網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

Thermometer, &c. from October 27th to November 2d, from 74 to 83°--wind N. E. Showery, and much rain. Miseries of an Editor in the Sandwich Islands.-A more finished specimen of an editorial Jeremiad is not to be found out of the Pacific, we venture to affirm. It is in the paper of November 12th:

The Anglo-Saxon blood is in a fair way-to lose its | lished with all due formality, encircled by mourning imperial purple. Our poetasters and sentimental ma- black lines-the printer's funeral pall. trons can find, at least in the euphonious patronymics of these dark-skinned ladies of Oahu, some consolation for this sacrifice and desecration, and, what is better, fanciful baptismal names for their children, like “Ipahee!"-infinitely more attuned to their exquisitely refined taste than some of our barbarous Gothic appellatives. Can any thing gingle more beautifully to the ears of the most spiritualized imagination than Ipahee? So the others we have given-"Kamailoa," &c.-how musical!--and "Wakina," and "Nania" and the Princess "Naiheanaina," and her infant "Liholiho," &c. Curiosities and Shells.-Any one wishing to sell shells and curiosities, at a fair price, may hear of a purchaser by applying at the office of the Sandwich Island Gazette and Journal of Com

merce.

Some paltry wretch has gone into the Seamen's Chapel, and stolen away a file of the Sandwich Island Gazette. 'Pon our honor, he must be a two and three penny scoundrel who would steal a newspaper, when, for the paltry sum of six dollars, he might bind both printer and editor to twelve months hard labor (hard enough too!) in the,-not the state prison or penitentiary,-but in the printing office! Truly, some folks think newspapers grow like toadstools; that printers' pockets are filled with gold; and that editors (poor editors!) are men who have only to suck Deliberate boobies! the ink out of their pens and grow fat! they know not what they think! Every type is picked up The literati of the Bonita frigate had, as we have no-singly; every ounce of ink costs l'argent; every poor us has a ticed, produced a very deep sensation in the conchological and ornithological markets-and Stephen, the Factotum and Figaro of Honolulu (by the bye, what a conchological name!) had become, it appears, among his other multitudinous avocations, the grand Referendau of these gentlemen--the intermediary agent between the diving savage and purchasing virtuoso.

November 5, 1936.--Swarms of ships have lit upon Honolulu this week; and numbers more are hovering about Maui, by all

accounts.

Glorious.

His Majesty Kauikeauoli and suite visited Lord Edward Russell, on board the Acteon, on Tuesday, and was saluted with twenty-one guns.

On Wednesday, target-shooting was practised on board the Acteon: the mark was a small flag placed on the reef toward Pearl river: the balls appeared to be well directed, and we are informed the result was creditable to the gunners.

How the blood runs frolic in the veins-how throbs the heart at every thought of one's own dear country, when far away from home under a stranger clime!-Read the sympathies of our friend Stephen (for he now appears to us as our friend indeed,) for his and our Texian brethren :

The courage of the Mexican soldiery has recently been de veloped in another striking instance of cold-blooded murder, Colonel Fannin and a large number of Texian prisoners have been shot under circumstances of deep atrocity: Some of them were nearly dead with their previous wounds, when they were butchered by the soldiers!

Santa Anna, it appears, is still living; one of our past num bers shot him; perhaps a future one may have the honor of doing so, as we understand he is a prisoner.

The following unpretending item, insipid as it might seem from one of our own papers, conveys much matter for reflection, not to say digestion:

Notice to Beef Owners.-We have been requested to say, that there is a fine fat bullock on the plains, without a mark to prove ownership, and no person has been able to identify it as his property; the animal is of a dark red color, with crumpled horns, and a white star on his forehead, and is, apparently, about four years old. It is agreed upon, by most of those persons who own cattle, to have the animal slaughtered, and sold, and the proceeds paid over to the Oahu charity school treasurer. We shall give this notice three insertions, and should any one have a sufficient reason for not killing said bullock as proposed, he will please inform the Editor of the Gazette, shortly, as the bullock will probably be killed at the expiration

of three weeks.

