The Washington herald., 1914-05-03
THE GRAND ARMY.

l.
Fznce
AUra.t o lssCoalitiou of EnEiand. Russia. Aus
triG and Sweden oonpkted-
AuFust ., lss-The camp Of BouioEne nised
septenbsr ., lsos-Ths Anstrisns invaded Bavaria
septeuhsr q, IzIThe Austrians II Ulm
septsmbz 5. lns-The French army esssd ~
Rhine.
September B. las-Nspoieon At st-asburE
October Z, Ins-The French crossed the Danube.
ocobez Il, ls6-Sey captured Elchinsen.
October o. IsB-Um srTeodesed-
October q, Isos-The bstts Il T1falsar.
octoSer %, INs-Auszians in Italy beaten b. Mo-
sens and In retreat
Noremher Il N%visnna surendered.
rIrHEN Napoleon raised his camp At
w Boulogns at the end OF the sum
mer Of 1906, after having given
more than two years TO q fruitless at
tempt to cross the English Channel. ne
turned his back upon England In re-
treat from her invincfble stronghold. the
sea; but only to strike her down. II he
could, amid the hills of Germany. Fall
ing to assemble his navy in the channel,
he abandoned the attempt to invade the
tight little island. to plant his eagles on
the Tower of London. and he left his
fiotiIla of cookie shells to rot at their
moorirgs But he marched away to con-
quer the coast of Europe. and. sealing
every harbor against British trade, leave
England marooned in her fog.
Thenceforth he battled to that end
aione, whether in Austria, or in Ger
many, or in Spain. or in Russia All the
Napoleonic wars we shall witness VIII
have no other object than this They
will not be for the conquest Of lands out
Of harbors. England had closed the sea
to France and France would close the
Continent to her. ITO live without COM
merce without fleets, without colonies
and subject to the unjust viii OF an
enemy" Napoleon said in his proclama-
ton at the opening Of the war, rs not to
live like Frenchmen.
He made war to win for France dornin-
ions beyond the sea, while England made
war to protect the Temptations she was
only then laying Of that worldwide Brit
ish Empire which finally was won at
waterloo. The destiny Of Asia, Africa
and Australia. and, perhaps, the Amer
icas. was determined on the battlehelds
Of Europe.
A Ten-yenr Duel.
We shall see France and England sur
rounded with allies who change sides
from campaign to campaign, but those
two principals in the long and bloody duel
will ever remain the same. They are the
rival powers. always contending for the
mastery of the world, England with her
ships and her wealth, France with the
sword of Napoleon, which was no more
than a weapon borrowed for this earth
shaking struggle between conflicting ma
tional impulses that swept over Europe
like wrestling tides
II was an irresistible conflict Many
historians, transposing cause and erect
represent 1t as a war for the advance
ment of one mans personal ambition.
But II began while Napoleon was yet
idIing in Corsica. and it would have gone
on to the end had he never stepped foot
on the shore of France. Doubtless the
victory would have been more quickly |
won had the French found a leader less
able. but, on the other hand, the result
might not have been so decisive and last
ing.
II is a libel on mankind to say that all
the nations which Napoleon led to the |
slaughter, year after year for ten years |
followed him merely to hatter his self |
conceit and poured out their blood only |
to feed his appetite for power. He was
hut the agent of a mighty force that
swept kings and peoples. on its irresistible
current. The glory of the AleXanders.
the Caesars, and the Napoleons is no
more than the foam on the breakers of
the great movements Of men. But by
watching them We may best mark the
human history.
The Third Coalition.
The chief monarchies of Europe leagued
themselves for the overthrow Of the
French republic in 1872 and again in 1873.
A third coalition was formed, in 1906. to
take from the empire the conquests 1t
had inherited from the republic.
OF all those coalitions England was the
soul and the purse. The French could
not fight her on the seas, but she could
fight them on the land. not always with
English soldiers, perhaps but with her
pounds, shillings, and pence. and with
the dozged persistence Of her national
character.
While Napoleon at Boulogne was COW
ering the face Of the waters with the
network of his wide-fiung naval cam
paign against Great Britain, William Pitt
returned to the premiership in 1904 and
began to weave the mesh Of a counter
campaign on the European continent
Russia and Austria, England and Swe-
den were drawn together in a new coali-
tion. Pitt hoped to see half a million
Austrians, Prussians, and Russians put
in the field, and England agreed TO pay
$s,250.005 yearly toward the support of
every hundred thousand soldiers under
arms.
Against that system of subsidized war
NdpOieOE raised the cry OF DElllen BOios
and to present the issue so THAT even
the unlettered masses could understand
il, he ordered his minister of police.
Fouche, to have caricatures published
an Englishman with his purse IN his
hand, begging the several nations to
take his money" This master of war /
fare could not neglect a simple thing SO
useful as a picture in spreading abroad
a rage against the enemy.
British gold, necessary as II was to the
Etupidly governed and impoverished con-
tinental nations, was not however, the
melting cause of the historic campaign
of 1SO5. The ruling passion of Austria and
her Emperor, Francis i. was to recover
in Italy and Germany the rich provinces
she had lost in two disastrous wars with I
France, while Russia was impelled to {
join her by a national ambition to make
herself the foremost power in Europe l
and by the vanity of her youthful Car, {
Alexander l. to make himself the-arbiter {
Of the nations. Meanwhile Prussia timid- d
" held back and disappointed the allies. ,