The Washington herald., 1914-03-08
CROSSING THE ALPS.
DATES AND EyENTs-AGE %.

DATES AND EyENTs-AGE %.
April S. lsoo-Austrian amy under Melas opened its
campaign in Italy.
April 10, lso-Melas shut French army under Mas
within the walls Of Genoa
April 3, lsOo-Austrisn army under de Krsy opened
its campaign in Germany.
May g. ls0o-De kray driven across the Danube by
by French under Morezu.
May g. lsoo-Napolcon left Paris. destination un-
May i, ls0o-ReTiewed his army at Lausanne
May Il, lsoc-His army began the rassase Of the
Alps.
May .. IsOo-He himself crossed the Great 81. Ber-
nard.
r HERE is little cottage at Bourg st.
J. Pierre. the tiny Swiss hamlet that
lies on a shelf more than half way
up the snowy side of the Great St. Ber-
nard in The Path of Napoleon across
the Alps Its unpainted walls have been
stained by wind and rain a deep, rich
brown like all the rest of the fifty or
sixty habitations in that rude and lonely
Alpine village.
Yet it has its distinguishing mark. and
every one in the place calls II .sFffs House
with Three Windows" But the villagers
have found that for some reason or other
the stranger is more impressed if they
point it out as The House of the Guide
OF Napoleon"
Before / was introduced to this Maison
du Guide de Napoleon 1 made the ac-
quaintance of the inn of st. Pierre, the
Hotel au Dejeuner de Napoleon. As I
drew up beneath its swinging sign the
very sight of the hotel of Napoleon's
breakfast whetted to a fine edge the ap-
petite which had been sharpened by a
drive through the keen mountain air,
There the curious traveller may sit in
the veritable chair and at the yeritable
table of the historic dejeuner and listen
TO the story of it from the lips of the
granddaughter of the innkeeper who
served II, until he is so distracted by the
feast of memory she spreads before him
he can hardly do single-minded Justice to
her worthy omelet. The old pictures of
the grandparents and their immortal
guest hanging on the paneled walls and
the china and pewter accessories of that
deJeuner liz years ago are a banquet in
themselves.
AS the grandfather of the old inn
Keeper presides now over the Hotel au
Dejeuner de Napoleon, so a grandson of
the guide dwells in the Maison du Guide
de Napoleon. Together they Industrious
ly polish and keep shining the memory of
The great little man, all buttoned I'D to
the chin in big gray overcoat, who rode
out of st. Pierre on a mule one Nav
morning in the year 1900, a Swiss peasant
walking beside him.
Why He Crossed the Aims.
The rider was the first consul of France.
who in six months had restored ne.ce
at home, but had failed to obtain peace
abroad. As it is said of a man who
takes disputed land title that .he has
bought lawsuit" so NAPOLEON in as
suming charge of the French government
took upon himself an irrepressibIe CON-
nict with the other nations Of Europe
While he is blamed for loving war too
much. had he loved it less France would
not have loved him at ALL The reyolu-
uon had hoisted its tri-colored flag on
the castles Of conquered lands, and it
was not for him to haul it down, or SUR
render what the French had purchased
with their blood. The NapoIeonic wars
were the inevitable sequence of the wars
of the revolution.
Austria had yielded to Napoleon three
years before, but not until he had
whipped nve OF her armies. While he
town of Acre, the French Ambassadors
TO the congress OF peace at Rastadt were
Dy and, rushing into
a new war. Austria took from France
all the ground he had won for her in
Italy.
Aided by a subsidy from Great Brit
ain she was preparing now to invade
France herself and dictate terms of peace
to the French people from their own
capital. An Austrian army of 10000 men
had marched across Germany and around
the upper end of the long Alpine wall
which defends the approaches to France;
but only to be hurled back from the
Rhine to the Danube by a great French
army under Gen. Moreau.
Another Austrian army Of nearly 3D.
OOe men in Italy. however, had caught
a little French force under Gen. Mas
sena and shut il up within the walls of
Genoa. Its surrender was a question
only OF days, and then the Austrians
would be free to march around the tower
end Of the Alpine wall. where its base
is washed by the waters of the Mediter-
ranean, and enter Southern France. They
were confident Of victory and all Europe
seemed to share their confidence
How He Fooled Europe.
Napoleon could not send a great army
against the Austrisns in Italy as he had
in Germany, because they and the Brit-
ish gunboats together could easily de-
Next Sunday-Ihe Battle sf Ma,