, 1873-02-16

The Dupin Family---IloW a Proud
Career Was IrrctrievabIy
SuIlied.
Alexandra Dumas Last Play,
Ella Femme de
Claude"
Financial Irregularities.--The City Hall.--
4 Dreadful Domestic Tragedy.


| From Our olrn Correspondent
| PARIS, Jan. "a, 1879
Those whom the gods love die young! Hal
Arnold died before he turned traitor, how ven
| Grated would that name have been in American
annals! Had Louis Philippe died before 1913
| had Napoleon III. died before 1870, what wise
able, successful monarchs they would have ap
peared in history! They burieda man on Thurs
day whose whole family illustrated the truth O.
this old saying. There was from 1915 to 1913 ne
family which stood higher in popular favor thar
THE DuP1N FAMILY.
Tho head Of tho family had defended Marsha
Ney, de Beranger, de Chateaubriand, Paul Louis
Courier. He was the intimate friend of Manuel
Foy, Lamarquo. He was celebrated for his.wit
his eloquence, his legal lore. He Was the trusted
counsellor OF the Orleans family. His rusticity
was rather recommendation thana drawbacks, =
SO blunt t. fellow must needs bo honest. The
eldest Dupin had all sorts Of SUCCESSES after
the Revolution OF 1880. He was 'hend Of the
French bar, being made Attorney General he
was President of the Chamber Of Depu-
ties; he was member of the French Acad-
emy and OF the Academy OF Moral and
Political Sciences. He was legal adviser
of Louis Philippe and Of all his family.
His income was enormous, for ali Of these, and
Of many other posts he filled, had salaries at
tached to them. .and, as he never spent one cen
time il it could by any hook or crook be avoided,
he loft more than million of dollars behind
him. When you remember he began the world
with no capital| but the head ho carried On his
shoulders, I think You will agree that this was
decent estate. His next brother was Charles
Dupin, who became an engineer in the
navy, but early turned his attention to political
economy, and quilted the navy to fill variety Of
Lucrative posts under the Government. Louis
XVIII. made him a.Baron, and the Revolution OF
July added to the number and profits Of the
places lie held under the Restoration. His
younger brother, Philippe Dupin, aided by his
elder brother, made rapid progress at tho bar !;
his abilities confirmed his advance. Some per-
Sons thought him the ab1est Of the three broth
ers. He certainly possessed, more than the
other two, the faculty Of attracting and keeping
friends, and he had hold on his audience much
hrmer than his eldest brother ever obtained.
Consumption seized him in the morning OF life,
and ho died Tho mother Of these man died
in tho meridian Of their fame and popu-
larity. When they placed On her tomb
stone, with pardonable vanity, ''Here
lies the mother of the three Dupin,"
al France applauded the inscriptions as
merited tribute to the dead and to the living.
Revolution swept away tho July. Monarchy.
Revolution established the Second Empire. Le
premier col de aigLe (as the Duke dAumale
witti1y said) was to confscate the whole Orleans
estate Before this measure Was decreed, Louis
Philippe had departed life. He made the eldest
Dupin one OF his e1eeutors.) The eldest Dnpin
l. l1.--- al -E I'D
against the measure. He, nevertheless, no
sooner saw the Empire firmly established, than
he began to pay it court, and, in few years, he
actually begged the Emperor for his old Offices,
and for q seat in the Senate There was only
one sentiment in France, even among tue Bona
partists themselves. TINT Of the deepest indig-
nation. Bushels of 1ettera q quote his own lail-
guage) we're received, denouncing Lis infamy.
It was Infamous, for Louis Philippe had always
been his friend, and had always e1ortel himself
soon introduced his brother into tho Senate.
They made themselves notorious by recanting
and bitterly opposing every opiDiod they had
previously advocated, and to which they had
feu into insigni6canco and contempt. When
the eldest Dupin died, there was nobody at his
funeral but people obliged by their Office to be
present. THEY were received in the drawing
rooms Of none of their old friends. The last Of
the three brothcrs-Baron Charles Dupin-has
Just passed away His family insisted that all
ot1iciaa1 honors should be paid him, but nobody
was present ut the funeral except people who
could not do otherwise. The newspapers dis
miss him with contomptnous.1ine to his grave.
MONS. ALEX. Dua1As
has lust made IS complete 9 failure as dra1sat-
ISL can make. It was not unexpected. He had
time and again been warned that, if he perse-
yored in the path he was treading, he would
certainly fall down very deep abyss. He is
self -wiied, and the prediction is accomplished.
It is q pity that authors cannot content them |
selves With literary fame, but must rush into
politics, as il the latter alone were tho proper
business Of genius. How different would de |
Lamartine stand in literary history had he never
neddled with politics! How Sainte-Beuye in
iured himself BY his political dabbling! What |
oalderdash has politics made Victor hugo
be- to-shall say elevate or depress? I doubt
# he himself knows which-woman in the social |
scale. It is not odd that Frenchmcn think Of |
nothing but women. Interdict this subject to
:hem, they are dumb. All their novels, plays,
pictures. opers, turn on sexual relations shining
men or SHINING women; faithless wives or
'aithless husbands; unmarried women who have
ost, are losing, or are going to lose their yrtue
The whole of French literature seems written