The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-08-18

frtghtful yearsrCaptain De BeIlegrade ag-
onized In the galleys at Toulon- Then the
frivolous Prince De Monfbarey. died. and
Louis Antoine de Gontant. Colonel Of the
French Gurads. Duke de Bircn and Mar
shall of France. IN 1873 succeeded 10 the
ministry OF war. He was the Colonel
! Picquart OF the court OF Cessation Of his
age. He was a Daniel come to judgment
One short story. the finest in the world,
will illustrte the superb and magnificent
generosity of this man.
At the instant when he became minis
ter Of war war was raging between Brit
ain and France. allied with Spain. Who
had captured the fortress of Gibraltar.
The celebrated British Admiral. Lord
Rodney. was detained In France by debt.
and powerless- to serve his country.
One day he said in the presence OF mar
shall Brion: 'If were free would soon
soon smash the combined fleets Of France
and Spain"
Try" said the grand minister OF war.
You are free"
And he paid his debts out Of his own
private pocket and let Lord Rodney 60
free.
The British Admiral made good his
beast. He did smash the combined fleets
OF France and Spain and recaptured Glib
raltar; but he never forgot the nobility
of Marshal Biron.
Well that was the man to whom Nine
Lueie de Bellegrant went. At once he or
dered a fresh court NATAL, which sat
at Nancy. Feb. TO- 1873 Captain de Belle
grade was brought from the horrors OF
the galleys OF Toulon and placed upon his
trial.
With theh evidence painfully collected
by his brave and faithful Tife he made
short work of his prosecutors. He wiped
them ''as a man wipeth dish; wipIng II
and turning it upside down" Unbiased
judges declared his innocence, restored
him to his rank, reinstated him in the
army. And so a wife won freedom and
fair fame for her husband hundred and
twenty yeas ago.
It would be well IL the story could end
there happily. But Captain de Bellegrade
was broken man. Not physically brok-
en-. for he lived yet many years and
made himself famous or infamous in an
other way: but broken mentally. He
nourished a grudge. Unlike Captain AL
fired Dreyfus he painted for revenge. He
never forgave the indifference or neglect
with which the king and queen had treat
ed him In his hour of trial
After his reinstatement he turned from
loyal royalist to Red Republican, shook
the dust OF France from his feet and took
service in Prussia.
At the revolution Of 1859 her eturned 20
his native land as commandant of the
National Guard Of Angouleme.
The department of La Charente elected
him as deputy in. the Legislative assembly
of 1890, and in the convention of 1872 he
Joined the political party called the Noun
tain and voted the death of the king. So
he satiated his unholy lust for vengence.
In 1894 he was elected member of ,the
council of five hundred, and he had grave
differences with certain news sheets
which described the atrocities of his 2rir-
prisonment for assaulting a journalist
called Isidor -Langlois At the restora-
ton of 1915 he was tried as a regicide,
and exIled for having voted for the exc
cution of the king. Louis XIV. In ISIS
he died alone at Brussels at the advanc-
ed age of eighty-flve. 1t Is a sad story of
a ruined life. Peace be 10 his ashes.
fus? What will be the effect Of these last
four years on him?
Well, time alone can show.