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PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
Prince or Creole 
 
 THE MYSTERY OF LOUIS XVII 
 
 By PUBLIUS V. LAWSON, Author of "Bravest of the 
 Brave, Capt. Charles de Langlade" and "Family Genealogy" 
 
 ^!? 
 
 Geo. Banta Publishing Compciny 
 Menasha, Wisconsin 
 
. 3 
 
 Entered According to Act of Congress 
 IN THE Year 1905 
 
 BY 
 
 PUBLIUS V. LAWSON 
 
 In THE Office of the Librarian of Congress 
 
 AT Washington 
 
>3 
 
 ^4 
 
 TO LILLIAN EDITH LAWSON 
 
 ivil735S0 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTKB. PAGE 
 
 I. The Prince is born 11 
 
 II. Marie Antoinette appears for the last time in Regal 
 
 magnificence 19 
 
 III. The Storming of the Bastille 25 
 
 IV. At midnight a cry was heard: "Save the Queen, they 
 come to assassinate her." 29 
 
 V. Wit and wisdom of the baby Dauphin .... 43 
 
 VI. Midnight flight to Varennes 57 
 
 VII. Massacre at the Tuileries 70 
 
 VIII. The King falls a sacrifice to anarchy 80 
 
 IX. The Little King torn from his mother .... 89 
 
 X. The Little King did not die in the Temple . . . . 97 
 
 XI. Flight of the Little King to America 134 
 
 XII. Eleazer Williams 145 
 
 XIII. The Little King recovers health and mind ... 153 
 
 XIV. Those Long Meadow Da}'s 161 
 
 XV. Scouting between the lines 177 
 
 XVI. The eloquent Missionary to the Oneida .... 180 
 XVII. The dream of the Indian Empire in the far West . .190 
 
 XVIII. Married 209 
 
 XIX. All through the 3'ears the ghost of the Lost King hovered 
 
 about him .217 
 
 XX. The Prince de Joinville crosses America to interview 
 
 Eleazer Williams 224 
 
 XXI. "Paint me as I am" . . 247 
 
 XXII. Fortunes of a missionary 262 
 
 XXIII. Family and Descendants 276 
 
 XXIV. Gold, Silver, brass and china 281 
 
 XXV. Library of Eleazer Williams 288 
 
 Appendix 296 
 
 Index 310 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 The Marseillaise Hymn ...... Frontispiece 
 
 Louis XVI, King of France ....... 11 
 
 Marie Antoinette, Queen of France ..... 19 
 
 Versailles .......... 27 
 
 The Dauphin ......... 35 
 
 Palace of Tuileries ........ 43 
 
 The Mob at Varsailles ....... 61 
 
 The Massacre at The Tuileries . . ... 71 
 
 Marie Antoinette led to Execution ...... 95 
 
 The Little King in the Temple ...... 99 
 
 Eleazer Williams, 1806 138 
 
 Eieazer Williams, 1852 ....... 154 
 
 Eleazer Williams, 1852 ........ 170 
 
 Eleazer Williams, 1850 ....... 186 
 
 Indian Council at Butte des Morts ...... 206 
 
 The Oneida of Today ....... 207 
 
 Mrs. Mary Hobart Williams ....... 210 
 
 Prince de Joinville ........ 224 
 
 Williams Homestead ........ 262 
 
 The Glen near Williams Home ...... 267 
 
 Mr. George Williams, the last Bourbon ..... 279 
 
 Brass Candle and Memoranda Book ..... 281 
 
 Williams China, Alex J. Reid Collection . . . . .283 
 
 Williams China, Mrs. Dunham Collection .... 285 
 
 Williams China, Mrs. Dunham Collection ..... 286 
 
THE STORY OF THE LOST PRINCE. 
 
 THOUGH written in popular style, this book 
 is intended as the real verified history and 
 complete biography of the Lost Little King, 
 uncrowned Louis XVII, of Prance; the thrilling' 
 story of a real life, that seems almost unreal 
 enoug'h for romance. It has been a sad tale of 
 two continents for a century. 
 
