The Marlboro democrat. [volume] (Bennettsville, S.C.) 1882-1908, 1908-01-24
THE FALL or NATIONS
How Great World Powers Have
Passed Into History.
MOST HAVE DIED FIGHTING.

Sno East ana tho Empire OF 1no Wo6Sy3
Venice, It's Secret Three and Its L.ongl
Reign of Terror.
Most countries which have died havel
gone down lighting. The Roman emil
pirc persisted like that, n by thet
irony or fate the power Of the Caeaarst
came to an end far away from Rome.
After it had existed for centuries thel
Roman empire became SO vast and un-
wieky that it had to be divided into
two. the empire of the west md the
empire Of the east. The capital Of the !
former was Rome. (
The empire Of the west became so
weak Mt last that 1t could make no
stand against It's enemies. Rome wasl
sacked by the barbarians and eventu- |
ally became not the capital OF q vast
empire, but the city Of the popes, oyerE
which the pontiffS reigned as kings.l
The temporal power Of the popes last
ed till 1870, while the capital Of Italy |
| was first Turin and then Milan. Email
ly the city was taken without n re,nF
| fight by the soldiers Of the king. Old
Italy. !
The empire Of the east hga its, capt.
tai at ~Constnntinople. For centuries &c:
was the greatest power In the world.
But it became honeycombed with vice,
and enervated with pride and luxury.
also 1t grew old and weak. Then In.
1422 the Turks made q tigerish spring:
on Constantinople and took it by stoun,,
The last or the Greek emperors dieH'
sword in hand. and his descendants
are living in England today In very
humble situations. ~.
Ngypt, once so powerful and so Ga
nous under the pharaohs, was con.
quereu by Rome and was afterWar8
s"hmped by the Moslems. The cres-
cent was supreme in the land Of the
Nile, II the aforetimc naughty Egyp-
uans were slaves for a thousand years.
The great moguls used to reign In
India. In the days of Queen Elizabeth
the mogul-or emperor Of Delhi. as he
was sometimes %called-was SO power
full that he thought 1t n vast conde-
scension on his part TO receive an en-
bassy from the maiden queen. But
as time went OH the great rajahs, OF
tributary kings, rebclled against the
maguls, india was rent asunder by tho
wars between rival rajahs. This gave
the Europeans q chance.
France at first held the upper hand
and nearly conquered the land, but
then England drove France back an6
seized the empire of the grcat moguIa
for herself. The heir Of the moguls, by,
h way, still enjoys q pension given
by II British government as q cons
pensation for the throne lost by his an.
| cestors.
Poland used to occupy a big place on
the map Of Europe. At II time y
was much larger and stronger than
Russia. The czar OF Russia md 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
h world flocked to the Polish capitab
at Warsaw, eager to serve In tho 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 an
but name. They were not allowed to,
move from one part Of the country to-
another without leave, they could. not
own a foot Of land, and they could
ncvor be sure that they might not be-
sold by the great noble they served to
n new master; hence the mobiles and
the people never stood together liz
times OF danger or disaster.
Poland was n big country, but It was
divided against itself, and Russia,
Prussia and Austria combined were
more powerful. They all three joined
hands, and each took n 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 m|
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 isl
II of the most dramatic in all history.
For hundreds Of years the City Of the
Iagoons was one OF the most powerful
states IN the world. Its doges ranked
as the equals of the proudest kings.
Its alliance was coveted by the great.
est powers. Its government was one
OF sheer terrorism. The doge was
hardly more than q splendid figure
head. All real power rested In the
hands of the dreaded council OF ten
II the secret three. The latter were
n trio Of living mysteries and were
knOWn by name to practically no ouAl