Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-05-21
The Man with the Iron Mask.

From tne Lakesiue monthly.l
The latest theory in regard to this
mystery, resting upon letters. recently
discovered addressed by Anne Of Austria
and Cardinal Mazarin, each TO the other,
is this: Upon the death Of Louis XIII,
his widowed consort, by decree OF Parlia-
ment, was constituted absolute regent.
She thereupon announced that she would
retain Mazarin as her prime minister.
He is described as being q handsome
man, of distinguished manners, elegant
appearance and insinuating address.
The queen recognized the difficulty of
her position at the kings death, sur
rounded as she was by greedy courtiers
grasping at high places. Mazarin, al
ways her favorite, offered himself not
only as a chivalrous companion,
but as the foremost statesman among
her counselors. 1t was a descent
in the social scale for the daughter
and widow of king to unite her desti-
nies by wedlock with a commoner. But
they were both in the early stage OF mid
die life-their ages only differing by a
year, she in the maturity OF her beauty,
and he of his intellect-her children, the
dauphin and his brother, six and four
years of age respectively, needing
guiding hand; and among all the cour-
Tiers who surrounded her Mazarin alone
united the wisdom Of craftsmanship to
the sincerity of friendship. There is
no doubt OF their marriage, says the
historian Michelet the cardinal having
obtained dispensation from Rome; nor
of the subsequent birth Of a son. -
During Mazarin's life the boy grew
up in the palace, a playmate OF
the two older children, and pos
sible heir to the crown. But with
the death of the great minister came a
great change. The real emancipation
Of Louis XIV then commenced. Anne
of Austria, deprived of ali share in the
government, quilted Paris, and during
the remainder of her life made her home
at the convent of St. Denis. Her son,
then sixteen, followed her. To Louis
XIV aud to the due d Orleans this. their
half-brother, in whose veins flowed
ignoble blood, was an object of dislike.
The queen kept him at her side, gave
him the advantages of education, and
for four years caused him to be taught
all manly and noble accomplishments.
He never returned to court; but from
letters still preserved, written by those
who paid their homage to the qaeen up
to the last, it is evident that the boy
was regarded as giving uncommon
promise. To the fine person and win
ming manners inherited from the Aus
trian side, he added the extraordinary
gifts of the great minister, his father,
There are many among the noblesse OF
the old regime who undoubtedly looked
for an eyentuality that might place him
upon the throne. Louis XIV was aware
OF all this, and the death of Anne of
Austria, in 1864, removed every obstacle
in the way of his plans. Young as the
king was, he would brook no possible
rival to even his illegitimate successors;
The young prince was seized in bis bed
at st. Denis, the iron mask, invented by
Colbert and made by his direction, was
iocksd upon his head, and for thirty
nine years he was known only as the
" man with the iron mask" At the sup |
posed age of sixty he died at st. Mar
guerite. There is no other plausible |
theory about the unknown man.