The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1913-10-30
EDITORIAL NOTES

Of grog in the English army was Al
miraI Edward Vernon, who died 1o5
years ago today, Oct. 80, 1851 The ad-
nliraI wore grogham breeehes, and was
hence called 'tO1d Grog. In 1145 he
ordered his sailors to dilute their r&E1-
with water. and the name of grog was
Immediately applied to the mixture oy
the tars The practice of serving out
srog to the men before the mast was
adopted by the United States navy,
but has long since been abolished. The
abolition of the grog system In the
English navy has recently been pro-
posed, the men to receive the equlva-
lent of the cost of the liquor in money.
i-Old Grogham,'' the originator of grog,
performed gallant service in the West
Indies, but he was continually in hot
water. and his irascible disposition
eventually resulted in his dismissal
from the service, because of two pam
DhIets he wrote and in which bitterly
attacked the admiralty.
Napoleon's undaunted and indomtta-
bic spirit, his inability to recognize de-
feat when it stared him in the face,
was never better illustrated than IN
the battle of Hanau, fought just a
century ago today in the little city OF
Eesse- Cassel.
Defeated at Lseipsic by over
wheIIning army of the allies, the Cor
sican was forced to retreat toward
France At Hanau he found his re-
traatef barred by his former marshal,
wrede a Hawaiian in command of
70 900 Aurstrians and Bavarians. Against
this force of fresh troops Napoleon
could oppose only 10000 soldiers, all
weak and worn by their battles and
forced marches.
This then is the endi'' said one of
Napoleon's officers, but the Emperor
only sneered AS he surveyed the po-
sition of Wrede's forces, he scorntully
remarked: ALAS, poor Wrede! made
him a count but I could not MAKE
him a general
Like a thunderbo1t Napoleon hurled
his main column against the Bavarian
nank The contest was bloody, and
protracted, and the French suffered
severely, but Wrede was no match IN
strategy for Napoleon. Wrede, while
vainlv trying to rally his troops, was
severely wounded. His army was dis
persed, and the French troops regafned
Mentz. After the victory Napoleon de-
elared: 81 will meet the King of Ba-
variia again He was a little prince
whom I made great. Now he is a grear
prince whom shall make little He
wassa brave prophet the Corsican, ana
little dreamed that he was the great
prince who was to be made little. he
could not foresee Elba. and at that
time he had no prescience of St. Hell
ena-
Jared so badly in the conflict with Ma
paIens1 a century ago, had been the
F4aFerorss ally in the campaigns
a gainsti the Austrians. Prussians ana
Russians After. the retreat from Rus
s5a- eiaiming to be offended by some
iT.usf which had been offered to him,
but more likely believing that Napo-
leon was near the end of his tether,
Wredes returned to Munich and Joined
the anti French party. He was largely
Instrumental in bringing about the
treaty. whereby Bavaria Joined the
eoaIftton against France = In sJbse-
ouent petty conflicts he was equally
unsuccessful, but he contributed con-
siderabIy to the successful advance on
Paris and his services were rewarded
by the dignities of held-marshal and
prince
Two days after Hanau the French
crossed the Rhine, and ten days later
the Emperor was in Paris Even then
he could have compromised by agree
ing to confine his activities to France
Yet he could not believe that Europe,
SO recently prostrate beneath his feet,
had p6wer to hold. him within such
lirnitss while he dallfed, the hostile
forces closed around him. The Eng
lish and Spanish armies, headed by
WeIfington. were on the frontier. Rus
STA, Prussia, Bavaria, Sweden and the
smaller German states were marching
armies to the eastern border, and were
preparing to cross the Rhine. The few
allies remaining to France were tickle,
and not to be trusted. France hac
been drained of all it's men by success
sive levies of conscriptions, and the
raw material for armies had been ex-
hausted. Well might the Emperor say,
in that crisis: '.Al1 Europe was march
ing with us a year ago, but now all
Europe is marching against u.s.
In the annals of American railroad
ing there have been few greater exec
utives than Sir William Mackenzie
builder and president of the Canadian
Northern, and Edward Payson Ripley
head of the Santa Fe system. Sir Will
liam was born in Kirkheld, Ont, sixty
nine years ago today, and President
Ripley at Dorchester. Mass, exactly &
year later. Oct 80, 1916. Each had his
own way to make in the world, and, in
the light of results, nobody can say
that either bungled the job
In his youth William Mackenzie
taught school in his native province
but he soon tired of the task of in
5ecting a knowledge of the three RS
into the youthful mind, and abandoned
books. blackboards and birches to take
up the occupation of a railway con
tractor In the course of time his du
ties took him to the vicinity of Kick
ing Horse Lake, in the foothills of the
Canadian Rockies There he met E
lumberjack, Donald Daniel Mann DJ
name, a Scotchman like himself, an6
a man of ambition and energy. There
the two pioneers formed a friendship
that was destined to develop into on
of the most fruitful partnerships il
commercial history
If was in 1886 that the firm of Mac
kenzie and Mann laid the foundation
of the Canadian Northern by purchas
ing the charter of the Lake Manitob;
and Canal Company. They built {
hundred miles of road in Manitoba
and the. line was profitable from tn,
beginning. Other charters were stakel
over and in 1901 the Canadian North