New-York tribune., 1882-04-23
A WINTER JOURNEY.
TX.
MONACO.

ranean and connected with the mainland ny mar
row neck, Is of the most curious niue huhouss
in Europe. With its Notifications, its cannon us
palace its guard, its pomp. its majestic department.
its long chronicle Of seges, state murders, dipio-
matte imbrogiOs and distinguished alliances u
bears itself as one of the Powers IN Europe; Out IL
has only two or three thousand inhabitants you
can explore the whole capital in an hour ana ira
verse the entire outlying territory of the princi-
palty in a forenoon walk; its independence Is Only
n fictitious sovereignty tolerated by the COM
paisance of its neighbors and its revenues are de-
rived exclusively from the rent of a gambling
house. The city never can have been any larger
than il is now. Its possessions on the mainland,
embracing at the present day about two square
miles were once rather more extensive, but when
the principality bigger it was probably less
populous and certainly less wealthy And yet
what figure it has contfived to make among the
States of Europe! For ages it has been no better
than a buresque; but history has been forced at
times TO take it quite seriously.
If antiquity alone were valid claim to respect
then Monaco might indeed be called respectable. Tor
it's story goes back to the of fable 1t s said 10
have been settled by the PhGnicans; even Her
culos is named as its founder Perhaps it is enough
to know that there is authentic record OF ITS exist
ence five centuries before Christ that It's ancient
Monpcus; that it is described by Lucan and Slllus
Italicus: and that it's position is laid down in the
geography of Ptolemy. Like all the other places
on this part of the LittOral, 1t was ravaged or
occupied by the Saracens IN the ninth ana tenth
centuries; and they left it so desolate that for
two hundred years after their overthrow 1t was en-
tirely abandoned. Then the Genoese landed on the
rock, built wall around it, and began a town. 1t
is from the great Genoese family Of Grlmadi. who
became lords Of Monaco at this remote time, that
the reigning prince traces his descent The dynasty
is not the most distinguished in Europe, but 1t does
not lack are. Mentone and RoccabIuna were added
to the seigniory by purchase, and-ailowance heihg
made for sundry vclssitudes into which the reader
will probably thank me for not cnterng-they con-
tinued to form part of the prncipaty Of Monaco
down to the year 1915. The lords of these three
tovus-none of the three much better than forti
fed hamlet-toob q noisy part in the quaricls of
the Guelfs and Ghibbellnes. They were soldiers OF
fortune also who fought with more or less disinc-
tion in various lands and in various armies. The
strength and position of their little rock fortress
gave them an importance ont OF proportion TO the
size of their dominions. am afraid that there Is
vague impression upon the minds OF great many
persons that the Grimaldis celebrated
family Of clowns. Perhaps the confusion OF ideas
will be promoted rather than otherwise when such
mistaken persons learn that the father OF the
nresent prince was at one time actor, and read
moreover of the ancient transactions OF the family
with an eminent foreigner named Bouccault, OF
whom n is related that he hated women and heard
two masses daily" The primitive G1lmaldls OF
Monaco. however were distinguished pirates. They
Numbered their neghbOrs, and lowed blackmall
upon travellers and am not sure that their pre-
sent way of living differs essentially from the ola
one Their manners and morals we're quite royal.
Prince Luciano assa5slnatcd his brother GIOVANNI
If and WAS assassinated in his turn by his nephew
Bartoomeo Prince Ercole dishonOrcd the wives
and daughters of his subjects, and they murdered
him in his bed, and threw his body into the sea-
Prince Luigi was the rival of Charles H. OF Eng
land for the favors of the Duchess OF Mazarln'
whom he followed to London; after nearly empty
ing his exchequer into her capacions pockets he
went homo aud promulgated Draconian laws
against adultery and loose verses.
Alternately under the protection. sO-called OF
France and of SpaIn and subject to the partial and
ill-defned suzeranty of Savoy besides, the princes
were never their own full masters In 1893 tho
three towns annexed themselves to the French Re
public: and Monaco. in the spirit of tomfoolery
which minglcs with the tragedy and the glory OF all
French revolutions burned its archives and voted
TO call itself thereafter the Port ot Hercules. The
treaty OF Vienna restored the prince to power and
later agreement transferred the protectoraie from
France 10 Sardinia Then followed long course OF
extraordinary and hideOus oppression. Under
Onorato Y. and Florestan the uncle and father Of
the present prince the taxes were OF almost IncTed-
ible severity. and the population nearly ruined.
After every imaginable source of profit from the
crushing of olives and baking Of bread down to the
collection of manure in the streets, had been appro-
priated as a monopoly by these absurd deSpots, the
neoplc of Mentone and ROccabruna rcbeleG. They
had perhaps heard tho story OF the prisoner who
lanruished for years in a dungeon until ore DAY an
idea struck him: he opened the door and walked
ont SO they held meeting and said that they
yyould be free towns. That was AL. The remedy
WAS so simple that we may well ask why nobody
had thought of 1t before. The prince had no means
of coercion except procamations, and when 1t once
occurred to the people that prOclamatons might be
disregarded the revolution" as they call this
quiet separation, accomplished Soon after
ward Montone and Rocrabruna asked to lie incor-
poratcd with tho kingdom of Sardinia, and the an
nexation was so nearly accomplished that Sar-
dinian officials were actually sent to them in answer
TO the invitation but the necessary law had passed
only one branch of the Sardinian Chambers, when
by The treaty Of Nllafranca Sardinia made over TO
Louis Napoleon not only Nice and savoy. when DC
l0nged to her. but MentOne and Roccabrnna. "hch
did rot. The towns weCo wholly Italian, Dom III
popuaton and in sympathies, and the transaction
seems to have been a great blow TO them. IL is
characteristic of the Napoeonic system of plcbs-
cites that the question submitted to their votes
in such way that they could only choose between
annexation to France and restoration to Monaco,
and they chose TO be French the lesser OF two
evils. France paid the prince 100000 francs on
his formally rclnqushing all claim to the separated
towns.
Monaco itself is perhaps content with its in
glorious destiny 1T lives" says French writer,
entirely upon The money OF the stranger. and 1t
l,ivns nothing in eXchnnge. BY an odd anomaly,