ssession of what Belgium holds?
Since the failure of his attempt, the French Emperor has been at
peculiar pains to assure the King of the Belgians that he has no designs
on his territory; and therefore we must suppose he had none when he
propounded his demand to Prussia. It may be added, that the cession of
the Prussian portion of the spoil of 1815 had been a subject of
speculation, and of something like negotiation, long before war between
Prussia and Austria was supposed to be possible.

[46] There has been as much noise made over the needle-gun as by that
famous and fascinating slaughter weapon; yet it is by no means an arm of
tender years. It had been known thirty years when the recent war began,
and it had been amply tested in action seventeen years before it was
first directed against the Austrians, not to mention the free use that
had been made of it in the Danish war. Much that has been said of its
character and capabilities since last June was said in 1849, and can be
found in publications of that year. The world had forgotten it, and also
that Prussia could fight. Nicholas von Dreyse, inventor of the
needle-gun, is now living, at the age of seventy-eight. The thought of
the invention occurred to him the day after the battle of Jena, in 1806.
Some six or seven years since, we read, in an English work, an elaborate
argument to show that, in a great war, Prussia must be beaten, because
she had no experienced commanders!--like Benedek and Clam-Gallas, for
example.

[47] The entire force of the Allies at Leipzig is generally stated to
have been 290,000 men; that of the French at 175,000,--making a total of
465,000, or about 45,000 more than were present at Sadowa. So the excess
at Leipzig was not so very great. At Leipzig the Allies alone had more
guns than both armies had at Sadowa,--but what were the cannon of those
days compared to those of these times? The great force assembled in and
around Leipzig was taken from almost all Europe, as there were
Frenchmen, Germans, Russians, Hungarians, Bohemians, Italians, Poles,
Swedes, Dutchmen, and even Englishmen, present in the two armies;
whereas at Sadowa the armies were drawn only from Austria, Prussia, and
Saxony. The battle of Sadowa lasted only one day; that of Leipzig four
days, a large part of the Allied armies taking part only in the fighting
of the third and fourth days. The French lost 68,000 men at Leipzig, the
Allies, 42,640,--total, 110,640. But 30,000 of