Elk City mining news. (Elk City, Idaho) 1903-1913, 1907-12-07
THE FALL OF NATIONS
How Great World Powers Have
Passed Into History.
MOST HAVE DIED FIGHTING.

Most countries which have died have
gone down fighting The Roman en-
pire persisted like that, and by the
irony Of fate the power of the Caesars
came to an end far away from Rome.
After 1t had existed for centuries the
Roman empire became SO vast and I'M
wieldy that it had to be divided into
two, the empire Of the west and the
empire Of the east. The capital Of the
former was Rome.
The empire of the west became SO
weak at last that it could make no
stand against Its enemies. Rome was
sacked by the barbarians and eventu-
ally became not the capital Of q vast
empire, but the city Of the popes, over
which the pontiffs reigned as kings.
The temporal power Of the popes last
ed till 1870, while the capital of Italy
was first Turin and then Milan. Final
ly the city was taken without q real
fight by the soldiers of the king Of
Italy.
The empire of the east had it's capt.
tai at Constantinople. For centuries it
was the greatest power In the world.
But 1t became ;honeycombed with vice
and enervated with pride and luxury;
also it grew old and weak. Then In
1892 the Turks made tigerish spring
on Constantinople and took it 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 so powerful and so fa-
nous under the pharaohs, was con-
quered by Rome and was afterwari
swamped by the Moslems. The cres-
ceut was supreme in the land Of the
Nile, and the aforetime naughty Egyp-
tians were slaves for thousand years.
The great moguls used 70 reign In
India. In the days Of Queen Elizabeth
the mogul-or emperor Of Delhi, as he
WAS sometimes called-waa 80 power
full that he thought 1t vast conde-
scenston on his part to receive an en-
bassy from the maiden queen. But
Us time went on the great rajahs, or
tributary kings, rebelled against the
moguls. India was rent asunder by the
wars between rival rajahs. This gave
the Europeans a 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 a pension given
by the British government as a COM
pensation for the throne lost by his an
.cestors.
Poland used to occupy a big place on
the map of Europe. At one time it
was much larger and stronger than
Russia The car Of Russia and the
emperor of Austria were only too glad
to be on good terms with the king OF
Poland, and there was no king Of
Prussia In those days.
Noble Adventures from all parts of
the world focked 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 persisted through her
own faults and follies. The mass of
the common people were slaves In all
but name. They were not allo ed 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
q new master; hence the mobiles and
the people never stood together in
times of danger or disaster.
Poland was a big country, but 1t was
divided against itself, and Russia
Prussia and Austria combined were
more powerful. They all three Joined
hands, and each took a large share OF
Poland In 1772. That was the first
partition Of Poland" The Poles sub
mitted tamely, for they were still OIL
vided.
In 1903 the trio Of robbers made 1
second swoop. Only the ghost &C Pc
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 Il
one of the most dramatic In all history
For hundreds of years the City of thu
Lagoons was one Of the most powerful
states In the world. It's doges ranke,
as the equals of the proudest kings
Its alliance was coveted by the great
est powers. Its government was on
of sheer terrorism. The doge wa
hardly more than a splendid figure
head. All real power rested In TIL
hands of the dreaded council Of tel
and the secret three. The latter wer
a trio Of living mysteries and wer
known by name to practic ~ no on