Greenfield Republican, Greenfield, Hancock County, 29 August 1895 — Page 2

Page PDF (12.78 MB)

Back to issue view

"V"

», &*.-

I-

y^ji^fc\"7i:

apuHMNmaa W&'

THE GREENFIELD REPUBUCAN

PUBLISHED EVERY THURSDAY.

.' VOL. 16, Ho. 35-Entered at the PoitofficeM Mond-clsu mall matter. W. 8. MONTGOMERY,

Publisher and Proprietor.

IT now looks like both Maryland and Kentucky would go Republican this year.

THE city|Bf Logansport owns and operates her own electric light plant. In the last six months the profit from commercial and resident lighting has been sufficient to pay the cost of street lighting, so that the latter practically costs nothing. If this continues the city will own its own plant within six years. Light for residences is furnished at just about the cost of coal oil. Municipal ownership is the proper thing.

THERE area number of men around here who are habitual drunkards and others who commit petty offenses that are frequently sentenced to jail. They care but little for this as they lay around the jail escape work and are fed at the taxpayers expeuse. Several cities have adopted plans whereby they use prisoners at various kinds of work which makes a sentence in every way less desirable to the prisoners. Such being the case it has a tendency to make them obey the laws

and

become better citizens. Let Greenfield adopt some measures of this kind.

THEHK is a great amount of indignation among numerous citizens in Greenfield regard to the City Council making improvements. Many men are willing euough for citizens in oilier parts of the city to make improvements but they do not want them for themselves. They l.ke to have the value of their own proprty raised by both public and private improvements but do not care to share the expenses. While the REPUBLICAN does »t believe in hasty and injudicious im {movement, that city ancl its citizens wlo keep abreast of the times and in step with the march of progress are the ones that are prosperous and well to do.

Barnes Wbitcomb liiley on a Bicycle. Tor years Mr. Riley was unable to gain the consent of his mind to ride a wheel and his answer to the importunities of cycling friends who wanted him to ride was, "No my gentle friends a thousand times no.'5 He was unable to withstand the temptation however, and at last has learned to ride and is now able to navigate a crowded street with but little danger to himself or friends. He has moreover made his peace with all his friends whom he told he would not learn to ride. The following poem gives his feelings on learning to ride.

RILEY" ON A WHEEL.

I allers did like r'din' When I lived down on the farm I thought I needed exercise,

An' it wouldn't do no harm-

So I went an' bought a b'.cycle All new au' clean an' bright. I tuk it home an' =ez' sez I.

I'll exercise to-nigiit.

I've rid the horses an' th' mules, An' rid the ol' cows too But I jes couldn't stick on that'er thine

No matter what I'd do.

I got a p'lieeman an' 'nother man, To hold ihe blamed thing down But every time they'd let go tl»eir holt,

I'd he sprawlin' on the grouu'.

The doctor's bill was 'mazen big My friends sed I was leoken pale, I don't think I'll take no more exercise

An' that'er blamed thing's for sale.

To The Public.

I, J. H. McKown, having just closed my third term as trustee, of Jackson township, covering a period of nine years and four months from April 1st, 1880, to April 1st, 1882, ancl from April 1st 1888 to August 1st, 1895. Feeling deeply grateful for the honor confered upon me by my neighbors and friends take thi3 method of returning my thanks for the confidence repos d. During that time many teachers have been employed by me and I wish to publicly acknowledge my appreciation of their efforts to carry ont the instruction of school officials and their endeavors to advance the interests'of the schools of the township. The value of a County Board of Educa tion depends for its usefulness upon the proper consideration ol! questions that arise for its discussion and theunamimity of action after a determination has been recorded. The board that has just retired from office have been especially harmonious in action and much has been effected toward porfecting our schools. I also wish 10 acknowledge my appreciation of courtesies extended to me by the several township trustees and County Superintendents with whom 1 have served and assure them that these associations will be among my most pleasant memories. And now to the teachers that have served while I have been trustee I will saythatl.cau recommend them to be first class teachers if not the best in tbe' county. To the patrons and children of the township I extend to, them my respects. To my bondsmen I feel under obligation of many thanks to them for signing my bond and standing good for all loss that might be. I will say for their benefit that I turned the office over to my successor and paid all the money that was due tbe township so their part of the loss will be light.

