New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1910-10-26

THE LIFE AND MItMOlttS VI SS-S -
REGIS DE TROBRIAND. MAJok
GENERAL IN THE ARMY OF I5E
UNITED STATES. FSy bis danshteI.
Marie San"i xT,,I o .s,,, ,o,,a,f in pnoto-
Eravure- svo. pp. ia, 80 y J. button
& Co.
General Regis de Trobriand belonged
20 that distinguished body OF foreign
rrs who have rendered real service TO
this country in SITS wars since the be-
ginning Of its history. 1t is perhaps in.
accurate If not unjust, TO call him
foreigner. for he served the United States
not merely as an alien sympathizer Win
its cause, or the cause Of human Tree
dom at large. much less as a soldier OF
fortune or a professional man OF arms
seeking the practical training and eX-
rerience that campaigning alone can
rire but as a naturalized citizen. feel
,rg deeplv the overwhelming importance
end the Justice Of the cause of the
Union. as is abundantly proved by many
an eloquent passage in the letters mat
form the bulk OF this memoir Most OF
Them are written In his native language
thus emphasizing his foreign origin ana
the persistence Of certain duality OF
nationality. and through them runs
moreover. a lifelong allegiance TO TWO
.suses. dramatically opposed in essence
vet rnanifestIv reconcilable in practice
ALLEGIANCE TO the American Republic OF
his own choice and conviction on inc
enc hand, and to the cause or the frehch
monarchy on the other, the inherited
obliga.son Of this. a member OF one OF
,be cid NOBLE houses Of France 1t was
mt & divided allegiance, but doubled
ore.
The book is essentially a family enron
,cie written FOR the granddaughter OF
i-x subject by one Of his two daughters
lie had no sons. There are, first OF all
the obligatory chapters on the history OF
the house OF Trobriand, which TOOK us
origin in ireland, but early settled IN
Normandy. and. after accompanying
William the Conqueror TO England re
turned to settle in Brittany The author
deals at greater length With the fortunes
Of the house during the French ReNoin-
lion and the First Empire, thus making
understandable the close bonds that
linked Regis &c Trobrisnd and his father
and that OF their SUCCESSORS, the princes
OF tho House OF Orleans. All this IS fam
ilv history, but il IS Of wider interest be
cause 81 serves ~ sccentuate the vast
contrasts in General de Trobriand
career. Hs began life as page az the
court Of Charles \. n the reacronary
atmosphere Of The Restoration. The
election Of Louis Philippe led his father.
= thorouEhgoinE Lsgitirniste. 10 forbid
hlm 10 bear arms under the hated Or
lsa-,s. and thus 10 break the traditions Of
military service Of tho family, he was an
intimate at the court Of the exiled Bour-
hons. then. in 1915. six years after his
first visit 10 this country and five after
his marriage to his American wife, he
settled down in New York, but did not
begin his serious career until two years
later. as editor of the Revue du Nou-
veau Monde" which he abandoned at
the end Of a twelvemOnth for lack Of
support. After renewed travel IL Eu-
rope he joined the staff Of the Courier
dos I-tats-U nis'' in 1876. Mrs Post
luehes but lightly GA his service
through the civil War. OF which We
have the record from his own pen. but
gives at length his correspondence dur
ing has later army service in command
al the districts of Dakota. Montana and
Green River. and during the troubled
GAYS at New Orleans in the reconstruc-
lion period. In 1870 the French Republic
offered him an army command. which he
declined he died in 1897
His correspondence from Europe is of
no great historical importance, being
\ mostly made up of notes from day 10
u day on the oHt0Hrdgc OF the eXiled Bour-
hons, with occasional references TO con
temporary history and politics. but his
letters on the primitive life at the army
posts in the Far West are vivid and
worth reading or social life in New
York in the los and 0Os be gives frag-
mentary glimpses, in the chrORiQpcs con-
fributed TO his paper. We learn from
him. for one thing. that the removal Of
tho opera from Astor Place to its new
not effected without grumblings from
the conservative social element The
hook, Mrs. Post informs us, contains
practically all the material her father
left nj his death a. may be well TO
add. perhaps. that in order to read It a
knowledge Of French IS as necessary as