NE WS OF THE WEEK.
HE destiny of Germany is culminating fast. Napoleon has
flung down his glove to the Hohenzollerns, and it has been taken up by the united German people. The accounts of German feeling and action are almost monotonous in their sameness. Without exultation, with a sadness widely different from M. 011ivier's "lightness of heart," the German people, in Saxony as in Berlin, in Hanover as on the Rhine, in Bavaria no less than in Schleswig-Holstein, has resolved to perform its duty, has aban- doned all business but war, and is pouring towards the Rhine. It is believed that the King has decided on the invasion of France, that his main army is massing towards Saarbriick, and that the first great battle will be fought upon French soil. According to the best accounts, Napoleon has from 300,000 to 320,000 efficients collected in the angle of France formed by drawing a line from Metz to Strasbourg ; the Prussian force in the same direction will be more than equal in numbers ; and within the next five days a grand battle must be fought in that region. There may be a little farther delay, the French being scarcely ready,—especially at Metz, where the Staff seems overloaded,—and the Prussians benefiting by every hour of time, but all indications point to the adoption by Prussia of a policy of magnificent audacity. If this view proves correct, as we believe it will prove, the battle will be one of the most momentous ever fought in Europe.
