The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-02-18
MONACO'S TINY STATE.
An Earthly Paradise On the Blue
MediteTTaRean'S Shore.
Its Rulers Court, Army, and Pag-
esntry Like That of a FuIl-hedged
Monarch-Charms of Scenery and
Human Interest.
From the New York Sun.

Monarch-Charms of Scenery and
Human Interest.
From the New York Sun.
Monaco, Jan. 1.-THE Arctic week at
the beginning of January, following on a
month Of December of such surprising
mildness that flowers and leaves made an
| uutimely and unprecedented appearance,
| drove hundreds of Londoners to the
south. Travellers experienced all the
discomforts they fled from in delayed
trains, snow drifts, cutting winds, and
! icy storms only to learn on their arrival
on the shores of the Mediterranean that
the cold weather had vanished in England
| as abruptly as it came and the sun was
! shining there with almost as much
brilliancy and warmth as on the Riviera.
However, those well-inspired visaors
who selected Monaco instead of Nice,
Hyeres or Cannes have had no cause to re-
pent their determination, the small prin-
cipality more than holding its own against
| the more popular and hackneyed attrac-
lions of the French seaboard localities.
There is singular charm in finding one
self in sovereign dominion that might
| De held entirely in the circumference of q
kodak, and to know that the ruler hold
ing sway over it is, with the emperor of
| all the RusSias. the only monarch indie
| pendent of the control Of his people. Yet,
| in spite of this strange condition of af-
| fairs, which, in ordinary cases, would
| have doomed any other country to ruin
and extinction, Monaco fourlshes and
| prospers, because Monaco has the raison
d'etre of icing the favored realm of poetry,
romance and imagination; ithas exempted
| itself from the yoke of realism that
weighs so heavily on all its neigh bors,
and constitutes by that fact alone a
unique earthly paradise for the dreamer.
The tiny feCdal state lives because in
the midst Of parliamentary governments
| there was room for one small inyiolate
| spot, in which the forms of the past
| could endure; an oasis into which practi-
| cal civilization had not brought its atten-
| dent claims of war, taxes and civil debts;
where its independent prince, exercising
nominal power and pretending to no
| outward influence, yet maintains a court
and surrounds himself with dignitaries
| and officials so as to keep up the illusion
of his prestige and the etiquette of mon
| archy All his functionaries live
| consclentlously up to appearances; they
| know how DerfunctorY are their duties
how the government has nothing to
| govern; but their netting is irreproacha-
| bic, state is nothing without an army
| 81 I1OudCO mas us soldiers, clothed IN hne
| red and blue uniforms and commanded by
! a colonel and his staff; they are enlisted
| for their good looks and elegant carriage;
| even the policemen are called arabineers
| which enhances their value and makes
| them more picturesque. All these mill
! tary personages walk and parade about,
adding one more touch to the autonomyof
| their country
But beyond and above these material
| 0AtDllS which vii
lance. Monaco possesses what alone
| would make 1t matchless soTereignty
| Nature and climate combine to endow it
with unique prerogatiyes From the
| broad terrace of the casino the deep blue
! of the sea stretches lazy and undulating
to the furthest horizon where it meets
| the pale silvery azure of the sky which
| gradually deepens to a rich intensity of
| color as it domes itself above the land,
/ and against the brilliant background the
| gray crest of the mountains is profiled
! with marvellous clearness. The air is
80 light and transparent that every de-
! tail of the sea and landscape stands out
sharply. The many indentations of the
| coast line are fringed with the DAZZLING
! foam of the long, INDECENT waves tapping
! the sand; towns, villages and villas.
white under the sunshine, do the shore
| and hillside, luminous between the groves
| OF olive yew and lick; above rise the
| ruins OF the Roman tower of Turbia in
| luXtapostion with the modern, but mob
! ungraceful, new station to Monte Carlo:
! further on still, the eye can see Ro ga
| bruna clinging to the steep rocks; Cane
| Martin, where the Empress Eugene has
| built her villa, and in the remote trans
! lucent haze Bordighera rising from the
! blue water.
The little priucipality nestles in this
| frame OF magnificent scenery shaped like
| the letter "C;" the town stands on one
! of the forks, facing Monte Carlo on the
other, while the sea fills the cavity and is
! at once gulf and harbor. The opening is
I not more than / 900 yards at its broadest,
| and the depth inland does not exceed
| some 200 more. Land being so scarce
| the houses are closely built and very tall,
| but picturesque and adorned with grace
| full balconies and verandas; they are
raised on terraces so constructed THAI
from the bay they look like painted
| scenery and yet afford to each house an
| excellent view. Nothing could be more
| artificial and nothing prettier; even the
| trains winding along seem to carry toy
/ carriages to Monte Carlo, which, although
standing on a rocky plateau like Monaco,
| differs from it so essentially.
! The rock of Monaco is a feudal anachro-
nism carefully preserved; it is reached
| by winding sunken roads between castel-
lated walls; the gates and pesterns date
| from the sixteenth century, and it is for
| titled by crenelated battlements. In the
! centre of the PLATEAU stands the palace Of
the ruler, fanked by four square towers,
unadorned, save by the upper decoration
! of crossed palm leaves in the Byzantine
style. The town proper is Old, with mar
row tortuous streets, enlivened by the
half-raised, striped awnings of the win
dows. These thoroughfares rarely re-
sound to the echo of passing footsteps, for
although the palace Is, as it were
the heart Of the principality, it Of
fers no attraction to the visitors who
much prefer to its melancholy grace the
| hustle of the gay Casino. They smile con-
temptuously at the symetrically heaped
balls before the bronze cannons inscribed
with the famous motto, ''Ultima ratio
regm.n The spirit of the past fingers
within that narrow enclosure Of a few
square yards and its traditions are piously
preserved by the reigning prince, who
will not allow a modern hotel to be
erected on those hallowed precincts. That
he does so is touching and priseworty,
for he is both enlightened and broad
minded; he has made for himself a name
in science, exploration, and travel, and
f0stered modern improvements wherever
they did not interfere with the relics and
traditions of his race.
If Monaco is remnant of the past,
Monte Carlo is as emphatically the en-
-