J. H. Mcxouts##

Charlcttesrille, Ind, kvgust 13, 1895.

PADDLING ON PELLUCID WATERS.

Attractive Prospects For the Approaching Meet of the American Canoeist*. [Special Correspondence.]

ALBANY, —The American Canoe association is soon again to assemble its members on the picturesque shores of Lake Champlain, and already many canoes and canoeists have passed through this city northward bound for the annual meet, which takes place at Bluff Point from Aug. 9 to Aug. S3.

The association is an international organization, having over 2,500 members

ON LAKE CHAMPLAIN.

and comprising four sectional divisions— the northern, including all of Canada tho eastern, all of New England the Atlantic, the basins of tho middle Atlantic rivers, with their seaboard, and the central, the balanco of the United States. Any amateur canoeist over 18 years of ago is eligiblo to membership and invited to join.

The association, with its constantly growing numbers and widening influence, affords increasing fraternal benefit and moral force. It promotes the interests of canoeists, especially in tbe direction of paddling and sailing for pleasure, and also by holding meetings for camping and racing, aiding the formation of new canoe clubs and giving facilities for obtaining information through its librarian and official organs as to rout-js, etc.. for cruising purposes and in regard to canoe and sail designing.

The annual general association meet and also the division meets bring together members from all parts of North America in friendly iutcrcourso and competition, forming a source of great pleasure and enjoyment. The association provides a code of rules for the supervision of paddling and sailing races, and through its influence keeps its branch of sport freo from the slightest taint of professionalism.

The pioneers in American canoeing were Messrs. Bishop, Aldcn and Longworth, who formed the association on Lake George in 18S0. Since that date the growth has been very large. Annual meets have been held as follows: 1S81-2, Lorna island, Lake George 1883, Stony lake, Ontario 1884-5-6, Grindstone island, Thousand islands, St. Lawrence river 1887, Ben Arrow point, Lake Champlain 1888, Long island, Lake George 1889, Stone island, Thousand islands, St. Lawrence river 1890, Jessup's neck, Peconic bay, Long Island 1S91-2, Wellsboro point, Lake Champlain 1893, Brophy's point, Thousand islands, St. Lawrence river 1894, Croton point, Hudson river. This year tho association goes for tho fourth timo to Lake Champlain. The location is about three miles south of Plattsburg, at the northern end of the lake. The camp ground is close by tho celebrated Hotel Champlain, at Bluff Point, and tho mess pavilion will bo supplied from that hotel. The grounds consist of 450 acres of beautiful park and woodland, and tiio surroundings aro vory picturesque. The largest United States military post in the east is close by, with its social attractions, dress parade, music, guard mount, drills, etc. Au Sable chasm, ono of nature's marvels, is within easy driving distance. The visiting canoeists will sharo in all of these attractions, and tho meet promises to be one of the most interesting and imxortunt in tho history of the association.

But thero are other attractions to Lake Champlain besides tho scenery and tho prospect of a good time and delightful paddling. In that lake and in the innumerable streams and lakes in tho adjacent Adirondack region superb angling waters are found. As a distinctive angling water Lake Champlain is at the very apex. Over its whole area of 120 by 12 miles tho lako is dotted by many beautiful islands, tho largest and most picturesque of which are South Hero, North Hero and Isle-la-Motte, which constitute the Grand Isle county of Vermont.. No fishing resort on the continent boasts a purer air, freer breeze, iroro salubrious climate or better facilities for recreation of every description.

Tho canoe meet will bo attended by the usual events of sailing and paddling races, and tho prizes will be of the unique kind that aro always given at tho meets.

Tho commodore of tho association this year is Walter C. Withcrbeo, one of tho most expert yachtsmen on Lako Champlain. Tho secretary-treasurer is Charles E. Cragg. Both of these officers live in Port Henry, on tho lake. Mr. Cragg is one of tho noted singers of the camp.

FRKDEKIC G. MATHER.

Some of Mascagni's Peculiarities. Mascagni, as ho increases in famo and popularity, grows moro gorgeous in his attire. Solomon, in all his glory, had nothing in his entire wardrobo to rival Pietro's neckties, socks and waistcoats. At the Cafe Comelio, in Milan, ho is the best of good fellows and talks to every one he knows with the greatest affability. And he cannot conceal a boyish pleasure on being pointed out as Mascagni on the streets and in tho cafes of Milan.

