Source:Fleming-french-royalty/content
The expected visit of Gen. Joffre and his party to Pittsburgh last week recalls the story of the visits of other noted Frenchmen, the Duke of Orleans, subsequently King Louis Philippe of France, and his two brothers, the Duke of Montpennier and the Count of Beaujolais, and years later the Marquis de La Fayette. The French princes were here in 1797; La Fayette May 30 and 31, 1825.
In the history that can be evolved following the line of noted visitors to our city there can be noted many names of those who have attained fame in the world—some great fame. A partial list includes James Monroe, in 1815; John Quincy Adams, 1841; William Henry Harrison, 1841; Zachary Taylor, 1840; Henry Clay, 1848; Daniel Webster, 1833; David Crockett, 1828; Abraham Lincoln, February 14 and 15, 1861; U. S. Grant, 1865, 1866, 1869, 1879. From abroad: Charles Dickens, 1841; Louis Kossuth, 1852; the Prince of Wales, subsequently Edward VII., here in 1860, and Prince Henry of Germany, in 1902.
Besides those mentioned above other presidents of the United States have visited us. "Andy" Johnson was here in his celebrated "swing around the circle" in 1866; R. B. Hayes, in 1878; Garfield several times; McKinley and Roosevelt a number of times, likewise Taft and Wilson. These last four are to say quite recent and well within the memory of most adults. Noted generals came at various times. Some singly; some in attendance upon the great soldier conventions and political meetings that were held here. In some way most of the great generals of the Union Armies became more or less familiar with Pittsburgh through visits, the first to be noted George B. McClellan, in 1861, at the outset of his career. There is more or less of a story to each event. Today, however, the story will concern our French visitors of more than a century ago, to proceed later to some account of LaFayette in America, particularly in Pittsburgh and Western Pennsylvania.
When the younger Louis Philippe was about 17 he was introduced to the Jacobin Club by his father, who favored the first dawning of the revolution. When 19 the youth fought in Austria. When the elder Louis Philippe so soon after his sovereign shared his fate on the guillotine notwithstanding the connection of the duke with the revolutionary cause, the younger Louis Philippe fled from France, wandering or traveling through Switzerland, Hungary, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and the United States.
When Napoleon was overthrown in 1814, Louis Philippe returned to Paris, having been absent 21 years. When Napoleon returned from Elba and the Bourbons were again scattered, Louis Philippe fled to England. When a second time Napoleon was driven from the country the refugee duke again returned and assumed all the honors of his rank under Louis XVIII.
But a jealousy arising between the duke and his sovereign, the duke again visited England, where he remained until 1827, when he was permitted to return to France permanently on condition that he take no part in politics. To this arrangement he adhered, devoting himself to literature and the education of his children until the revolution of 1830 placed him on the French throne. From this throne he was driven in 1848, when Louis Napoleon came.
With his queen, Louis Philippe quitted France in the greatest hast and trepidation to preserve as they imagined, their lives, or if not, to save themselves from personal insult. In disguise they made their way to the seashore and thence to England, where Louis Philippe died in 1850, his life having been subjected to trying vicissitudes.
Much of this history is fascinating. It shows the hospitality of the city and generally the appreciation of the visitors, and most of it takes us back to stirring days. Through the cordial reception Pittsburgh always accorded her guests her fame spread. This feature has been given space in more than one historical work and in works of travel and description.
To the foregoing list we may add other notables, scientists and statesmen. Chief of the latter is James G. Blaine, but as he was a product of Western Pennsylvania and long a taxpayer in Allegheny county, we may regard him as only coming back to the old home.
Pittsburgh was but a border town when three princes of the royal line of France, exiles, came here in their wanderings. One more than a third of a century later came into his heritage and sat on the throne of his ancestors. This was Louis Philippe, and to rightly understand today's story we must go back to the bloody days of the French revolution and in brief recount the story of the wrongs of the noted family of the Duke of Orleans, their sufferings and ill-treatment by the government of France that climbed to power over the corpses of the best people of France.
Louis Philippe was born in Paris, December 4, 1773. He was generally known as the Duke of Orleans previous to his elevation to the throne. His father's name and title was the same as his, to which he succeeded as the eldest son. His father at the time of the French Revolution renounced his title and was called Philippe Egalite.
The mother of Louis Philippe, the subject of the story today, was a most superior woman, who braved the terrors of France in those years and survived. The elder Philippe was a cousin of the unfortunate Louis XVI, husband of the equally unfortunate Marie Antoinette. History has not painted the father in the same colors as the son. Quite the reverse.
