The Washington herald., 1914-06-28

m streets of Paris to overthrow Inon,
N arches than on any other eQuaI
4N1 spsce of earth, and yet those
streets all seem as If they surrey HusS
lead up to a throne. LONDON; IN Nhose
narrow, tangled ways eontusion a,cs ~ a
king expresses English freedom anu
English individualism. But its SISTER
CITY across the channel plainly is a maoes
fo-order town and the prettly arraneeo
sfaTe setting of a court. The broad, tree,
lined boulevards, with their miles anu
miles of windows and mansaro roofs oh
a tyrannical Level SIanss Win 'ne snd Churches
and monuments, wear an air OF regaI
magnfficance that mocks the FrenSh re
public in its own capital ana iSoI't rloiSorSs
The republican simplicity OF Presloent-
Na3oleon, at the height OF the empire;
stamped his image upon the CITY anu nT
made it his monument. The empire zen
and rose only TO fall again. Bourpohs
and OrIeanists have come and gone. Inc
Commune tossed in its ftful fever. Inc
renubIic lived and died and has been
born anew. But througL an ics rlSf1sIt nsfnSIy
imperial for art is long ana beauty en-
dures. ~ .,.- ,,-,,,
q incubation of l.lOl, 600 in 1901. was twice
the size of the French metropolis, Ma
poleon boasted that London is a corner
Of the world; Paris is the center he
resolved at once to make himsef the
Caesar and his capital the Rome OF the
modern world. Wars delayed ana ms
downfall defeated many of his plans, put
the second empire took up the unhnlsnea
work of the first and completed the trans
formation of the city from a dingy, me-
diaeval town.
The Paris of Napoleon.
Nanoleon enlarged the Palace of the
Tovre which 800 years before had been
built in the field by the Seine where the
wolf hunters met, and he crowded II WIN
the art of conquered lands until II heI9
paintings
sculptures ever assembled under one rooi.
From the windows Of the adjoining RAJ
ace of the Tuileries, which 90 years pc
fore had been erected among Ihe the
kilns he looked out on the clothes yard
of Paris, where the housewives came 70
do their washing in the river. On the
other side of the palace he found hlmseIi
shut in by a lot of old converts ana an
manner of ramshackle buildings
He cleared the river bank and Ineo II
with broad quays. He tore away the
huddle Of unsightly structures at his pail
ace gate and laid out there what is still
one of the most important and imposing
sections Of the city. Opening a magnin-
two miles he named il for the battle oI
pa Ffvpli Directing that it should have an
arcsded sidewalk in the Italian manner,
he prescribed so closely a uniformity IN
skv line and architecture that every win
dow and roof and corner of this Rue ue
Rivoli still must conform to his Original
design. Out of that great street ne ran
Tnemorate his battles-the Rue CasuS-
iione and the Rue des Pyramids-but a
third no longer is the Rue Napoleon; II
has become instead the street OF peace
the celebrated Rue de la Palx.
In the center of this magnificent quar-
ter he reared on a pedestal Of Corsican
granite the noble column that adorns the
SPACIOUS Place Nendome and encased US
masonry in metal plates made from loo
Austrian and Russian cannon. On those
sheets of bronze he caused to be en-
gTaved in pictures the story OF the cam
psiEns Of UIm and Austerlitz. while he
surmounted the lofty column with
statue of himself in his imperial robes.
when the empire fell the Bourbons
hurled to the earth that effigy of the EN-
peror and recast its metal into a statue
Of Henry Of Navarr~ which now stands
on the Pont Neuf over the Seine King
Louis Philippe. however. crowned the
column with another statue of Napoleon.
but in the familiar garb of the VICTORIOUS
general-in chief. which in due time Ma
poleon III replaced with still another In
the drapery of the Emperor. This, In
turn. was overthrown by the Com
r1unists in 1871. but the third republic
gathered up the fragments. Joined them
together. and the conuue-or In his i'm
rerial mantle continues to dominate
Paris.
TriumphaI Arches.
Even while the vendome column was in
process of construction Napoleon sud
denly determined TO have another me-
mortal OF the campaign Of no summon
ing his architect in the night. he ordered
him 10 begin the work the next day and
when the Emperor looked out in the
morning he saw 500 workmen digging the
foundations for the now famous Arch OF
the Carrousel, between the Tuileries ana
the Louvre. On the completion of the
arch he crowned it with one of the
proudest Of his trophies of conquest the
celebrated bronze horses Of Venice, which
had been prizes of war in the reigns of
Nero, Trojan and Constantine, II not in
deed Of Alexander the Great.
Another arch, the largest in the world.
the Arc de Triomphe de rEtolle, was be-
gun at his command. Seen afar. this
beautiful arch of the star. rising from a
gentle eminence in the present day center
Of fashion. seems to be swimming In the
Elysees and as impalpable as a fleecy
cloud. The streets approaching it are the
namesakes Of the fields or companions
of Napoleon's glory: the Avenues du
Boulogne de Ia Grande Armee, Jena.
wagram. Friedland and Kleber and the
Rue Tilsit and the Rue PressbourE. each
bringing its special tribute to the feet OF
the arch. Among the bronzes that embel-
ish the huge and noble pile Of marble,
there is one which celebrates no victory
and yet commentaries the victor at his
hest. For Il is the memorial OF a simple
friendship of his youth and represents
the death of young Muiron- who was
comrade at Toulon and who laid down his
life for his friend on the Bridge Of Arcole.
The TfreIess Builder.
One more monument to war which Ma
poleon designed, he afterward changed
into church, the classic Madeline. whose
pagan beauty betrays its builders first
purpose when he planned to make II
Temple of Glory and fill 1t with the
statues and tombs of his warriors. But
he himself was not to lie in the midst of
them. On the contrary. he chose to sleep
among the kings that crowd the homely
old church at st. Denis on the edge of
Paris; and personally reserving there a
space for his grave, he ordered the res
toration OF the edifice which had been
desecrated by the revolutionists.
While providing burial places for him
self and his marshals, he took thought at
the same time of the mortuary needs of
all the people of Paris and directed the
opening of four cemeteries outside the
city such as he had seen in Germany. The
first and most renowned of these was
laid out in what formerly was the private
park Of the father confessor of Louis
IV-Pere la Chaise. Until then ceme-
teries were unknown in Paris and bodies
were heaped in confusion beneath church
floors or found no resting place anywhere |