The age-herald., 1898-03-12
SOME REPUBLICS
 AND EMPERORS
Men and Measures That Have Made History in
 the World.

From the St. Louis Globe-Democrat.
 On Tuesday last 166 years have elapsed since George Washington was born. This line of presidents reaches back a century to the foundation of a pure democracy, an exception in the history of nations and no seer can foresee its end, for Europe and the east furnish him no data for calcu- lation, whose contribution to it's establish ment and preservation no doubt surpasses comprehension. The superhuman insight and energy that are born amid hardship. and of despair cannot be rightly estimated They evade even the talent of the partici- pant himself; for, like one in travail, he forgets the pain in the joy of triumph. Of this character was Washington's experi- ence. He did not grasp the full scope of his service; nor do we. His birthday is celebrated and his memory reversed, but the true judgment of his reward rests with a higher intelligence That one of his line, elected to the same office that he held, and on principles that emanated from his ad- ministration, should speak of Washington on the anniversary of his birth is an ex- ample of propriety that comes but rarely. The theme and the occasion are fruitful.
 What the United States is to the repub- lies of the world the empire of France was to monarchies. In these two governments is seen the greatest eminence possible of attainment under either form. And in no age do the republic and the empire stand in such jextapostion and in such bold contrast as do the respective creations of Washington and Napoleon. The grandeur of the French empire came and went like palaces in dream. The whole world seemed to sleep beneath the hypnotism of the Corsican, whose dominions all the while were encroaching and Incorporating the Kingdoms of Europe They awoke eventu- ally, as from disturbed slumber, and the empire fell. At other point in his life does the French emperor present so inter- esting a picture as at Fontainebleau, after the last German campaign. This man of boundless resources. whose throne was the battlefield, hadn't a soldier left him. You see there in the cabinet of Fontainebleau Napoleon stripped. His courage was no longer a matter of debate. He would have moved on Paris with single corps and died at the gates. But the empire was gone, and the army with it. The splendid fabric was no bettetr than that of the English in India, which Napoleon had de- risively predicted he could collapse with sword thrust. Yet it had been terrible reality, for its maker was ideaist. Few men, if any, have combined in such per- feet equipoise the faculties of design and execution.
 The second empire was but the rainbow tint that comes after the sunburst and the storm. At a sword thrust from Germany, which the great uncle could have erased from the map 1t, too, collapsed The re- appearance of the name of Napoleon reused all the latent vengeance in the Ger man soldier, and the extraordinary talent of Moltke speedily effected a readjustment. He marched his army, with but little oppo- sition, straight to Paris. That brought to an end the Napoleonic dynasty. And if Henri Rochefort speaks truly, there was no legitimate succession in the head of the second empire, the great emperor being the first and last of the Bonapartes to rule France. Be that as it may, there is no voice left in that monarchical line to extol it's creator. His birthday will be the 18th of August; some have 1t the 7th of Jan uary, which would bring it in the same season as Washington's, thirty-seven years separating them. When Washington died Napoleon had reached the consulate and was in sight of the throne. He had only sixteen more years to go, and in that brief time made record of events that stands In relief from all the achievements of men before or since. But the empire had van ished and the emperor was prisoner on
 
 The consulate of Napoleon fills a most important space in history, standing as 1t Hoes between the young republic in the west and the French empire that was to come, and throwing the weight of its power either way. Through it America was in creased to twice its size and the empire thereby made possible. To separate the republic. the consulate and the empire, so closely interwoven are they, would be doing violence to a simple and comprehensive truth The hears directly ba af fhar and the three are something of a historic trinity. At this point of interest the men of influence are Jefferson and Monroe on the one side and Napoleon and his minis ters on the other. Negotiations are per- fected war begins, the republic spreads out, the consulate disappears and the em- pire is inaugurated. That was one of Ma poleoh's transformation periods, when all things were thrown into confusion and changed in the outcome. And such violent shaking up after a long peace op- ened the eyes of England to the kind of man she had to deal with. Jefferson was far away. and could act deliberately. But Monroe was on the ground, and that his good judgment was not defected by the whirwind impetuosty of Napoleon Is much to his honor as a diplomat. Napo- leon, 1t will be seen, through Jefferson and Monroe, but added to what Washing ton had already established. Washington is the man of importance after all.
 In the fifty years between the first mur murings of displeasure here at the injus tice of the English parliament and the last day at Waterloo, crowded as they were with men of talent and retown Washing ton and Napoleon easily the central figures of their respective times. The one was the greatest of republicans and the other was the geratest of despots With Napoleon, whose empire was built of king doms, there was none. of course to dispute authority. With Washington it was dif- ferent, except when he led the army, and a part of his glory Is that after his triumph he effected his purpose in spite of division