The Washington herald., 1914-09-20

Aug. 10, lsl5-AustTiA joined the allies
Aug Is. Isl3-Armis;ice ended.
Aug q lslS-NaDoleon dropped pursuit Of Blu
cher and started for Dresden.
Aug a. IslS-Bluchsr defeated Macdonald Al the
katZbach.
AUG. 81, lsl2-NaroIeon defeated the allies Al
Dresden.
Aug =. lsl@Death Of Moreau.
Aug 30. IslS-AIhes defeated vsndsmne at Kuhn
serf. {. lslS-Ney and Oudinot defeated at DsF
newitz.
Oct ISIS lsI3-The battle Of the nations
Oct. 70. lsI3-NsrOcon retreated from leipzig.
Oct. %. lsls-Dsfeatcd Bavarians and AustfiAns
IT Hanan.
Nov. ; IsI3-Crussed the Rhine.
APOLEON, the Gar Alexander l.
Nj and King Frederick William III
of Prussia called a truce in June
1913. only for the purpose Of re-
suming the war with heavier forces.
Although a peace congress was 10 as
semble at Prague, peace was not the OBJ
ject OF the armistice on either side.
Napoleon, who had by far the larger
army, was in sore need of horses for
his cavalry. while his allied foes needed
time to bring up their re-enforcements.
Above all, both sides wished to enter
= into negotiations with Austria, which
had adopted a policy of armed neutral
ity, Alexander and Frederick William
hoping to induce the Austrian Emperor
to Join their alliance. and Napoleon hop
ing to restrain his father-in-law from 60
ing over to the camp of the enemy.
But the son-in-law no longer cherished
the delusion that family ties were as
strong with the Austrian imperial house
as among the plebeian Corsicans.
An Historic Interview.
The matrimonial alliance of the Bona
bn N
the scale and weighed when Metternich
came to Dresden to hold an interview
that has become historic. Napoleon had
taken up his residence in the Marcolini
Palace. then a beautiful villa in the sub
urbs of Dresden, but now converted and
enlarged into a great hospital In the
long. stony corridors and spacious
salons, where the imperial Corsican diff
fused his favorite perfume OF eau de,
cologne the air is heavy today with the
pungent odor of disinfectants, while the
walls, which now echo the plaintive muir
rlurs Of the suffering. once resounded
with the voices of marshals and cour-
tiers and of the celebrated actors of
the Comedie Franchise, who came on
from Paris to amuse the Emperor in the
lUll of warfare
One room only in all the palace hos
pital remains as it was, it having been
preserved in memory of the day when.
within its precincts, a mighty empire
tossed in its crisis, while Napoleon
wrestled with Metternich.
For nine hours they grappled and
struggled in that room, where the En-
peror exclaimed. "Ah. Metternich, How
much has England given you to play
this part against me-" The same drag
ons still comfort themselves on the inlaid
floor: the same desk continues to stand
in the corner, and the windows look out
upon the fountains in the same park.
where the King of SaXony and the i'm
periaI dignitaries anXiously waited for
the momentous decision. Cbut where in
this time the convalescent patients take
the healing air) And hold. Is not that
the veritable door knob. which Napoleon
gripped at dusk, when the long interview
was at an end and when the departing
Metternich, as his memoirs would have
us believe. pronounced the doom of the
empire: You are a ruined man, sire. I
had a presentment of it when l came
here: nov I am sure of it,
Notwithstanding that Marie Louise had
proved to be so frail link in the chain
of his destiny Napoleon Travelled to the
Rhine for the pleasure OF passing a few
days in her society at Mayence. Her
journey from Paris was scheduled by |
him as closely as he would order a mill |
tary movement: the Empress must be
accompanied by the Duchess of Monte |
bello. two ladies in waiting. two of her
Oriental servants. two negresses. a pre-
feet OF the palace, two chamberlains. two
equerries. four pages. secretary. a ply |
sician. and a squad Of general servants; |
she must bring a dinner service-but not |
the silver gilt service: travel in twelve |
carriages in four divisions and sleep the |
first night in the Prefecture at Chalons, !
the second at Metz. and complete the |
trip on the third day, which she did her |
best to do. but had to ride all night in |
order to arrive in MayenCe at in the |
morning OF the fourth day.
The Price of Peace.
When Napoleon returned to Dresden.
after leaving Marie Louise in tears. the
armistiCe was nearing its end Meter
mich was offering him peace If he would
only content himself with France, Bel
gium, Holland and Italy. and the EN-
perors councillors were imploring him to
accept those apparently liberal terms
which would leave him a far wider do
minion than any other French monarch
ever had possessed He had already lost
Spain, and even while he was at Dres |
den he received the news of the hipbt NJ
Joseph Bonaparte from that country. |
Jerome Bonaparte's kingdom of West
phaIia was fast being engulfed in tbel
tide of German patriotism and Louis had
thrown away his crown of Holland. The
Emperors ambition to have a chain Of
family Kingdoms, like a merchants chain
Of stores. had been dashed to pieces and
it would have cost him nothing to accent
Metternich's terms.
But MetteTnich's liberality was some
what illusory, for both sides really were
bent on fighting to q finish. As always |
England was the backbone and the purse
pocket of the alliance, and she did NOT
rr-fsh fo
shut up within the boundaries that CON-
fined her in the ignominous days or
Louis XIV.
In twenty years OF nearly continuous
warfare England had been Napoleon'sI
most constant foe. Yet he had not seen
an English soldier since Toulon This
British contingent in Spain under Wei
Sington had brought confusion upon his
marshals, but England had fought the
master himself with gold rather than
lead. British AGENTS were In every camp j