Honolulu, November 5th, 1836.

family to support, children to clothe, and pigs to feed.

Go on, ye cruel paper-stealers! go on, ye neglectful public! starve us! kill us! bury us! (decently)--but then you will have no newspapers!

Query? Do you not all look for the Gazette every Saturday night, and growl like bears if you do not receive it?

Reading-Rooms, Regattas, and Theatres at Oahu!

Oahu Amateur Theatre revived.-On Monday evening, November 14, at the Warren hotel, will be presented by amateurs from H. B. M. ship Acteon, and from among the residents on shore, the admired farce of Fortune's Frolic; with numerous songs, comic and sentimental.

Tickets will be issued on the occasion to invited guests.

Curtain to rise at half past 7.

We had, before reaching this ultima thule of civilized refinements and voluptuous indulgences, already ceased to wonder at any thing in Honolulu--nor shall we now exclaim out, but go peaceably on to the end of our chapter, not doubting that if this play-bill, posted up on the banana trees of Oahu, surprised us, we should, if we were on the spot, find something which would astonish and astound, if not petrify us with amazement.

Notice.-The individual who took the file of the Sandwich Island Gazette from the Reading-Rooms, will greatly oblige the undersigned by returning it.

Honolulu, November 10, 1836.

JOHN DIELL.

Notice to Correspondents.-We are grateful for the contribu tions of Q. But Mr. U., who sent us "The Dying Horse," can do better by sending a living one, with a saddle and bridle; it would be far more acceptable.

Thermometer from November 3d to 9th, range from 73 to 82°-wind N. E. Weather fine.

The following will show how the theatrical performances went off, and also the boat race:

Sporting News and Dramatic Intelligence.-Oahu has been quite alive this week: the dear old " Amateur Theatre" sprung into a momentary existence on Monday evening; and the talent of the sons of the drama shone forth with a brilliant glare in the face and eyes of a most gay and fashionable audience. "Fortune's Frolic" was brought upon the carpet, and, though, "for reasons best known to ourself," we say nothing about the merits of "Old Snacks's" performance, yet we cannot refrain from expatiating upon the successful exertions of Robin Roughhead, Rattle, Margery, Dolly, Nancy, and a host of other worthies. We speak feelingly upon one point, and that is the only one, in our opinion, deserving criticism-we mean, the way Robin whipped Old Snacks; only to think that such a poor grey-headed old gentleman should be abused and horse-whipped

The venerated Ex-President Madison's death is pub- only because he was too careful of a little of his lordship's mo

ney--Oh! wasn't it a pity?-we think it was a sore calamity. Shocking! Shocking!

The songs were capital, except one, "When a man's a little bit poorly ;" and we think "Old Snacks," at his time of life, had better let singing alone.

The decorations, contrived upon the spur of the moment, did great credit to the good taste of the gentlemen from the Acteon, who superintended the preparation of the hotel for the play. One word of the orchestra: the music was capital, considering the few rehearsals permitted, by the shortness of the time al lotted for preparation.

The ladies in the boxes looked as "bright as a May morning," and it must have been exhilarating to the actors to have their comic grins and distorted glances met by the approving eyes and applauding smiles of the fair and fashionable of Honolulu.

On Tuesday and Wednesday there were races between the beautiful gig-boat belonging to Lord Edward Russell of the Actoon, and some of the fast pulling whale-boats in the port. The gig" bore the palm," and proved her character, no less also the character of her crew, to be one of the "first water."

Bets were laid upon the race, and the proceeds presented to the crews of the boats, who, no doubt, made a good business by the day's sporting. After the sport, some of the ladies and gentlemen sat down to a "tiffin" on board the Acteon, provided by the officers; and if we may judge by the way the chickens and roast beef chased each other out of sight, with porter and wine at their heels, the race at the dinner table was the pleasantest of

all.

