The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-06-14
@TA
 lAg'


 the sovereigns could meet on equal terms. Napoleon. therefore, ordered an imperial pavilion to be erected on raft. and this strange structure was moored midstream, wit hthe pennants of France and Russia flying above it.
 On the eleventh day after the rout at Friedland, the armies of France and Russia were drawn up on their respec- tive shores, when at 1 o'clock, the two Emperors appeared on either bank and entered gayly decorated barges, Fred erck William stood in the crowd of spec tators that lined the Russian shore. Napoleon had not invited the King, whom he had scornfully described as mo more than an aide de camp" of the Czar, and whom he despised for his incompetency in the conduct of war which he had rashly precipitated.
 The Emperors having arrived at the raft, stepped upon the deck of the pavil- ion simultaneously, when Alexander, in the view of the legions of two empires, bestowed d fraternal kiss on the man whom he had ever before refused to salute as brother monarch. 'I hate the English as much as you do" he ex- claimed, according to a French report, and l will second you in all your ac- tions against them.
 Tn that case Napoleon replied, everything can be arranged and peace is already made
 Leaving their attendants outside, the Emperors then entered the pavilion, where the two childless monarchs sat alone for an hour and three-quarters while they partitioned the world between themselves for Asia as well as Europe seemed then to be a melon ripe for cut ting. Happily neither possessed anything that the other coveted their boundaries lying far apart. and the Russians always being more greedy for conquests in the east than in the west, Napoleon craftily diverted Alexander's attention and ann bition from Europe. Seizing upon the timely news that revolution had lately taken place In Turkey, he assured the Czar it was decree of Providence that the Turkish empire could no longer exist.
 Afterward he boasted to Russian diplomat at Tilsit, as he pointed to the River Vistula on map, Behold the boundary between the two empires. Your master rules on one side on the other"
 As always. however. when nations sit down to feast on Turkey, the two Elm perors could not agree which should have the Constantinople slice. q could have shared the Turkish empire with Russia Napoleon said in after years. But Con- stantinople always saved it. Russia wanted 1t and would not grant it. Who- ever holds 1t can govern the world
 Under NapOleOn's Spell
 When the Emperors came out of the pavilion and again showed themselves to the eager watchers who crowded both shores, they were apparently on the most cordial terms. As Napoleon landed in Tilsit, the French troops, by his command sent ringing across the stream the Russian cheer: "Hourra!' ..Hourra!'' "Hourra!" Alexander, anxious to return the compliment, thereupon ordered his soldiers to shout back, "vive fEmpereur Napoleon" But the poor Russians. lacking the ready wit of the French stupid}y repeated their own cheer. "Hourra" "Hourra!" '" "Hourral" Wild hordes from distant provinces were there beneath the Czar's double headed black eagle. Cos sacks of the Don, Tartars. Kalmucks. many of them with only bows and ar rows
 The Czar. an impressionable. almost hysterical young man. had completely passed under the magis of Napoleon. T never" he said. had more preju- dices against any one than against him, but they have all disappeared like a dream. Would that I had met him carlier!" Napoleon could hardly be ex- pected to reciprocate the Csar's enthu- stasm, but he expressed his admiration of the young mans figure, calling him an Apollo. and he said that if Alex ander were woman he would lose his heart to him.
 After another meeting on the raft. a more convenient and informal plan was adopted for the further inter- course of the Emperors. Napoleon de- clared Tilsit itself to he neutral ground. his army being outside the town in what 10 now district of pret- ty suburban villas When the French