In the following paragraphs Louis Philippe will be referred to under that name, the Duke of Orleans and the "Prince." We have no newspapers extant that were published in Pittsburgh during the sojourn of the French princes here. Unfortunately the file of the Gazette, then the only paper, is broken for a year. However, historians and lovers of antique books know of the work, "Life and Times of Louis Philippe, King of the French." The author was N. G. Wright, an English clergyman, the book published in London and Paris. We have also some Pennsylvania history by a Pittsburgher.
The date of publication of Wright's book is not indicated. An appendix is devoted to the visit of Queen Victoria to Louis Philippe in Normandy in 1843. The book antedates that. We are told the author had access to the "Journal of the Eldest Son of the Duke of Orleans Kept by Himself," published in London in 1806. This would be sufficient to that date. Mr. Wright was doubtless cotemporary with later events.
This book is an interesting and exhaustive account of the prince's wanderings, dangers and privations. It is superbly illustrated with steel engravings of the finest tone. These alone make it valuable.
Louis Philippe arrived in Philadelphia October 21, 1796, in a sailing vessel from the Elbe, 27 days en route. He disclosed the secret of his incognito to the captain upon disembarking and relieved that worthy's mind of a great weight as the mysterious passenger had aroused considerable suspicion, the captain taking him for an unsuccessful gambler, of broken spirits and broken fortunes. However, when the Philadelphia newspapers disclosed the identity of the wanderer some fellow passengers "ate humble pie," as the old saying goes, and there were apologies made.
The future king's first residence in Philadelphia was in the basement of a church on Walnut street, between Fourth and Fifth streets. This house was occupied by a clergyman, the Rev. Mr. Marshal. It was a humble home for the prince and long an object of curiosity. There the prince awaited with impatience the reunion with his brothers, his suspense alleviated by their safe arrival after much suffering at sea in a voyage lasting 93 days from Gibraltar.
On their arrival Louis Philippe removed with them to Sixth street. Philadelphia was then the national capitol. Washington's second term was about closing. The duke and his brothers passed the winter in Philadelphia. They became acquainted with Washington and soon greatly esteemed him. They cultivated his friendship, we are told, regarding him as the modern Cincinnatus. The Philadelphia people were equally kind to the exiles, who had the extreme gratification of hearing Washington deliver his farewell address to Congress and "amidst the applause and wonder of a nation which he had freed, saw him descend from the throne of a kingdom to the ranks of a private citizen."
This is pretty good coming from one of royal blood, even from a prince in exile, destined to fill more than one page in the world's history. The princes witnessed another ceremony but a less affecting one, but not without its instructive importance—the inauguration of the nation's second citizen king, Mr. Adams. Among those who were frequently spoken of with affection in after years whom the princes met in Philadelphia were Messrs. Bingham, Dallas, Gallatin and a Mrs. Powell, except Gallatin all of the first families of the city. Louis Philippe was wont to mention these names most frequently when king, especially to Philadelphia and Pennsylvania people he would meet in France.
In John F. Watson's "Annals of Philadelphia and Pennsylvania" we have two pages relating to Louis Philippe and his brothers, during their stay in Philadelphia. Watson places Louis' first residence at the northwest corner of Fourth and Prune streets. He says this was a "pension Francaise; also that the princes came to America at the earnest solicitation of their mother.
Mr. Watson describes Louis Philippe as rather tall, with dark, intelligent eye and complexion—his younger brother had sandy hair—the third and youngest was a beautiful youth and spoke the least English. The conduct of Louis Philippe was entirely devoid of pride and discontent, though the times seemed to indicate a loss of rank and fortune; he remained, however, cheerful and resigned. In fact, nothing could be more unpresuming and gentlemanly than his demeanor.
The younger princes had been confined by the French authorities in an island opposite Marseilles. Their liberty had been granted them on condition they go to America. On the ship with them were upwards of 100 of our countrymen just released from slavery by the Dey of Algiers. Watson is authority for this statement.
Though his father had taken the name Egalite, the duke was called in Philadelphia Mr. d'Orleans. Eminent Frenchmen in the city at the time were Talleyrand, the Duke de Liancourt, Volney, De Noailles, Talon and some others, most of whom returned to France. Their parts in the post-republican scenes of the Revolutionary drama can be read in the history of those exciting days. At the time they were refugees.