[blocks in formation]

The Happy Day has come! We are politely furnished, by H. B. M. Consul, with a copy of the articles of mutual understand ing, recently agreed upon between his Majesty Kauikeaouli, Tamehameha 3d, and Lord Edward Russell, Captain of H. B. M. Ship Acteon. This agreement places British property and interests, on a firm and settled basis of security; and, while it affords protection to British subjects, it is of great importance likewise, in its influence upon the interests of Americans; for no distinction can possibly be raised between the protective rights

of the citizens of the two countries.

It may now be safely predicted that henceforth, all who come to the Sandwich Islands to pursue lawful and honest avocations, regulating their conduct in conformity with the just and established laws and customs of civilized lands, will be permitted to go on in their straight-forward course without difficulties upon those points of misunderstanding which have been so long in agitation, but which are now so completely set at rest.

It would, perhaps, be unjust to refer the past errors, in the governmental deportment, of the rulers of these islands, towards foreign residents, to a desire, on the part of his Majesty and the Chiefs, to make strangers uncomfortable while sojourning here; it may be with more correctness set down to score of a misconception of the mutual rights of strangers and native inhabitants; the laws of nature, and the experience of ages, never elected to onc part of this community the right of crushing the prosperity of the other part.-" Fair play is a jewel!" Now the question has been fairly discussed, and quietly settled, it may be taken as an axiom that the protecting spirit of liberty shall be seen soaring alike over the heads of the stranger and the native.

We shall now, one and all, be able to go on, heartily, and make the Sandwich Islands a second paradise!

Industry says, yes! Enterprise says, yes! Prosperity stands ready with her laurels!

Go on then Hoe, Spade, Quill, Hammer, and Marline-spike! Old Oahu forever!

God save King Tamehameha 3d!!!

Articles made and agreed on at Honolulu, Island of Woahoo, this 16th day of Nov. 1836.

Article 1. English subjects shall be permitted to come with their vessels and property of whatever kind to the Sandwich they conform to the laws of these islands, and to build houses Islands; they shall also be permitted to reside therein as long as and warehouses for their merchandize, with the consent of the King, and good friendship shall continue between the subjects of both countries, Great Britain and the Sandwich Islands.

Article 2. English subjects resident at the Sandwich Islands, are at liberty to go to their own country or elsewhere, either in Enclosures, Houses, &c. with the previous knowledge of the their own or any other vessel; they may dispose of their Effects, King, and take the value with them without any impediment whatever; the land on which houses are built, is the property of the King, but the King shall have no authority to destroy the houses, or in any way injure the property of any British subject. Islands, his Effects shall not be searched or touched by any of Article 3. When an English subject dies on the Sandwich the Governors or Chiefs, but shall be delivered into the hands of his executors or heirs if present, but if no heir or executor ap pear, the Consul or his agent shall be executor for the same: if any debts were owing to the deceased, the Governor of the place shall assist and do all in his power to compel the debtors to pay their debts to the heir or executor, or the consul in case no heir or executor appears, and the Consul is to inform the King of the death of every British subject leaving property upon the Sandwich Islands.

TAMEHAMEHA Sd.

Ed. Russell, Captain of H. B. Majesty's Ship, Acteon. It is clear from the foregoing that his Imperial Highness, Tamehameha the 3d, has imbibed some of the exalted notions of his neighbor of the celestial empire, and will never surrender the principle, that the territory as well as the subject, is his bona fide property under all circumstances; but let him for mercy sake indulge ad libitum in these day-dreams, when they are so soon to be torn out of his memory. Let him, like Edward in the tower, play with the mock crowns he is never to wear, for those that he bears on his kingly brow are scarcely less ideal and unsubstantial. Too soon alas, will his diadem be buried in the deep ocean which now washes his sea-girt throne. So sure as the sun sinks behind the frowning precipices of Mauna Kea, so sure will the empire of the whites extend inser.sibly its great arms over those vast regions. This tawny rep resentative of royalty, and his circumscribed princi pality will be engulfed in the devouring jaws of civilization, as one of the least considerable ovations that can mitigate for a moment, the indomitable thirst for power that burns in the vaulting ambition, and perches on the victorious standard of the all-conquering blood of the North. Therefore Kauikeauoli! revel and riot on your ebon throne, and play the King while you may, for your royal hairs [wool] are numbered; and the days of your reign, and the noon tide of your splendor, are soon to be only among the things that have been.