 A recent visitor to Paris, writes of the g"reat 
 interest taken in all that pertains to Marie 
 Antoinette; of how her palaces are sought out; 
 fancy prices paid for her pictures; and they flock 
 to the room she occupied; g"aze on the bed she 
 slept in and examine all articles once used by her, 
 and never seem to tire; and it may be equally 
 said of the son she loved so fondly, that the sad 
 misfortunes of the little prince forever appeal to 
 our sympathy. We hope he was taken alive from 
 the Temple. 
 
 It is a half century since Rev. Dr. Hanson's 
 carefully written and interesting- "Lost Prince," 
 published by Harpers, first collected the evidence 
 which tended to prove the identity of Louis XVII 
 with Eleazer Williams. For obvious reasons the 
 escape of the little King- from the Temple has 
 been persistently denied in certain quarters- 
 Since his reported death France has been ruled 
 by Napoleon, the restored Bourbons, Orleans, 
 little Napoleon and ag^ain a Republic, powerful 
 interests which have always been averse to his 
 discovery. Since the eloquent Dr. Hanson wrote 
 there has been disclosed and brought to light 
 many new facts which tend to strengthen the 
 view he contended for. 
 
There are breaks still remaining in the testi- 
 mony, else there would be no mystery. The 
 object of this work is to present the whole case 
 as it appears to date. 
 
 It is true that some references might have been 
 stated more positively, but such as have been 
 published heretofore have in a general way been 
 stated in substance. All the new facts which 
 could be gathered from old people or letters and 
 journals have been searched out as well as wide 
 correspondence could disclose them. Hundreds 
 of published articles and works have been read 
 and their substance given here when of sufficient 
 importance. The authority for each statement 
 we have intended to give in its connection. We 
 have sought to impartially state the whole case 
 as a lawyer should to the Court, conscious that 
 the dignity of the profession is not involved in 
 the case; yet always being careful to enquire if it 
 was permissible to make the statement. Much 
 of the evidence we are aware, would not be ad- 
 mitted in American courts, though it would be 
 allowed in those of France. Again there are 
 sources of historical matter admitted in the 
 learning of schools which come to us in shapes, 
 no court would allow in testimony, which the 
 dignity of time will not permit us to ignore. The 
 progress made in restoring the list of Rev. 
 "Williams' rare library and rich china and brass 
 has disclosed a side of his nature little known 
 and of more value than an antiquarian pastijie. 
 
 If the work discloses nothing more than a great 
 American missionary, we shall yet feel it has not 
 been in vain. Publius V. Lawson. 
 
 Menasha, Wise, March 24, 1905. 
 
Louis XVI, King of France 
 
 Father of the lost Prince, from a painting in the Louvre. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 THE PRINCE IS BORN. 
 
 FOR seven years after her marriag"e, Marie 
 Antoinette had no hope of motherhood, but 
 on December 19, 1778, during" the American 
 Revolution, Madam was born. The etiquette of 
 allowing all persons of every rank, indiscrimi- 
 nately to enter the room at the moment of the 
 birth of princes, originated in the necessit3^of the 
 public witnessing legitimacy, and was observed 
 so literally, that '-'torrents of inquisitive persons 
 poured into the chamber." The chamber was 
 packed with a motley crowd. "Two savayards 
 got upon the furniture to see over their heads." 
 The noise and the knowledge of the sex of the 
 infant, made the Queen faint. The Doctor ex- 
 claimed: "Give her air, warm water, she must 
 be bled in the foot." The king wrenched open 
 the windows. The Princess Lamballe was car- 
 ried insensible from the room. The people were 
 urged out of the room, some of them dragged out 
 by their coat collars. The cruel etiquette of pub- 
 lic accoucheur was ever after abolished. The 
 royal family wished for a priuce; but the Queen 
 pressed the baby princess to her heart, as she 
 said: "Poor little one, you are not what was 
 wished for, but none the less dear to me. A son 
 
 11 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 would have been the property of the state, you 
 shall be mine." Great rejoicing celebrated the 
 birth of the princess, the theatres were free, the 
 people sang: 
 
 A Dauphin we asked of our Queen; 
 A princess announces him near: 
 Since one of the graces is seen, 
 Young- cupid will quickly appear. 
 
