The Taney County republican. (Forsyth, Mo.) 1895-1992, 1918-04-04
Some Lessons from History
The Contest with Napoleon.
LeipSiC-WaterlOO.
WILLIAM E. FREELAND

humiliating terms Of peace offered t
him by Napoleon. Queen Louise 0
Prussia plead in person with Bonapart,
to make the terms less hard. Sucl
was the power Of this lorcelul woman
that it is said the mighty emperor Gu
the interview short lest he be inhu
enced to grant more Of her petition
than he considered expedient. Yet il
the hour OF defeat Prussia was no
tanned. Napoleon had refused 10 per
nit her to maintain an army Of ovel
totty'two thousand men but Queer
Louise aided by the genius Of Scharn'
horst, Gneisenau and Clausewitz had
quietly prepared Prussia for the fna1
contest with Bonaparte. Though the
queen died long before this struggle
came these able men carried forward
the plans OF preparation. Since Prussia
could not keep a large army the plan
was TO call the full number allowed to
the colors and train them intensively
for time and then send them home
and call others. In this way virtually
all Of Prussia was put under arms.
The Hohenzollerns looked on il
bitter silence while Napoleon waxed
more wonderful in the eyes Of the
world. At last the time came 10 strike,
time when numbers were so over
whelming that allied Europe coulo
again venture to cross swords with the
most terrible military genius of moderl
times. Under the walls Of Leipsic
this great captain met defeat and was
forced to retire. Prussia helped tc
make this victory possible. Finally up.
on the fatal field OF Waterloo Blucher
and his Prussians arrived in time tc
make the defeat Of Bonaparte com.
plete and to destroy his power forever.
1t would be interesting to study again
the Influence OF Napoleon on history,
following some the marvellous move.
ments Of his armies during the last
months when with his back 10 the wall
ne fought the world. But that is not
our purpose nor can we stop to con
slider the cold ambition Of this selfish
man. Selishness and vanity were
largely the cause Of his undoing. In
the early days Of his career he sur.
rounded himself with great subordin-
ateS, men great enough to be leaders
themselves, men capable OF initiative
and action. AS the years passed he
became narrow and jealous and forced
the stronger men from him into the
ranks o! his foes, In the final issue
many were against him.
But our purpose is not to renew our
acquaintance with the old past bu,
rather to call up its lessons that We
may from them draw knowledge and
understanding to aid US in the crisis
we now face. 1t is this, Prussia has
always lived and grown by war. Her
temporary downfall during the early
part Of last century was because she
met master war lord who knew how
to deal with her. Yet Prussia outliyed
Napoleon. Why1 Prussia was and is
a system, Bonsparte was a man. In
Prussia everything is for system, the
citizen counts for naught. Even in
the hour Of her defeat she set her
system to work to overcome By per.
sistence genius she could not meet
on the battlefield. And persistence
won. We are not here concerned
with the merits OF that contest though
in passing it may be we'll to say that
Tor the sake Of liberty the time had
come when Napoleon had to fall.
But what concerns us is that Prussia
in all her wars figured that she could
outlast her opponent. She believed
that her determination to win would
enable her TO continue the contest un.
til those who were opposed to her
would fall. There is no treason too
subtle for her TO practice against US in
this war and no outrage too vile for her
to use to Our undoing. In a thousand
subtle ways We must guard against the
poison treachery she spreads throughout
our land. She Is organized primarily