CHIT-CHAT.

Says Horace to Harry, in talking one day,
"There's a charming young widow just over the way,
With a snug little fortune, a house, and all that;
You have only to walk in and hang up your hat."
"Why yes," replies Harry, "the thing you propose

Is quite to my fancy, as every one knows;
But the fair is so froward, and hard to get at,

I must hang up my fiddle instead of my hat.

NOTES AND ANECDOTES,

Political and Miscellaneous-from 1798 to 1830-Drawn from

And he immediately drew him along with him, and ran over, in his company, all the apartments. The

the Portfolio of an Officer of the Empire; and translated from searches were fruitless; he then announced his intenthe French for the Messenger.

A TRAGICAL EVENT.

I shall suppress the names of the actors in the story I am about to relate. The principal personages of the terrible drama of which I was a witness, have not all ceased to live, and I owe respect to the memory of those even who are dead.

The event took place in 1812, in a city of Piedmont, called Verceil, or Vercelli, the capital of the department of Sésia, one of the departments beyond the Alps, then united to France. One winter morning a young and very beautiful woman was found dead on the bank of the Sésia; she was in her night-dress, and her feet were naked. To this young woman, who was the wife of the Inspector of Domains, no deep mortification or other feeling could be assigned likely to produce suicide. The evening before, she had been seen, brilliant with all the charms of health and beauty. A voluntary death could be with difficulty accounted for, unless in the supposition that it took place during an excess of delirium. The singularity of her dress, and the position in which she was found, gave rise to suspicions of another character. She was laid out on the bank of the river; and although at that period of the year the Sésia was rapid and swollen, it could hardly be supposed that she had been thrown up on the banks, especially as her linen was hardly moist. Suicide appeared improbable, and yet no mark of violence gave any reason to suspect a murder. The officers of justice sought every trace of information; they obtained some confessions, and this mysterious death was thus explained.

The husband of the young lady had been for a long period affected by a disease which confined him to his chamber, and scarcely permitted him to raise himself from his bed. The young lady had formed a criminal connection with a friend of her husband's, who was employed as a superintendent of indirect contributions, and who lived in the same house with themselves. She had often taken advantage of the illness of her husband, to quit his chamber, and share the bed of her lover.

tion of going to the chamber of the domestics, and pressed his friend to go to his bed again. Having got rid of the husband, he instantly returned to his own room, entered, and raised up a pillow, which, in the first moment of alarm, he had thrown over the person of the wife, to shield her from the observation of her husband, in case of his entering the chamber. The pillow only covered a dead body; the unfortunate young woman had expired from the shock.

The lover, in despair, and out of his senses, could imagine nothing better that he could do, than to cover his mistress with a sheet, and place her on the bank of the Sésia, to give rise to the belief of suicide.

This event made great noise in Piedmont; a criminal prosecution appeared inevitable. But the young man belonged to a powerful family; he was besides very warmly protected by the arch-chancellor, and the affair was hushed up.

Twenty-two years afterwards, I found myself, by accident, at table next to a general officer of the same name of the young man of Verceil, and his resemblance to him struck me.

"General," said I, "did you never have a brother?"
At these words, I saw his color change.
"I have had one, sir," he replied.
"Did he not reside in Piedmont ?"
"Yes, sir."

"I knew him. And what has become of him?"
"He died a madman!"

