The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1898-10-05
PRIVACY AMONG THE NATIONS.
HISTORICAL REVIEW

V Of the house OF Bourbon went to the
Spanish throne the Bourbon Louis XIV
of France well said "There are no long
er any Pyrenees. Under this degener-
ate successor of Ferdinand, the first Char
les and the great Philip Spain became a
feeble echo OF France. But frances star
began to wane in the reign OF Louis XIV
Q715-74,) the great monarch's successor,
and in 1853 the scepter Of supremacy
passed to England. From 17i3 onward
to tn end of the war of American indie
pendence in 1881 England's influence in
Europe was supreme, but at the close OF
that war, IN which France for four years
had been an ally Of America, France re-
covered most Of her lost prestige, and she
regained all o. it in Bonaparte's days, in
the score of years ending with 1916.
though she lost some Of it at Bonaparte's
overthrow in that year, and England
made corresponding gain.
But France and England were not the
only nations which, between the decline
of Spain at the defeat OF the Armada in
1888 and the battle OF Waterloo 1915, ex.
ercised a commanding influence in tho
worlds affairs. Little Holland, for q
time, filled large place in history. This
was in the two-thirds of century be-
tween the recognition OF the indepen-
dence of that country by Philip III. in
1909 and its invasion by Fance in 1871,
in the war in which the England OF
Charles H. was frances ally For a
considerable part of this time the Dutch
we're the ocean carriers OF the worlds
trade, and the Dutch navy was victor
ious in many sea fights which temporari-
ly changed the current OF history Prus-
STA, also small at the time, got a place
among the great nations through the
ability OF Frederick the Great in the sew
en- years war (l756-l753) which was
participated in by most Of the important
countries OF Europe. Prussia expanding
through the successive partitions Of Po-
land, the acquisition Of part OF Saxony,
the Rhineland, Swedish Pomerania, and
her conquests in the war against Austria
in 1866, remained great power from
Frederick's time until 1871, when it was
merged in the new German Empire, OF
which 1t forms the dominant part. Rus
STA, which did not begin TO figure in the
list OF civilized states until the days OF
Peter the Great, hal grown to such an
extent in power and influence early in
this century that Bonaparte, in the treaty
OF Tilsit in 1907, proposed to the Gar,
Alexander L., that the Turkish Empire
should be divided up between France
aud Russia, in disregard OF the wishes Of
the rest of the world.
To the list as existing at the beginning
oil the century OF the great nations OF the |
world-France, England, Russia, Prussia
and Austria-another name was added |
two years before the century's first quar-
ter was finished. This was the United |
States. The United States took a
ST. toward continental proper
piVPOAhohn ~ AoVot "uohI W tho puh-
chase OF Louisiana, it extended its boun-
DIARIES from the Mississippi to the Rocky |
Mountains, and 1t made another step in |
1921 when II acquired Florida and all |
the territory on the nothern border OF !
the Gulf OF Mexico. When, however,
through the warning OF President Mon
roe, in 1923, 1t defeated the conspiracy
OF the Holy Alliance-Russia, Prussia.
Austria and B.urbon Frsnce-to re-
establish Spanish or other European
sway in Central and South America, il |
asserted primacy in the affairs OF the
American continent which the rest OF |
the nations were bound TO respect. By |
successive additions to territory and
population subsequently its continental
grew, and In 1898, partly
through events which could not have
been foreseen at the beginning OF the
year, which places Asiatic territory In
It's hands, and partly through the opera
ton OF social factors which would have
brought expansion In any case, the
United States drops It's isolation role and
becomes recognised force in the worlds
politics.
CHARLES NJ. HARVEY.