Field-Marshal Von Moltke.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 867, 12 October 1888, Page 10

Field-Marshal Von Moltke.

After holding the post of Chief of the General Staff for thirty-two'years, FieldMarshal Count von Moltke has resigned an office which he made illustrious, and has been appointed President of the Commission of National Defence, a position heretofore' filled by the Crown Princes of the House of Hohenzollern. The change is neither sudden nor unexpected. For some years his actual successor, Count von Walderaee, who has bpeu trained for the duties under the Marshal’s exaotirig eye, has acted for him . In that marvellous and effective establish- ; ment, and his selection then foreshadowed his elevation sooner or later: At eightyeight years of age a warrior has won a titlo to rest, and Von Moltke probably felt that . it would be better for tho institution he made so great, and for the * freshly compacted ’ Empire, were the transition from his own superintendence to that of a younger man gradual and not abrupt. Still, the final step is, in its way, rin event ; for the German, and especially;' the Prussian Army, has become so accustomed to the guidance of this great soldier, that although he remains in a higher sphere, and will be until he dies a chief directing agent,, his retirement from the post with which faisname is identified, begets a sense of something wanting, something which was and will bo no more. The tried man departs, the untried man enters in his place, the nn- 1 known succeeds to the known ; for, however considerable may be the abilities of Count von Waldersee, he has yet to test - , them in a position of vast responsibility, and. some doubt must hover about him until he , has proved himself worthy to 3it in that ‘ siege perilous,’ Von Moltke’s chair. Confidence in a chief goes half-way to tho making, and still more the using of armies effectively; and if the Kings of Prussia have often been real chiefs, all men know, _ and especially German men, that the brain of their disciplined host was, we-should say still is, the rare genius who has just retired from the General Staff. It may be truly said that the Prussian Army, which has assimilated to itself all the other German corps, was made what it isby YVilliam 1., Vonßoon, and Von Moltke. The foundations, the principles were there when' Moltke was appointed ; head of the General Staff, bnb the superstructure was built up by the labours of this trio ; and the mighty institution which has astonished Europe during the last quarter of a century, dates from the moment when they applied their mindß and energies to make it what it is. Von Roon’s fine capacities for organisation, the King’s unwearied industry, were essential, and went for much ; but the spirit that was breathed into the machine, making it a living reality, came from the Chief of the General Staff. It was because all the workers acted on thorough business principles, based themselves on the solid ground of facts, and set up a high standard toward whioh they might ever approximate if they oould not attain it, that so great a success was achieved in the creation of this formidable instrument for defence or offence. What we may call Von Moltke’s apprenticeship was prolonged. He did not reaoh the vantage-ground of power until he was fiftysix years old. The young Meeklenbnrger, bom in 1800, who first served u. Denmark, and entered the Prussian Army in 1822, rose slowly into eminence, but surely, and the posts he filled show that his ability and vast knowledge were appreciated at an early day. In the long era of peace on the Continent, promotion was almost stagnant, and he did not reach the rank of Captain until he was thirty-four. If we look, however, at the posts he filled, we shall see that his directing capacity was recognised, for we find him permanentlygestablished on the General Staff in 1832. The reason was that he possessed not only exceptional ability, but waa cease- \ lessly industrious, and a student in many

teS— L= ==a . ===== Golds of knowledge. Perhaps hia upward progress was most facilitated4>y his Oriental journey, when the Sultan or his Minister begged that he might allowed to help in recreating an Ottoman Army. For he gained so much credit in Turkey that the Sultan pave him the Nischau, and on his return, ati‘l only a Captain, his Sovereign bestowed on him the' Order of Merit. When these facts are remembered, it does not seem surprising that King William should have placed him so promptly in the high post h 6 has just relinquished. The astonishing thing is that a man should begin his careor as a conspicuous actor on a great stage no late in life, and that his mental and bodily vigour should have enabled him to prolong it, through such severe trials, for more than a quarter of a century. He was sixty-six when he made war on Austria, and seventy when he touched the spring which set in motion that enormous host which overpowered the French armies and founded a German Empire in the Palace of Versailles.

