The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-09-13

of maudlin invertebrates he was truly and
eminently q strong ~man-stronR in his
convictions and not aahamed of them or
afraid to make his nation fight for them
when necessary.
The place he held in the world was not of
such dazzling height as that occupied by
Prince Bismarck. His part was quiet and
unobtrusive. TO those who knew him we'll
personally he was known as a God fearing
man, full of real piety and deep sincere
faith in his Maker. TIL Halter of can't and
of claptrap %copybook morality, he did not
fear to shed blood when it was necessary to
do 30 in the interests of the German people.
in such a cause, as 1t had been for
Gods chosen people of old In the
land of Canaan. Full of merciless COM
mon SENSE, his heroic spirit held in supreme
contempt the unctious humbug to which
the modern Pharisee of public life treats
he watched the effect Of its blighting infiu-
ence upon the patriotism of other nations 9.
King William was the soul but Moltke
was the brain of the German army in 1870.
In the armies of Marlborough, Frederick
the Great, of Wellington and of Napoleon
the thinking and the execution were both
lone by the same man. But where, as in
Prussia, the king must go into the field as
the commander-in-chief the separation of
the brain and sou can be seldom avoided
in the future with the vast armies now sent
into the field. A Charles NIL, a Peter or a
Frederick the Creature not often given to the
royal line of any nation. In the wars which
converted the king of Prussia into tho en-
peror Of Germany the head of the army was
a grand old leader with all the best instincts
of the soldier. He was a soldier at heart
and thought as a fighting soldier who thor
ouehly knew the science OF war and was
most conversant with every phase OF Its art.
Il,A ~ ho r~o, xptSn rnnuh tn lnYOnI fnr
his strategy upon Moltke, the great thinker
and p%lanner, the great Organizer of VIC
torv.'
The carefully thorough and successful
system under which Moltke educated the
German general staff to it's present high
state of efficiency il most remarkable. lie
tnught his officers to feel, as it were, what
10 wanted md aimed at without any elabo-
alto demonstrations of the problem before
them. He had educated them to fully I'M
| uerstand his short and concise orders, and
| the army was thus ready at all moments to
give effect to his plans or to change from
| one object to tho other on tho field of bat
tie as he might think desirable. He was IN
exorable in his dealings with his officers,
| but such was tho kindliness of his dispose
| ton that all who knew him well were deeply
! attached to him.
The advantage conferred by book knowl-
| edge of war, by military study. il often dis
i ttSSNSss AASAAohVtJ 'NoA
ns the ignorant aBsert, to excuse their lazi-
ness and want of application, that ono grain
| OF experience is worth n ton of military his
tory to an officer. Moltke's whole career ia
the most positive denial to this asse' tlon
| aud should point Il moral to all who seek to
| rise In our army. He was placed at the
head OF the general staff before he had ever
scen a shot fired in Europe and when his
| only experience of war had been the STAN
poae Of the Turkish army before Egyptians.
He knew all that books and study could
teach him, and. above all things, his mind
was full of deductions drawn from that
study and with we'll thought.out. business
like schemes for their application to the
altered conditions of the day. Therein lay
the secret of his success In war. Any intel
ligent boy who has mastered tho first boob
of Euclid can learn and thoroughly
understand tho science taught 80 didRctic
ally by Jomini, Clausewitz and others. But
it takes n deep thinker like Moltke to aptlI
and correctly apply ti,at science to new oon
ditions, whether those conditions are of the
most primitive epoch, Ms ia often the cas,
III our own little wars. or the complicated