The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-03
The Same Old Folly


 The alliance was completed and the campaign outlined early in August. The allies adopted. however the old, familiar plan of Napoleon's enemies, conceived in their overweening desire to make war without taking the chances of war. Their unchanging idea was to play the game safe and make success certain. They never ventured to hurl themselves upon Napoleon in full force and stake everything on one campaign for his com plete overthrow. He used therefore reg ularly to lay down for the information of his generals this propositions: The enemy. in the Austrian manner, will make three attacks. Ignore two of them, and throw yourselves with all your forces on the third"
 Now the allies. under Austrian i'm fiuence were still further dividing their strength to make several attacks upon him, first the banks of the Danube, in Germany: secondly, in Han over; thirdly, in northern Italy, and, fourthly, in southern Italy. Moreover, they sought to strike him while his back was turned and he was pacing the shore at Boulogne, still absorbed in his project for invading England.
 Fooled Again
 An Austrian army, therefore, stealth fly moved up the Danube at the end of August. and a Russian army prom ised to hasten forward in time to join it by October 20, but the Austrians failed to take account of the interest ing fact that the Russian calendar is 12 days behind theirs. An even more serious miscalculation was made by the wise men of Vienna. They reck- oned on Napoleon not waking up from his dream of capturing England until so late that he could not possibly hur- " an army to meet the allied forces by the Danube before November 10.
 Watching him closely while their army silently crept toward his from tier, they flattered themselves that he remained oblivious to his peril. He dawdled away his days at Boulogne or at St Cloud in seeming likeness, whispering, however. that 1t was time to appear pusillanimous.
 The Paris papers contained no. men, tion of the impending war or of the movement of hostile forces toward France. Nor were they permitted to hint that the Emperor had lifted his camp at Boulogne. had headed 100000 Frenchmen toward the Rhine. had ordered Bernadotte to march the French army of occupation out of Hanover for the purpose of joining the Grand army and had directed two minor armies in Italy to parry the attacks aimed at him there.
 q raise my camp" he wrote to Tal- leyrand from Boulogne in August. "--'' cc weeks hence 1 shall be in Cerr.any with 100000 men," He had ins' sntly dropped the invasion of Eng lari and subordinated everything to his one purpose of concentrating his forces for an overwhelming blow.
 When in due time his armies were al the Rhine, he suddenly cut off the outer world from France So that not hint of military movements should escape to the enemy. No foreign mails were per mitted to leave the country, even the dispatches of ambassadors being held up, and not a horse was allowed to go across the frontier unless he carried an army courier. France became in day a land of impentetrable silence, under cover of which her army crossed the Rhine
 Soldiers" Napoleon had said to his men as he ordered them to leave the cliffs of Boilogne. you are not going to England The Emperor of Germany bribed with English gold, has just de clared war on France. His army has crossed the line 1t was to keep. Bavaria Is invaded. Soldiers. new laurels await you beyond the Rhinev'
 The Grand Army
 The army which sped over the Rhine had undergone many changes in the more than TWO years since Napoleon nrer mar shaled it on the sandy heights of Bou. logne. It had been -rained by master hands in a great school of war, from which 1t went forth the best drilled, ths most magnificent military body the work had ever seen. Its brilliant accourtre } ments were unstained by service in tn, field, and it's soldiers in their queues and , many with earrings were as fresh ant spirited as 50 many colts dashing out o pasture.
 Yet they were not strangers to battle For although no foe had Yentured II