THE CONSOLIDATED DUTIES. The establishment of the Consolidated Duties, was a source of important increase to the revenues of the empire, and afforded the Emperor the means of getting rid of a crowd of people, who tormented the government for the means of subsistence. The administration of these Duties, which employed four times the number necessary for the despatch of all its business, was composed in the most strange manner, and formed the most singular assembly of men that can well be imagined: returned emigrants, converted jacobins, men of letters, mutilated officers-one working-man in every ten. The constitution of this department was of the most admirable elasticity; all those with whom nothing else could be done, all those who were useless for war,

Never was a department more paternally administered, than this was by the Director-General, the Count François de Nantes. I will offer one proof, among a thousand.

During one of these absences, her husband, wanting something, had called his wife, without obtaining any answer. Exerting all his strength, he raised himself to go and look for her; the bed in which she was accus-entered the department of the Consolidated Duties. tomed to sleep, had not been tumbled. In the midst of his alarm, he ran over all his own apartments, and not meeting her any where, knocked at the door of his friend, through the crevices of which he perceived some light. "L," cried he, "get up; come and open The department counted among the number of its your door for me." As soon as his voice was recog-officers, a young under-clerk, a hard worker, (he was nized, the light was extinguished, and in the meantime one of the exceptions,) but one who never got to his his friend came to open the door for him, asking him, office before nearly one o'clock. M. Français de Nantes with a sort of anxiety, “if he was more indisposed, or had him summoned, and I subjoin the singular explanation that took place between them. had occasion for any assistance?"

"No; but I am very much disturbed. My wife is not in her chamber, and I have looked in vain for her elsewhere."

46

"Sir, I am forced to praise your industry, but I have one serious complaint against you. You come at too late an hour to your office; I know that you amply "She can't be far off-you have looked badly; come make up for the lost time, but it is a bad example to with me."

your subordinates.

"It is not my fault, Count; I live in the Faubourg numerary, who should throw any paper from the winde Roule, that is to say, a league and a half from the dows, would be forever deprived of his office. The snow ceased to fall.

office."

"You might live nearer. However, I can understand that living with your family, you find it more agreeable and more economical to live there, than in any other place; but if you left home at an early hour, at nine o'clock for example, without hurrying or fatiguing yourself, you might get here at half after ten." "I do set off at an early hour, Count, but I come by the Boulevards, and I confess I have a weakness; it is, that I cannot pass the caricature shops without stopping."

"I have not the firmness to condemn such a pleasure; but giving half an hour to the caricatures, you ought to be here by eleven."

M. BATHURST.

The English family of Bathurst, is divided into two branches, which are attached to opposite political parties. The venerable bishop of Norwich, one of the two bishops who voted for the reform bill, is the head of one of them; the minister for the colonies, under the administration of lord Castlereagh, lord Bathurst, who was one of the most violent persecutors of Napoleon at Saint Helena, belonged to the other branch.

M. Benjamin Bathurst, son of the bishop of Norwich, was the English ambassador at Vienna, at the period "Yes, Count; but I pass before the Café Anglois; of the campaign of 1809; peace being signed, he quitted there I have friends who call me in, and I breakfast | that capital, with a passport, under the fictitious name with them." of the Baron de Koch. He travelled in the post-car

"It is necessary to breakfast. Whether you break-riage of a German, a courier of the English cabinet, fast at the Café Anglois, or at the office, it is nearly the named Krauss. His intention was to gain the shores same thing. I give you half an hour for breakfast, and of the Baltic, and to sail thence to England. the Emperor would not allow you as much; be here, then, at least by half after eleven."

He had already arrived at Petersburg, on the frontiers of Mecklenburg-it was the 25th of November. He

"True, Count; I hurry through breakfast; but I passed three hours in that city, paid a visit to the have still another weakness."

"Still another? and what is it?"

"When I arrive on the Boulevards, near the rue du Temple, I encounter the puppets. I will correct myself, I promise you faithfully; but I have not yet been able to avoid stopping a moment."

governor, carefully informed himself of the disposition of the enemy's troops in the neighborhood, and offered a large sum in gold, that he had with him, to be safely conducted to the end of his voyage.