 The princess was named Marie Therese Char- 
 lotte, but known as Madam Royal, to distinguish 
 her from the sisters and aunts of the King- at Ver- 
 sailles. She was afterward in the Temple prison 
 with her brother and the King and Queen. Early 
 betrothed to the Ducde Angouleme, son of Count 
 de' Artois, she married him after the Revolution. 
 Several weeks after the birth of the princess, the 
 cure sent to the Queen her wedding ring, which 
 he had received under the seal of confession, with 
 an avowal that it was stolen seven years before, 
 to be used in sorceries to prevent her having any 
 children. The hopes of all classes were crowned 
 with universal joy on the birth of the first Dau- 
 phin in 1781. This young prince whose robust 
 health and precocious intelligence aroused the 
 greatest hopes for a future great king, suddenly 
 became affected with rickets and died at Meudon 
 in the month of June, 1789; but in 1785 the Queen 
 had given birth to Louis Charles of France, Duke 
 of Normandy, who now at four years of age be- 
 came Dauphin and through the terrible years of 
 
 12 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 his childhood was destined to witness the most 
 horrible scenes of the French Revolution, him- 
 self a victim of its awful punishments, to lose 
 both father and mother by the guillotine, to re- 
 main uncrowned Louis XVII, and his history 
 mysteriously obscured to save his life. This is 
 the prince who gives title to this book "Prince or 
 Creole," by a later obscurity of his life, when 
 found on the forest banks of Lake George, then 
 a wild uninhabited portion of the United States 
 among the American Indians and claimed by them 
 as their child. 
 
 The Duke of Normandy was born March 27, 
 1785, in the palace of Versailles. At his birth 
 the mad rush of the crowd was not permitted as 
 on the birth of Madam. The high officials and 
 princes present were recommended as sufficient 
 witnesses of legitimacy. The Duchesse dePolig- 
 nac was appointed state governess to the "chil- 
 dren of France," with the use of splendid apart- 
 ments in the palace. The beautiful lady, by her 
 modest and gentle manners, had long been a fav- 
 orite and confidential friend of the Queen, much 
 to the chagrin of others less favored. The Queen 
 was pleased to have this opportunity to favor her 
 with this position, more especially as it would 
 give the Queen the easier access to her children 
 at all hours, as she dearly loved them, and wished 
 to have them by her as much as possible. This 
 period was perhaps the happiest of her life. 
 
 13 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Her children engrossed her thoug-hts and every 
 moment of her time not taken up by necessary 
 affairs incident to her high position. She had 
 now been in France so long she had nearly for- 
 gotten her native tongue. One day the Queen re- 
 quested a German Baroness to speak Dutch to her. 
 After listening to the language, she remarked: 
 "I am glad to hear again the old Dutch ; it is a fine 
 language; but French, when spoken by my child- 
 ren seems to me the sweetest language in the 
 world!" Her youngest child, little Princess Sophie 
 died at the age of eleven months, while at the same 
 time the delicate condition of the first Dauphin did 
 not improve, causing her great anxiety. The Queen 
 took refuge at Little Trianon to indulge her 
 grief alone, asking Madam Elizabeth sister of the 
 King, whom she loved to come with her. "We 
 shall weep together over the death of my poor 
 little angel. I need all your heart to comfort 
 mine, " ' was the message she had sent to Elizabeth. 
 
 The birth of the Duke of Normandy, the second 
 Dauphin, by securing the succession to the crown, 
 would at an earlier time have been hailed with 
 great rejoicing, but so many ambitious intrigues 
 at court, unable to obtain the favor of the Queen, 
 had easily poisoned public opinion against "the 
 Austrian" as they ungallantly called the Queen; 
 and the happy birth of the second Dauphin, gave 
 notice to the Queen of the unfortunate change in 
 public opinion, by the silence of the people. 
 
 14 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 When soon after she went to Paris for her thanks- 
 giving- service at the ancient Cathedral, the cold 
 reception by the populace caused her the most 
 painful surprise. She had wished to take the 
 Dauphin with her and his presence might have 
 changed her reception; but the wife of one of the 
 princes claimed the right of the seat next the 
 Queen in the carriage, and would accept no other 
 seat. The Dauphin could have no other seat hav- 
 ing precedence over the princess. The dispute 
 was settled by leaving the Dauphin at home. 
 Wherever she went during the day's ceremonies, 
 she was received in dead silence. Mortified be- 
 yond endurance by this conduct of the peoj^le, as 
 soon as she reached the Paris palace of the King, 
 the Tuileries, she refused to see the courtiers as- 
 sembled to greet her, but quickl}" gaining her 
 apartments b}^ a back stair, followed by her good 
 companion Madam Elizabeth, she burst into tears, 
 repeating: "What have I done to them? What 
 have I done?" 
 
