The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-08-16

revolution in Mexico.
 December 15. 1sl0-Napoleon annexed Oldenburg.
 December H. 1s10-The Czar issued ukase against French imports. January g, 1S12-Napoleon annexed Swedish Pomerania-
 June r. ls12-War between England and United States.
 |C~0N the eve of Napoleon's dis astrous invasion of Russia )HmNN4 in 1872, John Quincy Adams Sf3iE4dU the American minister at St I e1cl suurg, was discussing the impend- ing conflict, when a high official at the court of the Czar charged 1t to women, women, women." They were responsible, the American minister was assured, Tor all the recent wars that had convulsed Europe Queen Louise having famed the flames of thse Franco-Prussan war Tn 1906, the Empress Marie of Austria hav- ing stirred up the strife that led to the Wagram campaign in 1909, and now the Grand Duchess Elizabeth had brought Russia and France to swords points. While the Europe of 1912 was no Gar den of Eden into which 1t remained for
 af daughter of Eve to introduce the ser
 pent of strife, there was enough truth in the remark, which Adams quotes in his diary, to lend a faint color to it's f the Czar Alexander figure in the story
 of that tragic year. It was between
 Elizabeth and Napoleon that Talleyrand proposed a match at the Congress Of Kings or Erfurt in 1S0S but her mother, the Dowager Czarina hastensd to be- troth her in a week to the heir Of the Duke of Oldenburg. The rejected suitor rocketed the rebuff, put a year later
 when he asked for the hand of Eliza
 beths young sister, Anna, and the Rus
 sians again put him off and tried to drive a hard bargain with him ne dropped them l for the Austrians in short order and lxenga ged himself to Marie Louise.
 N One day in the midst of the happy bridegroom's sweet triumph over the < Romanoffs he found the. dreary dunes II of Eliza beth's tiny Duchy of Oldenburg f in his way and he annexed to his em-
 pire that mere handful of German sand by the North sea, evicting from house and home the girl whom he had offered to make the Empress of the French. The duchess, returning to Russia, car ried her bitter grievance with her, and the Dowager Czarina and the Czar took up her quarrel.
 The Yankee Schooner
 \ No one knew better than John quincy \ Adams, however, that the fleets of Tan \ kee schooners which haunted the fogs \ of the Baltic, bidding saucy defiance to the British blockade of the sea and N the French blockade of the land, were I more serious cause of estrangement | between Napoleon and Alexander than ! the annexation of Oldenburk The French fSEmperor had been informed by his min- | fster at Washington that the Americans l possess sort of vessel called schooners, ! the swiftest in the world, and he de- ' manded that the Czar seize those strange, speedy little Yankee clipper ships and all ! other craft that were landing English products in Russia under cover of neutral 4 flags.
 ] No doubt an immense amount of Brit lsh freight was being dumped at Russian ports chiefly by American ships. to be distributed thence over Europe. But, \ while Alexander continued to exclude I British vessels he declined to shut out those from the United States and other nations Russia, with it's abundance of i, raw material and with no manufactures, could i'll afford to cut off all exports and imports.
 " The Czar not only refused to comply with the commands of the French Elm peror. but he also boldly challenged him ' by prohibiting the entry into Russia of many French manufactures, on the ]. ground that the wealth of his empire | was being drained to pay for Parisan iuxuries. And as he defied him he mar shaled his military forces near the from tir. He really was weary of the com pact made at the Tilsit love feast in 1907 and was ready and eager to break away He f7attered himself that he had played a minor role to the plebeian Emperor on the imperial stage long enough and was determined to assume that leading part In world affairs which he essayed so un- successfully at Austerlitz and again at M F'riedland.
 / The sharp bowsprt of the New Eng 4 land schooner thus was the entering wedge that pried apart the Emperor of the East and the Emperor of the West, and the \ young republic of the New World was a factor in bringing to an end the great trade war between France and England. which began with Napoleon's secret pur- chase and then his nasty sacrifice of Louisiana For nine years the ruler of | the land had striven with the ruler of the sea, England struggling to shut the highways of the ocean and Napoleon the gateways of the European continent. And first and last both had been baffled by the daring and enterprising Yankee skipper &t more than by any other element in their
 problem.
 Dividing Up America Each of the belligerents strove in turn to draw the United States into the war. Exasperated by his failure to compel America to become his ally, Napoleon had sent secret agent to London with the suggestion that he had no more desire than the English to see the Americans reaping harvest on the sea and gaining monopoly Of shipping at the expense of France and England. The British gov ' ernment, however, did not give him an ' encouraging reply.
 Fouche the meddling minister of po- lice, knew how anxious the Emperor was fer peace, and having heard him say l that he would make prince of any ons l who should bring England to terms, he undertook to win the prize. Pouches plar was worthy of the genius of a ducal de. tective He sent representative to Lon. 1 don with the hint that if England wa.
 anxious to help its Bourbon allies. thu
 dethroned Ferdinand of Spain might bt enthroned anew in Spanish America. whilt France could make amends for aidins tte American Revolution by joining Eng.
 land in war against the pestiferou. Americans. After the joint conquest o
 the United States. Kingdom for Louil
 XVIII of France could be carved out o1
 It's territory and England and France
 corld divide what was left of the re-
 public.
 The harshest critics of Napoleon acqui'
 him of any part in that amazing absurd.