New-York tribune., 1918-04-28

Emperor tries to initiate Napoleon. On the
the Corsican, but in diplomacy and state
craft he follows Napoleonic precepts to
more purpose. There is something Napo-
leonic in the humbling of the unhappy Rus
SLAMS by mingled force and fraud, and Ma
poleon's method of ruling his conqaests is
apparently being copied in detail by his
unimaginatiye German follower. The Slav
and Finnish lands are, it seems, to be par
celled out among number Of German pup
pet princes. The Emperor has caused him
self to be invited by some Germans calling
themselves the Diet of Courland to become
their grand duke, but has declined the
honor for himself, seemingly intending it
for his second son, Prince Etel Fritz.
"a Saxon prince and an obscure Wtrttem-
berg princeling have been named as candi-
dates for the throne of Lithuania, occupied
in the eighteenth century by two Saxon
kings. Another of the Emperor's sons has
been designated as King Of Poland, though
the project has been. deferred owing to
Austrian jealousy and Polish i'll will. A
be put forward as soon as the occupation
of the country is complete. The Emperor's
fifth son, Prince Oscar. has been proposed
as King of Finland.
1T is persistently rumored that more
docile Hone enzolern will replace King Ferdi-
nand on the throne of Rumania. Albania
is still reserved for Prince William of Wed
whose hurried retirement from an uneasy
throne excited much merriment in Europe
just before the war. Germany will thus
have on the east and southeast fringe of
dependent states, each in charge of a Ger
man prince who will regard the Emperor
as his liege lord and who may be trusted
to indoctrinate his subjects with German
kultur in the true Prussian way.
eve have yet to see how the Germans
propose to control Russia herself. They
will probably be ready to restore the Gar
dom when they think that the Russians are
satiated with anarchy, but for the moment
Russia may be disregarded. The Emperor
hopes that Great Britain and the Western
Allies, tirng of the war, will make peace
at the expense of their faithess Russian
ally, thus leaving him, as the king of kings,
to lord it over the subjugated Slav world
and to pursue the Eastern schemes which
dazzle him, as they dazzled Napoleon a CEN
tury ago.
GIT is grandose design. which would
l. be more impressive if it were not
almost an exact repetition of the design
which Napoleon conceived for world con-
quest. When Austria lay prostrate before
him after the crushing defeat Of Austerltz
and abandoned her claims of domination,
whether in Germany or in Italy, the EN-
peror, who had crowned himself, began to
make kings. He appointed his brother
Louis King Of Holland and his brother Jo-
seph King of Naples. He abolished the
Holy Roman Empire and informed the graft
fed Electors of Bavaria and Wurttemberg
that they were now to be kings.
Nor did Napoleon forget his trusty mar
shals. His brother law. Murat, was made
Grand Duke of Berg, with Dusseldorf as his
capital, and grumbled loudly at the small
ness of his duchy. Berthier became Prince
of Neufctatel and Bernadotte Prince of
Monte Corvo, Papal domain in Southern
Italy. Before Austerlitz Napoleon had pro
claimed himself King Of Italy. with his step
son. Eugene Beauharnais, as his viceroy
and he now showercd Italian duchies on
his generals and ministers, with a Papal
principallty for the willy Talleyrand to re-
call his ecclesiastical past.
When Prussia collapsed after Jena Ma
poleon formed the new kingdom of West
phalia between the Rhine and the Eibe, and
made his brother Jerome it's king, with
his capital at Cassel. In 1908, when he had
cntrapped Charles " of Spain and his heir
and successor, Ferdinand, at Bayonne, he
transferred his brother Joseph from Naples
to Madrid as King of Spain, promoted Murat
to Naples, after Offering him Portugal as
an alternative and year later gave the
vacant Grand Duchy Of Berg to his infant
nephew, Napoleon Louis. son of King Louis
and elder brother of the future Emperor
Napoleon III. Compared with Napoleon, the
Kaiser as king maker must, in Burke's
phrase, be astonished at his own modera-
ton.
When Napoleon met the Czar Alexander
at Erfurt In 1903 so many royalties were
gathered together that the French troops
came to despise them. 1t is said that when
the guard of honor, misled by the splendor
of the Wurttemberg state coach, was about
70 give the triple salute accorded to en-
pcrors, the officer in command shouted an
grily: Silence! It's only king!'
ssC IRCUMsTANCEs, in the shape of
~ Wellington, prevented Napoleon
from giving king to Portugal, but he al
lowed Bernadotte to accept the dignity Of
Grown Prince of Sweden, which was Of
tered to the marshal in 1910 by Swedish
diplomatist without authority and was
afterward conferred on him by the Swedish
Estates. In the closing months OF that
year the Emperor may we'll have THOUGHT
that he had subdued Europe to his will.
FROM the Baltic to the Mediterranean
from the Vistula to the outskirts Of lis
Don, ne exercised dominion disputed only
Dy the Spanish guerillas in the hills and
the small British army in the lines Of
Torres Vedras. The Car was his friend
ana ally; Austria, after a third huYniliatinc
peace, was bound to him by marriage alli-
ancc; Prussia, shorn Of half her territory.
was sui PROSTATE. All the rest of Eurone
was ruled by Napoleon or his puppets.
"reat Britain alone defed him, but she was
uneasy and hard pressed.
The Emperor began afresh to prepare
the ground in Turkey and in Persia for that
great expedition to India by which ba ws
to outrival Alexander of Macedon and A..