Washington sentinel., 1898-05-07

modern improvements. and are respon-
sibIe II she has gone beyond them IN her
| efforts. now that her ambition is fully
rouscd' The nation which first secures
the hearty CO. operation OF Japan in As.
Eastern policy will be ia a position TO
set at naughi all the efforts Of other
European Powers to attain an ascend.
ency there.
What WAS THE FATE OF LOUIS XVIP
Morning 4AdVeyhssy-LOndo,.
OF all curious historical mysteries
perhaps the fate OF the unfortunate
French King, Louis XVII, who never
reigned, is the most remarkable, and
public attention in Paris has once more
been directed to the enigma OF his fate.
The received account used to be, that
this i'll fated son OF Louis XVI. died
prisoner in the Temple at PARIS, at the
age OF ten years, during the first French
Republic. In support of this statement
is cited the testimony Of the doctor who
was employed to make post mortem
examination of the body. Il is true that
the doctor did not know Louis XVII.
personally, but he could hardly have
made mistake between the corpse of
boy OF ten and that of a youth of four
teen-for it has been pretended that a
lad OF that age was substituted for Louis
XVII. in prison, so that the phantom
Il nf a
II may be added that the boy Kings
sister, the Duchesse d'Angouleme, who
was with him during his last hours,
firmly believed that it was her brother
whose death in prison she Witnessed,
When the medical examin alton was
over, the lads heart was carried of by
the doctor in one OF his pockets and
preserved in bottle OF spirit, which he
preserved for twelve years in his library.
AT the end of that time the royal heart
had become completely cured" so
that the doctor was able 10 remove it
from the bottle and put il in a drawer OF
his writing table as a curious relic, the
secret of which one other man alone
knew. There il remained during the
whole OF the revolutionary period and
the wars Of Napoleon l., until the resto.
ration of the Bourbons in 1874. The
doctor then offered to Louis XVIII the
picked heart of Louis XVII and an
inquiry was instituted into the circum.
stances Of its preservation. The Ouch
esse d'Angouleme was consulted, but as
matters continued to drag on, the royal
heart was at last confded to the custody
of the Archbishop of Paris, who put it
into crystal vase, bearing the name Of
the dead King.
For some reason or other the Bour-
bOns were unwilling to purchase the
relic, and when the revolution Of 1890
broke out. and the mob pilaged the
Archiepiscopal Palace, the crystal vase
was smashed to pieces. and the royal
heart found among the Gs6riS The
doctors son-for the doctor was then
dead--recovered the relic, which re-
mained an heirloom in his possession
till his death in 1879. 1t then passed to
cousin, and was next in the possession
OF M. Edouard Dumont, who preserved
- A~AANAcN3Ag AAA hAo NAAa hNdA dAAos ~
resembles a piece Of dried reddish
material, and has once more been
placed in a CRY stal vase, which bears the
letters Louis XVII" and a feNy de lis.
M. Dumont, thinking it ought to belong
to royal parsonage related to the
BouTbons, handed it over last year to
Don Carlos. Such is the curious history
Of this royal heart. and no human rellc
has ever had more remarkable one.
NJ SardOu, however, the eminent dra.
matist. has, in his new play, Pamela, -
adopted the other theory that Louis
XVII did escape from has prison IN the
Temple, and there was some years ago
rumor that he had grown up and had
a son, who was the rightful King of
France The fate Of Louis XVII may,
however, be regarded as practically
settled by the statements which have
been made above. The BOurbons
themselves evidently accepted his death
as fact, because at the Restoration his
uncle ascended the throne under the
style OF Louis XVIII the fiction being
preserved that he had reigned, whereas
he ne .er reigned at all.