The Washington herald., 1914-06-14

July TO- islo-Death Of Queen LOUIS.
THE sword Of Napoleon having IN
ntne months cut It's way ike
IL scythe from end to end of Germany.
his allied foes hoisted the white nag
in the month of June, 1s0
The Russians and Frass'sns at zr;sSl.nd.
fousht with one another to gain the LEAD
in the wild race for safety. and dio noe
pause until they had put the Niemen oe
When Napoleon planted his eagles on
the western bank Of the river AT IiislS
he could see the enemy's camp on tne
The Prussian King and Queen. Fred
erick william and Louise. still at Memel,
less than sixty miles from T1isit, were
hurriedly packing up for hight INTO nus. US.
sia, trusting to the hospitality OF the
Gar, with whom they had SO lately
= sworn never to make peace with Napo-
leon until they could dictate terms to him
on the banks of the Rhine.
Nor did Alexander seem disposed to
abandon his allies now that not square
mile of their kingdom remained to them
On the contrary; he talked only OF pre-
Austeflitz, and vowed he would never
stoop to Bonaparte.
His fighting men, however. had no fight
ing war for Prussia and for a still more
distant nation, England. to gratify the
vanity of their monarch to be the cham-
pion Of Europe against Napoleon. In
urging peace Alexander's close advisers
did not scruple to threaten his life ana
bring upon him the horrible fate OF his
father, the Gar Paul, whom the Rus
sian aristocracy, like pack OF thugs,
had done to death in his palace only five
years before
Under that pressure the Gar quickly
yielded, forseking his allies, the King
and Queen OF Prussia and Louise an
nounced in a sorrowful letter to her faith
er that Alexander had surrendered to
Napoleon. My faith is not shaken, she
wrote but can no longer hope.
10 do nv duty in life, to die. to live on
dry bread and salt-none of these things
can make me unhappy. Nothing
can drag me into my grave but injustice
and dishoror among my own people-that
I cannot stand"
TiIsit Today.
To signalize the submission of the Car.
Napoleon carefully dressed the stage at
Tilsit and rude, far away, little town
OF 1000 people, lying a few miles up
stream from the bleak shores Of the Bal
tic, thus became the scene OF the most
celebrated and dramatic meeting OF noh-
archs since the royal interview on the
field of the Cloth of Gold. 1t is ap-
preached from the west over plain OF
steadily thinning soil and populanon'
where solemn storks and lonely wind
mills make the landscape all the more
drear. Farms and grain fields give way
TO cattle ranges and hay fields, and these
about to surrender at ldSt 10
forests and sandy wastes. when there
rise against the gray sky the smoking
factory chimneys Of Tilsit where once
the Caesar of the West and the Caesar
of the East divided the earth between
them while the King and Queen OF Prus-
sia stood by to pick up the crumbs.
However crude stage setting the TIL
sit of 100 years ago may have been for
the gilded STATS of two empires, the TIL
sit of today is not an unworthy back
ground for the historical picture With
1900 population, with avenues as broad
and leafy, as well paved and well swept
as any Partisan should expect, with
shady squares and pretty parks, in one
of which stands statue OF queen LOU
Use; with trolley cars and taxicabs, the
town wears a worldly air becoming its
celebrity. The Niemen. across which the
cheers of the armies of Napoleon and the
Gar rolled in fraternal greeting, Nnows
by in imposing breadth, RATS OF logs
floating now where a century ago the
autocrat of all the Russias met and fold
ed in his arms the son of the Revolution.
Beyond the river, spanned by two great
modern bridges, one of them dedicated
to the memory of Louise, the pilgrim
looks to where the eastern horizon.
twelve miles away, bends to the desolate
boundary Of Russia, that land of gloom
and mystery.
Improviscd Palaces.
The spacious three-story stone house
which was Napoleon's palace and the
seat of imperial power for two weeks
looks upon one of the principal streets.
Within it the business of a doctor. a
paper hanger, and a dealer in picture
post cards has succeeded to the business
of empire. But the urns above its cor
nice remain to assert its former preten-
tons. while its doorstep, by which Ma
poleon forever holds the hand of Queen
Louise in the familiar picture, still abuts
upon the sidewalk.
The Cars house, where he dwelt a
nearby neighbor of the French Emperor
Qt,aef Aa- <vtxr-
way to a modern building. But Louise's
house stands almost unchanged a few
squares away in a humber quarter of the
town, betting her unhappy, role in the
drama of Tilsit. II was and still is the
miIler's house, with a grist mill next
door But did not even Frederick the
Great have to put up with mill at the
gate of San Souci?
over the door of the house of the mil
Ter of Tilsit is a bust of Louise. and on
the outer wall memorial tablet. In her
parlor, where her first fencing match
with the conqueror Of her Kingdom took
place, a marble bust of her in "a corner
commemorating now that most anxious
hour in a period crowded with anxious
hours.
Although Tilsit is of the tourist path,
that old white house by the mill Is the
shrine Of such German patriots as visit
the town, and in this refuge Of his stout
hearted great-grandmother from the dis
asters that for a time overwhelmed the
Hohenzollerns, Kaiser William II has sat
In silent revery. But the house Of Ma
poleon Is not the goal OF pilgrims 1t
bears no tablet, and its site is not even
indicated on the map of the local guide
book.
Two Emperors on . Raft.
With the French army encamped on
the Tilsit shore of the Niemen and the
Cars on the opposite side, the river
was the only neutral territory where the
sovereigns could meet on equal terms.
Napoleon. therefore, ordered an imperial
pavilion to be erected on a raft, and this
strange structure was moored midstream,
with the pennants of France and Russia
flying above 1t.
On the eleventh day after the rout of
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
erick William stood In the crowd of
spectators that lined the Russian shore.
Napoleon had not invited the King. whom
he had scornfully described as mo more
than an aid de camp" of the Gar, and
whom he despised for his incompetency