MARQUE AND REPRISAL 



3658 



MARQUETTE 



flows with many turnings northwest and then 

 westward across the eastern part of France and 

 empties into the Seine about four miles above 

 Paris. It is a 

 rapid stream and 

 supplies power to 

 many mills ; it 

 has been canal- 

 ized and dredged 

 until it is navi- 

 gable for 226 

 miles and con- 

 nects by canal 

 with the Rhine 

 at Strassburg. LOCATION MAP 



The First It was on the Marne that 

 MAI-TIP 'Rflttlp nnp the German drive on Paris 



Marne Battle, or $ wag halted> and the whole 

 of the early en- tide of war in the world strug- 

 counters of the sle was changed ' 

 War of the Nations, was really not a single bat- 

 tle, but a series of desperate engagements lasting 

 from September 6 to September 12, 1914. The 

 battle front was over 140 miles long, from near 

 Paris to Verdun, and more than two and one- 

 half million men, the largest number up to that 

 time ever engaged in one battle, took part. 

 The Germans were only thirty-five miles from 

 Paris; they had driven the French and the few 

 English in confusion for over two weeks, but 

 at a vital moment the French and English 

 turned upon their pursuers. In the six days 

 following the Germans were driven back to 

 their line of forts on the Aisne River. 



The Second Battle. Again in 1918 the Marne 

 was the scene of most decisive engagements, 

 which resulted from Germany's last desperate 

 attempt to reach Paris. The final German drive 

 began March 21, 1918, and it progressed with 

 amazing rapidity until June, when it was halted 

 at the Marne. this time only thirty-one miles 

 from Paris. American troops had the honor of 

 bringing the Germans to a full stop, whereupon 

 all the allied armies hammered the enemy un- 

 ceasingly until November, when, almost on 

 German soil, the Germans acknowledged defeat. 

 See WAR OF THE NATIONS. 



MARQUE AND REPRISAL, mark, repri'zal, 

 LETTER OF, a written commission or license 

 granted by the supreme power of a nation at 

 war to private persons who own ships, authoriz- 

 ing them to pass beyond the three-mile inter- 

 national boundary and conduct hostilities 

 against the enemy. Such vessels were known as 

 privateers, and the prizes captured were divided 

 among the owners of the vessels, their captains 

 and their cre,ws. Warring nations with but 



small navies resorted to this method as early 

 as the sixteenth century, but by the Treaty of 

 Paris in 1856 letters of marque were abolished 

 by the nations of Europe. The United States 

 declined the invitation to join this arrange- 

 ment, but it abandoned privateering. At the 

 beginning of hostilities between the .American 

 government and Germany, in April, 1917, the 

 former pressed into service many large, private 

 yachts to hunt submarines, but they became 

 government vessels and their private character 

 was lost. They were, therefore, not privateers. 



MARQUESAS, mahrka'sas, ISLANDS, a 

 group of volcanic islands belonging to France, 

 lying in the Pacific Ocean about midway be- 

 tween South America and Australia, in the 

 same latitude as the northernmost point of the 

 latter continent. They are eleven in number, 

 and have a total area of 480 square miles. Only 

 six of the islands are inhabited, and their com- 

 bined population, which is slowly decreasing, is 

 less than 3,200. The Marquesans, who are 

 physically a superior group of the Polynesian 

 race, have adopted the customs of civilization 

 and the teachings of Christianity. They are 

 skilful producers of carved and ornamented 

 axes and oars, cocoanut slings, carved clubs and 

 other specimens of handicraft, and subsist 

 chiefly on breadfruit, which grows abundantly 

 on the islands. 



The southern group of islands was discovered 

 in 1595 by Mendana de Neyra, a Spanish navi- 

 gator; the northern group was sighted in 1791 

 by an American traveler who named his discov- 

 ery the Washington Islands. Commodore David 

 Porter, of the Essex, proclaimed the islands 

 United States territoiy in 1813, but the govern- 

 ment neglected to claim them; they were far 

 from America's sphere of influence. In 1842 

 they were annexed to France. 



MARQUETTE, mahrket', JACQUES (1637- 

 1675), a French missionary and explorer in 

 America. He was born at Laon, became a 

 Jesuit, and in 1666 was sent out to Canada by 

 his Order as a missionary. For two years he 

 lived with another missionary, learning the cus- 

 toms and language of the Indians, and in 1668 

 was sent to the upper lakes. He worked at 

 Sault Sainte Marie and at Mackinaw, but in 

 1673 was instructed to give up his mission there 

 and accompany Joliet on his exploration of the 

 Mississippi River. By way of Lake Michigan, 

 Green Bay, Fox River and Wisconsin River, 

 with portages between, they reached the Missis- 

 sippi, which they descended to the mouth of the 

 Arkansas. Fearing to go further on account of 



