The Washington herald., 1914-04-26

The bear raid was successfully repealed
the first day by heavy purchases made
under his orders. Il was the only buyer -
his agent reported to him. The next day
the price of rentes began its downward
journey and was % AT the end of the
week. The panic was conjured at last.
but not until Napoleon had poured more
than s. 000.0oO0 into the hourss When war
really came. its coming had been dis
counted and thu purchase of small
lot OF the bonds in Josephincs name
sufficed TO hold the market for the day.
To Invade England.
1t looked At first as If the war would
be no more than war on trade and in
dustry, for Napoleon. with his navy bot
tied up. could not hight England on Z the
sea, while England had no army with
which to challenge him on land. To the
astonishment of the world and the con-
sternation of tn" British. he proclaimed
a campaign for the capture of London
and in midsummer he pitched the camp
OF the Army OF England at Boulognc.
in sight OF the chalk walls of the enemy.
As he passed through Amtens. on the
way to his camp. he drove beneath an
arch inscribed Road to England" boast
ing he woul Id Jump the ditch" Caesars
salleys had crossed the Channel and in
yaded England, but the expedition of the
Roman conGueror was child's play" he
said. Mine Is the ENTERPRISE of the
TItans."
France resounded with the drum beat
Napoleon began the construction of an
immense fotilla Of fla t-bOttom boats for
their transport and for fcrrying over
lC.O0O horses and 400 cannon besides
Since it can be done, 1t must be done
was his Watchword.
Caesar had crossed with 500 boats: the
modern Caesar commanded that 1000
boats he built. from sixty to eighty feet
long and from ten to seventeen feet in
width. and mostly having draft of no
more than five or six feet. Their average
transport capacity was designed TO be
from nifty to 100 men each. and they were
to be equipped with both sails and oars.
Napoleon md Fulton.
Robert Fulton was in France at the
time and he proposed to Napoleons min
istry the use of steamboats,. Fulton,
aided by three other Americans in Paris,
Joel Barlow, Robert r. Livingston, and
Count Rumford, had already interested
the First Consul in diving. or subma-
rine, torpedo boat.
Napoleon and Fulton met, and the First
Consul appointed a committee of distin-
guished scientists TO investigate the mat
ter. The inventor stayed beneath the
waters of the harbor of Brest in his div
ing craft for more than an hour. but
when Napoleon ordered him to blow up
an English naval vessel off Brest he
failed, because the British admiralty were
in the secret of his experiments and had
warned their ships to guard against the
hidden attack. Napoleon next asked him
to bring his submarine to Paris and sub
nit its plans to a body of engineers. but
Fulton replied that he had broken up the
boat to sell its metal. and that he must
decline to disclose its mechanism 10 9TH |
ers. The entire project was thereupon
dropped by the government, the scientists |
having reported that the diving vessel |
lacked the requisite motive power to |
make II useful in warfare.
The suggestion of a steamboat, how
ever, reawakened Napoleon's interest in |
Fulton and aroused his imagination. He |
ordered the experts to test IL at once |
and let him know the result within eight |
days. The steamer. after a serious mis- |
hap. finally succeeded in making two |
miles an hour against the current In the |
Seine IL moved along the river In the |
view of the wondering Parisians, the |
Journal des Debates describing II as "a |
boat moved by wheels like a cart, these |
wheels being provided with paddles and |
being moved by a fire engine"
Missing the Steamer.
History unfortunately stops there. We
have no record of any report having been |
made to Napoleon or his having taken |
any further action on the subject; yet /
pcsterlty has presumed to laugh at him
for having missed the greatest chance Of |