The Washington herald., 1914-10-11

Aug 2 lsia Arne Mere arrived.
Sept. ], lslt Anne. Walewsn arrived.
Nov. l. 1874 PAnesss Pauline arrived
The monarchs Of Europe who sent Ma
win a rare sense OF humor. 1t Is easily
the best joke il history.
What a uocklng satire II was to give
the great captain a little toy army and
navy, crown the proud kingmaker EN-
peror Of eighty-six square miles of rocks
in the midst Of his native Mediterranean
and hand him a rattle for a scepter-to
queror who hac amused himself by dis
membering kingdoms. to a tiny realm
three 70 six miles wide and nineteen miles
1ong-to leave the captor Of the capitals
of Europe in possession Of only three or
four wretched fishing villages-to make
the sovereign of sovereigns ruler over
1900 fishermen, miners and goatherdsi
The Inocksry was only heightened by
the choice OF an island where the con-
tinent he had lost lay IN full view view
OF the exile For Elba is but seven miles
at least from the mainland Of Italy. al
though il Is a steamer voyage Of more
than twelve miles from Piombino to
Portoferraio. the imperial capital which
Napoleon exchanged for Paris.
the stage Setting.
The town of Portoferraio forms a de-
hghtful drop curtain for the opera bouffe,
which was staged there and which en-
and nights. At the top of the scenic
picture, outlined against the sunset sky,
two massive but now senile forts frown
down in an amusingly menacing way.
Beneath them the stony pink little town
hangs on for its life to the steep side
Of hill, %hlls the ancient town wall
ZigZags down to the shore, where IL
thrusts a long, bended, protecting arm
into a pertsSt harbor.
Out over the end of this huge crurnb-
ling wall hangs an old watch tower and
n q Ind n
leans that unfailing delight of tourist
eyes-a bersaglte with his rifle over
his shoulder and his BUNCH Of long cocks
feathers trailing from his hat Around
the end Of $he vail the steamer glides
into the snug little mole behind II and
ties up at the stone dock.
At the shore end OF the dock rises the
ancient town gate, through which the
visitor passes at once into the very
PortoferTaio unchanging In it's petrihca-
the morning Of the Sd Of May, in the
year 1914. when the lookout on Fort Stella
deserted a British man-of-war, under
fun sail. bearing down upon the town.
The Great Surprise.
The inhabitants bustiedrHbout just as
the people O. wooden town IN America
do when the fire alarm rings, for it was
no new thing tor Elba 10 be captured.
They had already heard the startling
news that the French empire wes no
more. and the French governor had
promptly unsurled the white banner Of
the BourboHz. But when they were told
that the great Emperor was coming to
settle down among them, they warily dis |
missed the Hbsurdity as intended to cover
some. secret design of the British, who |
had been blockading the island for many !
months; and the guns on the old wall /
were loaded. in readiness. TO repel the
frigate.
Under a rag Of truce. however, the |
townspeople were convinced that he who /
was but yesterday the lord Of the earth |
had consented 70 accept the sovereignty |
of the Island Of Eiba, in lieu of all claims |
to the rest Of the planet, and that in a |
sailors souvester he was even then in |
the outer hUrbor pacing the deck of his |
Brittanic nsiesty's ship Undaunted. The /
mildness of Sour climate he f1atteringly |
assured them in a proclamation, "and the |
romantic scenery, OF your island has de-
cided me to choose it among all my vast
domains"
As their strange, new fortunes dawned |
upon their understanding the alarm of
the people gave way to stupefaction and
then to deliTious joy, for they learned
that the Emperor came with a chest
full of gold and pension Of $4,000 a
year from 1Frsnce. Instantly they took
in their pockets. and they hastily stitched
together and hoisted in place Of the
Bourbon Hlies the imperial Ethan flag.
Ethan Majesty had thought out while on
his voyage frenn the shore of France
three bees on reddish-orange stripe
running diagonslly across a field Of
white.
when NapoIean came ashore the next
afternoon tae guns of Fort Stella-the
fort Of his new star-boomed over the
paniment by volunteer orchestra of ac-
cordions and guitars. flutes, iddles and
tsmbourines. the civil. military and re-
ligious dignitaries. in such court costumes
as their vardyobes afforded, humbly
knelt on the dock to receive him. But the
tongue Of the overawed mayor Glove to
= -
mutely hold forth the keys, which.
through the kindness of his grand-daugh-
ter. the visitor may see today.
The Emperor, under paper canopy
attended-or mobbed-by an excited, talk
ative, jostling. struggling crowd of is
landers, who had hocked in from the sew
cathedral, where he knelt in the doorway
while the Te Deum was sung.
Ten crowded years stretched between
Emperor Of EIba sand another May when
ne had been acclaimed Emperor of the
French-the two extremes of imperial /,
fortunes. The very day before he went !
simple village church Of Portoferraio, ,
Louis XVIII, his successor on the throne !
OF France o6seauiously attended by !
Bourrtenue and welcomed with syco- !
phantic hattery by Berthier. had enter
ed Paris, and wobbling into the Tuil.
cries after an exile Of twenty-five years !
g..
changes in the palace: We'll must 9
admit that BonAparte has been a very 6
geod tenant" But Talleyrand his chief Q
minister, gave him a cynical WARNING, Of
the nnutability Of governments in France Q
when he observed, as he took the oath ;
Of allegianceft to the King Sire this fs |
my thirteenth" While that fat sfty-l 2
sight-year-oid brother of Louis XVI was I
sitting in the Emperor's old room at the 9
Tuileries and calmly signing royal de- y
,rees as Of the nineteenth year OF nv I
reign" Napoleon was entering his new .
palace the City Hall Of Portoferraio
where over night two or three rooms or,
the second floor had been ftted up for
bis occupancy.
The Mimic Empire. e
Two Of his generals had followed him Il
nto exile Gen Bertrand was grand Z
marshal at the palace. while the military Q
governor was Gen. Drouot. the artillery q
commander whose guns were wont to e
rive the finishing touch to Napoleonic !
rictories on the battlefield. The imperial lis
household necessarily had its projects
Il the palace, its court chaplain, its c
chamberlain, its physician. its musical 4
Iirector, its keeper Of the wardrobe and a
Is footmen and ushers- inevitably, too, a
here was mameiuke. This was deco T
ative detail indispensable to the En- r
leror's background. and when Roustan, G
ne origfuai. stepped out Of the picture Il