TOPICS OF THE DAY.
THE WAR.
4 LAS! for France, for the gallant and gifted people, and .11. the beautiful land ! An armed nation is rushing on her, a nation welded into a bar of steel, and wielded by a single hand. This thin little man, this Baron von Moltke, this soldier of the book-room, who in his long life of war has never commanded a regiment in the field, this representative man of the class which Generals with barely brains enough to keep their bodies sweet are accustomed to deride, has, as we read the tidings, destroyed the great Army which, only twenty days ago, believed itself to be marching on Berlin. We last week left our readers listening, with all the rest of Europe, for the great battle before Metz which was to revin- dicate France, and perhaps to rehabilitate her Emperor. MacMahon, it was clear to all who watched, was, despite all sanguine rumours, flying in disorder to Chalons, where he arrived with only 6,000 foot-sore and disorganized men, though 9,000 more straggled up afterwards ; but Bazaine, fed with troops from Thionville, Verdun, and Chalons, pressed by the Emperor, to whom retreat was ruin, and at last aware of the capacity of his foe, would, all Frenchmen firmly believed, at least fight a drawn battle, and give his country time. Had the Emperor still commanded, such a battle probably would have been fought, and the army, if defeated, would have been smashed back into Metz, and would have been surrounded in a fort without provisions, while, if victorious, it could have waited until joined by the reserves. Disaster, however, had destroyed the Emperor's prestige ; Paris was shrieking for abdication, and after a struggle of the Council-tent which lasted, we believe, three days, Marshal Bazaine first received the command-in-chief of three corps, then, on the 12th inst., was named Generalissimo of the " Army of the Rhine," and finally, on the 13th inst., persuaded or compelled the Caesar to depart. Once free and absolute, his course was clear,—to obey military rules alone, to fight like a strategist and not like a gambler, to fall back on Chalons by Verdun, and there, on that wide plateau where, as Schiller sings, " Measureless spread is the table dread, for the wild grim dice of the iron game," renew the organization and the strength of his army. The Marshal, who, though frightfully rash in Mexico, is a sound soldier, adopted the military course, though precious time had been lost in deferring to Caasarist needs, and ordering the garrison he intended to leave in Metz to Pange, on the Nied, to distract the King's attention, he commenced his retreat, crossing the Moselle by the bridges inside the fortifications of Metz. The King, as intended, on Sunday attacked the troops at Pange, which is on the Nied, not on the Moselle,—the cause of much of the recent bewilderment,—defeated them, pursued them ; but hurrying too far, came under the guns of St. Quentin, the outermost fort of Metz, and suffered heavily. He ascertained, however, that the French were in retreat ; and Von Moltke, whose first object is to destroy the French Army without marching his half-a-million far into the interior of France, determined to intercept the movement. The army of Prince Frederick Charles, never yet used, and said to be 250,000 strong, was ordered to cross the Moselle either at Pont.k- Mousson, as we believe, or in two divisions, there and at some point north of Metz. This movement—a terribly slow one, as such enormous numbers overload a bridge— was effected on Monday, a day which, for some unexplained reason, Marshal Bazaine lost. The Parisians, calculating by time, thought he would reach Estain on Monday, meet the troops from Thionville and Chalons, and "concentrating " there, drive back the Germans should they venture to pursue. He was, however, 24 hours too late ; on Tuesday morning the foremost German corps, one of Steinmetz's—the one, the King says, which led into battle at Saarbruck—overtook him at Gravelottes, some seven miles on the road to Metz, got between him and his object, Estain, and though suffering terribly, or even, as the Marshal put it, " repulsed," detained Bazaine till corps after corps came up, and with their faces to Metz, their line stretching from Doncourt to Vionville, endeav- oured to drive the French back into the fortifications. They did not, as we conceive, wholly succeed. Bazaine, with 120,000 men, including the whole Imperial Guard, 30,000 of the picked veterans of France, fought magnificently ; the slaughter on both sides, known to be great, will be found when the story of the battle is told, to have been unprece- dented ; neither gave way in the great " pounding match ;" both lost artillery; and at last, night found Bazaine, after eleven hours' fighting, still upon his ground, but not one step nearer to Verdun. His ammunition, however, he hints had been ex- hausted, and it is by no means improbable that, lacking am- munition, with an army exhausted by battle, and aware that the Germans could bring up still fresh forces, he retired early on Wednesday within the fortifications of Metz. Wednesday's " tranquillity" looks like that, for otherwise he would have advanced ; and if he did retire to Metz, as they believe in Berlin, there is scarely a hope for France, for round Metz will swarm the terrible armies of the " Red Prince" Charles, and of Stein- metz, said by the Germans to comprise together 320,000 men. These official numbers, only recently published, tax belief, and may be merely intended to strike terror in Paris; but there can be no doubt that the Marshal, if he is in Metz, is enveloped, and may be compelled to surrender ; while, on the other hand, if he is outside, he must fight his way to Chalons, through armies superior in number, better though badly provisioned, and enveloped in clouds of cavalry, which, as he has himself reported, charge through his army to take a Marshal prisoner. Look at it how we will, and still the Army of the Rhine, unless saved by some wholly unexpected occurrence, is as an effective army lost. Canrobert at Chalons cannot push to its rescue without exposing himself to be attacked by the Crown Prince, who, fed by South Germany via Colmar, with a new base for his supplies, independent entirely of the resources pouring towards the King, without a soldier between him and the Rhino, may advance on Chalons at full speed in unbroken strength. At Chalons there should be at least 100,000 men, 50,000 of them splendid troops ; but their leader is no genius, the arms of the Reserves have but just been issued, if they have been issued ; their officers are elected, and their artillery,—where is that ? Unless we misread the Ministers' speeches, all artillery available, a thousand guns, on paper, has been retained in front of Paris to give confidence to the capital, and Chalons has been treated as a mere depot for Bazaine's reserves. Blacker out-look never had nation. Men, brave men, men poten- tially heroical there are in profusion—the very mob of Paris is material for a glorious army—and with time and organization all could be retrieved. But the factories have been making cartridges for the Chassepot, not for the "tabatiere;" the schools for officers have been kept down because they were so Liberal; the General of genius has yet, to manifest himself,—for Trochu, if he is one, must be Carnot, not commandant ; and against that unresting foe who. sacrifices battalions to win a hill, those legions driven on by the calm genius who foresees -and provides for all, what can an inorganic mass of brave men do The soldiers will die uselessly, the Mobiles will be massacred, and France will be none the better for the loss of her bravest sons. All points to a hideous catastrophe, which, by a strange irony of fate, will leave France for a moment at the mercy of the heir of that Queen Louise who begged terms from the uncle of Napoleon, and was bidden to at- tend to women's work. We know that it seems almost dastardly to recommend peace, that the collapse of this mighty Empire, which for twenty years has shadowed Europe, bewilders men, who cannot, will not, believe it true ; but yet what help ? A battle before Paris? We, for our part, bow humbly before the grandeur of the patriotism which would dictate that resolve,—if there are guns, if there are munitions,.
if there are provisions, if there is a man No figure in history would be more heroic than Trochu and the Parisians fighting and winning a battle of despair ; but can they win it ?. and if they lose, when will France be great again ?
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