In the spring Louis Philippe and his brothers left Philadelphia for Baltimore. From there they crossed the present site of the city of Washington. They passed through Alexandria to Mt. Vernon, where they spent several days with Washington. The Father of our Country took a deep interest in the royal exiles. They appealed to him greatly. Their candid dispositions, varied acquirements and heroic fortitude, easily apparent, could not escape his penetration. He was both a philosopher and friend to them. He had become venerable and could not act as a guide for which he was well fitted otherwise.
Washington gave them letters of introduction and furnished them an itinerary of their trip to the West, the Far West then. On this he marked the most convenient stations and objects of interest. When he ascended the throne Louis Philippe exhibited with pardonable pride this map, Bradley's map of the United States, which he had carried along with him through all his travels in North America. From its appearance as related by one American it had evidently seen hard service.
Washington marked the various routes in red ink and their direction and extent were apparent. At that time traveling in those half-civilized regions, then known as the Wild West, was attended with much difficulty and never free from danger. Louis Philippe followed Washington's business methods in that he kept an accurate account of every dollar he spent during his residence and travels in America. This attention to personal expenditure has long been recognized as having been one of Washington's chief characteristics.
Leaving Mt. Vernon the party journeyed via Leesburg and Harper's Ferry to Winchester, the road Washington had so often traveled. The princes learned from Bush, the celebrated innkeeper of Winchester, of Washington's pioneer days in the region to which they were traveling. The [sic] heard the story of the French and Indian war, the struggle for supremacy on this continent and heard it from Bush who knew Washington intimately, as he had often stopped at Bush's house. Bush talked German, having been in Germany, and Louis Philippe speaking German fluently, they readily conversed. The two spent a delightful time together, to the disgust of the numerous guests who could not understand their conversation.
Quitting Winchester the Duke and his party passed through the Shenandoah Valley to Staunton, thence the long road to Knoxville, Nashville, Louisville, Maysville, Ky., Chillicothe, Ohio, Lancaster and Zanesville to Wheeling, thence through Washington, Pa., to Pittsburgh. Here they made a stay.
The whole itinerary is a story of interest. The party had many adventures. Pittsburgh was the goal of their first projected journey. Originally only a brief halt was intended. Here Louis Philippe made the acquaintance naturally of the best people of the frontier town and many of his countrymen. Chief of the Pittsburghers were Gen. John Neville and Judge Hugh Henry Brackenridge.
The future king quickly estimated the latter a man of genius and probity, but qualified this by the statement that both qualities were disfigured by numerous eccentricities. Wright in his text puts it thus:
He (Brackenridge) exhibited these opposite qualities in his rambling satire of "Modern Chivalry," and several anecdotes of his wit, humor and whimsicality have been preserved in the traditionary history of the West country jurisprudence. This was the judge who had the boldness to desire that he, too, might be impeached before the House of Representatives because his judicial brethren had been publicly accused and had the great good fortune to escape the effects of his temerity, but two-thirds of the Legislature recommended his removal. Few persons with whom the Duke of Orleans came in contact in America were more accurately understood and appreciated by him than Judge Brackenridge, whose character he has since frequently and faithfully drawn for his American visitors.
This was written probably about 1840. Louis Philippe had then been reigning for 11 years. Brackenridge stood manfully by his Federal brethren on the supreme bench. Gov. McKean refused to remove him. This incident arose out of the Judge Addison impeachment in 1803.
We obtain much additional matter from Mr. Wright. This curious incident of the princes' stay in Pittsburgh is related by him. He says that for some years it was told generally of American hotels, translated into many forms and applied to a number of persons. Among the guests stopping at the same hotel here as the Princes was Gen. Eaton, who had distinguished himself by his firmness and ability in conducting a large force from Egypt to Derne in Barca in Tripoli. This was in 1805, however, eight years after the French princes were here. Eaton's force was to cooperate with an American naval force in an attack upon Derne.
We must discount this story as chosen to give Pittsburgh an early reputation for dirt. If Eaton was here at all it was long before he went to Egypt. The story as Wright has it says when the gallant Gen. Eaton had seated himself at the breakfast table at which Louis Philippe and his brothers with other guests were present, the general called the female attendant to him and said in a loud and severe tone of voice, "You gave me a dirty room and a dirty bed last night." The landlord, who overheard him, without making any defense or offering the least explanation, walked over to the general and said to him, "Since you have had such a dirty room and bed, my house is evidently too dirty for you. You shall leave it this instant." The order we are assured was executed almost as expeditiously as it was given," concludes Mr. Wright.
