Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1878-10-01

la Republlque!" "Vive Lafayette! y
"Vive Louis Phillippe!" The last cry
won the day, and Louis Philippe, Duk'
of Orleans, went forth from the Palai
Royal q citizen King. Eighteen year!
Afterwards, the mob came back to hi!
house to turn it out of windows
Again, after an interval of twenty-five
years, a long time in France, in the Sep
tember of 1870, the multitude were in q
patriotically honest .Eood, and forebore
to plunder. The Paiais Royal had, how
ever, enjoyed full score years of splen-
dor. Even before the establishment
of the Empire it had been the residence
Of old Jerome Bonaparte, ex-King OF
Westphalia, the "petit poisson" of Ma
poleOn L., the cOnsort en- 2orenaieres nOces
of the ill used Miss Patterson of Balti-
more, ian estimable lady.) and whom
his Imperial nephew, not knowing very
well what to do made at last Governor
of the Invalides. The old gentleman
was Waterloo man and had not be-
haved badly in that fight. By the Pa
risians be was generally, in virtue of an
atrociously twisted conundram, called
I"PQnple Tpm,s since, 1t was argued,
Napoleon I. being 'le Grand Homme,, y
and Napoleon III. ''le Petit Homme, !"
old Jerome must necessarily stand in
the relation of "Uncle Tom," or
"t'homms" to the latter. His son, Ma
poleon Jerome, kept high state at the
Palais Royal, gave good dinners and
bad cigars, and Matched vain intrigues
there against his cousin and benefactor,
until the Empire tumbled to pieces like
. pack of cards-cards marked by gam
blers who had lost their cunning and
could no longer "sauterl le COUP" Very
dreary must be the saloons of the Palais
Royal Palace now. Very dark and dis
NAL must be the empty stables and
coach-houses in the court yard adjoin-
ing the Galerie d'Orleans, THAT famous
Gdlerie, that elegant promenade.) Alas
No longer does Royalty in gilded coaches
with gaily caparisOned steeds, rattle out
of the cour d. hOnneur of the brave old
Pa!ace-no turning out of guard, no
rolling OF drums, no cleaning of pre-
sented arms for any representative of
Imperialism at the Palais Roy al in these
latter days. This ex-Royal. ex-Impe-
rial habitation looks almost deserted
now, save by Band that dizcourses
good musi:. The ghost of the Napole
onic era is very woe-begone one, and
Bonapartism, for the moment, seems to
exercise less influence over the minds
of the multitude than ever we can re-
member 1t to have done. Still it must
be admitted that the second Empire,
while it lasted, did things very hand
somely indeed. The pieces in it's reper-
torres were gotten up regardless of ex-
penses, and its f30urboires were unstint.
ed. With many other faults Louis Ma
poleOn was not miserly. Disestablished
politically, ostracised by the fashionable
world, the Palais Royal might ostensi-
bly, run the risk of sinking to the level
of a tenth rate neighborhood. It is not
only the great eating house and coffee
house keepers who have quilted it for
the boulevards. To great extent it has
suffered abandonment at the hands of the
cheap tailors, who have discovered that
a "coin de rue" or corner of po, ulous
street is necessity in carrying on the
business OF slop-shop palace on large
scale. We apprehend that the enter
prising proprietors of 'DEs MAGAsINs
and employees, would not have near so
thrifty trade if located in the vicinity
of our forsaken Pslace. So that now AU
Bon MARCHE even congratulates itself
upon being on the opposite bank of the
Seine.
The names of poor old Palais Royal is
disconsolate enough in its social death.
A dead lion, very defunct Achilles, all
comfortless, without even the selfish and
depraved aspirations of being living
dog, removed and beyond the reach Of
all consolation, with no Ulysses suffi-
GENTLY astute and willy to cheer the un
timely fate of noble heroism.
All the brave deeds of noble life
may sound grandly enough after death
but if fame be an empty name, wherein
do they profit the dead hero? 'Tis the
memory of departed greatness that lives
with all time, with glorious influences
and examples to be followed by each
and every generation. So that the hero
dies not IN cain, and posterity fOrgets
or supplant the living fame of his i'm
perishable acts.
The present condition of the Palais
Royal does not, suppose, concern the
Vile de Paris. Its maintenance may
be the business of the State, or of the
mysterious proprietors of in,meubles,
who bought for a trifling price the Ma
tional Domains during the first Revolu-
ton, and who seem to have been living
very comfortably ever since on the in
terest accruing from their lucky invest
ments. l am quite ignorant as to wheth-
er the Orleans family continue to hold
any portion of the house property in
the Palais Royal, which was originally
intended to form one continuous pala-
tial residence, but the arcades of which
were speedily let out as shops, restau-
rants, and gambling houses by Duke
whose finances had become embarrassed
through his peachant for building.-
Paris is to me permanent and most
wondrous problem generally. Some
years ago we spent several weeks in
studying it, as we then thought very
closely Recently we renewed, and to
some extent continued, the same line of
thought. The problem is still unsolved.
AS part and parcel of this great enig-
ma, we do not know anything within
its walls more perplexing and more
wonderful than the thousands of we'll
dressed people, who sit all day, and
during great portion of the night, in
and outside the boulevard cafes, smok-
ing. drinking, playing at cards and
domlnoes, and otherwise enjoying them
selves. They play piquet and drink
''grOg Americains"-Weak rum and
water, hot. with sugar and lemon-at
eleven of the forenoon in August; they
are playing dominoes and drinking
'vie ordinare" at six o'clock, P. M; they
are imbibing coffee and cognac st eight,
after dinner; they are consuming ices
and sorbets at ten; they are slipping
more American grogs at midnight; and
yet, to all seeming, they have not
turned hair" as the saying is, in the
way OF inebriety. They are all as sober
asjudges, and apparently equally willing
for France to be either an Empire OF
Republic; and yet, withal, during such
q compromising mood they have been
laughing and shaking in Rabelais' easy
chair for the last thirteen hours. Who
are they? Whence do they Gomez
Where. are they going? Where do
they live? They cannot be all shop.
Keepers who have left their wives to
manage the shop, since they frequently
bring both the male and female branch
es of their families to the cafes with
them. They bring grannams of eighty
who drink hot rum punch. They bring
little brats of seven, who drink '.bocks'1
and ask for the ''Vie Parisienne.n Vogut
la galere! But where is the galley, ant
who tugs at the laboring oar? Where
are the workers? We see only the