Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-19


month or more. and some had arrived
from France that day. Some were rich,
some were poor. All were drawn to-
gether by misfortune. All were battle
SCARED. All were veterans of that
wonderful army with which Napoleon
Bonaparte overran Europe. Now they
were prescribed. The great emperor was
prisoner on a rock in the south Atlantic,
and they were strangers in a strange
land. Some Of them had played important
parts in the mighty military drama which
had closed but few months before. One
had held the fate of Europe In the hollow
Of his hand for day, and had failed
miserably in the hour of supreme trial.
There was an air Of restraint upon the
party. The new arrivals told the latest
news Of developments In Paris; OF the
reactionary policy Of the king and his
party; OF the fight of this prominent
Bonapartist to England, and that one to
Switzerland: of plans to establish French
colonies in Florida, In Texas, in Alabama
and other points along the shores OF the
Gulf Of Mexico; of the garrisoning of
the frontiers of France by the allies at
the expense Of exhausted France; OF the
brutal, contemptuous treatment of every
one who had rallied to the standard of
the Little Corporal after his return from
Eiba and of the despair that filled the
hearts of all who had followed the for
tunes of the emperor.
Through the whole recital one man sat
silent. He had arrived that day. No one
had asked a question Of him, although all
watched him furtively. Finally one OF
the party turned to him and asked the
question that had been on the lips of most
OF them.
Why was 1t, marshal he inquired.
when you heard the heavy cannonading
Al Waterloo that you did not leave Blu
cher and march to the aid of the en-
peror?''
The man who had been 50 silent cleared
his throat, took a sip of wine and then
replied. falteringly: You see. IL had
Diucher might have marched on Paris"
y man of commanding appearance rose
from his seat and, facing the marshal.
Maid. scornfully Bah. You know l want
ID To go with my division. and you would
not let me. You know that when I in
listed you threatened to treat mo as an
subordinate officer"
Then he threw what remained of his
wine on the sanded floor. set the glass on
the table and left the room. Most of the
other diners followed his example.
Such was the welcome Emmanuel
Grouchy, Marshal Of France, whose blum
der ruined ..apoleon at Waterloo, re-
ceived from his fellow-exiles when he ar
rived In America. Such was the attitude
OF most OF them throughout the six dreary
years he lived In this country They never
roufd forget never would forgive his
great mistake. And yet most OF them,
IKE Gen. Vandamme. the man who cast
his wine the floor in contempt of his
old commander, had fought by his side In
many campaigns and knew him to be one
81 the bravest OF the brave.
If ever a man had reason to bewail his
late il was Emmanuel Grouchy An aris-
t"crat by birth. count Of the old regime
rich and powerful, he cast his lot in with
the people. fought like Z patriot for more
ti.an twenty years. only to have his
: hole life blighted and his name stained
- one blunder Grouchy was born In
l'aris in 1166, and when he was only
fourteen years old he entered the army
lie was an officer OF the kings body
uard at nineteen, but at the outbreak of
e revolution he gave up his commission
and offered his services to the peo lie
'''ey made him colonel of dragons
but because he was q noble and because
';e revoluti0nists didn't think any noble
couid be trusted he was ordered out of
the service. Ardent. ambitious and heart
itS In sympathy with the wild spirit OF
leouoiicanism which stirred France at
tue time, he entered the army as a pri-
vate. IF l cannot fight at the head Of
The republican phalanx," he told the rev.