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Show 1 . . FAMOUS PEACE TREATIES jj Ily II. HIVING KING TREATY OF ST. PETERSBURG, 1772. One of the M?ny Efforts to Straighten Out Poland. Poland having been lak"ii off tin' map by a treaty, is now lo be put melt a gain by another treaty. In Ihe latter pari of Hie fourteenl li ce ry rohnid as I he domina nl power in eastern east-ern Europe. Iler dominion cMeudod from the I'.nliic to the Dnieper and pressed down upon Austria lo Ihe Kf Hit II. while lied Ullssin. While Kus-xi Kus-xi ii . Pluck ItiiMsla and the Ukraine were hers. Prussia lias a little slate huddled up In a corner on the 1 la I lie. mid surrounded on Ihe ot.ier sides by Poland. Coin-land and Livonia were Polish provinces. The Prussians or P.orussiaus, were an Idolatrous tribe wlio Indulged in human sacrifices anil Poland called in I be Teutonic knights lo subdue them. The Teutonic knights subdued the I'.orus.siaus, but I hey turned Prussia Info a militant lillle stale which lie-flun lie-flun at once wars to Increase Its territory. ter-ritory. A I Inhen.ollern had himself doeiod head of Ihe Teutonic knig'ils mill thus began the house of lloheti-zollorn, lloheti-zollorn, and that power desiined to have such a large share In the tin" n-fall n-fall of Poland and to he such a un n-nce n-nce to Ihe world, sprung from a neo of savages led by an adventurer. As bile as l(i(S:t, when the American colonies were already settled commonwealths, common-wealths, Poland was so powerful I hat tier king. John Sobieski, marching Willi a Polish army, relieved the siege of Vienna and saved Europe from being overrun by the Turk. Dynasty Came to an End. Willi Ihe dentil of Sigisniund Augustus Augus-tus in 1572, the dynasty of the old kings came to an end and Polaxl adopted a .system of elective kings, and u new constitution which worked out badly and contributed to tho downfall of the nation. The Polish diet elected the king. It consisted of a chamber of peers and a house of representatives representa-tives of the lesser noble-. The diet sat only six weeks each year and its decisions were obliged to be unanimous unani-mous to be effective. Also there was a recognized right of any nobles confederating con-federating together to enforce their will by Ihe power of arms. Naturally the result was discord and sometimes civil war. Russia, Ihe growin-r Prussia Prus-sia and Austria fostered these internal disagreements with hungry looks on Polish territory. A large uumber of Germans found 'their way into the country, gathered to themselves business and industries and worked their propaganda. In lTT.'i the election of Augustus III to the Polish throne was accomplished by open bribery and under the guard of Russian soldiers. Poland Stirred to War. Put Poland did not die without a struggle. Kosciusko, who had served under Washington during the American Ameri-can revolution, returned lo (lie native country, inspired Ihe spirit of patriotism pa-triotism into his fellow Poles and . stirred all Poland into war against her i oppressors. The Poles fought brave-; brave-; ly and defeated the Russians in tin ' lieree battle of Dnbienka. Put now a Prussian army entered Poland. Kosciusko was defeated and Poland overrun. The Austrian troops hud joined Willi the armies of Russia and Prussia and the three powers, In the face of the protests of the western powers and the outbursts of Indignation Indigna-tion from all upright men, proceeded to a third partition which gave to Prussia 22,000 square miles of territory ter-ritory with 1,100.000 Inhabitants, to Russia 1)0,000 square miles with 3,-000,000 3,-000,000 inhabitants; Austria had been slow and got nothing this time. general rising of the Poles followed and again the leader was Kosciusko. Monies of Russian and German soldiers were poured into Poland and at length, on October 10, at the battle of Macle-jowice, Macle-jowice, Kosciusko was defeated and taken prisoner, and "Freedom shrieked shriek-ed as Kosciusko fell," wrote the poet Campbell. The victorious Austrians, Russians and Prussians now proceeded proceed-ed to linish their work by taking Poland Po-land off the map altogether. Of what they had not stolen before they proceeded pro-ceeded to portion out to themselves Ihe remnants of the kingdom was as follows: Russia, 45,000 square miles with 1,200,000 inhabitants ; Prussia, 21,-000 21,-000 square miles wi'h 1.000,000 Inhabitants. Inhabi-tants. Austria had taken part in this last subjugation of Kusciusko and got 18,000 square miles with 1,000,000 inhabitants. in-habitants. The deal begun at the signing sign-ing of the treaty of St. Petersburg on August 5. 