A MEMORIAL IN THE WRONG PLACE.

Samoa Times and South Sea Gazette, Volume 3, Issue 113, 29 November 1879, Page 2

A MEMORIAL IN THE WRONG PLACE.

♦ We were sanguine enough to believe that the folly into which society has been betrayed by an exaggerated sentiment about the late Priuce Imperial .had touohed the lowest depth when it was announced that the Dean of Westminister had granted permiision for the erection of a monument in Westminister Abbey. When the statemeat was first mode that the roquest hod been presented by a "distinguished pelsonage," and that the Dean had acceded to it with his usual courtesy, it soemed to be nothing but a poor hoax. It might well appear incredible that sueh honour should bo granted to one who had ne relation to this country except that ho had found here a safe and happy refugo when drivon from the land which has suffered so eruolly from the ambition of his race, and who, in truth, had no claim to distinction of any kind except as the representative, of pretensions the faintest recognition of whioh would justly irritate the susceptibilities of our friendly neighbours in France Let (he tjuth be plainly told. Had the

• ill-fated Prine* not been a member of the mi supposed -by its ineaibere and adherent* to have some claim to rula over tb* French people, the suggMtion. to give him. a plaoe in oar venerable Abbey would hare been flouted with utter contempt On what other ground could suoh a personal have been mad* 1 The requesting very fact that it is proposed to erect the monument in what the Dean regards as a kind of Royal mausoleum is virtually an admission that it is as one of the privileged families of Royalty that this distinguished honour is to be accorded to him. There is, iudeed, lio other_ group in which it would be passible to include him. If he had the genius which would have raised him above all national distinctions and made him one of the world's literary nobility, he has certainly riven no sign of it. Whether had he lived, ho might have become a great warrior, like the first of his raoe, wlioie military tradition has been and is such a ourse to France, it ia impossible to say, but there was certainly nothing in the reckless rushing into danger which led to his death that entitles him to any commeinointion. It ia only as a Prince Imperial, with some kind of title to the government of France, that he can be singled out for a place among the illustrious dead who sleep beueath the roof of that grand old church, which is thue associated in English minds with the reinemberance of all that is most impressive in the national story, most precious in the national literature, or most heroic iu the national chivalry. But to acknowledge him friend and intimate of our own Royal princes though he may hare been, is to put a slight on'the French Republic, on which its enemies are sure to put the most sinister interpretation, and to turn to the most mischievous ends. It seemed impossible that a proceeding as laoking iu true chivalry as in sound policy would be seriously contemplated. It was possible enough that in the strange excitement which had seized certain classes, some one might be so carried away as even to propose that the honour which we give to our noblest sons should be bestowed on this young exile, whoso tragic fato had produced ao deep and natural an impression. But that it could bu seriously entertained, still more that it could actually be adopted, might well be pronounced outside the region of possibility*. ■But even this is not the worst. The Dean has not. only granted the desired permission, but he has been pleased to statu his reasons in a somewhat elaborate memorandum, and the reason aggravates the offence. Until he wrote, it was possible to believe that the Dean had acted under the influence of that kindly nature in which speech never fails him. His memorandum shows that he has not acted from mere impulse, but after a careful survey • of all the conditions. Tho Due de Montpansier, an obscure individual about whom littlo or nothing is now remembered, except that he was tho brother of Louis Philips, to .whose death political significance is attached, is buried in the Royal Chapel, where a monument to another French Prince is to be erected. The preoedent is not complete, even if precedent were to be absolute in this matter. Iu our judgment, the precedent itself was a great mistake, aud oue which it would be very unwise to imimtate. But, suoh as it is, insufficient. Beyond his own circle, thore was no one to whom it was of any importance where tho Due de Montponsier was laid. He was not the hope of a daring unscrupulous party, prepared to take advantage of an iu-i-ident which could holp them to keep alive a sentiment and passion by which they hope to ovorthrow tho Goverumout of France. One of their journals has already proposed that the widowed aad childless Empress shall return to France with the remains of her husband and her son, and defy tho Ropublic to striko at the woman and the two corpses, by means of which it is intended to create a demonstration that may be fatal to the Republic. How a party tired with such ambitions, and prepared for such desperate expedients will endeavour to use the proposed monument, it is not difficult to forosue. Yet the Dean thinks that as the tomb of nn obscure French Duke is already in the Chapel, there is |-,uHiciont justification for tho erection of what is sure to be made a shrino for Bouarpartist worship, at which may be kindled the torch that shall light up tho fires of discord throughout a country with which wo are on forms not only of peace, but of amity. David Livingstone was a Dissentor, and yet ho has his roßting-ploce in Westminister Abbey. We deubt whether the Dean would regard as furnishing a sufficient reason why a similar honour should bo accorded to some eminent Nonconformist who had been distinguished chiefly for his zeal in opposition to State establishments of religion. But the Dean has another reason. Near the sito for the proposed Statue Jw " the grave, now (alas II rifled and undislinguished, of tho ruler whom history has always compaved more or less with the first . Emperor Napoleon dynasty." We have sometimes been told by soma of his admirers that the Doan is defective in the faculty for tracing analogies, that he deteots them where they do net exiet, and ignores them where they do. But of oil the illustrations we might find of thin in his utterances, we know of nothing which can compare with this. There u , an empty tomb of one of the greatest i Englishmen; therefore, we aro to .have i astatuptoau amiable, genial, and ill- ■ fatod but uudistingiti-ihed-young French- , man, and " it was thought that his his- j