At rehearsals, however, ho is tho severest of disciplinarians. IIo personally attends to tho minutest details in the bringing out of his operas. Ho has an absolute knowledge of every instrument in his orcliostra —as tho members know to their sorrow— for he does not hesitate to tako any instrument out of the hands of a bungling musician and show him how it should be played.—New York Herald.

A New Telephone Romance. Here is a little romance that occurred recently in Portland. He was a clerk in a largo wholesale house and used tho telephono constantly. At certain periods his calls were answered by a sweet voice, which seemed to sootho his tired, wornout nerves and strengthen him wonderfully. Ho grew to listen for that voice, dreamed of it, and finally it became apart of his life. One evening in tho theater ho heard it behind him and recognized it at oncc. For along time he sat as ono dazod and dared not look at the possessor of the voice for fear ho would be disappointed. But ho wasn't, and now they're engaged —Portland (Or.) Press.

Tbe Largest Clock Dial.

Tho block di of th« cathedral at Mechin 49 feet in diumeter and said to be the argest ever constructed,, and tbe Crystal jalace, Sydenham, is next wfth' is®#" liameterr

THE-ABODE OE PEACE

YET NOT LONG AGO IT WAS THE FIELD OF DESPERATE CONFLICTS.

An All Day Meeting With the Primitive Baptists—Bits of Virginia Local Color. A Few War Recollections Familiar

Agricultural Similes—Farm Wages.

[Special Correspondence.]

IN SANFORD COUNTY, Vat, ^—As I rambled thrdugh the Wilderness it chanced that early on Sunday morning I entered a beautiful oak opening, in the center of which and crowning a low ridge is Zoan church, pronounced Zoe-ann. It seemed tbe very abode of peace. A few miles to the north was United States ford, where most of Hooker's army crossed in 1863. Some miles to the west of it was Germanna ford, by way of which Grant a year later plunged into the Wilderness. A few miles east of Zoan is Salem church, where Sedgwick fought tbe subsidiary battle of Chancellorsville. South of the first great forest is Chancellor house, and west of that in turn are the Jackson monument, Wilderness church and the scene of the rout of the Elevonth corps. In every direotion narrow wagon roads pierce the somber woods. On every road are many places famous in local history for desperate conflicts, and yet this grove seems of all places in Virginia most fitted for a temple of peace.

A Basket Meeting.

A sturdy farmer who had brought a barrel of ice water for the general good told mo the Primitive Baptists were to have their regular all day meeting, including Sunday school, preaching, communion, dinner, afternoon preaching and finally social singing. So here was an opportunity to once more renew the groat delight of my youth, a "basket meeting," as we called them out west, in the dim woods with all sorts of rural and primitive people for a congregation. And by 9 o'clock they were pouring in by all the roads and bridle paths, foxy looking lads on frisky ponies, more steady young farmers on beasts that had had a day's rest from the plow and been curried and brushed into the likeness of roadsters, young ladies on natty sidesaddles, older ladies with babies in arms and youngsters sitting behind and many sorts of folks in vehicles ranging from the old family carriage and modern nobby buggy down to the farm wagon and gocart, with leafy boughs twined over them for shade.

There was an equal variety of dress, but all were neat, and it gave me pleasure to note how fresh and ruddy every one looked. There was not a pale or sallow face in all the assembly. If fried pork and saleratus biscuit have ruined the old Virginia constitution, as some folks say, thero was no sign of it hero. Ah, if we could have the color and freshness of the country with the style and settings of the city united in one class, what an attractive class it would bo! I was surprised at tho number who knew me, for people had come from every battlofleld I had lately visited, and all chatted with great animation about the weather and tho crops, the latest "find" on tho battlefield, the prospoct for better times and plenty of money and the relative chances of the political parties. I was introduced right and left, every introduc-

THERE WAS A DASH TO HELP HER ALIGHT, tion followed by tho statement that "this is our northern friend who has been looking over the battlefields," and thero was many an invitation to tako dinner with the introduced or to call at his house if convenient. I observed, however, that the young fellows never let their interest in the conversation relax their watch on the roads, and whenever a young lady rode in unattended there was a dash to help her alight and hitch her horse. Though many started, the final dash was generally limited to two, and from tho sly smiles exchanged I gathered that the everlasting rivalry for the smiles of a particular fair one was going on here as lively as in the cities. In tho midst of a statement that "tbo farmer catchcs it both ways in this money busings'' one man suddenly stooped and scratched out a bullet which showed in the soil. It had struck something and been partially flattened, but an old veteran was called and promptly pronounced, "That is a rebel bullet," and proved it by tho grooving and indentation where buckshot had been bound in the cartridge with tho ball.