The world judges andjjmust judge men by their actions ; for they have no other materials on which to found a judgment. The tumult and splendour of viotory, especially such victories as those of 1866 and 1870, strike on and dazzle the imagination by their vastness and by their stupendously dramatic effects. The true greatness lies behind the.'smoke and uproar. Just as the real labours of the soldier, which make him bo potent—his wearying vigils, his long marches, his endlese toil, and frequent privation—are unseen, and it is only when he flames out on the battle-field that he becomes visible and wins-renown ; so the deep study, the forethought, the sleepless eare of the General which are noeded to bring a host into effective collision with its foes are not, nor ever can be, fully apparent to the ordinary and even attentive observer. Yet it -is in the preparation—and the word in war means so much—in the manifold endurance of the troops and the skilful judgment of the General, that two-thirds of the merit lie. Koniggratz and Sedan command admiration and arouse enthusiasm, they aro so huge and dramatic ; but the essence of the thing done is to be found in wbat preceded the thunder of battle, and that is the work of the directing minds. It was in this work that Von Moltke excelled ; and if it be alleged that be profited by the lesser eapa* city of his opponents in Bohemia and France, the same may be said of nearly every General, because it is precisely the business of the superior to baffle and overbear the inferior intellect. Von Moltke’s opponents were at least aB respectable as most of the men who warred against Caesar and Napoleon. In like manner, the- infinite industry, tact, and sound judgment required to make and maintain an Army in constant efficiency, that Rind of complete readiness all through which renders it capable of taking the field in a fortnight in fighting array, can never be appreciated by the world at large. Yet in some respects, there is the greatest work of all, calling for perseverance, foresight, firmness, and such vigilanoe to discern improvements and will to apply them as makes an Army plastic, vital from end to end, and adaptable to every emergency. It -is because the German host does not crystallise, but lives, that it is so formidable. That spirit of growth and adaptability to everchanging facts, is due in a very large degree to the veteran Field-Marshal.

It would be a mistake to suppose that Von Moltke is * only a soldier.’ His mind has ranged over all the fields of knowledge. He is a master of many—who shall say how many ? —languages, having a faculty for acquiring them like Emin Pash a. He has read widely ;heis a musician and an artist. His published letters show wbat an eye he has for topography, how keen and accurate an observer he has always been, and how deep are his sympathies with beauty in Nature. War, rude as,itis, has not operated to narrow his intellect to its sphere, and his allround 'ability, which astonishes, is really common to minds of his calibre. He is, or has.been, on occasion, playfully sentimental. When he was travelling down the Euphrates, he came to the old Boman station of Zeugma at the moat westerly bend of the river, still called Rumkaleh. There, in the ruined castie, he stood one quiet night, listening to the murmur of the stream deep down in its rooky bed. 1 Then passed by in the moonlight,’ ho wrote, * Cyrus and Alexander, Xenophon, Caesar and Julian. From this spot they beheld the empire of Chosroes as I myself saw it, for here Nature never changes.’ Drinking the last bottle of champagne which he had brought from ‘ the vVestern to the Eastern border of the Empire,’ he paraphrased the ballad and imitated the action of the King in Thule, flinging the heiligen Becher into the abyss, as * a sacrifice to the memory of the grand Homan people.’ It is characteristic of the man of business that he did not sacrifice the golden liquor also to his sentimental dreams. He was young when he sat {in the moonlight upon the ruins of Zeugma ; and none of his nation, nor he himself, could have imagined that the tall, slim (Captain of Infantry who could ride thirty-eight hours at a stretch, would be the praotical chief .in two great wars, and still at eighty-eight hold the highest military pla.ce in Germany under the Emperor. So it is ; but, high as he stands, the withdrawal of Von Moltke from the office he has made famous is an impressive fact, —an event which warns us that the hour is near when the controlling spirits on the Continent will all be new men.