GENERAL YON MOLTKE.

Tuapeka Times, Volume III, Issue 145, 17 November 1870, Page 4

GENERAL YON MOLTKE.

General Hellmuth Baron Von Moltke, to whose already proven skill and energy was entrusted the gigantic- task of set-

ting in immediate motion half a million of men— of calculating from all corners of the land the time required to bring on a cert-iin day, and at a certain hour, to a certain point, many single corps, uniting as a vast, compact, and solid army — belongs to a family of Old Mecklenburg. He was born in the first year of the century, at a farm known as Samow, near Ribnitz. His traditions were all military. His father had sprved in the Mb'llendorf regiment, and was resolved on giving a thorough soldierly training to his sons. Very soon after the birth of him whose career we are now brief! v sketching the family went to ITolstein ; and in the year 1812 he was sent with an elder brother to the Land Cablet \cademy at Copenhagen, so ih it Prussia is indebted to Deumark as well as to the Duchy of Mecklenburg for the production of a soldier whose services will have left ♦•heir mark in the history of tins younaj but powerful monarchy. When 22 years of age our cadet entered the Prussian service as Second Lieutenant in the Bth Leib Infantry regiment, which was stationed at Frankfort-on-the-Odor. The corps was commanded at the time by General von der Marwick, whose wife was by birth a Countess von Moltke. To this circumstance may possibly bo ascribed the fact that the young officer, whose means and worldly prospects were now very small, found influential friends. He was entirely dependant on his siondfr pay, for his nearest relatives had fallen on evil days, and thcii fortune was lost. By great exertions and self-denial, Lieutenant Moltke educated himsplf in modern languages, and lus diligence obtained for him in a short time the direction of the Divisional School, in which post his onerous duties wore discharged with me\ eminent satisfaction to his superior officers that he was atlnched to the staff of General von Miifflinor, and was employed to take topographical measurement in Silesia and elsewhere. Soon afterwards he became captain: and in two years was admitted to the general staff. While holding the rank of captain, he w«.s sent to Turkey, with Captains Lane, Von Ku'ilbach, Fische, and Von Winke, to organize the army there on the Prussian model. The work was a 'tended with results almost ludicrously unsuccessful. As soon as the Tarkis'i troops were* disciplined and orLrnniscd. they deserted en masse. But military literature owes to Moltke's Eastern visit his popular and instructive " Letters from Turkey ;" and the same mission also gave him the opportunity of making valuable drawings of the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus, and Constantinople. In the year ]839 — and we may remind the reader that. Yon Moltke's years are the years of the century, so' that his a^e is always denoted by the last two figures — he returned, after a most interesting journey through Lesser Asia, to Europe. In the year following he married Miss Von Burt, of Holstein, and about the same time he was promoted to the rank of major. In 18-15 he again left Germany, and went to Rome, where ho was attached as adjutant to the Prince Heinrich of Prussia. Few people now remember this Prince, who was the uncle of the present Kins); of Prussia, and who, having become a Roman Catholic, ended his days in the city of Popos. After leaving Prussia, Prince Heinric'i was reported dead. But he lived to furnish a theme which the historical novelist of another generation may turn to good account. Having brought the dead body of the Prince back to Prussia, Major von Moltke became chief of the General Staff of the ~ 4th Army troops in Made burg ; in ISSO ho w.is made lieutenant-colonel, in 1851 colonel, in 1556 major-general, and in 1859 lieutenant-general. During this year he accompanied the Crown Prince of Prussia to Balmoral, and afterwards, being in command of the llthlnfantrv Regiment, resided with the Prince for twelvemonths in Breslau. On two other memorable occasions hs went in attendanr-e on the Crown Prince to England ; first when His Royal Highness espoused the Princess Royal, and afterwards when the prince was present at the funeral obsequies of her lamented father, the Prince Consort. In 1864. when Field-Marshal the Count Wran'^el, after the Diippel vi.-tory, s;ave the command to Prince Frederick Charles, Von Moltke became chief of the general staff; and it must have been with strange feelings, as he remembered his cadet days in D •nrnark, that he projected the successful passage over to Alsen. His fame was afterwards to be more firmly established. The seven days' war with Austria brought into conspicuous prominence tbose brilliant qualities which have again Bh me forth, to the

groat glory of Prussia and the German cause, an 1 to the signal discomfiture, if not c infusion, of their enemies. This is fie man who guides the great army which, repelling invasions, has carried conquest into the heart of the invader's territory.