The Washington herald., 1914-09-20

I daughter was sitting upon Il and hi,
J grandson was playing about its steps. 4
| fathers love and monarchs ambition
were tearing the Austrian Emperor s
among the confident plotters for thu
| overthrow Of his son-in-law, and he
| drew back from the Cars table when ht
saw Jomini seated at it. Il very vel
ourselves Of spies and traitors. but is II
necessary to break bread with them -
| Francis inquired.
A Army without q General.
! Among all the cooks at the allied
headquarters. however. there was nc
chef. The sovereigns were too jealous
! and suspicious to choose one OF them
| selves to be commander-in-chief. and
| there was no general of the first rank
among the Russians, Prussians, and Aus
trians. Besides the oil and water OF
Slav and Teuton refused to mix.
The greatest general OF modern times
therefore, must be beaten by an army
without a general. and the allied forces
were divided into three armies under in
| dependent commanders. But there was
a common plan of campaign, chiefly the
work Of Moreau. and its salient principle
was to keep out Of Napoleon's way and
whip his marshals. The Emperor. never
suspeCting the scheme to refuse him a
battle. made lunge at Blucher on his
front as soon as the war was on again.
But the old Prussian only drew back into
the Silesian corges. while the allied SOW
ereigns themselves began to move up
into SaXony. This menace behind him
obliged Napoleon to hasten back to Dres-
den. whittier he flew with truly Napol-
comic swiftness. marching the guard
through l2O miles OF mud in four days.
The Last Great Victory.
The sovereigns had 10000 men in hand
when they arrived on the heights OF
Dresden. But although they knew that
Napoleon was absent and that the de-
fenses were manned by hardly 1900 men,
they fiinched from the attack and decided
TO wait for the remaining half of the
army to come up. While they waited.
the Emperor raced into the city and took
his stand at the head of the bridge over
the EIbe to stir his tired and sleepy men
when they crossed the river. AS their
cheers OF "Vive rEmpreu" mounted in
waves to the hills behind the town, the
camp of the allies was filled with dismay.
They knew now that they had the lion
in front of them.
The Car indeed was for taking flight
at once but in an unwonted spirit Of
boldness Frederick William declared IL
would be a shame for 100000 men to run
away from one man. The allies, there
fore, irresolutely stood up to fight. But
the battle Of Dresden had already been
won by a shout.
Napoleonic battlefields generally are
fair to see and none Is fairer than the
field of Dresden, for II is all but over
grown today with the streets and homes
and lawns of that fairest Of the fair
among the beautiful cities Of Germany
In the battle time, the Saxon capital was
not the imposing city Of more than half
a million people that ii is today. but only
a big town of $1,000. The village lanes
and peasant fields, in which the armies
ne all tho pafiOng fnnUhf fuyo
have given way to the broad thorough
fares and handsome residences Of the
modern city. The villas and pensions and
schools Of the large Anglo-American col
ony are set almost in the center of the
battle-ground, where the Cossack spears
and the French lances clashed in furious
combat, while the trees were shattered
and the sward was crimsoned in that
poleon's battle line is now lost in the
expanded business section, where the
clamor Of arms has been succeeded by
the no less clamorous street cars and
automobiles. The red tide flowed almost
to the walls Of the royal palace where
the Emperor was a guest of the King
and where in these days the tourists lin
ger in the apartments he occupied.
The battle broke at in the afternoon,
when the sovereigns from their hill hurl-
ed their Russians Prussians, and Aus
trians upon the redoubts Of the French
and the storm of fire did not subside un-
til midnight. But that first day was only
a draw.
As early as the next morning Napo-
leon was out on the firing line again,
where he stood in his tent door before a
huge bonfire to dry his clothes, which
were soaking with the rain that descend
ed in floods. After the mingled storms
Of fire and water had beaten upon the
two armies for hours he delivered the de-
cisiye stroke in the afternoon. when he
sent Murat and 5000 men with seventy
five guns to hurl themselves upon the left
flank of the enemy. The horsemen
slashed their way with lance and sword
flint locks were so wet they could not
fire The entire wing was swept away
and 1000 OF the foe stacked their useless
blow which spread consterna-
ton through the ranks of the allies and
won the battle. In the two days Of nght-