"Then, after the French revolution, there was Napoleon. Again
France, under him, was the strongest nation in Europe. He
conquered Germany, and Austria, Italy and Spain, the Netherlands.
And he tried to conquer England, so that France could rule the
world. But Nelson beat his fleet at Trafalgar --"

"Hurrah!" interrupted Dick, carried away. "Three cheers for
Nelson!"

Grenfel smiled as the cheers were given.

"Even after Trafalgar," he went on, "Napoleon hoped to conquer
England. He had massed a great army near Boulogne, ready to send
it across the channel. And so we took the side of the weaker
nations again. All Europe, led by England, rose against Napoleon.
And you know what happened. He was beaten finally at Waterloo.
And so there was peace again in Europe for a long time, with no
one nation strong enough to dictate to all the others." But then
Germany began to rise. She beat Austria, and that made her the
strongest German country. Then she beat France, in 1870, and that
gave her her start toward being the strongest nation on the
continent.

"And then, I believe -- and so do most Englislmen -- she began to
be jealous of England. She wanted our colonies. She began,
finally, to build a great navy. For years we have had to spend
great sums of money to keep our fleet stronger than hers. And she
made an alliance with Austria and Italy. Because of that France
and Russia made an alliance, too, and we had to be friendly with