Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1872-11-15
Forney's Anecdotes Of fu.
lhcNnller MlkOfi.


SKETCH OF ANoTED - CITIZEN OF THE WORLD -
The cuEvALIER's RELATIONS WITH LOFTS NA-
roLnoS, JAMES CoRDEN BENNETT AND oTHEs
cELEBRlTIEs.
Henri Wikof, better known as " tie
cheyalier." d" was born in Philadelphia, where
he studied law and was admitted to the bar.
He ought now 10 be over sixty, though his
adyentures would indicate him to be a much
older man. lie is living in London at pres
emf and is still devoted adherent Of Louis
Nanoleon. who has retired with Eugene and
the prince imperial to Chiselhurst, some
twelve miles from that great metropolis.
Chevalier Wikof is one Of his constant at
tendants and friends. His devotion to Louis
Napoleon began more than quarter ot
century ago lie visited him when he was
prisoner OF the castle Ham, in 1915, five
wears before he was made presidento OF France,
and wrote " biography and personal recol-
lections" of him in lS49. Very near him
when he became emperor, he enjoyed large
advantages during the brilliant era between
the coup d. etat of 1851 and the fight alter
the fall Of Sedan, in 1871. Once more an
exile. Louis Napoleon has no more devoted
Supporter than Wikof. \ characteristic oi
this citizen of the world is his attachment TO
celebrated people His early relations with
Fanny Elssler, marked by a bitter quarrel
with James Gordon Bennett of the New
York Herald, closed in the warmest friend
shin with the veteran journalist, which re-
NAMED unbrOken down to his death.
You might travel a long way before meet
ing a more pleasant companion than the COS
mopolitan Wikof. lie has seen more Of the
world than most men, has mingled with So
cisty of every shade and grade, has tasted OF
noyerty and of affuence, talks several Ian
guages huently, is skilled in etiquette, art
and literature, and without proclaimed CON
yiotions. is shrewd politician, who under
stands the motives and opinions Of others.
He has written several books in addition to
the biography of his idol, Louis Napoleon,
including his strange experience with Miss
Gamble entitled MY COurship and It's
Corseorenees. - =. The Adventures of a
Rovin1 Diplomatist.'' a New Yorker in
tbe F6reion Office and His Adventures in
Paris Here we have the photographs OF
his life. From these we realise how such
character would entertain an editor like Ben
nstt. n Statesman like Buchanan, n monarch
like Louis Napoleon.
Ranging through all society, he can tax
Of love, literature and war can describe the
rulers and thinkers of his time. can gossip
of courts and cabinets, of the boudoir and
the salon, of commerce and the church, OF
the peer and the pauper, of Dickens and
Thaekeray, of Victor Hugo and Louis Blanc,
of Iamartine and Laboulye, Of Garibaldi
and the Pope of Lincoln and Stanton, of Bn-
chanan and Pierce, of the North and the
south. of the opera and the theatre, of Gen
oral Sickles and Tammany hall, and of the
inner life of almost any capital in the world
With such gifts, aided by an air dist'agHe., a
fine address and a manner after the English
model. Wikoff has the eHfree in many CIR
cIes which higher intellect and deservings
can never penetrate M.
Wikoff-s diplomacy was never better Illus
trated tLap in making james Gordon Ben
nett and James Buchanan friends. Bennett
had taken great dislike to Buchanan, and o:p-
nosed his election in 1856 with unsparing
severity. Never was the Herald more sar-
castle. Every paragraph told every sen, SEN,
tenee touched the sensitive nerve; and when
the fight was over, and Mr.. Buchanan wa,
successful, the rejoicing was not less general