On returning to the hotel of the post, where he had put up, he burnt a good many papers, and dined; when

"How, sir, do you go to see the puppets, and yet I his repast was over, he ordered his horses. The carhave never met you there?"

riage was ready, the steps down; the courier Krauss

"It is probable, Count, that we do not go at the same was mounted, when M. Bathurst stepped a little aside hour."

Behold the Director-General and the under-clerk, losing an hour, taken from the office hours, in amusing themselves, at the wit of Punchinello and the anger of the commissioner.

The supernumeraries of the department of indirect contributions, though they worked a great deal, had not always access to the Director-General; and the principals, occupied with their own affairs, never thought of their laborious and poorly paid assistants. One of them, who had long waited for the reward due to his zeal, and was weary of receiving only, every month, the three francs allowed the supernumeraries for penknives and quills, thought of an ingenious scheme for getting a petition, without the interference of any third person, into the hands of M. François de Nantes.

The Director-General resided in a suite of apartments separated, by a garden, from his cabinet and offices. The supernumerary waited the moment when M. François, returning from breakfast, would cross the garden, in going to his cabinet; and he threw from a window, while he was passing, a petition addressed to the Director-General.

M. François de Nantes found the paper, read his address on it, and afterwards the petition; the proceeding appeared to him an original one, and he granted the advance that was requested.

Afterwards, and for many days, petitions were showered into the garden; he was, at last, obliged to have it announced in the offices, that the first clerk, or super

behind a wall. He was never seen again.

Fifteen days afterwards, his pantaloons were found some distance off, on a little hill of sand, near the public road. In the pocket, was the commencement of a letter to lady Bathurst; it had rained for more than a week, yet the paper on which the letter was written was untouched, and the ink was not altered.

During a period of twenty-six years, no evidence, no suspicion in the least degree probable, has served to clear away the mystery that covers this singular and deplorable event. The courier Krauss, arriving alone in England, was carefully examined, but there was no evidence of any guilty connivance on his part. The Bathurst family and the English government took measure after measure, and instituted examination after examination, but always unsuccessfully.

Although France and England were at war, Madame Bathurst landed at Morlaix, with her brother, in 1810. Immediately upon her request, she obtained leave to visit Paris. She came for the purpose of asking the assistance of the French government, to enable her to continue her researches; and she received from the French generals, in command near Petersburg, at the period of the disappearance of M. Bathurst, all the information that could be useful in her further examinations. She was received with the most distinguished kindness by the Dukes de Cadore and Rovigo, and obtained permission to remain in France as long as she pleased. But they could not effectively aid her in Ger many, the French government having no longer any authority in that country.

This sudden disappearance of an English diplomatic | pied, of sketching while listening to the discussion. If agent, has never been attributed to the French govern- by chance one of them succeeded in drawing anything ment by England—always so ready to make any accu- very amusing, he passed the paper to his neighbor. sation against France. If France had been suspected, The Emperor would frequently observe this movement, the Bathurst family would not have addressed itself, and by a sign, order the drawing to be brought to him; in the first place, to the French government for aid in when, casting an absent glance at the paper, he would their inquiries; but all governments, even those friendly crumple it up, shrugging his shoulders at the same time. to England, have not been entirely free from suspicion. Once only, he said to M. de L***, whose chef d'œuvre The family of M. Bathurst is not yet convinced of his he had just seized, and who expressed himself on a death. It may be supposed that women will cherish point of legislation with but little clearness: "all this the slightest ray of hope, to soften their grief; but a does not prove, sir, that you will ever become a celegrave and reflecting man, the bishop of Norwich, per- brated artist." severes in the same opinion, founded on evidence which he pretends to possess, but which he conceals from every one, that his son is still alive, shut up in Russia, in some distant fortress.

A GOOD MEMORY.

