The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-03-12
THE COMING WAR IN EUROPE.
An English Writer on the Fighting Ca
pacity of the Nations.

| January. there appears an arGlcle con
tributed by Mr.. e. M. Hosier, which
in an intelligent and thoughtful man
ner, discusses the fighting capacity o.
the nations of Europe in view of the
general war so confidently predicted by
MIR. Disraeh and other English states
men. Mr.. Hosiet allUdes to the dis
quietude prevailing in the public mind
in England in consequence of these
mysterious utterances on both sides oi
the house of commons, and believes
that a careful survey OF the field will
have the effect of enlightening his read.
ers as to the nature of the conflict, the
parties which will be engaged in it, and
the duty of the English people and gov.
ernment in the crisis which will soon
be upon the civilized world.
He begins his survey Os E9rope with
France, considers the military condition
of each country in turn, and concludes
with an endeavor to fix the exact point
where hostilities will break out.
FRANCE.
Notwithstanding the desire which
may exist on the Part of the Fren h
people 10 rush into a war with Germany,
to gain revenge for the defeat of four
years ago, it is doubtful if the FreEch
government would encourage the as
pira tiOn. Tom as France is By politi-
cal dissentious, it is extremely doubtful
whether any ministry wOnld add the
cares and the perils of war to the other
prominent dangers of its existence.
Neither is the French army in condition
nor is likely to be for many " ars-to
undertake q campaign of any magni-
tude. The military organization of the
second empire was entirely broken up
by the disasters of the German war.
At the present time no fixed plan can
really be said to have been adopted for
the organization Of the army !; the
questions as to depots and clLdres are
still unsolved. French military men
assert that their artillery is in pO yer
full state; but it may reasonably be
doubted that, in the short time that
has elapsed since the enormous loss of
| that arm which occurred in the German
war, it can have been replaced by guns
! iudiciously selected and carefully man
ufactuted. Though thera is not great
| deaIth of men in the French army, it
! cannot be said that the recruits are OF
satisfactory kind. The weakness of the
| cOmmissariat arrangement was one of
| the most potent causes OF the failure of
| the French in the German war. 1t has
not yet been thoroughly changed for
the better. The mitrailleuses, which
were so zealously guarded, and which
were expected to strike terror in the
German ranks, were found to be fail
urc in the war, aud have now been
abandoned for all practical purposes Of
campaigning; so that at present France
is not in q condition to "rush into
war" It has taken England twenty
years 10 reorganize from the break
down OF her military system in the
Crimean war, and a vast amount OF
money has been expended in effs citing
the changes; and il can hardly be pos.
sible that things are so much better
managed in France that she can in four
or five years pu5 an army IN the field
with any prospect of winning back the
IaureIs SO fudely wrested from her in
her last great contest.
SPAIN.
Spain may be considered at The pres
eIt moment out of the military arena Of
Europe. she is too much engrossed
by her internal troubles to be available
either as an ally or enemy in case OF
international disturbances. Italy pos
sesses an army of considerable numeri-
cal fOrce-an army which may be III
round numbers said to amount to 400,-
600 men. But IL Italy the sinews of
war are wanting. The italian govern
ment is hard pressed by financial diff
culties. The italian army is a new
machine, and, ike all other new ma
chimes. it can not be expected to work
smoothly throughout. It's orgauiza-
ton and administration were originally
I'll ol, Int 10
breakdown of the French system the
organization of the Italian army has
been considerably modified Still, it
can not be denied that the Italian mill
tary forces are formidable power to
be considered in the fighting capacity
of Europe, and would cast on en- rmous
weight into the scale on either side.
BELGIUM AND SWITZERLAND.
As to tn: two new neutral countries
of Belgium and Switzerland little need
be said. The neutrality Cf one is guar
anteed by the great powers, and the
ether has a perhaps still greater guar
antee of neutrality in the shape OF
gian army may be 80 600 strong. Per-
haps they are not the finest troops in
the world, but still they are not, as
great statesman is reported to have
said of them, "merely all coat and
masket and little man" It is certain
that Belgium, pnaided, could hold her
frontiers against neither Germany nor
France if either of these powers wished
to make the Netherlands its battle
field or it's line OF communications.
RUSSIA.
GA great and mysterious power looms
1t oe NJ
vember last law came into :orc9 in
became liable to military service, and
tae consequence of this decree is an
enormous increase in the army. il is
estimated that next year Russia will be
able to put in the field l 800 000 men.
These men are excellent soldiers in
many respects. They may not be acute
or intelligent, but they are strong,
hardy, cap2ble of bearing fatigue, have
an intense loyalty to their sovereign,
believe that the Russian government
can do no wrong, ami would enter upon
any campaign ordered by that govern
ment with all the religious excitement
of crusade. The organ cation Of the
army is simple and we'll conceived. The
men are tall. strong and fine, and, il
properly led and supplied with good
ammunition, the Russian army would
be most formidable in any war. For
defensive purposes Russia holds De-
culiarly advantageous position. The
terrible example of the first Napoleon
still gives shiver to almost anybody
who conlemplstes the idea of invading
her. No doEbt an invasion at IL e pres
ent time would be very different mat
ter from what it was at the beginning
of this century. Sill, it would be at
tended with enormous difficulties, not
the least of whic1 would be the inhos-
pitable climate, the impossibilitv of
feeding an invading army on a wild and
sparsely populated country, ard the
ne cessity which would fall on the in
vaders of drawing their supplies almost
wholly from their base. & line of COM
munication might become so much ex-
tended that the troops requisite 10
guard the line and the officers necessary
to administer it would consume more o!
the provisio1s than the line itself could
bring UP. In future wars it is doubtful
whether, considering the number of
men that would probably be engaged,
l.