Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-01-28

''dot''-iust enough to live on with strict
economy But they have right to count
on such-and-such promotion in a given num-
Der of years The daughter grows to be
nineteen twenty; it is time for her to
marry: and the promotion has not come
You see? The whole family is thrown into
despair.
What has the Legion of Honor to do with
this? Why. some of these spy-denouncers
and informers are members of the Legion
of Honor; so nice point has come up as TO
whether or not they are to be considered as
having forfeited their honor. and what is
to be done with them.
Wheels Within Wheels.
The National Order of the Legion of
Honor originated by the great Napoleon, is
governed by a grand chancellor, with
council to assist him. The chancellor is al
ways one of the most honorable and ancient
generals of France, and the council is made
up of very distinguished men, Together
they form one of the wheels within wheels
of the French state, and ordinarily their
decisions in all that concerns the well-being
of the order and the standing of members
is practically unquestionable. ---..-..-.
The present chancellor is the General of
Division FIorentin. The council includes
nat, also Il member of the institute; the
poet SullyPrudEomme, who is one of the
| forty immortals; an inspector general of
public works, q first president of the court
| of appeals and q former ambassador. This
| is the council of the chancellor and the
| chancellor works directly under the presi-
| dent of the republic, without depending on
any minister.
But-there is a but-when a "chevaler'
| (knighO of the Legion of Honor is an Off
Ger of the army in active service he can
be judged only by the minister of war, so
that the chancellor cannot reach him d.
rectly In the same way, when "cheval-
er'' is a government functionary in active
service he can be judged only by the mill
lister on whom he depends Among the spy
| informers belonging to the order, however,
! there are certain number who are either
| retired army officers functionar1eS, Or
| plain citizens. responsible to no minister,
| and the chancellor of the Legion of Honor
| claims to have the right to try them by his
| council-and eXpel them if they are proved
! to have committed a fault against honor
| This is very much against the ideas of
! the present prime minister, who is the real
| acting executive He wishes to let the
| thing die down; but the only means he has
| of exercising final pressure on the chanceI-
| lor of the Legion of Honor is by revoking
him and appointing another - measure
| that might cause still greater dissausfac
| ton throughout the land.
| Many Names on the Petition.
| Ex-President Casimir-Perier has already
taken sides by driving in his carriage from
sick bed to publicly sign the petition, al
ready signed by great numbers of knights
| ana OIlPeCS Oh the Legion VI IItGOi uS-
| handing that the spy-denouncers be pro-
| ceeded against. Day after day this list
| grows, and there seems to me no better
i way of giving an idea of the composition of
| the greeat French order than to copy indis-
| Criminatey, from top to bottom, short
| section of today's list of signatures:
Marquis de Voge, one of the immortals,
| one-time ambassador; Auguste ChateI iron
| founder; A. Baratier, retired intendant
| general; Gen. de Carrots Vice Admiral
| Dieulouard, Comte de Franquevillc, late
| president of the French Institute; Gems.
| Caller and Villette, Meyer, president of the
| civil tribunal of the Seine; Octave Haffner,
| manufacturer; three more generals, Roger
! de Beauvoir, newspaper man; more gem
| erals and colonies, Leon Bartlett, artist
| (painter); Amedc Hedn, director of the
| Beaux Arts of Lyons, and on. thousands
| and thousands. all petitioning that the ma :
| tional order be purified of informerS.
| In this respect the chancellor, Gen. Flor
entin. has made bon mot" that is going
the rounds.
| 1.-The Palace of the Chaneellerie is a de-
| lightful residence said Gen. FIorencin,
| but the rent may become too dear. e..
at the price of his honor, If he is not allow
| ed to purify the order.
| 1t is. perhaps, the most curious palace in
| all Paris, in its style as well as In it's his
| tory. 1t is situated on the left bank of the
| River Seine beside the magnificent new
| hotel and railway station d'Orsay. in con-
trast with whose triumphant present-day
| architecture it looks tiny and particularly
| fiattened out.
The Prince de Salm.
1t has only one story, light and airy. with
| long French windows and very high
| ceilings, villa-palace, built originally in
| great grounds that ran down to the fair
! banks of the river. 1t was completed in
| 1856 by the architect Rousseau for the
Prince de Salm, who himself had pecu-