A Quaint Sermon.

The littlo church was soon filled with tho women and girls, and the men stood at the door and windows. The Sunday school consisted of a general free talk, as the manner of the Baptists is, and a great deal of singing. Beforo entering on his sermon the preacher indulged in some caustic criticism of the new tunes applied to the old songs and insisted on the congregation all joining in and trying some of the old tunes. They tried it twice, and, I regret to add, made a rasping failure both times, which, the preacher said, almost set his teeth on edge. The subject of his sermon was that meeting of the disciples when Thomas was not present and so failed to soe the Lord, and ho had not spoken five sentences till I saw he would have made a success in our profession. He was a born 'paragrapher. In a droll and reverently humorous style he went over the various excuses Christians give for not being at church. First wore the bad roads, and the roads, he admitted, were very bad this rainy summer, but they were never too bad for hauling ties. Getting out railroad ties is a big business in the Wilderness. He told in turn of those who are too tired on Sunday morning, those who are ashamed of their clothes and those who want to spend Sunday with their families, giving the last a particularly sharp slap for hypocrisy. The sermon had the greatest of all merits—it was eminently fltting'tb the time and place, especially In Its application to the habits of

^^rSTgeDeral public"'retired while the

GREENFIELD REPUBLICAN THURSDAY AUG- 29 1895.

oommunion was partaken of, and then came the interesting event of the day. Through all the grove were generous spreads on logs and on seats lifted from the wagons of fried chicken, boiled eggs, beef and bam, prepared Traits of many kinds and fruit pies and cake galore. One fact struck me as odd. Even when one was eating some one would come up and invite him to eat elsewhere, and then the dialogue ran like this: "Come and eat with us." "Thank you, I am quite well provided for." "Well, come over anyhow and take a piece of cake with us," or "My wife has some cherry pie she'd like to have you taste." And many, having eaten a regular dinner in one squad, went around and tasted cake and pie at several other places. I suppose it is old Virginia style, and at any rate it is very pleasant.

In Wartime.

After dinner there was more relaxation. The young people paired and rode off, and the men, instead of grouping at the windows to listen, grouped under the trees to talk. And their talk was racy of the soil and full of information. One told how he tried to escape from Hooker's army, was captured and spent five weeks in the old capltol prison. Another had been in various Federal prisons 19 months before they could decide whether he was a spy, a bushwhacker or a regular Confederate soldier. Finally he got the benefit of the doubt, was exchanged and "in timo to git into several mighty good fights, I tell you, sah." There are very few old soldiers indeed. Nearly all who talk of the war were children in 18G1-5, and I was surprised at the singular freedom with which they spoke of the dMIgent views held. "It is a qu^rcthing, sah," said one, "but it is a fact that the bitterest people we have aro the children of those who were nearly grown at the time of tho war. You see, those children of the wartime were too big to learn to do without niggers, and they are always telling their children that the reason of their being so poor was that their homes were torn up during the war and their niggers taken away from them."

And I found later that there was more truth than poetry in this statement. As to men who actually served in tho Confederate army, I am positive that they do not amount to one in a hundred of the present population of Virginia.

I was greatly interested in the talk of a Mr. Wharton who lives at White's crossing, on the narrow gauge, and in it I found some explanation of the great discrepancy between the list of missing and that of those captured by tho Confederates. Ho told me how men fell everywhere in the woods but slightly wounded and slipped off at night and never returned. "As the battle lines shifted this way and that," said he, "mother's house was twice between tho lines, but finally it was away northeast of the Federals, and then it was filled with men not hurt bad enough to worry. One of these fellows staid up stairs for three weeks and kept me on the watch to see who was coming, and by and by they mado up quite a littlo squad and got citizens' clothes—for they had plenty of money—and struck out northwest, saying they would not go back to the army. I was 12 years old, and while wo sat in the cellar we could hear tho cannon balls whistling loud and clear as they went back and forward on the north side of the place. By and by bullets whistled near, and now and then a cannon shot would take a bite out of tho stable or roof of tho house with a crash that made us all cringe, but none of us was fiurt. Here is a buckle I plowed up just south of the Chancellorsville field.'' It was an ordinary buckle of the Federal eoldior's belt, with the big U. S., but had indented in rude letters tho words, W. H. Smith, Brooklyn, N. Y."

