The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1877-07-08
THE RULER OF FRANCE.
The Palace of the President-Duke- His
Duchess and His Life.
From the London World ]

iNfoID tlG IoHdon WOrlu.I
., The III marshal marshal looks like an English rathe,
Is not French but Irish, and distinctly recalls
the origin of his family. The MacMahons
were Irish Catholics Of good descent, who fol-
lowed the fortunes Of the Stuarts, and settled
ana became landed proprietors where Che
marshal was born, yiz: at sully (Saone ct
Loire)some sixty-eight years ago The Mac
Mahons took kindly to the Bourbons. and the
marshals father became peer OF France
under Charles K, and his majesty's personal
friend. The marshal, moreover, married into
noble family of Legitimists. His youth was
passed under. lily leaves. He was O st. Cyrien
while the elder Bourbons were at the Tuiler-
les, and when he entered the army he went
away for years OF rough campaigning to that
Algeriai so that he was fighting in Africa
while the Junior Bourbon was holding his
b0ugeois court ut the Tuieries. A Captain OF
Chasseurs at the assault Of Constanfine, he
had carved his way.in Algeria always-to
the revolution of 1913 broke out. Then he
rose rapidly, keeping the while apart from
politics. General of Division in 1862, Grand
Officer OF the Legion in 1853, in command of q
division OF infantry under Bosquet in the
and Senator, for his part in the assault of
lMalakoff; then again fighting in Kaby-
lia In 1857, and Commander-in-C Chief Of
the forces in Algeria-MacMahon's SER
vloe' ahu IeWaidS were many. The
crowning glory Of his military career was
won in command of the second corps darmee
OF the Alps in 1869, ON the field of Magenta.
when the Emperor created him Duke OF Ma
genta and Marshal of France. The Marshal
was deputed to represent his sovereign. which
he did with extraordinary poInp, at the coro ,
nation OF William ILL., of Prussia, In 1861 /; and
in 1864 he was Governor General of Algeria
appointed to carry out the reforms on which
the Emperor was bent. And lastly he led the
n FprgJXy fpfr FI,,l b. Efx.l.
wounded in time to rid him OF the RESPONSE
bility OF surrender. This wound, it has been
often said was not the least Of Marshal de
MacMahon's strokes Of luck
But the time has not yet come for Judgment
ON De MacMahon's part in the Franco-G Ter
man war; and he is fortunate in this, that his
countrymen bear him no grudge for it, calling
him the modern Bayard and the shonesi
soldier while they cover his comrades Of
the fatal campaign with mud His aristocra-
TIC and monarch1cal Sympathies have whetted
the edge of the weapons which the Left has
used upon him; but the rage against him that
SINNERS through the cheap republican papers
is provoked by the disdain with which he
holds himself in his soldiers cloak, keeps his
hand near his sword and stands sentinel over
the destinies of France, immovabte to the
last day Of his septenante. 1t is true that the
atmosphere OF the Elysee Is strangely unlike
that of republican presidency. 7@The SOW
sr,elgn ,g 70 people az are ~ not OF the parties there
the noble. pdrttcatte. Equerries, aides-de-
camp and secretaries are counts and mar
qulses. The D'Harcourts and DAbsacs are
not tes premters Uenus. The noble faubourg
and the Orleans st. Honore Faubourg are the
welcome quarters OF Paris to the hosts of the
old palace Of the Bourbons and Bonapartes
The whisperings in the gilded salons are not
OF the kind NJ Gambetta or NJ. Louis Blanc
would love to hear. Yet this Elysee-once
the Elysee bourbon and the home of the
ha4
present guests would call the Cdnaiue within
It's walls.
The first revolution turned it into a casino
for the sovereign people, and they danced the
Carmagnole, where, the minuet had been
walked, and ate gibetottes in the royal bou-
doirs Then it passed through the hands Of
Murat into those of Napoleon, and here he
signed his abdication, and here afterwards his
nephew drew up, upon the same superb
mosaic table now in the famous silver bou-
the comp-detn. 1t was to have been the resi-
dence Of the Empress Eugenie afterthe death
of her lord; but fate wiled it otherwise,
giving 1t first to CAESARS arch-enemy of the
Place Saint Georges, and then to the soldier
ne dubbed Marshal and Duke on the field OF
Magenta.
The palace of the presidency bears upon its
walls marks OF it's masters. The styles Of
furniture are various, but those Of the two
empires predomlnate, and the Ms and the
e'f5 AVo ni oc'Dl Whoic NC Se25gioutS 10 spa
;ious and superbly decorated. TO the left are
the waiting-rooms Of the aides-de-camp and
visitors and the two great dining halls. The
decorations are mostly Of the first empire. |
Two immense mural paintings by Charles
vernet record two military achievements Of
Murat. A reduction OF the Vendome column
IS striking object between the windows OF
he lesser room. The principal dining hall
was built by Napoleon LII on the ground
where the Duchess Of Berry's orangery
stood, and it is now furnished with chairs and
sofas from Saint Cloud: When the Marshal
lines the diplomatic circle here his
guests find material enough for conversation
n their surroundings II not a grand, the
Elysee Is a gorgeous palace The aaLon
i honneav, which looks npon the garden, is
ornamentation, it's wealth. Of mirrors mir 1 and it's it's
hundreds OF lights, But it is interesting
chiefly because it leads to the historic cor
ncra Of the nnIrnn Pevond ia tho Frn -,o-.or'c