Page:Dramatic Moments in American Diplomacy (1918).djvu/158

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138
DRAMATIC MOMENTS

of America. At that time there were two Americas. And it was not so very obvious to the uninformed spectator in London and Paris which was the oppressed and which the oppressor.

No such doubt exists concerning the Emperor of France. Napoleon III exhibited all the traits that had made the very name of emperor a just cause of suspicion in the Republic, and has now finally goaded a patient world into a war of final riddance. At the outset it is only fair to say that the people of France had no voice in, part or sympathy with, the imperialistic schemes of conquest and diplomatic duplicity that characterized the actions of their ruler.

The moment the struggle broke out on the Potomac he saw his chance to put in practice the one infallible principle of princes—to conquer somebody.

Under the familiar guise of collecting just debts he invited a number of powers to make a