 On the walls of the palace of Versailles there 
 still hangs a charming painting by Madam Le- 
 brun, of the Queen in her apartments, surrounded 
 b}^ her three children and the empty cradle of lit- 
 tle Sophie covered with a dark veil. She holds 
 on her lap the little Due de Normandie, the sec- 
 ond Dauphin, then a babe in arms. 
 
 Driven to desperation by the state of the finan- 
 ces, Necker the man in charge of ways and means, 
 
 15 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 a vain though intelligent financier, tried econo- 
 my as the great Turgot had done, and like him 
 was assailed by all who flourished on abuses. 
 Necker resigned. Colonne a bold, ambitious man, 
 came into office. Though recommended by her 
 Polignace friends, the Queen did not approve of 
 Colonne, and had remarked in the hearing" of his 
 friends: "That the finances of France passed 
 alternatel}^ from the hands of an honest man into 
 those of a skillful knave. " Colonne had but just 
 been sworn into office and for the first time in 
 conference with the King, when he remarked: 
 "Sir the comptrollers general have many means 
 of paying their debts; I have at this moment two 
 hundred and twent}' thousand livres to pay on de- 
 mand. I thought it right to tell your Majesty, 
 and leave everything to your goodness." The 
 King astonished at such language, stared a mo- 
 ment at his new minister, walked to his desk, 
 then turning to Colonne, gave him the means to 
 discharge his private debts. Meeting with M. de 
 Machault, the new finance minister said to him: 
 "If my own affairs had not been in such a bad 
 state, I should not have undertaken those of 
 France." He dismayed men of foresight and ex- 
 perience, but the public was charmed, as were the 
 courtiers. He borrowed money to pay all man- 
 ner of arrears, paying as high as eleven per cent. 
 "A man who wants to borrow," he said "must 
 appear rich, and to do so must dazzle by his ex- 
 
 16 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 penditures. Economy is good for nothing;, it 
 warns those who have money not to lend it." 
 New public works on a gigantic scale were be- 
 gun. Great harbors, fortifications and ships were 
 constructed and begun. "Money abounds in the 
 Kingdom," he told the King. "The people never 
 had more work. Lavishness rejoices their eyes. " 
 His practice tallied with his theories. The cour- 
 tiers hadrecoveredthe golden age; it was scarcely 
 necessar}'' to solicit the ro5"al favor. ""When I 
 saw everybody holding out hands, I held my hat, " 
 said one prince. But after several years, even 
 the audacitj" of Colonne was at an end. He wrote 
 the King, that though there were but two bags of 
 twelve hundred livres each in the royal treasury 
 when he came in, and he had given the treasury 
 a momentary credit, to "the terrible embarrass- 
 ment concealed beneath the appearance of the 
 happiest tranquility," it must be confessed that 
 France is only kept ujd at this moment by arti- 
 fice. If the illusion were destroj^ed, what would 
 become of us with a deficit of a hundred million 
 livres a year." He proposed the calling of the 
 Assembly of Notables to design some remedy. 
 There had been but five such assemblies in the 
 history of France, and the last was in 1626, one 
 hundred and sixty-one years before. The Nota- 
 bles, one hundred and thirty-seven in number, 
 were besides seven royal princes, the titled peers, 
 high clergy and presidents of parliaments. The 
 
 17 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 state of the finances was laid before them, and 
 they were implored to decree an equal distribu- 
 tion of taxes by which they themselves should bear 
 part of the burden. Violent opposition was 
 encountered. The correctness of Colonne's state- 
 ments were challenged. All were against any 
 chang'e in the ancient methods; the nobles and 
 clergy because they would not pay taxes and the 
 others because they disliked the intimation that 
 their popular enthusiasm had involved the crown 
 in the immense expenditure of the American war, 
 and the war with England. The amount of addi- 
 tional taxes required to meet the annual obliga- 
 tions was equal to thirty million dollars, a small 
 sum for a great nation to meet. After a stormy 
 and useless session of three months, the assem- 
 bly dissolved. Not willing to 3^ield a small part 
 of their fortune for the public credit, these nota- 
 bles who held two thirds of the property of 
 Prance, blindly persisting in their one sided 
 method, brought about conditions within five 
 years, which in the great Revolution lost to them 
 all their property and most of their lives. The 
 "Assembly of Notables had failed like all the at- 
 tempts at reform made in succession by Louis 
 XVI's advisers." It had revealed to the country 
 the bad state of the finances. It had taught the 
 people the firm resolve of the privileged classes 
 to defeat reforms, which affected their interests; 
 and the "salutary habit of thinking- about public 
 affairs." It was "an immense stride towards the 
 Revolution." 
 
