The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1895-07-03

almost have heard the artillery and
shouting. Would she have smiled if the
firing had ceased with the forty ninth
gum That would have meant ddttgh-
ter
In May Of 1910 it could be said OF
Napoleon that he had had his way. IN
a few instances his prodigious dreams
had dissipated into naught; but only in
few. His great scheme Of planting
French civilization in Northeastern
Africa and of carrying thence the tri.
color to Damascus, Aleppo and Bagdad,
had failed, His project of making Con-
stantirople the outpost Of France In the
East had vanished like ohimera. HIS
hope Of beating England on the sea end
ed with Trafalgar. But for all the rest,
what was left unfuifilied to the Dream
er and Iconoclast? Out Of the mulberry
patch in Aiaccio he had risen to the
supreme scat of power in tho most
splendid capital of the world. And he
was not yet fortyonel
As for war, that had sunk into NUT.
teripg and growing on the horizon.
During the year no great battle was
fought in Europe. Napoleon had the
land; and the sea WAS England's, In the
Spanish peninsula, the English and
| French armies advanced or receded by
strategic movements. In that country,
General Wellesley had struggled hard
to uphold the fortunes of Ferdinand VII.
In 1909 the allies had suffered great
hardships and revorses. Wellesley had
to get himself behind the line Of the
Torres Vedras, only short distance
from Lisbon there he lay at bay.
The reign Of King Joseph was estab-
lished IN the greater part Of Spain. At
one time the British arm hardly reach
ed out forty miles from Lisbon. On
July 27th and 2sth, Wellington (for he
was now Lord Wellington) won the
bloody battle of Talavera. Solut was
not able to withstand him; but Napo-
leon sent more than $50, 900 men across
the Pyrenees, and the British with their
allies were obliged to find safety again
behind the Torres Vedras. Massena
with his six hundred guns could not
dislodge or drive his enemy further He
could not tempt Wellington into the
field. During the whole year 1910 the
nearest approach to battle was that of
Busaoo, where on the 27th of September
the French suffered an unimportant re-
verse. Not until the 9th of May, 1911,
were the British able in the open field
to capture Almcida; not until the 10Th
of January, 1912, did Ciudad Rodrigo
yield to Wellington. On the 9Th Of
April be captured Badajoz
Twice already Joseph Bonaparte had
been driven from the throne; and twice
had he been replaced by the Emperor.
His third fight from his preoarious
Kingdom did not occur till 1913. when
he left Cadiz never to return.
In 1909 Louis was urged by Napoleon
TO suppress the British sympathies Of
his subjects, cut off intercourse with
England, and build o navy for France.
Just after Wagram there was stormy
utsEiew between the brothers at Paris.
The Emperor. not trusting Louis, sent
French troops to occupy Amsterdam.
Matters went to "ach pitch that on
the Ist Of July, Louis was obliged
to abdicate. The Emperor's threat to
annex Holland to France was carried
ont; and the ez-king retired into Aus.
tria.
Napoleon $ system Of ruling by subor.
dinate kings did not work we'll In such
a system there were more wills than
one; and there must be but Ono The
One moro and moro declared himself.
The absorption of Holland was followed,
in December of 1910, with the annexa.
ton Of the Hanse towns and the whole
northern coast of Germany. If, on New
Years Day, 1911, the status in quo
could have been acknowledged it
was ready to be by all the Powers ex-
cept Great Britain - the dream of
Charlemagne II. for European Empire
might be regarded as fulfilled.
From the Pyrenees to the Baltic and
eastward to the limits of the Continent
there was nominal peace; but on all seas
the was-fieets and merchant ships Of
England terrorized and npted the ma.
tons. The need Of Euro 70 for the prod
ucts of Great Britain was an argument
that tantalized all harbors from Riga to
ScvastopoL Europe was hungry for
goods, and the Continental blockade for
babe it. In 1901 the anti French
party in St. Petersburg was reinforced
by the commercial classes demanding
intercourse with England. The Car,
though he had ratified the treaty Of
Schonbrunn, looked with ever-increas-
ing jealousy On the unappeased ambition
of his friend Bonaparte. He saw the
Dnchy of Warsaw growing on his bor>
dcrs. He saw Oldenburg fief Of the
Romanotfs, annexed to the French En-
pire. He saw the wellnigh successful at
tempt to construct Northern Confed-
Grafton out Of Warsaw, Denmark and
Sweden, He saw sixteen nations con.
tributing their quotas to the Grand
Army Of France. He saw In his own
harbors the secret violation of existing
agreements, and blinked the ofYense.
From that day the prodigious final strug-
gle Of France and Russia was inevita-
BILE Alexander concluded treaty with
the Sultan, and planted an army Of co.
600 men on his western borders.
The crisis came by the act Of Sweden.
The childless Charles XIII. had taken
for his heir that Charles John Berna.
dotte whom we saw at Austerlitz Mar
shall Of France and Prince of Pontecorvo,
he became, in 1910, crown prince Of