f torical associations woiild be, aijeast, not I unauiUfcie"! The Dean hVdeariy uni aware of the insult' that he is offering to 1 to English Nonconformists, and all others • who hold the memoir of Oliver Cromwell • in reverence. , But thja is not surprising. , He ia equally insensible to the' insult he > offers to the French people and their i Republican rulers when he passes his i very unnceasary eulogy upon the Orlean- ' ist priuoes, and tells us that" even should the present Government ef France fail i to establish itself-in that country, it » to the hope of a Constitutional Monarchy that I should look under the guidance of i those Orleans princes whom, if I may . be permitted to say so, I regard with so • sincere aid grateful a respect." \Ys i hope M. Waddmgton aud his colleagues i will be grateful with this public de- , olaration of the Dean's creed on French , politics, his pleasant suggestion that the Republio is not established and may not t last, his sincere and gruteful respect " ; for the princes whoso partisans showed so muoh respect for the liberties of France ■ during the struggle which ended in the overthrow of liroglie regime. Thero is' one satisfaction about this > Memorandum. The Frenoh, Government > may see from if that the worthy divine • with whom the decision • rested attached ! no political significance to the matter, i but was earned away by some historic fancies of his own, which lie outside the region of practical politics altogether. i But this' does not end the matter. The position of the Deau is a mere accident, and an unfortunate accident. Un- ' happily, the j English people are committed by his decision, and against this we protest. Wo have so niueh rospeot for Dean Stanley that we would gladly suffer his fancies to be gratified if they did not involve the nation; but wo are not content that ho should plunge us further into these Imperialist follies, which are ludicrous on ono side, but very mischievous upon another. It is worse than absurd to dcscrihle the Prince as " giving bis life for the country which had received him and his parents as its guests," and claiming gratitude for him ou this account. He did nothing of the kind. Ho threw himself against advjee, and to the serious annoyance of those who had the conduct of our military affairs, into a war with which he had no concern, nor even a pretext for interference, and, when there, by his own recklessness rushed on his untimely death. He was in Africa not to fight for England, but to build a military reputation which might impress France. There are numbers who, feeling to the utmost a true sympathy for the bereaved widow in the loss of hnr only child, have rend with indignation of the exaggerated demonstrations, of English grief, but have been silent because they regarded them as a transient phenomenon. But if under the intluenco of " tragic associations," or historic fancies, or personal friendships, if is proposed to perpetuate the memory of all this in Westminister Abboy, the time is como for outspoken protest. Even tha Dean should bo made to understand that above the ecclesiastic to whom the temporary oustody of the Abbey is torn mi t ted, thero is the nation to whom that Church belongs, and whose opinion as to the mode of appropriating it ought to be decisive.