Worcester daily spy., 1872-08-13
French PoIit.cs Fifty Years Ago.

Some seven and forty years ago there was en-
tered at the military school of st. Cyr a boy of
II, who besides other merits, possessed that Of
being the son of peer of France, an advantage
which in those days rendered Others supertiuous.
st. Cyr was not then what it Lad been in the
"Usurpers s"-that is in Napoleon's-time, a
training place for asprant captains of all classes
1t was stocked with noblemen-Rohans, Mont
moreneys, Harcourts Luynes; and the great
amusement of these young bucks was to 20 TO
Paris OF Sunday and make disturbances at the
Theatre Francais, 10y Kissing Mile Mars, sus-
peCted of BonapartiSm; Or to pick quarrels in
the streets with liberal journalists. Perhaps the
young cadet MacMahon, who was by and by to
be NJ. Theirs chief lieutenant in the govern
ment of France, may now and then have planned
in his dormitory how he and his friends
might fasten a quarrel on the "bumptiOuS Scrib-
bier" who was defaming Charles Y. in the
Constitutional, and publishing his diSoyal
"HstoTy of the Revolution" in monthly parts ;
and it is probable that if the scribber in
question had shown himself less ready ON
all occasions to lay down his pen for the
sword, his lille might have been made so burden
some to him as to have nipped his political ambi-
tion in the bud. Those were days when men did
not keep their opinions in their breast pockets to
be displayed here and there when needlul; they
faunted them high on their heads, like a set Of
pumes. NJ. Constant de Rebecque, editor OF the
Minerva, better known as Benjamin Constant,
having fought halfa-dozen times, hireda fencing
master at last to sign his articles for him. aud give
an account of visitors. This gentleman c0uched
five officers of the kings body guard on the
sward of the BoiS de Boulogne within twelve
months Three-and-tWenty st. Cyrans having
thereupon drawn lots and sworn to fight him
turn by turn until he was worsted, he ac-
cepted the challenge, and would have faced
it had not the body guard hit upon the much
more feasible plan of loOSng upon him a rival
bravo named Chocquart. The honest pair met
on a patch of ground where the avenue d'Eylyu
now stands, the spectators being more than
fifty in number, and comprising many of the
leading writer's of the liberal press and the
principal offcers-in-waitng on the king. The
duel lasted three-quarters of an hour at the
end OF which time the liberal champion, out
witted by secret thrust, had his throat cut
from ear to ear And it is pleasing character
iStic of the period that Benjamin Constant, in
stead of wasting time i'll useless grief over hlS de-
tenders fate, forthwith hethcught him of hiring
the yanquSher at an increased salary to take
his place. Let any one who attended the earlier
performances of Rabagas at Paris or Bordeaux,
| and who thought them exciting, just imagine
what the excitement was when, soon after Napo-
Icons death, it became bruited that in per-
formance of CHINA, the actor Palma, who had
been the emperOr's personal friend, would play
the part of Augustus with his face made up like
BOnaparte'Sl The theatre Francais was crowded
from roof TO basement the entire school OfSt.Cyr
being there, with there white handkGrchefS tied
TOuHu IutlT Sleeves Ill EulSC Ol TOydSG dTlllelS.
The Latin quarter students, who, like other lib
erals of the day-Heaven forgive em!-madle
common cause of the Bonapartists, choked up
the gallery and pit; retired officers of the
Grande Armee were everywhere to be seen,
with punches of violets (the imperaist aower)
in their buttonholes; and the Guards officers
in full uniform, clustered together by dozens,
ready for any such pretty piece of work as
butfetting n liberal first and then skewering him
afterwards. OF course the police, having wind
oi1this, carefully supenntended NJ. Tama's dress
ing before the curtain rose, but whether it was
from accident or design, the actor was no sooner
on the stage than he stroked down over his
forehead the well-known wisp of hair which
distinguished Napoleon; and at this the house
rose en- masse The liberals cheered enthusias-
tically, and the royalists retorted with roars of
Vive le Roll Nor was this mere empty barking
with no bite to follow, for, above the din OF
voices, slaps on the face resounded loud and
frequent; and the Quotidienne of the morrow
remarked naively, ga hundred duels closed the
memorable soiree, but we believe only seven
were fatal.