The Emperor was at Erfut. A legion of kings and princes had come to humble their crowns before his recent royalty. At one of the soirées, which he gave at this brilliant court, the conversation turned on an ancient pontifical bull, about the date of which there was some doubt. An Austrian prelate indicated a period, which the Emperor contested. "I am better informed than your majesty on such subjects, said the prelate, and I think I am certain of what I state."

It is added, that the English government, having seized the papers of a French emigrant assassinated at London, a M. d'Entraigues, whose name was connected with many political intrigues, found among them papers relating to the disappearance of M. Bathurst; but every thing was kept secret in the public offices. I should not be surprised, if negotiations were shortly entered into, for the purpose of discovering the truth of the case, and perhaps for reparation for so heavy an "And for my part," replied the Emperor, "I do not offence against the dignity of the British government, say--I believe; I say, I am certain that you are deceived. and the laws of nations. Twenty years after the dis-Besides, the truth may be easily ascertained; let such a appearance of M. Bathurst, his daughter, the charming Miss Bathurst, perished in the Tiber. Her death was a cause of mourning to the whole city of Rome.

THE COUNCIL OF STATE,

AND THE SNUFF-BOXES.

work be brought, and if I am wrong, I will hasten to acknowledge it."

The book was brought. The Emperor was right.

The whole assembly were astonished at such an excellent memory, on the part of one, whose head was constantly occupied by a crowd of other subjects.

When I was a lieutenant, said the Emperor. These

I leave to M. Locré and others, the trouble of assert- simple words: when I was a lieutenant, produced a sining and proving the wisdom and profundity of the dis-gular effect on all present; all the representatives of the cussions in the Council of State, over which the Empe-old monarchies, looked at each other smiling. ror presided; I have other things to relate.

The Emperor, when at the Council of State, had a table placed before him, which contained a single drawer; when the sitting was over, he shoved in this drawer on rising from his seat, and turned the key. No one, in his absence, ever opened it. When the Emperor did not preside at the council, his place remained unoccupied.

When I had the honor to be a lieutenant of artillery, continued the Emperor in a louder tone, I remained two years in garrison in a city of Dauphiné, which had but a single circulating library. I read three times the whole collection, and not a word of what I read at that period ever escaped me.

The title of the book which has been just brought figured on the list. I read it with the rest, and, as you have just seen, I have not forgotten its contents.

THE ABBÉ D'ASTROS.

On the occasion of a grand fête given at the Tuile

The Emperor came to the Council of State, with a snuff-box in his hand, and as soon as the chamberlain in attendance, who stood up behind his arm chair, perceived that it was empty, he would hand him another; but even that did not suffice. If the Emperor heard any where in the room, the noise of the opening of aries, the Emperor received the homage of the great dig box, he would turn his eyes in the direction from which the sound seemed to proceed, and make a sign with his hand. The attendant, went immediately for the box, and brought it to the Emperor, who, after taking two or three pinches, would throw it on his table, or more often in his drawer. The snuff-box, in the last case, was lost forever to its owner.

Once instructed, the Councillors of State did not suffer themselves to be taken in. They had their council snuff-boxes; these were boxes of paper; and when they were confiscated, the loss was about fifteen or twenty sous.

Many members of council were in the habit, very common to men whose minds are strongly pre-occu

nitaries of the empire, of the diplomatic corps, of the great officers of his household, &c. &c. The clergy, though they excommunicated and conspired against him, did not absent themselves from the presentations at the Tuileries. On this occasion, the clergy of Paris had come in great pomp, conducted by the first of the grand vicars of the archbishopric of Paris, the seat being vacant. The highly respectable archbishop cardinal Dubelloy was dead, and cardinal Maury, nominated his successor, had not obtained the papal confirmation.

M. d'Astros was the first grand vicar of the diocese of Paris, an ambitious and discontented man; of whom the restoration made, I believe a bishop, if not an arch

« 上一頁繼續 »