The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1907-04-14
THE FALL OF NATIONS
How Great World Powers Have
Passed Into History.
MOST HAVE DIED FIGHTING.
The Struggle Between the Empire Of
tho East and the Empire Of the West.
Venice, Its Secret Three and Its Long
Reign Of Terror.

tho East and the Empire Of the West.
Venice, Its Secret Three and Its Iona
Reign Of Terror.
Most countries which have died have
gone down lighting The Roman en-
pirc pcrlshed like that. and by the
irony Of fate the power Of the Caesars
came 10 an end far away FROM Rome.
After II had existed for centuries the
Roman empire became so vast and I'M
wieldy that II had 10 he divided into
two the empire of the west aud the
empire OF the east. The capital of the
former was Rome.
The empire Of the west became NO
weak nt last that II could make no
stand against Its enemies. Rome was
sacked by tho barbarians and eventu.
ally became uog the capital Of n vast
empire, In nc city of the pupcs. over
which the pontins relgned as kings.
The temporal power OF the popes last
ed til 1870. while the capital Of Italy
was first Turin and then Milan Final
ly the city was taken without real
fight by the soldiers OF the king of
Italy
The empire OF the east had It's CAPT
tai AT Constantlnoplc. For centuries IL
was the greatest power In the world
But 1t became honeycombcd with vice
and enervatcd with pride aud luxury;
| also II grew old and weak Then In
li22 the Turks made n tlgersh spring
on Constantinoplc and took 1t by storm
| The last OF the Greek emperors died
sword In hand. and his descendants
are living In England today in very
humble situations.
Egypt once 80 powerful and SO ia
nous under the pharaohs. was con
| quered by Rome and was afterward
swampcd by the Mosems. The cres-
cent was supreme In the land of the
| Nile and the afosctime naughty Egyp-
tlans were slaves Tor IA thousand years.
The great moguls used to reign In
ladia. In the days OF Queen Elizabeth
the mogul-or emperor OF Delhi, as he
was sometimes called-was 50 power
ful that he thought II vast conde-
sccnsion ON his part TO receive an en-
bassy from the maiden queen. But
as time went on the great rajahs. or
tributary kings, rebellcd against the
moguls. India was rent asunder by the
wars between rival raJahs. This gave
the Europeans n chance.
France at first held the upper hand
and nearly conquered the land. but
then England drove France back and
seized the empire of the great moguls
for herself. The heir OF the moguls. by
the way. still enjoys n pension given
by the British government as com
pcnsntlon for the throne lost by his an
ccstors
Poland used TO occupy big place on
the map OF Europe. At one time II
was much larger and stronger than
Russia. The ear OF Russia and the
emperor of Austria were only too glad
TO bc on good terms with the king OF
Poland, and there was no king of
Prussia In those days.
Noble adventurers from all parts OF
the world locked to the Polish capital
at Warsaw. eager TO serve In the Pol
ish armies. The Duke of Monmouth,
son OF King Charles ii. OF England,
thought OF doing this.
But Poland perished through her
own faults and follles. The mass OF
the common people were slaves In all
but name. They were not allowed to
move from one part OF the country to
another without leave, they could not
own foot of land, and they could
never be sure that they might not be
sold by the great noble they served to
new master; hence the mobiles and
the people never stood together In
times OF danger or disaster
Poland was big country. but II was
divided against itself. and Russia
Prussia and Austria combined were
more powerful. They all three Joined
hands, and each took large share OF
Poland in 1772. That was the first
partition of Poland" The Poles sub
mitted tamely. for they were still di-
vided.
In 1903 the trio of robbers made II
second swoop. Only the ghost of Po-
land was left. Another year saw the
end Of the tragedy. The last rem
nants Of Poland were swallowed up by
Russia, Prussia and Austria.
The fate Of the republic of Venice II
one of the most dramatic I'm all history.
For hundreds Of years the City of the
Lagoons was one OF the most powerful
states In the world. Its doges ranked
as the equals Of the prouiest kings.
Its alliance was coveted by the great
est powers. Its government was one
Of sheer terrorism. The doge was
hardly more than splendid figure
, head. All real power rested In the
. hands OF the dreaded council of ten
and the secret three. The latter were
n trio OF living mysteries and were
known by name TO practically no one
: IN Venice.
Sometimes a man was one of the
secret three and his own wife and chill
dren never dreamed II. Their most
dreaded servants were masked mutes
II n Venetian. no matter how high his
rank, was denounced by the council
- e..V. l.. A..