New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-01-01


the most shameful criminals, and mud w1il DO
thrown on my tomb. From this day forth am
parah. a leper. Stunned by all Nothing bue
money can support me in these circumstances,
and therefore / demand five hundred Thousand
francs, not as the price of treason put us u
means of escape from the country am saving.
The bargain was concluded. and after the capture
OF the Duchess, Deutz received five hundred hotes
Of thousand francs each THIS wre ld was ''''
From the beginning of the Empire NJ. de Wei
Castel has much to say concerning the shameless
robbery that went on in the Imperial household.
There is good ground for believing that the En-
peror became informed of the facts eventually,
but he never did anything to check it. and it is
the theory Of Caste that he was really quite in
different to it, or in fact to any question of morals
There was. however, n regular system OF enlarg-
ing accounts, unbapply not peculiar to France
or to any period. The unjust steward In the
Gospel is tolerably archaic case in point, and
the American public have sometimes heard OF
quite similar frauds, as pract!sed In connection
WITH che supply Of public institutions Az inc
French Court one-.hird extra wss habtually
taken By the high officials who shared the plum
der and NJ. de Viel Castel mentions but single
instance Of failure in the system, and that was
when o gentleman who had pair OF carriage
horses to sell refused to give receipt for larger
sum than he had been paid
Again and again Castel refers TO the corrupt
morals Of the times. Once he observes Bran
tome and Tallcmant DIES Rcaux have illuminated
no one. they have not exaggerated they have not
invented Their world like mine was depraved
because it is high society: because the life of the
family is unknown in it, and because In this world
one lives for coquctry and pleasure. Rome and
Athens had their corruption, upon rs large scale
as ours, and our children, proiiting by the ex-
pcriencc of their fathcrs, will carry deprivation
90 still further limits Certainly if French
literature reflects at all faithfully the existing
condition OF the country's morals, this pre-
diction is being fulfilled even now
An extraordinary story about Robespcrres re-
mains was told Castel by NJ. de Sanitation, an
old sans-culottc,' who had been the intimate
of Robespierrc and Marat during The Terror
Saint-Albin found the story in the original me-
moi,, of Barras which were in his possession and
which he intended some day to publish. The
story was to the effect that Barras. after the death
of Robespierrc assisted at the opening OF tho PIT
in which Louis XVI. was buried, and that nc
caused quantity Of quicllime 10 be thrown upon
the remains of the unfortunate King. Then as
an expiation singular eXpiation) he buried the
corpse of Robcspierrc in the same PIT so that
the victim and cxccutioner were together, as
he said.
mcnt the circumstance that when the bones OF
Iouis XVI. were collected to inter them in the
oxpiatorv monument of tho Rue d'Aniou, there
wore fonnd among them silver shoe-bucl<les and
cold Observation-Disclosures and that these buckles were
assurcdy Robespicrres. NJ Castel adds: lhis
is the truth but it is desired that nothing should
be said of the matter, and Robcsplcrre continues
to rcpose under the marbles of Louis the SlX-
tecnth's monument"
The following anccdotc shows how unscrup-
ulons in the pursuit of gain Louis Napoeon's mln-
listers were:
Much is said OF ministerial cmbarrasSmeIn's,
but I believe the retirement OF Salnt-Arnauu Is
true At the close of COMMUNICATING inc FIN
pcror. weeks ago SIGNED to him TO rcnl;.in'
and said TO him: Sant.arin,aud am not S,' 70
gamble on tho BoulSc and sustain heavy losses;
You have gamblcd and have lost large sums.
Sant-Arnaud excused himself, and replied that
his losses had been much exaggerated; Then he
added: Who has informed Your Majesty OF
these The r namSd roaa sae
hut Sire Fould, who dcnounccs mo. Is pear,
and ! am n bull The only difference between
us is that while have confidence in the ahI1ty OF
your Government to inspire security, ana lose on
that theory, your Minister Of State bets on panic
and winsr This IS how the Emperor is served
comments CaStc!
Here is n mild bit OF court scandal:
An order given in the name Of the Emperor
by NJ Foud after fixing the Imperial livery. dc-
crecs that the Grand Marshal of the Palace Is alone
authorized TO employ that livery. Inc pnpnc
have named this the Rachel order ana thls IS
the reason: The Prince Of Canino thought " Il
capital idea to send carriage ana -FOUR Wltn we
Jmpcrial livery to take the great tragedienne TO
Longchamps, and great part OF the iun was that
The public salutcd her AS though she had been the
Emprcss The Prince Of ar has ef% or f RncRe
she says: II is very disagreeable TO be mistaken
for the Emprcss'"
The rio iafin,e of the Empress seems to have
been at first anything but lively. NJ. Castcl had
the following account of it from the Princess
Mathildc
Nothing is more monotonous than the life of
Her Majesty. She hardly goes out at all; does no
woman's work. and reads very little Her court
is a queer mixture. The comic element Is sup
piled by the first Chamberlain. the Count de
Tascher. While the Princess was conyersing with
the Empress she heard the Chamberlain playing
the buiioon for the ladies in the ante-chamber.
He was asked to come and amuse the Princess
Mathidc ana at once appeared. Initiate the
turkey said the Empress to him. and vt once the
fool initiated turkey: he gobbed and s'ruttcd
and in fine. was more natural than life. I'M
itate the sun said the Empress. The Chamber
lain, by the most idiotic grimaces represented the
sun Initiate the moon. lie assumed a STUPID
air and said, while adding fresh ugiiness TO his
already homey features, Behold the moon
Wei Castc has some spteful and most unjust
remarks concerning Mrs Harriet Beecher Stowe,
which it is not worth while to translate. They
are the expression of profound Ignorance concern
ing the whole subject of slavery, ana they are
characterized by that rudencss and almost gross
ness which notwithstanding their professions of
chivalry, Frcnchmcn alone in the whole civilized
world permit themselves to employ toward women.
The following story is really too good to omit
1t might have furnished the germ for that mar
vellous tale of the career of a claim against the
United States told (Or invented by Mark Twain.
The hero of it is certain Baron Taylor, who had
got to be chosen president of the Free Society Of
Artists, and who wished to be regarded as Pro
tcctor of the Arts
" How came he by this title of Protector of the
Arts? BY publishing small book entitled
Picturesque Voyage in Ancient France This
voyage, begun in $780, was to be in twenty parts.
at | $50 francs the part, which would make the
entire work $50 francs The Minister subscribed
for seventy-fve copies, making sum total of
1880 francs. In 18i7 the Baron Taylor. who
was clever dodger and felt the necessity for
LinsnIf. Of lncrnasin. the number of uarts of bis