St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1893-07-08

with blow that brought the monarchy O
Frederick the Great under vassalage to til.
new Charlemagne.
At that point the parallel ends. Napo
leon III didn't win battle. Napoleon
won two in a single day, and Prussia was
atsais feet. He gave marching orders dur
ing the first week in October, and ON the
night of the 18th of that month the prus-
sian army was bleeding, fleeing mob
The campaign beginning and ending Mt
Jena and Auerstadt respectively, at sun
rise and sunset that day, was Napoleonic ii
any one of his enterprises deserves to be
distinguished above Others.
While the war was still in the dispatch
writing stage between emperor at Paris
and king at Berlin, word reached Napoleon
that the Prussian men alarms of the Noble
guard were whetting their sword blades
upon the stone steps of the French embas-
sador's house. The insolent braggarts
shall soon learn that our weapons need no
sharpening" said he. and began coneen-
trating army corps on the frontier On re-
ceipt in Paris of King Frederick's ulti-
matum, dated Mt Berlin, Oct 1, the French
were already encamped on neutral terri
torysalong the River Main. And the Prus-
slams were not asleep.
imagine that vast plain constituting the
old kingdom of Prussia, stretching roo miles
east and west from Russia to the north sea
and the Rhine, and 200 or 800 miles north
and south from the Franconia mountains
TO the Baltic. Berlin, the capital is about
In the center each way. Two rivers, run
ming from the southern to the northern
border, divide the western half nearest
France. into three divisions, and the
sources OF these rivers are in the noun
tains OF Saxony on the southern border,
creating natural fastness for defense in
the south. The river Weser was the first
barrier to ward off invasion across the
plains of Westphalia on the side of the
Rhine East of the Weser 100 miles the
Elbe formed second barrier and covered
Berlin.
The Prussian army lay on the borders of
and in the friendly Saxon dominions, fac
ing south, the right resting on a tributary
of the Weser. Its strength in the field was |
10000. Napoleon, entering Saxony from
the southeast, mustered over 10000 Three
plans of campaign were open to the EN-
peror-first, to enter Westphalia between |
the Weser and the Rhine, and tempt Tue /
Prussians to cross the river and attack;
second, to turn the Weser line by penetrat-
ing east of it and throw the Prussians back
toward the IGlbe and Berlin with an aban-
donment of the richer half of the kingdom;
third, to strike for the Elbe at once, and il
successful cut off the retreat to Berlin and
force a capitulation
The last promised the best results, but in
yolved enormous risk, for march toward
the Elbe with the Prussians intact on the
Weser would leave the enemy between the
French army and its base on the River
Main southeast of Saxony Napoleon, out
Of sheer recklessness, say his enemies. chose
the last and struck for the grand prize,
Berlin. The Prussians struck out also for
the Elbe to head him off Hence Jena and
Auerstadt, at the passes of the River SaaIe.
a western tributary of the Elbe
Napoleon was compelled to separate his
forces into three columns in order to get
through the defiles into Saxony A Prus,
sian corps occupied Saxony, and if the whole
army had been animated with the spirit Of
young Prince Louis there would be differ
ant story to tell With 10000 men he at
lacked Napoleon's advance column under
Marshal Lannes. Though outnumbered.