Where Bumblebees Kneel.

Two-thirds of Spottsylvania county is of land so wretchedly poor that all familiar western similes fail to describe it. I might- say it is so poor that the bumblebees have to kneel down to get at the white clover that tho worst tracts are fenced to keep cattle from straying on them and starving to death, and that tho sand is too poor to sprout a pea till it is soaked, and the clay so very white and cheesy that it gives the stranger sore eyes, and yet tho Ohio valley man would not realize how poor tho land is. New ground will bring tolerable crops, as crops go in this oountry, without a fertilizer. After that a man must put into the soil whatever ho expects to got out of it. Guano and bone permanently improve the laud, but chemical fertilizers merely force it to give up its plant elements and finally make it so "thirsty" that the crops burn up. Some old plantations have recently been renewed on this plan: The land is first heavily fertilized, then sowed in rye and other green stuff, and tho whole crop plowed under. Then it will produce 15 or 20 bushels of corn per acre. The account stands thus: Feo simple of the land, §2 per aero fertilizers, §2 seed and labor, $2—$6 investment and then a year before ono can begin to farm. Even tho best land has to be fallowed every third year.

At my request a Mr. Crozier showed me some bills for rations. Tho employee got a habitable dwelling (a log cabin) and a garden rent free, pasture for one cow and monthly rations as follows: Ten pounds of salt pork, 50 herrings, one gallon black strap molasses, one bushel cornmeal, onequarter pound tea and one-half pound coffee, or, in lieu of both, one pound of coffee. He also received half a dollar a day for his work, but some colored men work as low as* 25 cents and those rations and very many at 30 cents. A vory strong and apparently active 16-year-old boy told me ho had worked till the beginning of harvest for 25 cents a day and board, but had since received 50 and was to receive 35 for the rest of the year after harvest.

J. H. BEADLE.

Sonthey and the South.

"I do not know anything more delightful than to lie on the beach in tho sun and watch the rising waves while a thousand •ague ideas pass over the mind like the summer clouds over the water," wrote Southey. Elsewhere he declares himself to be a greenhouse plant, "pining for want of sun" and expressing his eager desire for the consulship of Cintra, "my paradise— the heaven on earth of my hopes" (where the sun is so powerful as to induce blindness)—he goes on to explain to his correspondent this apparent necessity of his nature for the sun on philosophical grounds: "In truth, Grosvenor, I have lived abroad too long to be contented in England. I miss south luxuries—the fruits, the wines. I miss the sun in heaven, having been upon a short allowance of sunbeams these last ten days, and if the nervous fluid be the galvanic fluid, and the galvanic fluid the electric fluid, and the •leotrio fluid oondensed light, zounds!— what an effect must these vile, dark, rain/ •toads have upon a poor nervous fellow whose tyraln has been, In a. state of high inclination ft* the laafcjlMmtbfcHVtwnjplo fiar., *j ,, v/v

NAPOLEON BONAPARTE.

Europe Prostrate at the Feet of the Conqueror.

GONrEDEEATION OF THE BHINE.

Louis and Jerome Bonaparte Made Kings. Prussians Overwhelmed at Auerstadt and Jena—Allied Armies Destroyed at Friedland—Treaty of Tilsit.

[Copyright, 1895, by John Clark Ridpath.] XVIL—MAPMAKER AND KING OF KINGS. After Ansterlitz, Napoleon conceded to the Czar of Russia the privilege of retiring! Only a month before, Alexander had been in Berlin. Ont at Potsdam, on the 3rd of November, he and Frederick "William had sworn a secret mighty oath over the tomb of Frederick the Great. This conjuration with the Czar did not now seem to have been an expedient thing! Frederick, supposing that Napoleon was not informed of his perfidy, sent to the victor at Austerlitz a message of hollow congratulation. The Emperor, on receiving it, said that Frederick William had written the letter, intending it for the Czar, but fortune had changed the address to himself!

