The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-05-13

France In the LAST Dilu vanished ike n
chimera. His hope of beating England on
the sea ended with Trafalgar But for all
the rest, what was loft unfulfllcd To the
Dreamer and ic,noclas's Out Of the null
berry patch In Ajaccio he had risen 10 the
supreme seat of Power in the most splen-
did capital Of the world. And he was not
yet forty-onei
As for war, that had sunk into mutter-
ing and growing on the horizon. During
the year no great battle was fought In Eu-
rope. Napoleon had the land; and the sea
was England's. In the Spanish peninsula,
the English and French armies advanced
or reccdcd by strategic movements. In
that country, General Wellesley had strug-
gled hard to uphold the fortunes of Ferdi-
nand VII In 1909 the allies had suffered
great hardships and rcverses Wellesley
had Co got himself behind the line OF the
Torres Nedras, 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 reached out
forty miles from Lisbon. On July 9th
and 2Sth, Wellington (for he was now Lord
Wellington won the bloody battle of Ia
lavera. Soult was not able to withstand
him; but Napoleon sent more than $50, 900
men across the Pyrenees and the British
with their allies We're Obliged to find safety
again behind the Torres Vedras. Massena
with his six hundred guns could not dis
lodge or drive his enemy further. He could
not tempt Wellington into the field. Dur
ing the whole year 1910 the nearest ap-
proach to battle was that of Busaco,
where on the eth of September the French
suffered an unimportant reverse. Not un-
til the 5th of May, 1911, were the British
able in the open field to capture Almeida;
not until the 10Th of January, 1912, did
Ciudad Rodrigo yield to Wellington. On
the 9th of April he captured Badajoz.
Twice already Joseph Bonaparte had been
driven from the throne; and twice had he
been replaced by the Emperor. His third
flight from his precarious Kingdom did
not occur till 1913, when he left Cadiz
never to return. Napoleon with his new
empress sat for while in Paris. There
were other domestic troubles besides his
own. He had Obliged King Louis of Hol-
land to marry Hortense Beauharnais In
this case there was repugnance on both
sides. Louis wanted schoolmate of his
sister Caroline, and Hortense, horrible
dictu, loved not Louis b,t NdpOleoni So
said scandal which has not yet died out
of the world. The king and the queen
were never at one Napoleon wished Louis
to govern the Dutch for him; and Hor-
tense supported this theory. Louis showed
signs of practical sense, and would rule the
Low Countries for their own advantage
Holland was closely allied in interest with
England for commerce was the resource
of both.
In 800 Louis was urged by Napoleon to
4.
jects, cut off intercourse with England,
and build "a navy for France Just after
Wagram there was a stormy interview be-
tween the brothers at Paris The Emper-
or, not trusting Louis, sent French troops
to occupy Amsterdam. Matters went to
such pitch that on the 1st of July, 1910,
Louis was obliged to abdicate The EN-
peror's threat TO annex Holland TO France
was carried out; and the ex-king retired
into Austria.
Napoleons system of ruling by subordi-
nate kings did not work we'll In such a
system there were more wills than one;
and there must be but One. The One
more and more declared himself The alb
sorption of Holland was followed, in De-
cember of 1910, with the annexation of the
Hanse towns and the whole northern coast
of Germany. If, on New Years Day, 1911,
the status in quo could have been acknowl-
edgcd-as 1t was ready TO be by all the
Powers except Great Britain-the dream
of Charlemagne III. 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 war fleets and merchant-ships of Eng
land terrorized and tempted the nations
The need of Europe for the products OF
Great Britain was an argument that tan
tailed all harbors from Riga TO Sevasto-
pol. Europe was hungry for goods and
the Continental blockade forbade it, In
1S10-ll the anti-F French party in St. Pc
tersburg was reinforced by the commercial
classes demanding intercourse with Eng
land. The Gar, though he had ratified
the treaty of Schonbrunn, looked with
ever-increasing jealousy on the unappeased
ambition of his friend Bonaparte He saw
the Duchy of Warsaw growing on his Dor
ders. He saw Oldenburg, IA fief of the Ro-
manoffs, annexed To the French Empire
He saw the wellnigh successful attempt to
construct a Northern Confederation out of
Warsaw, Denmark and Sweden. He saw
sixteen nations contributing their quotas
To the Grand Army Of France. He saw in
MS own narDOrS the secret violation or eX-
listing agreements, and blinked the offense.
From that day the prodigious final strug-
gle Of France and Russia was inevitable.
Alexander concluded treaty with the
Sultan, and planted an army of 10000
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 Bernadotte
whom we saw at Austerlitz. Marshal Of
France and Prince of Pontecorvo he be-
came, in 1910, crown prince of Sweden and
Norway. Like Louis Bonaparte in Hol-
land, he was lukewarm in supporting the
Continental blockade; for the Swedes were
in need of British goods. The pennon Of
st. George began TO be seen in the harbors
of Pomerania. Bernadotte would not ex-
pei the ships of England, and in reprisal
the Swedish vessels were seized i'm the ports
of Germany. Marshal Davout, sent into
Pomerania TO enforce the blockade, en-
forced it; and Bernadotte appealed to the
Car for aid. Alexander heard the call,
and answered ayel The gage of tremen-
dous battle was thrown dowpvby the Mus
covite, and accepted by the Corsican.
JOHN CLARK RIDPATH.