New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-09-02
September /, l87O-September
1914.


with Marshal Bazaines army, then shut up IN the
fortress Of Metz was pushed against the Belgian
frontser and surrounded Forty-four years ago TO-
a.v MacMabon surrendered, Napoleon III went
into captivity and the Second French Empire rel
From that moment the French resistance be-
came hopeless BaEaines army, larger and better
eoulpped than MacMahon's, became as useless as
= war feet in a sealed harbOr. It's eapituataon
was inevitable. 1t could not break the German
lines Of investment, and had it broken them 1t
would have possessed no base Of supplies or line
Of retreat The way to Paris was clear to Moltke
and his generals, the only military problem o.
the Germans being the minor one Of dispensing the
raw French leyles which we're pushed into battle
prematurely by Gambettas orders for the purpose
Of raising the siege of the capital.
On Sedan Day German pride properly thrills
at the wonderful record of the victors of 1870,
War was declared on July Is and the German
mobilization was finished on August 8. In just
four weeks France was crushed and PROSTATE, and
the organization Of the present German Empire
with its mailed fist" traditions of plitarism was
in sight
Sedan Day. 1914 finds Germany endeavoring 10
duplicate on a larger scale the triumphs OF
Moltkes last and greatest campaign. War was
declared this year on August sixteen days later
than 1870 The mobilization of 100000 men I'M
der William the Second took about the same length
Of time as the mobilization Of 100000 men under
William the Great. The German forces now In
the field could hardly expect to accomplish as
much up to September as Moltkes armies did
They still have two weeks in which to try to equal
the 1870 record If they do equal 1t they will
have done something marvellous But even on the
record which they have made far Germany
stands forth as indisputably the foremost military
power in Europe. In military preparedness and
energy it is Germany first and no other nation
even good second.
The German armies are relatively much nearer
Paris now than they were a month from the be-
ginning Of the Franco-German War. Their ex'
treme left wing is only about fifty miles from the
outer defenees of the French capital They have
overrun Belgium and converted it into base Of
operations and have driven back the allied armies
in the northeast Of France at least fifty miles in
desperate day-today fighting What the Berlin
General Staf tried to do 1t has done brilliantly
and thoroughly.
On the anniversary of Sedan Germany's hopes
are therefore high, aud justly so. Yet the task
than the task of 1870 With all the crushing sue.
cess Of the right wing turning movement, that
movement has not yet been driven home So long
as the allied left wing yields ground only grad
ually and in good order it cannot be successfully
enveloped by the German right If the allies fall
back little further their present line of retreat
their left will be protected by the outer forts Of
Paris and the turning movement will only have
resulted in concentrating the French army to the
east and southeast of Paris, in which position 1t
will preserve all its lines Of communication with
has therefore held out no definite promise of an
other Sedan.
On September forty-four years ago Germany
could look back upon a critical campaign glo-
rlously ended All that was left to do was to reap
its fruits But to-day the great war has only
begun With Germany moreover II is not now a
question of crushing France alone Russia and
Great Britain are more dangerous and resource
ful foes than France is Their territory cannot be
ovsrrun successfully and their vast have
not yet been seriously drawn upon. They can keep
alive the war on land, and, with the aid of the
French navy, completely hem in Germany and
Australia Hungary by sea. They are not to oe
humbled by single great disasters like Metz or
a sedan. Safe within their own borders they can
hide their time, while Germany and Austria Hun
gary must win quickly, If they are to win at all
After six months the German military bolt will
have been shot The Kaiser's great war machine
win necessarily slow down. But Russia and Great
Britain win then be only beginning to exert their
latent strength, and the contest for the upper
hand IN Europe will enter a phase much more
favorable to them than 1t can possibly be to Ger
many.
e,,S.,, NV 1914 secs Germany confident and