New-York daily tribune., 1859-02-11
ST. DENIS TO THE RESCUE.

ftub0uIg ST. Germain dencmlhale tue samc Po'cu'
tate) though fatalist Of the most fatalstic kind
il no. above making provision for the contingencies
| of fate. We do not refer to the precautions he
takes sgainst repettions Of Orsini's chemical eI-
| periments, though their failure might well confirm
him in bis creed that every bullet has ts billet"
but to the arrangements he has made for the dispo
,ition of what shall remain of him. after fate shal
have got the better of him and of bis successors,
ss they shall successfully surrender to the common
enemy He has declared BY ordinance, d1ly pro-
mulsated in the Moni,sur, that the church Of st.
| Deris shall be hallowed anew, BY being made the
shrine Of his own relics, and of those of his
dynasty, I. will be odd, indeed, if this do not
furnish food for one of the grim jests of which
history is full II it do not, it will be greater
miracle than the celebrated promenade of the pat
ron saint Of his chosen mausoleum, with bis head
under his arm, Ike etapeau Aras, league or
more, "srte ure grande grarit{' (as well he
might, depositpg it on the place where his
church low stands.
st. Denis, unuckily, has not proved very safe
custodian of royal dust and ashes. A gester than
the present Bonaparte, even the Uncle OF whoa, he
is the putatiye Nephew, Secreed that the clay of
bis race Of Emperors should crumble in the cryp's
of this saint. And what 10 odd, the only tenant
Of tho,e dark chambers, BY virtue of his edic was
tie elder brother of the present adyenturer, Louis,
Grand Duke OF Berg, who, more fortunate than the
surviving son of Hortense, IVES believed to be not
only the Nephew but the Son of ii, Uncle. AT any
rate, be was the heir Napoleon lad fixed upon to
his throne, had be lived and the Austrian match
Leyer been made. The little prince died in 1908 the
year Louis Napoleon was born and was buried under
ST. Denis, in the vault prepared for the Napoeonc
race. But be was permitted but siz short years Of
postbumous prominence. When the BourbOrs
came back in -li, whatever else tLey might have
forgotten, they remembered that base-born in
trudsr had obtained lodgmen. ucder walls for
centuries sacred to the disntegratcn of royalty.
And 50 they improved their short day, before the
Return from Elba interrupted if, in SEoSeling the
poor child into the common churchyarc belonging
to tie chaIch, where he seepsas sound IS if under
the grand altar itsef
St. Denis, inleed, asa loyal saint Of some If
teen buLdred years standing might, perhaps be
excused fror, interfering ir behalf Of this gno'le
intelloper Is be had kept good watch and ward
over the authentic dust corsmltted 70 hls charge
Bu. be had taken 70 better care OF TIE pure
poreesin clsy than if it had been eeft or ware OF
common earth. He interpossd no defense what
ever between the royal relies con6ded 70 him
and the yiolenceoifered TO them when the Con-
vent;on decreed, on the 3lst of July, 1913, On mo
tion Of Barrere, that the tom5s Of the Kings OF
Ao.;. I'D oil, ubara ma
destroyed and tie lead in which they were lspped
run into bullets to be aimed at the enemies Of the
Republic In consequence o. this decree, the
vault, under ST. Denis were emptied OF
the bones aches and dscaying corpses
of about hundred kings, queens, princes and
prncesses, which were all dumped into COM
mon ditch, to tie north Of the church, covered
with quick. lime, and filled up level with the
ground so that no trace might remain of where
they sy. From the dubious ashes of Dagobsrt
down to the undoubted but unpleasant body" Of
Madssae Louise auat of Louis XVI, who dled in
l7s7, luckily for her, only two years before the
Revolution broke oat, and from Louis XIV, who
reisnsd more than seventy years, to little Joha L.
who reigned only sight days, they were all pitched
pe Iell into hOle, with no more regard for their
quality than if it bad been the Potters Field that
was clearing out.
1t is a queer homily on tie vanity of human
greatness, the proees rerbai sging an account of
the dougs in conformity with this decree OF the
Cor Venton. Hamlet might have found plenty Of
food for moralisipg if he ha1 happened to be a
looker.on at that grsve-digs.Bg extraordinary.
Louis XIV, the Grand Mecarque, after seventy
years of iJoizing and tyranny, kuOcked about the
mszard with seItous spade The skull of
Philip Augustus, which could circumvent Coeur de
Lion, jowled 10 the ground by a rude knave
With a dirty shovel pbiiip the Feir and
his three sahs, the whole House of Falois,
John. whom the Blsci Prince took
prisoner at P0ictiers, bis son Charles, screamed
the Wise foT his cunning ;G chesting his subjects
out Of their rights all the I.gncourt princes, and
Charles VII, who recovered France finally from
the English, and 50 on from Charles VfA to Louis
XII, sad Francis /. and his son Henry H., and his
grandsons Francis III The fret husband of Mary
Queer Of Sco.s, thR infamous Charles N. and
Henry Ill, not less red than he with the blood Of
Ssia. Bartholomew 10 Henry ". aid all his race,
all tunbled promiseuously out Of their coins, ard
.hot, Ike rubbish, into pit "Gerss fine regO-
"lution, an we h.d the wit to sss it," aad with
vengeance.
Henry ". was found in STATE Of perfect pres
yation, and one would have thought that enough Of
the traditional love for the good King who wished
that every Frsnchman had chicken in bis pot,
misht remain 10 ave hin from tao COM