It must be admitted that this is a curious incident to put in print in London and Paris and to be read and commented on in the place where it is alleged to have happened 124 years afterward. Perhaps had the gallant general not been bounced in the presence of royalty this item of hotel keeping and a landlord's spunk would not now bob up to plague us. The royal party must have been greatly surprised. We are justified in terming the story a libel.
Having gratified their curiosity in Pittsburgh, the French guests went to Lake Erie and followed the lake shore to Buffalo. For a night at the Cattauraugas reservation they were the guests of the Seneca Indians there. There the Count de Beaujolais lost his favorite dog, a beauty, and mourned him greatly, whereupon the Duke and party returned, having been assured of the safety of their possessions by the chief. The dog was recovered, notwithstanding considerable lying on the part of the chief. The Indians missed a feast that day.
Writing home to his sister from Philadelphia, the Duke of Montpensier, of date August 14, 1797, in a most affectionate letter begins:
I hope you have received the letters which we wrote you from Pittsburgh about two months ago. We were then in the midst of a long journey, which we have terminated only 15 days since. It occupied us four months. We journeyed during that time a thousand leagues and always upon the same horses, except the last hundred leagues, which we performed partly by water, partly on foot, partly by hired horses and partly by stage, or public conveeyance [sic]. We have seen many Indians, and even remained several days in their country. They are in general the best people in the world, except when they are intoxicated or inflamed with passion. They received us with kindness, and our being Frenchmen contributed not a little to this reception, for they are very fond of our nation. The most interesting object we visited after the Indian villages was certainly the cataract of Niagara, which I wrote you from Pittsburgh we were going to see. It is the most astonishing and majestic spectacle I have ever witnessed.
The Duke made a sketch of the falls from which he made a water coloring, concerning which he stated, "My dear little sister shall certainly see at our beloved mother's home."
The Duke describes the hardships of travel, the poor food at times, the miserable huts in which they sometimes lodged, and often they had to endure the taunts and murmurings of the inhabitants, who did not hesitate to turn them out of doors; indeed often refused them admission. "I declare," he wrote, "I should never recommend a similar journey to any friend of mine, yet we are far from repenting for what we have done, since we have all three brought back with us excellent health and more experience.
On the portages, journeying from Buffalo to Philadelphia, through the wilderness via Tioga Point, the king-to-be carried his load without murmuring. He did his bit, like the man he was.
The party found the yellow fever raging in Philadelphia upon their return there in July, 1797. They were almost out of funds, and not until September did their mother, who had been restored to her possessions, find opportunity to send them a remittance. They sent out from Philadelphia in December, 1797, in a season of unwonted rigor, and descended the Ohio from Pittsburgh amid islands of ice, arriving at New Orleans, February 17, 1798. They had journeyed over the mountains to Pittsburgh via Carlisle.
Arriving at Pittsburgh they found the Monongahela frozen over, but the Allegheny still open. They purchased a keelboat then lying on the ice, and with "incredible industry," the account says, "they managed to transport it to the Point. They launched their frail barque and commenced the descent of the Ohio to Wheeling." Above Wheeling the river had closed "with a compact mass"—a gorge we would say. So the voyagers drew up their boat on the bank and were contented to delay a few days.
Louis Philippe, becoming impatient, climbed a high hill and saw that the ice extended only about three miles and beyond that the river was open. They waited three days and taking advantage of the first opening in the ice, passed through some miles of broken ice and got ahead of the main mass and resumed their journey by river. An American Army courier did not try it, so the Frenchmen beat him to the lower river by three weeks.
John F. Watson in his "Annals" states:
"The late Morgan Neville, whose acquaintance I had formed in our youth, was pleased to write some very pleasant recollections of his native place, and especially of some individuals and incidents which it will be gratifying to preserve in these pages."
Morgan Neville was a son of Col. Pressly Neville and grandson of Gen. John Neville and was born in Pittsburgh. He was at one time editor of the Pittsburgh Gazette, following the retirement of John Scull, the founder.
