The Washington herald., 1912-09-04
COURT GOSSIP OF FOREIGN
LANDS OF GENERAL INTEREST

The action on the part of the Italian
government. denying the Pope privilege
of hearing by long-distance photographic
arrangements the orations delivered and
| the hymns and chorals sung at the dedi-
cation OF the newly repaired Campanile
on the Piazza di San Marco in Venice,
for fear that such liberal act might
| be construed as weakening on the
part of the Quirinal government to-
ward re-establishing the temporal power
of the Vatican" recalls to mind that
while this particular instance certainly
is to be deplored. the Holy See in many
cases has shown similar intolerance to-
| ward others.
/ read in a German paper that the con-
| troversy Is to be renewed at Dusseldorf
| In regard to the Heine statue. planned In
| memory of the great genius and poet OF
| fine, delicate feeling, who. bora of Jewish
! parentage. had become free thinker.
| to whom during his short but bewilder-
ing career nothing seemed sacred and
| whose biting sarcasm spared absolutely
| nothing.
Poor. deluded Heinrich Heine. So bril-
liant and yet so misunderstood! For no
one knows better than the writer that
that which appeared TO be irony. criticism
and skepticism was nothing but mis-
anthropy Of a spirit that knew himself
to be the black sheep OF the literary
| censors' Of an almost benighted Ger
many. 1t has been often said that Heine
| hated his native land. No such thing.
! He only hated the red tape. the bureau
| cracy. the density OF those in IL who
feared TO let in the light of day. a liberal
policy and the freemasonry of equality
| among men.
That is why the poet, on one Of his
journeys to Germany, so bitingly apos-
4 fha aoIa hA
frontier near AK Chapelle.
Due Preussiscber Adler nit Deinen
krallen " that also is why, when
seeing a drill of Prussian soldiers. he
walled that they marched as IL they
had swallowed the ramrod'' and that
Der Zopf der frueher Won hinten hing.
| Der haengt jetzt unter der Nase I"
| Poor. deluded Heine, / can still See
him before my minds eye. though 1t is
many years since visited him in his
| little fiat in Montmartre Heights, in
| Paris-more years than / care TO con-
fess even to myself. Poor. great poet.
| heaven-born genius. who lived a century
ahead OF his time, There he lay. wasted
away to skeleton. suffering from
Rueckenmark-Sch -Schwindsucht Cspinal tu-
| berculosis). on the worn couch that was
TO be his deathbed yet trying to force
a smile when. with palsied fingers, he
attempted to lift his paralyzed eyelIds
| in order to see who the caller was
And his last words. an utterance which
/ shall never forget while ! live
| Keine Mes-e wrd man singen
| kenen ksdisch wird man sSgen.
! NIGHTS geSagt und NIGHTS geSngeu
Wird an meinen Stefbctagen.
Great Powers above. And this was
the man to whom the church refused the
tribute planned for him by his fellow
citizens. who. with the dawn of the
era OF liberty and literary light. was
being better understood as the standard
bearer Of the torch of freedom.
| VIII ! ever get over my terrible ex-
perience OF that afternoon Of long ago?
Just imagine what that wreck OF A
mental giant must have felt. with what
! thoughts he must have faced his Journey
To the great unknown. when he could
make such an utterance on his death
bed.
A great reformer. a still greater genius
wonderfully talented, but physically SO
very. very weak. Poor Heinrich Heine,
The church functions and ceremonials
| In connection with the canoniZation OF
the Maid Of Orleans will all be COM
pleted finally by the end OF this year.
when Joan dare will he recognized as
the patron saint of France. History
has immortaliZed this peasant girl Of
| Lorraine long ago and the German poet
Schiller. in his famous tragedy, Die
Jungfrau Won Orleans" has spread the
story OF her courageous lead OF the dis
heartened French troops against the in
vading British host and her fame still
more.
| She was burned at the stake in the
city of Rouen in l4Sl-a sad ending Of a
life passionateIy devoted TO her country.
i though perhaps good deal of vision
/ ary: for it cannot he denied that the
/ brightly burning fire of her courage and
=, patriotism had the effect OF strengthen
! ing the morale OF the French army,
! which then was at low ebb.
i Her death being authenticated ny the
/ records in the archives of the ancien,
I Cathedral City. and that she. consequent
" left no descendants. II is surprising
that the French government has no;
! long ago stopped the claims Of number
! less families that the famous Maid was
their ancestress in direct or indirect
line. For there is no truth in the story
i that at the last moment she escaped to
Metz with her brothers, and that she
II was married there and lived to he the
Y mother OF children. The steps taken by
Il France in the days. almost five hundred
years ago. when the memory Of her
heroic deeds still was fresh in the mind
4 of the nation, may be said 10 be respon-
sible for the unsubstantiated version OF
i her marriage.
j Two years before her terrible death
II King Charles VII. of France, granted
\ PATENTS of nobility to the girls parents
! and brothers which stipulated that this
nobility. accorded for her great services
} 10 her country. should descend in her
family in the female and in the male
line in the progeny OF her brothers. This
| was pretty vague and resulted in so
many claimants of descent of the his
toric Maid that something had to he
done to put a stop to the ever increasing
discovery of descendants OF Jacques and
Isabella dare.
And despite all the aforesaid there is
another claimant, in the person of a
niece of the Comte de Maleyssie, who
has discovered five autograph letters OF
the Maid in the library of the ancient
castle of Beuvriere. This comte claims
TO be a collateral descendant of the
great girl warrior. The story has
created quite sensationrdespIte the
fact that the contents of these letters
have not been made public.
So great was the number of pretended
descendants of the parents of Joan OF
Arc even hundred years after her
eventful career that King Henry II OF
France was compelled to issue decree
restricting the mobiles claiming descent
from the Arc family to those who were
living in knightly fashion and who hat
.he means to support their rank. After
another century had passed King Louis
Nil issued another decree that ne
further application for a patent Of no
| In hoe ha