field. in arms, sui
ject to the orders of the Emperor M
poleon. The subdivisions of his arm
were complete, his marshals at thei
posts, and the general equipment a
nearly perfect as modern science ant
French skill could make it. The mi
h'dHieuse, Il modern and most de5truc
tive engine of war, had been supplied
in large numbers; and in the hands o
the infantry were placed the deadl.
chdsSepOt, a breech.loader of long range
constructed for rapid, continuous an
effective firing. When reading the mir
ute description, given early in the wal
of this arm, as also Of its rival, the nee
die gun of the Prussians, one could nj
but recall to mind with smile the nc
handsome but rather hazardous Han
per's Ferry musket, with which tn
Reserves were first armed. SO arden
had been our afl; ction for the things {
the fathers that the beginning of ou
war found us with arms strongly res
embling those of revolutionary times
These arms of venerable structure had
however, peculiar merits. They wer
not of so long range rs more moder
guns, nor of equal accuracy; but ther
when their load of "buck and ball" wa
set free, "there was music in the air.
Great applause and laughter. Besides
on such interesting occasions, ma
was tOlerably sure to go down; an
not unfrequently this unfortunate ind
vidual was the man at the hinder end {
thegu Laughter In striking contras
| with those nntlnllltHu Wp1n0nS. WAS tu
chossenot and nradIa onn as in fact WI
tho ont;re onninment IF hoth the Trenc
and prmssian nrmins with that of our,
T;noo will not nnrmit nor il this
nronar occasinn td enter into the detail
ftha manner in which the united Gle,
man arn,ins emf their wov from tn
Rhine to paris and hevond From IN
tirst The movements offhe French wei
msrknI nv douhts and hesitancy an
tho hattie of Woerth concluded on tn
cth Of Auyust only twpntv.two da,
after war was declo red nut them clearI
on the defensive. and located the the,
tre of war nermanently on French sol
these initisl successes. bv no means d.
cisive of final results in themselve
Ifor tho fightino of the French was oui
as GOOD "a that of their enemies. an
their defeats clearly attributable to tn
sunnrior numbers Of their oppOnents
had tho unfortunate effect of raising
rlamor among the French non.comba
ants for a change of ministry. The ia
tionists who had heen kept at bay viii
the attention of the Emperor was n
otherwise engaged took advantage of h
absence, and clamored until the author
ties at home, who were doing their U
most to forward troops to the threaten,