The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1883-11-16
COUNT Won MoLrKE.
The German Napoleon, Who Moves Men as
He Moves Chess-Pieces.

Ike ILOkCo
London Times, Oct. 81.
Marshal Won Moltke won his great renown
so late in life that to many he is still a new
general. though he reached his eighty-fourth
birthday Yesterday. His fame remains fresh
also becanse the FrancoGerman war, now
thirteen wears distant, still seems so recent.
The world has not yet grown accustomed To
the immense changes caused by the military
events of1S7O-71. After Napoleon rs down
fall Frances credit as a soldier nation stood
unim aired. One of her poets could say:
-"How many were you against the dying
eagle?' and another wrote no more than
truth when he compared his vanquished
conntrv to a wounded lion, round which
buntsmen gather half afraid and saying,
'II bouge!'' But in the last mighty
struggle. which began on the Rhine and ended
in Paris, the two giant powers stood alone
hand to hand, with apparently equal
chances. and the defeat of France, the ag-
gressor, was swift, overwhelming and dis
creditable. No such sudden collapse of a
great Empire could ever have been predicted;
no such wholesale leading into captivity of
generals and legionS was ever witnessed. Yet
It is a curious thing that Won Moltke, the
chief hero of the surprising war, does not
enjoy a reputation like that which Yelling
ton held at Waterloo, and it would be use
less to pretend that the German generals who
shared his trIumphs are as well known as
some of the French commanders whom they
worsted.
Most people would be puzzled to describe
the achievements of General Won Kameke,
now Prussian War Minister, who was chief
engineer in the siege operations round Paris;
or those of General Won Werder, who with
49, 900 men routed Bourbaki's 40, 900 after
a three.days' battle, performing what the
Emperor William styled ''one of the greatest
feats of arms in history" The French make
more noise in the world than o Their people,
and they have used their far-reaching voices
to diminish the victories OF their enemies by
making them appear to have been won too
easily, aud not over France, but over a faction,
whose misrule betrayed France. But, for
all this, men who have studied the history
of the Franco-German war know that the
triumphs OF Won Moltke and his generals
are not to be dimmed by any tales of French
weakness The advance of the German ar
mics over France was like the impetus of a
man skating-ore false step would have
brought a heavy tall-and Won Moltke was
not admirable only in having drafted and ex-
ecuted point for point the most elaborate
plan of campaign ever conceived, but in hav-
ing accurately foreseen all the demorafizing
effects which defeat woul produce
upon his foes. Had he made any
miscalculation; had the French shown
spirit when he expected them to be
cowed; had they resisted stubbornly
when ne had reckoned that they would yield
the end of the war might have been very
QlD6TenJ lFOn the DeSllHlnR. more imam
once the silent commander must have been
anxious in spirit, but he let nothing of this
be seen. A foreigner who called upon him
at Versailles in the midst of the siege of
Paris, and on a day when a great sortie was
expected, found him quietly reading an En-
glish novel.
He is an extraordinary man. A diploma
fist who met him in the Wilhemstrasse of
Berlin the day before he went to the seat of
war would have taken leave of him in a
hurry, supposing that he must be busy; but
Won Molske said, 81 have nothing to dc"
and went on chatting with his usual COM
posture. In this incident was revealed the
whole strength of the German military
system, which allots to each officer Just
as much work as he can easily and eff
GENTLY perform. The formula of the whole
system may be defined as the constant
search after able men; and, as the princes OF
the royal house of Prussia have steadily ad-
hered to the principle of letting merit be
recompensed and incompetence shelved
without favor or fear. they have been con-
tributors equally with the best of their gem
erals towards the events which have made
Germany what it now is. The organization
of the German army has in it much that pro-
duces awe as well as admiration on foreign
minds. The staff office in Berlin, over which
Marshal Won Moltke ~presides, has depart
ments as mysterious and inquisitorial as
those of the Roman Cnria; and the place is
IL ldCb u fllltd lIqulolblOIs maps VI VII
countries and cities of Europe are there,
with plans for invading these localities, and
minute details as to the accommodation
which the invaders would find in the way of
board and lodging When General Won
Cohen, at the head of the Eighth army corps,
marched into Rouen, he astouuded the in
habitants by sending out, within half an
hour of his entry, adjutants who marked on
the door of each house the number of billetS
it was to furnish. Protests were of no
use. The General had his Instructions
concerning what each house could do
and must do; and he knew, moreover, that
the city was in a position to supply 40, 900
pairs of boots, 10000 flannel -waistcoats, and
10, 000 good cigars to his men at tWenty-four
hours notice. Perhaps the staff office has
thoroughly considered the capabilities of
London in the same manner.
Marshal Won Moltke may well take his
ease, attend with methodical punctuality all
sittings of the Reichstag, play his rubber
every evening, and devote so many TRANQUIL
weeks yearly to botanizing and agriculture
on his estate at Kreisau. The system which
has reduced the management of armies to
the precision of a mechanical science was
not constructed in a day; but now that long
experience has shown how we'll it works its
principal engineer can leave it without mis-
giving to be regulated, during his occasional
absence, by the expert pupils whom he has
trained. The Marshal himself disclaims the
idea that he is a necessary man. 1t is the
very essence OF his system, as be maintains,
that it shall always bring out men Of genius
so long as any are to be found in Germany;
but on this point foreigners, while recog-
nizirg all that is good in Prussian military
administration, will not readily concede that
men like the Marshal are easy to replace.
The Johnson-Hisley Suit.
Brooklyn Union.