The treaty of Pressburg was another peace that did not pacify. Europe was prostrate before Napoleon as far as the Vistula but England covered all sea coasts from the Adriatic to the Baltic, and the •wtholo Slavic race lay darkly banked on the horizon of tho Northeast. The Emperor began at once, with incredible audacity, to make a new political map for the European Powers, and to support it with his under-kings and princes, vassals of France. Influenced by the recent Russo-Austrian coalition, Italy, under the leadership of Ferdinand king oj' the Two Sicilies, had hopefully sympathized with tho allies. Instigated by his wife, Caroline Maria, sister of Mario Antoinette, the Neapolitan king admitted into his dominions a division of the Russian army.

The cause of offenso was sufficient Napoleon, in January of 1806, sent a corps, under his brother Joseph, to occupy Italy. On the 15th of February, having entered Naples, Joseph was proclaimed king, and the Bourbon monarchy was abolished.

Notwithstanding the intended treachery of Frederick William, the Emperor kept faith with him, and delivered Hanover to Prussia. The King was reluctant to accept the gift for Hanover was England's, and ho would fain be at one with England. The principalities along the right bank of the Rhine, even from Italy to Holland, were erected into the Confederation of the Rhine. Fourteen princes of Germany voluntarily detached themselves, from their Teutonic affiliations, and carried over a population of about sixteen millions to the French

rSissJ

NAPOLEON BY LEFEVRE.

protectorate. Napoleon would thus construct a Germanic wall between Eastern Europe and France, protecting tho latter against the further incursion of the Austro-Slavio races.

The next step was to convert Holland into a sab-kingdom of France. On the 5th of June, 1806, Louis Bonaparte, to whom, four years previously, Hortense Beauharnais had been married, was proclaimed king of Holland. Out of Hesse-Cassel, Brunswick and parts of Saxony and Prussia, the kingdom of Westphalia was formed, and assigned to Jerome Bonaparte asking. To him— after Tilsit—was given in marriage the princess Catherine of Wurtemburg. In the countries between the Rhine and Poland, extending southward into Italy and northward to the Baltic, a great number of dukedoms and principalities were created and conferred on the marshals of the Empire. Murat, husband of Caroline Bonaparte, was made grand duke of Berg and Cleves. Lannes became duke of Montebello. Junot was presently nominated duke of Abrantes. Bernadotte received the title of prince of Pontecorvo. Ney got his hard-earned dukedom of Elchingen. Berthier was made duke of Neuchatel and Valangin. Soult became duke of Dalmatia. Massena took his honor as prince of Essling. Davout, after a littlo delay, was made duke of Auerstadt. Bacciocchi, husband of Elise Bonaparte, was created prince of Lucca and Piombino. Eugene Beauharnais was given in marriage Angusta Amelia, daughter of the king of Bavaria, and the title of prince of Venice. The procoss of king-making and prince-mak-ing was limited, not so much by the possibilities of territory as by the number of the Imperial reWnue.

Prussia now became a scene of stormy agitation. The humiliated House of Hohenzollern looked in this direction and in that. The younger element of the people and the philosophical patriots cried out against the domination of France. Meanwhile, a strange and farreaching contingency appeared among the personal forces in Europe. Charles Jamei Fox, successor of Pitt, became Minister of Foreign Affairs, under the premiership. of GrenvillaL,,, Fox,would fata have pee* fie war ttot deroid*®#1.

.*•

remote sympathies with France and with Napoleon himself. Courtesies began between liim and the Emperor.

Suddenly, however, on the 13th of September, 1806, Fox died and by the incoming of Lauderdale, the whole complexion was changed. Toryism again ran rampant. The Anglo-Russo-Prus-sian intrigue was renewed. Frederick William sent a peremptory challenge to Napoleon to betake himself out of Germany. The Emperor had in truth agreed to withdraw his forces but the Czar had also agreed to relinquish certain vantage ground on the Dalmatian frontier—and had not done it. Therefore, Napoleon's army corps would remain in Germany. Frederick William suddenly declared a war and Napoleon, in a month after the death of Fox and the sudden revulsion in diplomacy, concentrated in Saxe-Weimar an army of nearly a hundred thousand men.

