The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-02-27
The Royal Tombs of France.
ST. DENIS AFTER COMPARTMENT.


The recent bombardmeut of st. Denis
imperilled the sepulchres of the kings Of
France. The famous cathedral, however,
did not suffer very greatly. A writer in
the London Ne,os says that the republicans
who have painted L,berte, Egalite, Frater-
mite on its portals, have not allowed their
repnblicanism to render them negligent OF
the historical monuments the edifice con-
tains all around it has been banked up
high with sand bags, which have caught
and stopped several SHELLS. The stained
glass Is intact. Only four shells have PEN
otrated to the interior of the building
One of the deliberately carved crosses on
the top of the buttress has been splintered
off and coping stone has been shattered
this sums up the evil done to the cathedral
by the shells of the enemy. Theyspendid
carving on the arches around the great
door has not been harmed in the least,
although there have been some very mar
row escapes. Several houses in the neigh
borhood have been utterly demolished, and
others fired.
The aspect of the cathedral inside is
very strange the tombs of the kings have
all been protected by sand bags the in
terror may be called one great sand bag.
The statues have been covered in with
wooden frames, and the sand bags laid
over them. 1t is pleasant to be able to
state that never q statue has had so much
es nose knocked off. In fact, consider
ing the weight and duration of the bonn
bardment, the cathedral may be said to
have escaped wonderfully well. The same
ha of ha oh, Of
Denis, which is Just behind Fort la Brichc. |
It's steeple is wrecked; its north side is |
stove in, and It's interior is chaos of NOR
tar, stones and smashed paraphernalia.
The little Protestant chapel, however, has
suffered worse than any other religious ed
ifce in the place.
One might almost fancy its pastor trot-
ting dolefully about picking up the pieces
of his church from the open spaces in the
vicinity. The pulpit and the door are in
tact; as for the rest, if you had all the
bits collected, it would be worse than any
Chinese puzzle to put them together again.
The Protestant school-rooms escaped the
bombardment, with the exception of hav-
ing the windows broken but this morn
ing the German soldiers, hungry after
wood made raid upon the desks and
forms. Pasteur Sagier thought it hard
when there was plenty of Roman Catholic
combustbles about the place, Protestants
should burn the furniture of the only
evangelical establishment in the town so
he paid visit of remonstrance to General
Zychlinski, who sent his chaplain to exor-
else the evil spirits that were troubling the
evangelical woodwork.
An average has been calculated which
would give about two shells a house
the town during the lombard
ment of i've days With few seemingly
fortuitous exceptions, the distribution APP
pears to have been remarkably impartial.
If ever town was effectually bombarded
without being burned outright or flattened
level with the ground, st. Denis is that
town. 1t must have been verify the reign
of the Prince of the Power of Darkness, !
that period of five days. While the shells
were crashing into the houses, they were ,
up the streets as with the deepest I
subsoil plough ever invented. There was
no safety for anybody but in the cold
and dark cellars; SO heavy were the pro-
jectiles, that not always in the cellars was
there found safety. There are houses of
which garrets and cellars are battered into
a shapeless pile of stone and mortar. If
you ask the lazy bystanders whether any
have been buried in the ruins, they modify
mutter, Who knows ?" shrug their !
and turn away. For myself, |
think there must not be few underneath !
these Jagged monumental piles but there {
is nobody who has interest or energy to
explore, and "Who knows ?" may be
painted up as the vague epitaph.