New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-01-24
7o771s NAPoLEoN's ESTATE.

nHS.' oo AN APPROPRIATION BY THE N''N"
PHI VIZ nv .n,rspospEsr OF THE rRBUShl
EVERY now and then some i"e ~
rAf''s' Jan .,ro,o. of something that mas n"p
mou' sor,,s Ms that if something else h's, n"p 90
pe"ou' the whole face of history wouia La
.,.arod The face of history IT, by ors"a'o
Do." hereditary law, Just what IL Is ous IN
80 he confessed does make di''oi'' Do
ms of its varableicountepa"1o Its
,1o fonaness for children probably oni, and
,i'a,,. illustrator. How Nero and oa'nn ,". the
A--;o-ro have been improved we III "nooL of
!nt ,irts and peachy bloom on 'no "a cory
soi' 49,. Henry VIII, formerly P''u n,;s;no
:. all admire. Not less pieas'is ,o,ance of
red' we "i - .ho ,o,y wbitewasbed counte'""0o
'oan Trn,.ro, presented to us by LIS i'"''''''
eourt painter NJ. Rouher. =, .o,bor and self
,ndn,oent husband was never dispu'c", I'D GOO.
...,s.r one is the astonishing new up'uin0' -,
49,. A his second coming into the fonoN 49, =:
=, ,s4s after the abortive attempts NJ o,'i"" g.,
,sac and 1910. he brought nothing put q 'aiso
100 Of debts: the Countess of Teba orouep' il'n
Dor marriage dover nothing but great graz - -.
h.opt,. and the closing of his french ousi"' -.
sedan was deemed lamentable 1aiiinc' N
standing all this it appears, OF mas pe0Nl ",a h;S
anrear. that he left some 5,VoO,VVo iian0o
-. and heir and this little fortune Is quite inue-
WIZ" :, tbn means that enable that poverty
s,;Lon lady and her poor little boy to I'VE ia con,
S,at,o distress in the tenement-house at Chiscl-
h,rst This news will be consong to the numerous
,ooro wealthy American Napoleonlsts piatouio'''y
auHor;rg hitherto on account OF the indulgence VI
these imperial outcasts
Enthusiastically certains. that the uo'eininoi,
contracted with NJ Rouher to transfer 70 HIS ipoi
lit on omount IN money and other values noaiiy
=. 900 oco francs as their lawful inherit
'f"'' A.. ..,oto Of the deceased Emperor, ana
hat in the eyes of MacMahon and his
,,;nis,ors this was so right and good deco that
g. dd NOT purpose TO let the Assembly least OF All
III or know what they were dong. The clrcum-
,o,cos of the purposed operation were brought OUT.
not N cav dragged ont, from the dimness III which
IL had been performing by an Interpolation from the
Ieft in whose hands are no riches nor honors lor
the family OF memory of the man who lett their
coutry with 100000 less population ana more thai
twice the debt it had when he took possession Oh IL
~ his family property. According to the terms Oh
the contract between NJ ROuher and the Government
uhot vyos owing 10 the State from Louis Napoleon
uas IN he deducted from the outlay from bis pri-
yate purse applied TO the furnishing OF different
immortal palaces; there would then remain bal
apc in favor Of the Civil List of 100000 francs,
which was to he paid to the Empress in ten annual
installments with interest at five per cent 80 much
for the cash. But, furthermore, other important
values were recognized as belonging to the En-
peror's private estate, and consequently to be the
property of the Empress The chief of these are the
collection of arms and armor sometimes set out In the
rooms the Chateau of Pierrefonds and the Chinese
Museum in the Palace Of FOntainebleau. The mer-
camille value of these two Qcaving out OF account
the Gallo Roman Museum at st. German, and "a
smaller matter of family portraits and souvenirs,
gifts of fellow -sovereigns when the Emperor was
sovereign amounts to three million francs, more
less.
Eihis agreement between Messrs Magne Desell-
fSny. and Baltic respectively Ministers of FL
names. Commerce, and Fine Arts, acting for France
the one part and NJ. Rouher in the name of the
Y&npress Eugene on the other part. concluded
ON the 18th of last October, and ratified by decree
of the President of the Republic, which was cOun-
tersigned by the same Ministers on the 18th of
November following Now that the quality of this
Arrangement is utterly out of the bag, the debate
turns most gravely and amusingly at once upon the
right property of the Military and Chinese
Museums The first is principally composed
of the late famous Sollykoh collection
of ancient arms and armor which Louis
Napoleon bought years ago, when such things were
cheaper and money was plenty with him, for 10000
francs A great bargain it has proved 10 be; with
some additions he afterward made, shrewd English
dealers have offered him for it 100000 francs.
The Chinese Museum i'll Fontainebleau prn-
cipally consists of the exceptionally curious and
magnificent bronze statues emquz ct0isonneS, ETC.
the religious and ornamental finishings of the tenn
pie and other apartments of the Emperor of Chinas
Summer palace II is the product of high burglary,
arson, and plunderng done by order and under
yigilant superintendent of Gen. Cousin Montauban
at Pekin, on the 18th October, 1920. The arson
burglary of images of sacred Buddha and holy aces
sory ornaments and utensils, were, need but say to
the Christian reader, proper act of European
eyangelizing retaliation for the msdeeds Of the
Chinese on French missionaries,
But the question is whether the Count de Palikao,
chief of a French military expedition expenses of
which were paid out of the national treasury that
is by the common mass of taxpayers, had himself
any private property in this magnificent booty
Or, assuming that he had and so in his gracious
gift OF it 10 the Empress making her its individual
possessor, whether her individual property in it did
not cease the moment the Empress set up this splen-
did plumber in an imperial paacef Her
ex-imperial husband was hardly well seated on
his throne when. by ordered Senatus consultam
of Dec. r. 1852, it was decreed and made law i'll
confirmation of earlier CUSTOM that the monuments
and objects of art that shall be placed III the imperial
houses whether at the expense of the state of the
Crown, shall be, and rest from that moment forth
the property of the Crown. This law was directed
against the last preceding dynasty-the Orleanist.
That it was anything more than definitely formal
legalizatiOn of secular custom, is not brought in
question by the contracting parties to the rather
questionable bargain, the terms Of which are given
above.
The claim TO the Chinese Museum is based on The
fact that It's admirable bronzes, its exceptionally
grand specimens of eDlur cI(iso0uSs ubiob -,