The Washington herald., 1914-08-16

fame. In the very next great battle.
dter Jena Eylau reminded him, as he
said, that fortune might forsake him.
True, he won al Friedland, but the enemy
escaped him. The disasters of Portugal
and Spain quickly followed. and the defeat
OF Aspern-Essling crowded after them
He barely saved himself at Wagram.
where, again. he had to leave an opposing
army in the field.
Already he had begun the practice of
calling out the conscripts in advance OF
the schedule. Thus he drew in 1879 for
5000 boys, who were not due to serve
until $50. With nearly a million men un-
der arms he took what he could get. how
ever young or small Indeed, he began 10
prefer smaller soldiers for the cavalry.
because larger men required larger
horses. His old growlers." who for
merly delighted him with their independ-
enee and franl;ness. exasperated him
now He resented the taunts and COM
plants the grenadie-s shouted at him
when he rode by. My soldiers are as
brave as il is possible to be-" he admit
ted but they are too much addicted 10
reasoning" He envied the Cars dumb,
sodden serfs: IF my men had the i'm
passable- frmness and docility Of the
Russians. the world would be too small
for their exploits"
As his army lost its patriotic fervor,
his princely and ducal generals lost their
martial ardor. They had won their
batons and their glory fighting for
r rance ana were Cnary OF rlSklng their
laurels with degenerate troops in cam
paigns that did not awaken any national
enthusiasm. In theirs plebeian youth
moreover. they had no other roof for
their heads than where they nightly
pitched their moving tents and no other
sighed for their ducal parks and marble
halls with trains attendant The gen
erous rivalry Of young hopes and am
billions had given way to the arroCant
arfA Ia nd hfffaV- -
wealth
Another Titanic.
The army, the aristocracy. the whole
empire had lost the inspiring illusions Of
youth and had gone stale, when the En-
peror accepted the challenge of the Car
and d-hurled himself against the Russian
empire like another Titanic rushing upon
an iceberg. His independent and honest
counselors were powerless to arrest him
In vain the economists argued that
Russia had nothing for France to take
except "cordage, pitch, and shipping
that the finances of the empire needed
peace. .'On the contrary the Emperor
answered, the finances being embar-
rassed. they need war"
With the Spanish revolution unsubdued
and all the peoples about his empire
ready TO emulate the spaniards. he yet
held to his course. When Marshal Da-
yout warned him from Germany that
German patriotism was rolling over
mountains and plains. he complained that
such talk was calculated to make me
lose my time and to sully my imagina-
ton with senseless. pictures" Another
asked him what he would leave behind 10
defend his empire when he plunged into
Russia, and he replied. MY name. my
The great distance involved in a Rus
sian campaign was urged against the un-
but the Emperor answered.
After ALL my dear sir, this long road Is
the road to India" He was still dream
ing OF the Orient and trying to get around
Acre. the little town that stopped him
more than q dozen years before. In i've
years" he had said in 1911. IT shall be
the master of the world"
HIS reasoning often was darkly mys-
teal and fatalistic. He spoke IN 1911 of
an ''impuIsion" which was driving France
and Russia into war despite their inter-
ests. despite the Gar, despite himself.
Cardinal Fesoh implored him not to ny