1772, was completed. Poland Po-land ceased to exist. As full of crimes as history is it contains no record of such another cold-blooded crime by civilized civ-ilized and Christian powers as the annihilation an-nihilation of Poland. ' TREATY OF PARIS, 1893 The Settlement After the Spanish-American War Required Four Month After all, It took four months after the signing of the armistice to sign a treaty with Spain after the Spanish war. And that was a comparatively simple affair with only two nations involved. in-volved. The protocol, or amistice, was signed on August 12, 18!)8, and the treaty signed on December 10 four months lacking two days from the ceasing or hostilities. The treaty was not ratified by the senate until April 11 of 1 S0i. So, theoretically, we were at war with Spain for a year lacking!! few days, although actual military mil-itary operations did not last many days over three mouths. The principal events of Ihe Spanish-American Spanish-American war most people remember. War was declared by Spain on April 21 and by the United States on April 2f. There was a curious little exhibition exhi-bition of "Castilian pride" i-bout that. Spain learned on April 24 that the United States was going to declare war the next day and promptly declared it herself. Another interesting point is that the United States began the blockade of a part only of the Cuban const at first and began it two days before Spain declared war and three days before we declared it. And the American proclamation of war was made retroactive to April 21. Dewey entered Manila bay May i and destroyed de-stroyed the Spanish fleet there. Cerveru's lleet got into Santb.go on May 10, where it was bottled up by the fleet under Sampson and Schley Sampson being senior officer. The American expedition landed at Daiquiri Dai-quiri June 20-22. and the nnttles of Kl Caney and San Juan Hill took place ou July 1-2. On July 3 the Spanish fleet attempted to escape and was destroyed de-stroyed In the naval battle of Santiago. Santi-ago. Santiago surrendered on July K and the campaign in Porto Rico began be-gan on July 2o, and was In progress at the signing of the armistice. Manila was captured on August Pi. the day after the protocol was signed. Manila Ma-nila had been practically at the mercy of the Americans since I lie May morn-lug morn-lug -iv. which Dewey destroyed the Spanish fleet. It had been only a question of getting American troops there to occupy the place in sufficient force. Spain Was Sullen. Spain's attempt to stand against the power of the United States had everywhere every-where resulted in disaster to the Spanish Span-ish arms. Her Meets had been swept from the seas anil her colonial possesions posses-ions were in American bunds. She could carry on no more war overseas, but threatened to sit sullenly at home and defy the United Slates still. But fter the battle of Santiago the United Unit-ed S.'utes began preparing a licet to cross the Atlantic and attack the shores of Spain. As soon as it became be-came evident that the purpose was a reality and not a bluff oilier European powers put "diplomatic pressure" on Spain to end the war. The prospect of American guns awaking 'he echoes of European hills was not looked forward to in 1S9S with the eager pleasure that it was anticipated by some nations a year and a half ago. Spain did not need much urging, and on July 22 the Spanish minister of state transmitted through the French ambassador at Washington a letter to President M Kinley asking for peace. This letter reached the president on July 26, and four days later the secretary of slate, Mr. Day, replied, stating the terms upon which an armistice would be concluded. con-cluded. They were: The evacuation of Cuba by Spain and the relinquishment relinquish-ment of all claims of sovereignty over that island; the cession of Porto Rico and all other Swinish West Indian Islands to the United States; the cession ces-sion to the United States of an island in the Lndrones to be selected by the United States, and the occupation by the United States of the city and bay of Manila pending a treaty of peace which should determine the disposition of the Philippines. On August 12 M. Jules Cambon. the French ambassador, signed on behalf of Spain the protocol, or terms of armistice, in which were embodied not only the demands stated but three oth er articles providing for the method of evacuating Cuba and Porto Rico. Fighting Fight-ing sto-.iped. It was arranged that peace delegates should meet at Paris in October. Mr. Day resigned his office as secretary of state In order to accept an appointment as first delegate. dele-gate. The other delegates were Senators Sena-tors Davis of Minnesota and Frye of Maine, and Whltelaw Reld of New-York. New-York. Spain sent a like delegation. Philippines Stumbling Block. The principal stumbling block was reached when the commissioners came to consider the Philippines. Having taken them and destroyed the only government In the Islands ihe United Slates could hardly go away and leave them loose In the world, as it were. Other nations had envious eyes on them and stood ready to grasp the fruits of American success. Spain refused re-fused to give them nr. at;.! threatened to break off negotiations. The United Slates made the cession of the islands an ultimatum and, ''running true to form" in paying cash for what she hud already obtained by conqtio-it, ottered Spain twenty million dollars If she gave them up. Spain yielded and ttie treaty was nigncd ou December 10. |