The Dupuyer acantha. [volume] (Dupuyer, Mont.) 1894-1904, 1897-11-04

U@kk ~ d u y le vi . LlAAc.
VN>@hA Compare, he says.
:&2MHTSp the slaughter in
WSt9A Napoleon's cam
VS paigns with the
worst within living
memory-with Gettysburg and Antie-
tam in the American civil war; with
koniggratz, in the Austro-Prussian
war; with Sedan and Metz, in the
F'ranco-German war. At Jena, in
1906, the Prussian loss was q, 900 out
OF a total Of 105 900, and the French
$4,000 out of a total of &c. 00-that is
to say, 10000 casualties out of 1876, 900
engaged, or, roughly speaking, one in
fye. At Eylau, in 1907, the Russians
lost $4,000 men out of $4,000;
the French 10000 out of IS, 0Oo-that
is, for both sides, the appalling proper
ton of one in three! At Wagram, in
1909, the Austrian loss was rs, 1000 out
of 100 1000; the French %, 1000 out of the
same number. At Aspern, where Ma
poleon suffered his first defeat on May
Il and %, 1909, the carnage was still
greater, for the French lost IS, 900 men
out of 75,00O-one-half their number
and the Austrians 20, 1000 IL of 80, 900.
But even this awful butchery pales be-
fore that of Borodino in the Moscow
campaign, for on that field the French
left $4,000 dead and wounded out of
$4,000 engaged, and the Russians 45,-
600 out of the same number-95. 900
men slain or mutilated out of 264, 600!
Now the only battle in the latter half
of the nineteenth century which can
compare with Borodino in slaughter is
that of Koniggratz, or Sadowa, in 1866,
which ended the Austro-Prussian war.
Out of 400, 900 men engaged $4,000 were
killed or wounded-40,0 900 Austrians
and 10000 Prussians-one in eight only,
as against one in three. The
most sanguinary battle in the Ameri-
can civil was was that of Antie-
tam creek, fought between Mcclellan
and Lee on September II, 1852, when,
after repeated repulses, the Federals
compelled the C~onfederates to re-
treat. Out of 100, 900 men engaged,
26,469 were left on the feld-the Fed
eral loss being 12,469, and that of the
Confederates 14,000, and that, remem-
Der, was before the era of breech load
ers. At Gettysburg the combined
losses were $4,000, but the number OF
men engaged was nearly double, and
the proportion, therefore, was not quite
so great as at Antietam. Take, again
Leipzig and Waterloo, and contras,
them with Sadowa and Sedan. Al
Leipzig the French lost $4,000 men out
of 100, 900, and the Allies $4,000 out Of
| 29S ,nO0-102 600 out of a total of 348.
C00-more than double the ratio o
Sadowa. Then at Waterloo the losses
of the Allies amounted to 22,976 out o.
SO. 900, and those of the French to up
ward of 80, 1000 out of 73,000-in other
words, one mar out of every three
that fought that day was either killed
or wounded. Now, at Sedan, under the
awful crushing fire of the German guns
the French lost 10000 out of 1901 0C
before they surrendered-a far smaller
proportion thar at Waterloo; while the
Germans stated their losses at 1882
killed and 5000 wounded. out of 250,-
600 brought into action. These facts
and figures seem to us to prove con-
clusively that war is no longer sc
murderous as it was. The alteration
in tactics and in the formation oil
troops attacking has counteracted the
superior precision and range of modern
firearms. The shell, though its mora
effect is greater, is not so destructive
as the round shot, grape and canister
of the old days playing upon troops
advancing in line or column. Tn
magazine rifle, intellectually superior in
accuracy and penetrating power to the
old Brown Bess, is not so deadly in its
effect; for, when it fails to kill out
right, the wounds it inficts with its
tiny projectile are not nearly so ugly
and Gripping as those OF the old
spherical bullet, which smashed, where
the other glanced on.