Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1873-01-18
DYING IN EXILE.
A Story OF Five French Crowned
Heads.

gone out with the snow Of January, il
will set people thinking about those
best laid plans of mice and men
which gang aft a-gley." Royalty in
France, since DeLauny surrendered the
bastile TO the mob, has been very unfor.
tunate. Indeed, since that day French
kings and emperors have done well to
provide places of refuge for themselves
on foreign shores, where they might die
in peace in case OF accident to the ma.
chine of government.
The fate of Louis XVI. furnished
them with proper incentive to this
course for kings as we'll as commoners
can sacrifice good deal to be spared
personal acquaintance with the guillo-
tine Louis XVI. indeed once tried to
escape from France in disguise. He
made one nights journey from Paris in
coach, but was recognized and ar
rested at Varennes He wanted to die
in exile; but they brought him back a
prisoner, to die q year and a half later
on the scafold. The people gazed at
the captive king in silence, which
must have been very difficult for
Frenchmen. But there was rea-
son. Placards were posted everywhere
with the laconic inscription: Whoever
applauds the king shall be whipped; /;
whoever insults the king shall be hang
ed" The obliterating wave of the rev.
olution soon flung one man on the rocks
of power who had the ability to stay
there until the storm subsidized, and who
then ruled the new France after the de-
luge with the cold iron OF his will and
the glittering steel ofhis military genius.
The citizen consul became the citizen
emperor, and Napoleon Bonaparte,
adored by the French and hated and
feared by all else, was the arbiter of
Europe. Then came the decadence.
France could not fight all Europe for
ever. Knocked out Of time in 1914,
Napoleon was sent in exile to Elba
Again he rose to try conclusions. Wa
terloo was where the last terrific
round was fought, and the sound Of the
great gladietor's fall awoke an echo
which reverberated as far as the
rock of st. Helena. There it died
ont, and Napoleon |, died an exile along
with 1t. This is No. !. Here we may
look back to the line direct. The son Of
Louis XVI, like his father, would not be
permitted to die in exile, so the poor
Dsuphin the phantom Louis XVII,
disappears from prison or dies there in
l795-blotted out anyhow. The SON of
the Corsican, the young sickly king Of
Rome, is taken to Vienna after Water
loo, Is made phantom duke, and pines
and dies in exile in the gloom of Sehon-
brunn. This is Ne. 2. Louis XVIII,
who came into France when Napoleon
went to Elba, in 1874 ran into exile
again fer enc hundred days, when Ma
poleop returned in 1914, and She way
ward fates, on account Of this thorough
spare, perhaps, allowed him to die in
France in 1924. He was the only French
monarch of the century who got the
chance, and he availed himself Of it.
Charles X, who spoeeeded his brother,
was sent kiting after the glorious days
of July" In 1880. He went TO Holyrood,
in Scotland then to the castle of
Hradchin, in Prague, and then to
Goritz, far away in lllyria, where he
died in peace and piety in 1886. This
is No. 3. All this while "pear-headed"
Lonis philippe, ths eltIEsH sing, was
working his way along TO lS4e IN the odd
manner which has made him in his
zenith and hls eclipse always seem a
comical figure. The year lS4S was a
shaking.up time all over Europe, and
when the barricade5 were shaken up in
Paris he found that his crown was
shaken off his head. Glad that his head
did not follow the crown, he fed, and
another Of the "annointed' was added
to the list Of Gallo soverelgns whose
ligh. YES anBaed sat IN eEite. This is
No. 4. lie died quietly at Claremont in
England, in 1850, about twenty miles
from Chiselhurst, where Napoleon III.
died in pain and exile, yesterday morn
ing. This is No. 8. The two men who
Nsrs their kingly or imperial crowns for
shout eighieen 'Yeags EACH, had meny
experiences in common, early hard
ships, later luck and fnal disaster.
we we can, therefore, count up Eve mon
arohical wrecks from France alone in
the nineteenth eeniury-three Napo-
Icons, one Bourbon aRd one 0rieenlst
| Who shall be the neXt3 poVeFnMent ~
the people is denounced BY monarchists
and imperialists alike as unsafe govern
ment BY the anointed seems, however, Il
may be for the people, rather unsafe tor
the kings. Carlyle celebrates the First
Nspoleon's whit Of graposhot;" Huge
tells rs OF the Third EaPoleons coup
detst. Were Waterloo and Sedan, St
Helena and Chiselhurst merely results
Of these two events2
We can only point 10 the succession
Of events and leave the question 10
| Providence. We can be sure, however.
that the sard0nio spirit Of history is just
nov counting on one hand the names Of
the Eve French crowned heads that
ended their uneasiness in exile.