370 
MINUTES OF PROCEEDINGS OF 
This was the last action fought to save from Prussian profanation the 
seat of the German Diet. Prince Alexander once more retreated, Palkenstein 
pressed on, and on the night of the 16th July, Prankfort was no longer a 
free city. 
Here the Prussian army enjoyed four days repose, during which it received 
some reinforcements from North German States. A change also took place 
in the command. Palkenstein was removed on appointment as Governor of 
Bohemia; Manteuffel, one of the divisional commanders succeeded him. 
On the 21st of July the three divisions again marched forth. The 8th 
Corps on quitting Prankfort, had gone towards Wurzburg, where the 
Bavarians had established themselves since their discomforture at Kissingen, 
and Manteuffel followed their steps. On the 23rd and 24th there were 
actions fought on and near the banks of the Tauber, at Bischofsheim, and 
other places, of which it would be vain to attempt any concise account. 
Suffice it to say, that on the 26th July Prince Alexander, always retreating, 
vacated the left bank of the Maine, and on the next day the Prussian field 
guns were cannonading Wurzburg. Then the truce, which had been made 
with Austria on the 22nd, was extended to the belligerents here, and in a 
few days after the 7th and 8th Corps had separated for their own homes. 
The Prussian operations on the Maine will always be thrown into the 
background by the greater magnitude and brilliance of those in Bohemia; 
the newspapers in this country scarcely noticed them, and my account is 
derived from German sources. They deserve attention from a military point 
of view as a good example of what an active general may achieve against a 
divided enemy of double his own strength, and their result was important 
by securing to Prussia a complete and incontestable superiority in all North 
Germany. 
Review . 
Having now completed a general outline of the operations of the war, it 
remains for us to enquire what enabled the Prussians to achieve the wonderful 
and rapid success which attended them. 
To men whose duty it is to study military art this is the more important 
branch of the subject. Prom time to time new kinds of weapons are invented, 
and changes of weapons causes changes in the mode of drawing up and 
manoeuvring troops. Many of the discoveries and improvements of peaceful 
life, such as new modes of locomotion and communication, also find their way 
into military service, and most wars offer, in consequence, some points of 
difference from previous wars; independently of each war being a fresh 
example of those unalterable principles which are common to war in every 
age of the world's history. 
Of all the improvements that have been made in military weapons I should 
think none ever fulfilled its mission with such brilliant results as the breech¬ 
loading needle gun. It is the object of all such improvements to make a 
soldier more than a match for any other soldier not similarly equipped. The 
purpose of sucessively changing from bows and arrows to fire-arms ;—from 
guns with flint locks to percussion locks,—from muskets to rifles,—and from 
muzzle-loaders to breech-loaders, has been to increase every man's power 
of disabling his adversary by shooting further, or with more accuracy, or 
