St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1884-07-05
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GEN. TODLEBEN.

The death of Gen. Todleben will attract
attention to one of the most remarkable men
of the present century. He was in engineer
ing what Frederick the Great,
Philip of Macedon, or the French
Napoleon was in moving and hand
ling armies. He was in fertilization an inno-
vator; he abandoned tne old, discovered new
systems and methods, and accomplished at
reduced cost of time and money results far
in advance of what had been attained by his
predecessors. He was the discoverer, or at
least the first to extensively utalize dirt as
material for defence. He was the man who
found out how much superior the spade is to
the trowel, and how much less it costs to dig
than to build up how much more valuable a
bank of earth is than solid wall of ma
sonry.
His putting Sebastapol into a condition
of defence was one of the most wonderful
feats of military engineering. When the
English and their allies made their advance
on the place, it was as defenceless as col
ony of prairie dogs There were but few
troops, there were comparatively few guns
in place; and there were several points
through which the allies could have pene-
trated without opposition. But they blum
dered in not attacking at once, and gave
Todleben the opportunity which made him
famous, which extended the defence of Sc
bastapol over year, and cost England the
military prestige, which it had gained under
Wellington. Fortunately for him there
were no stone quarries available in
the vicinity, or if there were, he lacked the
time to quarry the blocks and haul them into
place for scarp, rampaits and parapet. Forced
by lack of time to abandon the time-honored
processes, he resorted to simple dirt; he
bagged 1t, piled it up in breastworks, and
when it was knocked down by the allied
guns he piled it up again in the night, and
each morning found the walls as good as
new. 1t afforded a protection more secure
than that Of stone and brick, and was re-
newed with facility as magical as that of
the restoration of the discovered heads of the
mythical dragon.
Todlebens work on that occasion had a
powerful effect on the condition of Europe.
Had England not encountered his earth
MOlho anu AOuHu lhdt ~ lCqullSu a
month to breach them; had the allies march
directly into Sebastopol when they reached
it, as they could have done, Russia would
not have issued from the contest with flying
colors. AS the war eventuated, Russia found
reason for congratulation. She had en-
countered England, France, Sardinia, and
Turkey, had withstoodl them single
handed, and although conquered in the end,
had sustained no loss of honor. That war
elevated Russia in her own estimation; its
result keep alive the Russian traditions of the
control of the Bosphorus, the posses
sion of the gates of Asia, and the opening of
a line of march to India. Had the English
not delayed when they reached Sebastopol,
and had Todleben rot fortified, Russia
would then and there have been humbled;
the dreams of Indian conquest would have
been abandoned, the late devastating Russo
Turkish war would not have taken place,
Merry would not have been seized by Russia,
the menacing portents of the eastern ques-
tom would have been dissipated, and posi-
bly, there would be radical alteration in the
present military condition of Europe.