El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-08-28
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THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR.
By Rev. Thomas B. Gregory.
TIVE hundred and sixty-five years

1--WE hundred and sixty-five years
ago-August 25, 1346-with the
l. skirmish preliminary to the Bat
tie of Crecy, began the famous Hun
bred Years War between England and
France.
The English king took it into his
head that he was entitled to wear a
double crown-that of England and
that of France-while the king of
France was of the opinion that his
royal brother across the channel was
a selfish fool who neither knew nor
cared what he was about
With the French the question was,
Shall we remain French or pass to
the foreigner? Shall we preserve our
nationality or be contented to become
a province of England?" They right
eously enough resolved to fight, and
that resolution brought ravages upon
France. and kept her fortunes in sus-
pense for a whole century, from the
reign of Philip of Valois to that of
Charles VII, when the young peasant
girl Of Lorraine, the famous Joan of
re, had the glory of communicating
to her countrymen the impulse which
brought to triumphant issue the in
dependence of the French nation and
kingship.
In this celebrated war. there were
three rounds, the first lasting from
1916 to 1860, the second from 1854 to
1920, the third from 1922 to 1853, so
that the fighting was going on most Of
the time for 100 years.
BY the famous victory of Crecy and
Poictiers the English king. while he
gave up his claim to the throne Of
France, got himself acknowledged as
the master of certain portions of
France, not as vassal but as independ-
ent sovereign. That was something.
The second round, which came to
close with the glorious" victory of
Agincourt, brought about the treaty
by which it was agreed that the Eng
lish Henry V. should succeed to the
throne of France upon the death of the
mad king Charles VI That was some
thing better still for the English.
However, when Charles VI died his
successor. Charles VII. refused to ac-
knowledge the treaty, and the third
round set in.
For a long time things looked as
though the English were going to have
a walk over but all at once the
daughter of the Lorraine peasant ap-
peared upon the scene, and all was
changed. The maid infused her
enthusiasm into the hearts of
her countrymen, and all at once, from
having been sheep, they became lions.
English valor no longer counted for
and when the final campaign
came to an end the honor of the French
name and the integrity Of the French
territory were indicated.
The main historical significance of
this long, bloody and brutal war, lies
in the fact that from start to finish it
was purely and simply war of kings
and for kings. Upon the English side,
the wishes or interests Of
the plain people were never for a mo-
ment considered. Moved by the in
sane vision of crowns and scepters,
English king after English king or
1ered the people to fight their neigh
oors across the channel, and they blind
v obeyed them Tens of thousands of
honest yeemanry were sacrificed to
please the silly whims. of those ambi-
rous fellows on the throne.
1t goes without saying that such
foolish wars could not possibly take
,lace today. The people have too much
sense Tie world has made great ,1-
tellectuai strides -.B-e the d leful
days of the Hundred Years War