The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1897-08-18

SO far he had excited little public atten-
Qon. But public attention what he was
AFTER; Ihat was what he had gone TO At
rlca LOT. de wanted to make the French
| people talk about him. He must
thlnK OF something new to advertise him
While in this mood the prince. who. far
from home, must be his own press agent,
nj upon the unlucky plan of abusing the
ilalans who had been defeated by Meme
lex men. He acted upon the idea at once.
ana sent to the gentlemen whom the Ber-
IN daily calls his organizers and pro-
4oteTS scorchlng oenunciauon of the
itallah troops, who, tar from heir homes
had proved themselves miserable and dis
graceful lot. He spoke of the erivate SOL
diers as if they were lramps. They stole
ne said, and they begged. He had heard
Italian officers propose tOasts to No nelek' 5
health, and had seen them fire salutes to
Menelek on the anniversary of 1ta.y's de-
| 1eat from the Italian guns captured by the
Abyssianans on the battlefield.
This letter overshot the mark. 1t adver
used Prince Henri more than any man in
| Europe has been advertised since Boulanger
shook the foundations of the republic. The
Italians are not calm or tacitum people,
ana 1t is well within the truth to say that
! they nave seldom oVerleaped the bounds of
Nocterous unanimity as since Prince Hen
rs little press-agent scheme took on the
FORM of cold type. Not newspaper in the
peninsula has failed to hurl broadside after
broadside at the author Hardly an officer
OF a higher rank than lieutenant has
omitted to pile epithetS on the young man,
both il print and out That the type did
not melt and the paper burn is attribute
bic only to the fact that, as the Viennese
say, type and paper endure all things
General Albertone, the ranking officer of
the Italians taken prisoners by Menelek,
proclaimed at once in an open letter that
II Henri OF Orleans really had written these
Things Henri or Orleans was neither no
bleman nor a decent human being While
the officers and editors of all Italy were
raging, those officers who had returned
from military Imprisonment in Abyssinia
met cast lots and thus selected Lieuten-
ant PM to call out the prince AT the
same time AIbertone came forward with
demand for duel and numerous other men
high In the army were proclaiming their
eagernesS to draw Prince Henris blood.
Prince Henri's newspaper hackers in. Paris
became alarmed, and began to apologize
for their protege He might have got his
information at second hand. said the Figa-
70; perhaps he wrote in good faith, rut only
must be eXtenuating circumstances. The
Italian officers were too hasty. a duel
would be too deplorable. 1t was all of no
use. The fat was in the fire
Prince Henri appeared in Alexandra in
the midst Of the Italian national sTasm,
severated his willingness to meet the whole
Italian army, man and man, on the field
of honor, excluding, of course, those VINO
were not of royal blood or high TuNltary
rank. He would defend the honor of France;
he would make good the word OF French
prince; he had not said too much in con-
demnatiOn of the italian officers, but too
little.
SO this remarkable young 'Dan went to the
field of honor, still acting his fatnlt11 r part
he was hoist with his own advertisement
a warning to any future prince who might
wish to play the adVenturer with end-of-
the-century improvements.