The Prussians, sixty thousand strong under Prince Hohenlohe, occupied tbe city of Jena, on the Saale. There, on the 14th of October, they were attacked and utterly routed by the French, leaving behind twelve thousand in killed and wounded, aud about fifteen thousand prisoners. On the same day, at Auerstadt, fourteen miles from Weimar, a corps of tho Grand Army, thirtyfivo thousand strong, under Marshal Davout, fell upon a division of fifty thousand Prussians, commanded by the Duke of Brunswick and Fredciink William in person, and won a si:^u victory. Brunswick was mortally vminded, and about ten thousand of his soldiers were put hors du combat.

Prussia was utterly overwhelmed by tho disaster. Hor fortresses were surrendered without resistance, and Napoleon, in less than a fortnight, occupied Berlin. On the 21st of November, he issued from that city his celebrated Berlin decree, declaring the British Islands in a state of blockade, and interdicting all correspondence and trade with England!

The property of British subjects, under a wide schedule of liabilities, was declared contraband of war.

Meanwhile, tho aid promised to Prussia by the Czar had been too slow for the lightning that struck at Jena. The oncoming Russians reached the Vistula, but were forced back by the victorious French, who took possession of Warsaw. Thero the Emperor established his win-ter-quarters and remained for nearly three months, engaged in the formulation of new plans of conquest and new schemes for tho pacification of Europe.

After Jena, Prussia, though crushed, /emained belligerent. Her shattered forces drew off to the borders, and were joined by the Russians in East Prussia. The campaign of 1807 opened here. On the 8th of February, the French army, about 70,000 strong, advanced against the allies commanded by Benningson and Lestocq. At the town of Eylau, about twenty miles from Konigsberg, a great but indecisive battlo was fought, in which each army suffered a loss of nearly 18,000 men. The Russians and Prussians fell back about four miles to Friedland, aud both armies were reinforced, tho French to about 80,000, and the allies to approximately the same number.

The shock of Eylau, tho inclemency of the season, and tho political complications that thickened in every horizon held back military movements until the beginning of summer. On tho 14th of June was fought tho great battle of Friedland and tha allied army was virtually destroyed. Tho loss of tho Russians and Prussians was more than 23,000 men that of the French, fewer than 8,000. Napoleon commanded in person, and his triumph was prodigious. Though common famo would have Austerlitz to bo the most glorious of his battles, critical opinion concedes the palm to Friedland.

After Friedland, Tilsit. There, in the middle of the Meinel, on the 25th of June, 1807, Napoleon and the Czar met on tho famous raft. The beaten Alexander had come to admire his victorious antagonist. Why should the faces of his fifty thousand dead prevent him from falling in love with tho destroyer? Tho Emperors readily agreed to be at peace. On the 7th of July a treaty was concluded between France and Russia, and two days afterwards a similar compact between France and Prussia. Frederick William had eouyht refuge after the battle in the town of Memel, which was now about all ho might call his own!

Now was created tho grand duchy of Warsaw, composed of Prussian territory. Over this new stato was set Napoleon's^ friend Frederick Augustus, king of the Saxons. Another part of Prussia was given to the Czar. Dantzio was declared independent. Tho province west of the Elb was ceded to France. All tho Bonapartes were confirmed in their kingdoms, and the Confederation of the Rhine was recognized. The ports of Prussia were shut to English commerce. Frederick William's army was placed at a maximum of 42,000 men. To these provisions was added a large indemnity to France from Prussia. The map which the Corsicau had etched with his swordpoint on the broken landscape of Europe was confirmed by the agreement of all the Powers—save England.

For four years the sting of Tilsit was in the vitals of England. So powerful Was the Napoleonic influence that Denmark leaned Franceward and the Czar smiled. It was suspectcd by the Grenville ministry that the Danes would close their ports to British trade. Under this suspicion, Admiral Cathcart was sent with his fleet into the Baltic, demanding that the navy of Denmark should be surrendered in pledge to Gr eat Britain! To this monstrous proposition the Crown Prince bravely answered nx Cathcart then proceeded against Copenhagen, and in the first week of September bombarded the city. Three hundred and fifty bnildings, inclnding the University, were destroyed, and six timee as many houses rendered untenable. About 8,000 people were killed in tha horror, the like of whioh had not been witnessed in modern times Great Brit* flty was at peace with Denmark!

.'-^

iy-. -. !Pf

I'M

f, 1

J, .c.

i' $

I:-.

i' 1^-

/si

r?j&sr