Mr. Watson proceeds to tell the story of the French settlers in Pittsburgh, particularly the Chevalier Dubac and the French princes in 1797. There is much French in the story which will be omitted. He wrote:
About 1796 the Duke of Orleans, now Louis Philippe, King of France, accompanied by his brothers, Montpensier and Beaujolais, came to the Western country. On arriving in Pittsburgh, then a small village, they found one of two "emigres" who had formerly filled prominent stations under the ancient regime but who were now earning a scanty subsistence in carrying on some little business of merchandise. On [sic] of them, the Chevalier Dubac, one of the worthiest of men and an admirable philosopher, kept a little shop, then denominated "par excellence," a confectionery. The articles, and the only ones, by the way, entitling the chevalier's establishment to this attractive name, were kernels of hazelnuts, walnuts and peach stones enclosed in an envelope of burnt maple sugar fabricated by the skillful hands of the chevalier himself.
Dubac was the most popular citizen of the village; he had a monkey of admirable qualities and his pointer (Sultan) could, like the dog in the Arabian Nights, tell counterfeit money from good; at least the honest folks who supplied our little market with chickens and butter thought so. It was amusing to hear the master of the shop calling his two familiars to aid him in selecting the good from the bad 'leven-penny bits.
Neville then tells of the dog and monkey in their important role and the crowds that would gather in the little shop on Market street. In a few years Dubac was enabled, through the custom this brought, to convert his little shop into a handsome fancy store. Other attractions were added, notably a Dutch clock, a wonder that played a waltz before striking. This was novel indeed, as such music had never been heard in the West and in time it came to be insinuated that the chevalier's clock had been one of the rare ornaments of Marie Antoinette's. All French furniture in those days was traced back to the Revolution.
The chevalier steadfastly refused to place a value on the clock. That and the dog and the monkey were worth at least $15,000 to him, as he realized that sum in a few years from a foundation of a few pounds of sugar and a peck of hazelnuts.
Neville writes the name DuBac and says he was a perfect illustration of the French character of that day. When he closed his shop and entered society he was the delight of all his auditors. An accomplished scholar, he was possessed of the most polished manners and kind disposition. He was a younger son, the "cadet" of a noble family. Think of it! Selling home-made confectionery and getting rich on the frontier of the great West of America!
Dubac had traveled much and had had his eyes open. He had been to the Holy Land and had served as an attache of the French legation at Constantinople and had traveled through as much of Asia as it was possible for a European to do.
Such was the man to whom Morgan Neville attests he was indebted for the most unalloyed enjoyments of his youth and whose instructions and exquisite belle letters [sic] served to make Neville the fine literary character he became. "Such," he says also, "was the man whom the sons of Orleans found in a frontier American village—in Pittsburgh."
It was Dubac who induced Louis Philippe and his brothers to remain in Pittsburgh. It was he who introduced the strangers to Gen. Neville, whose house was always the temple of hospitality and at whose table many an unfortunate "emigre" found a hearty welcome. Gen. Neville had known some great countrymen of the prince's in the war of American independence, Rochambeau and La Fayette especially.
Gen. Neville, therefore, could easily and naturally feel the deepest respect for the unfortunate Louis Philippe, not alone as a monarch but as an amiable and virtuous man. The strangers accepted the hospitality offered through the kindness of this countryman and soon became intimate with the family of the kind-hearted American. The charms of the son, Louis Philippe, and his accomplishments were potent in removing for the time the heinous career of his father.
Morgan Neville says Louis was rather taciturn and melancholy. At times he would be perfectly abstracted; sometimes for half an hour gazing steadfastly into the coal fire that blazed in the grate. Roused from his reverie, he would apologize for his breach of decorum and call one of the Neville children, who were studying French, to read to him. Louis Philippe had taught school in a Swiss college before coming to America, and, Neville says, also in Canada. Louis put the finishing touches to the education Dubac had given young Neville and the two made him, too, an accomplished scholar. He was 11 years old when he knew Louis Philippe.
The duke seldom adverted to the scenes of the revolution in France, but criticised the battles of the times and easily convinced the many men of military fame in Pittsburgh that he was fitted to shine in the profession of arms. Louis, it will be remembered, had fought in the Austrian war in his youth.
We must pass for the present much interesting matter concerning these exiles in Pittsburgh, especially that pertaining to the two brothers. Louis Philippe married the Princess Marie Amelie, daughter of the King of Naples. She accepted him although he was poor and in exile. She was 27 years of age at the time. It proved a love match and they were a most devoted couple to the end. Seven children were born to them.
Such is only a brief and hurried story of a sad fate—father guillotined and execrated in history, the gentle mother thrown into prison, the sons immured in a castle, passing the morning of life without a fault save that of illustrious birth, treated cruelly by the powers that disgusted the world.
