The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1875-10-05
10Y MOLTKE on nEsT POINT.
The Reason Why Our civil War Failed 10
Produce n Distinguished General.

London CorreDt ndence Of ne Capitol
shortly after our arrival here in London
we encountered n distinguished gentleman on
hts way To the continent, armed with letters Of
introduction, and among the rest one TO Won
general had really said what had been attributed
u him that evoiutiOns of armed mobs had no
Interest to him from military point Of yiew,"
CURED, TO fetch up the subject and give us the
result Of the interview. Our friends letter Is
the views we expressed ten years since, from
actual observation, are those of this great cap
tain. Our friend writes
brought up the subject and the old hero expressed
himself very frankly. lie said -,
Amerca prod1eed ay yeps ansa'shed genera Even
their respective parsns hardly claim any leader 81
80 $. docs e S O p . ana Of 5
sy wa Secss.e e cd Of e Se a 30
limited Nc officer could hope 70 attain the supreme
SsiT aTy ecsasy cseG e wss q Y Fe ON &c
u these su3cns deserving a. ,hcy might be- ~Ss and
T. extremely limited The southerners adopted the
West Point or,eers Joined Their .iSs, en- t6cif
aps Tor se SoS S Se south % G
ss,S i9t ,,ent atong TIC mass Of TIE people e
sspera Sd""f tie hsS Of ecsn SSen:
every osr @as Se contracts 10 prs ON, s eom
msnd; but IN ihc American armies the
Inc fonnr slaycs aud their nastcrs. fhs veianiSer,
pie might Indeed, attain distnctioG ia a subordinse
position but the b - place Of I'll for6ldacn. In
appears II !he whole contest was between few ON.
OF West Point the mighty hcar of the nation
had never tiirobOcd Thn arist0cratc system, which
the Americans still follow formerly The practice
all European IN the revolution Of 17O3 Carnot
the French Minitcr Of War hrst ahand ned IT. and
have followed. For the cake of example. ana not bind
ng ourselves to any exlcnce- Of figures, except that
the one ~ small, and its opposite with which n 10
compared. very large let us suppose the number OF
West Point officers to be 500 aud the number OF Prus.
sian soldiers bOOOOO. Evidently. a. we have fgnd q
THOUSAND times larger 10 draw upon. to render the
chances Of obtaining great General equal each Amer
lean must possess thOusandfOld the talent Of Prus
uan. which Il absur1.'
But ead to him. do you not reward the south
rs having the advantage in this respect p
Not ut all. he responded the leaders of that
ton did not ecrn To comprehend the situation Their
advantage was the excess OF military spirit their d
advantage the lack Of aud the prestige OF
estab shed government Their blows therefore, should
have been swift, sudden ana aggressive. On the
rsry. they acted the defensive thereby giving the
Government Of the United States full time to develop
its immense resources Every DAY the North had its
opportunity 20 grow stronger, while the South weak
cncd On the other hand the Northern leaders nstea
OF using the advantage rendered them. by creating
armies and calling To the front the military genius Of
thu country exhausted themselves BY throwing armed
mob into the held so badly disciplined and drilled That
their battles were fought by rcRimcnts and separate
ccntaon of heavy force against the point OF
the enemy that the side Of the Government had in
power to illustrate, neglected ana lost. -Four years
OF q Oppressive war exhausted the south, without IN
any way contributing to the military renown OF the
CtsF "A aid