New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1892-01-14
ROUGET DE LISLE.
A STATUE TO THE AUTHOR OF THE MAN
SEIILES HYMN.

bands and the meanest eleVdtSu ihto Ho" "O'''
The latest victim of the commentator i"aHi'
g. the author of the Marselles Hymn Inc poor
follows Wondering dust is TO be dug up again.
for the fourth or fortieti time, and relh'erreu'
amid resounding oratory and such bewlldcfihg
din nj vocal and instrumental rendcrings OF MS
immortal lyric as might well of themselves hacN
10 its mansion call the ieeting breath ms Is
20 occur on April 25 next which Will De- they say
the one-hundredth anniversary OF the Marseilics
HYMN. Probably il is. At any rate IL Is hoo
The centenary of either the birth or dcath vi
RouQct dc l'Ise. The place. of course is 10 oe
Choisy lie .Roi where the erpoets remains were
buried and where. with all their RESTRICTIONS ana
reinhumations, they remain
With what emotions the spirit OF Koueet de
rIsle will watch these proceedings is matter
of curiously interesting speculation. III VIII
probably not he with dsapproval, for he was, at
all events n good patriot. But if it shall not he
with sunrise and wondermcnt, that must be be-
cause his capacity for such feelings has been eX-
baustcd by the hundred years history of his poem
The very beginning of that history, indeed was
n great surprise How did he come TO write the
poem? He was an officer in the Army OF the
Rhine In April. 1892, Prussia and Austria de-
cIarcd war against France, and their armies adj
vanccd TO invade Alsace. Rouget dc lIsle and
his regiment were at Strasburg 10 repcl them
NY brother officers he once related, know
ing me to make some prctcnsions TO the poetlc
and musical faculties asked me to write song
This was the day after the declaration of war was
known. promised to have II ready for them
the next day. To compose it, therefore, had to
sit up all night. my only musical instrument CON
sisting of an old fiddle. / retired to my bedroom
at the same hour as my comrades, and the next
morning Joined them at breakfast playing my air
and singing my song. Everybody was delighted
with it, and in a few minutes il was III the
mouth of the whole army. The Marseillais were
Just then marching on Paris; they sang II on their
way and on reaching the capital, it spread like
lightning among the people
1t was the fact that the Marseillais so promptly
took il up their march 10 Paris, and first sang
ii in that city, that gave the song its name.
Now. from this recital several interesting facts
are evident For one thing, il was not intended
as a revolutionary song. lis author and his com
rades were loyal to the King Nor was it
Republican song 1t merely a patriotic APP
peal to France to rally against the invaders
When the song became the slogan of the Revolt
ton, he was much surprised even indignant, for
he did not at first take kindly to the overthrow
Of the monarchy Afterward, indeed very sooi'
he accepted the change ana became good Re-
publican. But the striking fact remains that
this song which for a century has been The
voice of advanced democracy, and has been for
hidden by tvrants on that account. was written
by loyal subject of a king in support of that
king and the mOnarchcal regime
The remainder of Rouge, lie llsles history is not
inconsistent with this view. lie was essentially
a Frenchman and patriot Whatever form OF
government Prevailed in France, he supported it
LOYALTY. The Marsccs Hymn was written under
Lonis WI. hut when it was adopted by the
Revolution that dcthroncA and bchcaded him its
author acquesced Three years later the Re
publican leaders babe him write Hymn 10
Liberty" and he did So When Napoleon bccame
tie head Of the State he wrote song for him.
tie Chant du Combat" When the Emperor
fell and the Bourhors returned he wrote for Louis
NVII the Chant lieroi1ue." And when the
Orcansts came in he sang for them also. His
military career was not prolonged and he spent
most of his life in retirement, supported modcsty
by the earnings Of his pen. On one occasion hc
published a collection Of his poems. in which a
half-apologe'c note was prefiXed TO the Marsela'sc
Hymn This did not please the public, and they
would not buy the book He therefore lost heav-
lily on it, and being unable TO pay his printer,
was actually imprisoned. Imagine the author
of the Narsciaise Hymn in Jail for debt! lie
might have languished there for a long time had
not RcranQer come 70 his relief. In 1886 he died
at Choisy -e- Roi, and was buried in the garden
Of his old friend General Bein. Twelve years
later when another revolution made France
republic again. great celebration was held in
his honor, as the poet of liberty His body
was taken up and rcburied in the cemetery at
Choisy. Five years after that his grave was
disturbed again. and his bones were placed in
Met specially purchased by the local authorities
for the purpose.
There has now been erected at Choisy monu-
mental statue of him. and the present proposal
is TO place his dust beneath it. The day will be
Observed throughout the Republic as a patriotic
festival. At Choisy-le -Roi imposing ceremonies
will be held, with the President Of the Republic
and his Ministers in attendance. 1t Will be- OF
course. a Republican celebration, in honor, not Of
Rouget dc l'Isle as the soldier of Louis XVI, but
of Rouget de rIse as the author of the great
Republican song.
Scarcely any national or patriotic hymn in the
world is so well and widely known this, UNI
less possibly the old German song which John
Bull has conveyed for himself as God Save the
Queen and Brother Jonathan has in turn ap-
propriatcd as America 1t is not however. IN
the form in which it written; that is, the
words are not. There have been numerous
changes Most notable of them was the addition
Of an entire stanza, the one beginning: Nous
enterons dams la carricre7 The history of this
s.anza has been told follows: One night in the
winter Of 1892 there an extraordinary per
fsrmance at the opera. The house crammed
the boxes being filled by the members Of the Con
vention AS was the custom, the audience de-
manded the "Marseillaise" The company pro-
cceded 10 sing it amid rapturous applause and the
then last verse being finished, the audience was
about TO encore it. when suddenly the new stanza
nv Of children. n
thusiasm it aroused ndescribabe, and every
body called for the name Of the author mem
her of the Convention arose and announced that
the author was the Able Antoine PessonneauX.
professor at the College of Vicnne
il ctnnza by. the NOT LONG aftcr Marl