Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1890-03-07


diers. His brother, the duke, served in
the French ranks under an assumed
name and won high honor. The decree
of banishment was abrogated in 1871,
and soon afterward the Orleans estates
were restored to the family and the
count took up his residence in Paris. AT
this time he found rival to Legtimist
favor in the person of Count de Cham
bord, grandson of Charles X, the monarch
who was forced to abdicate the French
throne in 1880. Four years ago the
princes were again banished and the
count took up his residence at Tun-
bridge Wells, near London.
Soon after his return to France, in
1871, Count de Paris began the work of
compiling his history of the civil war in
America, labor for which his vast re-
sources, his leisure, his scholarly attain
ments and his personal experience quail
fed him. The work, now three-fourths
completed, is an impartial narrative re-
markably well wrought out as to detail
and abounding in frank military criti-
cisms. The book is accepted as ap au-
thority by American soldiers.
A couple Of years ago the chapter on
Gettysburg was reprinted in English in
a separate volume Probably the most
interesting portion of the work for the
general reader is the analysis of the
causes of the war and the comment upon
the state Of the country at the several
stages of the conflict His account of the
condition of the American nation at the
outbreak Of the war is candid and eX-
haustivc study Of the northern and south
ern people, their pecuIiariteso Of tempera-
ment, belief and institutions. His Euro
pean origin and education, together with
his almost boundless knowledge of all
civilized peoples, acquired in extensive
travels before coming to America, gave a
zest for his subject which he INDUCED to
the utmost, and he handles the Yankee
and the iire-eater, the aboli.ionist and
the slave owner, the statesman, the poll
tician, the backwoodsman and the
simple citizen alike rs some new
and wonderful specimen worthy Of a
special classification. He speaks openly
of the virtues and the faults of both
sides, and finds the conflict one that was
inevitable. Coming down to the out
break of hostilities he finds the two sec
tions, wholly unframed to arms, sud
denly thrown into the turmoil of civil
war, and Inc proceeds to trace the prog
ess of the divided nation under the new
conditions, the raising of armies, the
gathering of means, the preservation of
local peace and order, and finally the
grand detail and science of the battle
field. His nearness to Mcclellan during
the period when the Army of the Potomac
was formed and throughout its first cam
paign and his experience and observa-
tion behind the scenes at Washington
during The first winter of the war gave a
first hand knowledge of things that
sharpened both wit and pen, and he
wrote with the earnestness of an actor,
and yet from distance so remote that
the candor of an impartial witness is ap-
parent at all times.
The name of Count de Paris appears
among the honorary members of the
Society Of the Army of the Potomac,
and he was the choice of nearly all the
members of the committee on the Gettys-
burg reunion of 1888 for orator of the
occasion. Gen. Butler opposed it on the
ground that an American citizen should
speak at that time. During the troubles
of 1886, when the Orleans princes were
placed under republican ban for the sec
ond time, several veteran associations
passed resolutions of sympathy with the
count, referring to the bond of fraternity
between them on account of their COM
mon services in the Union army. Re
spending to these in the usual formal
way, an interchange of letters brought
to his attention the Grand Army of the
Republic, and he expressed desire to
join that order
On receipt of fuller data, however, he
found that the taking of the oath pledg-
ing allegiance to the United States was a
bar to his membership. President Lin
coin permitted the princes TO serve in
the army without taking the oath. In
meeting the questions of the times since
he reached manhood the head of the
House of Orleans has shown marked |
liberal tendencies.
During the cotton famine which ragged |
in the mill districts of England in con-
sequence Of the blockade of southern