NAPOLEONIC RELICS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 18 July 1907, Page 4

NAPOLEONIC RELICS.

An interesting suit lias just been decided by tbe First Civil Tribunal of the Seine, by which the ex-Empress Eugenie has obtained the restitution of a number of historical articles which belonged to Napoleon 1. and to her husband. In giving judgment, the Court, after admitting Hull the claim wan well founded made the somewhat curious confession that, as the objects had lieen the private property of the Imperial family, and were no longer interesting from a historical |ioiut of view, they should lie restored to tin- claimant. They consist chiefly of articles of bronze, of valuable vases, statues, art furniture, pictures, and tapestries. Some are at Fnntainebleau, others at the Elysce. Complegue, Kamboiiillrt, Versailles and the Louvre. Among the articles which will now pass into the hands of the ex-Empress are a book given to the first \a|Kileon by tbe Pope, the hilt of a swonl of honor offered to the conqueror on his return from Egypt, a collection of uniforms, saddlery, pistols ami swords, captured at the battle of the Pyramids, a state sword of Xa|wleon 1., the bridle bit he used at Waterloo, his famous grey overcoat and famous hat. the tricolor cockade which he wore in his hat when he bill adieu to the Imperial Guard at Fontalnebleau, the little wooilen bench on wlift he often gat in his garden at St. Helena, and the cordon of the Order of the Holy Ghost worn by Louis XVI. The ex-Empress sought restitution of these relics in 1879, but as all the records had been burnt by the Communist* ni 18TI, the coarts were then unable to give a decision in her favor.