 18 
 
Marie Antoinette Queen of France 
 
 Mother of the Lost Prince, from a painting in the Louvre. 
 
II 
 
 MARIE ANTOINETTE APPEARS FOR THE LAST TIME 
 IN REGAL MAGNIFICENCE 
 
 FIFTEEN years had rolled by since King- 
 Louis XV had gone to his dishonored grave; 
 and on the mighty current bearing France 
 toward reform, dragging her into the Revolution, 
 King Louis XVI, honest and sincere, weak and 
 undecided as he was good, "was still blindly 
 seeking to clutch the helm which was slij^ping 
 from his feeble hands." The King at this period 
 has been pictured as having fine features, though 
 impressed with melancholy; his walk was heavy 
 and unmajestic, and person and hair much neg- 
 lected. His voice was not agreeable, and when 
 excited was shrill. He had a taste for study, and 
 read much, knew the English language and could 
 translate Milton. He was a skillful geographer 
 and fond of drawing and coloring maps; per- 
 fectly well versed in history. His mechanical 
 tastes led him to practice at the forge in making 
 locks and tools, and working copper. He made 
 an excellent copper globe for the study of the 
 earth which is still preserved in the Mazarin 
 library, having himself invented and made the 
 mechanism with which it was operated. The King 
 had been born weak and delicate, but from the 
 
 19 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 age of twenty-four possessed a robust constitu- 
 tion. Instances of his strength were often men- 
 tioned at court. He inherited it from his mother, 
 who was a Saxon princess whose family were 
 celebrated for years for robustness. The memory 
 of the King for names, items, figures and events 
 was remarkable. One day the minister had gone 
 over accounts with him, when he pointed to an 
 item sa3ing, "this is a double charge, bring me 
 last year's accounts, and I will show you." He 
 would not permit an injustice. As a man of know- 
 ledge, an accountant, and of honesty and kind- 
 ness he was superior; but as a man of will 
 amid conflicting opinions, he was devoid of will. 
 Though he knew which opinion was best he was 
 easily influenced. He was a good husband, a 
 virtuous man, a tender father and an indulgent 
 master. In the times in which he lived it was an 
 extreme virtue that he did not drink, gamble or 
 consort with women. Austere and rigid respect- 
 ing the laws of the church, he fasted throughout 
 the whole of Lent; but the wisdom of the age had 
 disposed his mind toward toleration. 
 
 At last being greatl}- interested in having nu- 
 merous reforms brought about in the ancient 
 customs and laws of the kingdom, and opposed 
 in these just measures by the priviledged classes, 
 the courts and Parliaments, the King 5delded to 
 the constant cr}^ for the assembling of the States 
 General. The edict was issued August 8, 1788, 
 
 20 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 convoking" the States General on May 1, 1789. 
 This was the beginning- of the end of the monarchy. 
 It was decreed that it should contain at least one 
 thousand members, composed one half of the 
 tiers etat, third estate, who were of the untitled 
 commons or people. The other members were the 
 noblesse and clergy. Amid the whirl of passion- 
 ate discussion brought out by the coming session, 
 Louis XVI, though of even temperament, was 
 greatly discouraged and troubled. While attend- 
 ing the funeral of his minister Vergennes, he said 
 mournfully, that he wished it had been his fate 
 to lie down beside him. Marie Antoinette was 
 greatly alarmed at the threatening aspect of af- 
 fairs. She was opposed to the calling of the 
 States General. She had three children, and 
 felt the anxietj' of a mother. 
 
 Within a few 3^ears a change had come over the 
 gay society of Paris. The palaces were crowded 
 with politicians of both sexes, discussing new the- 
 ories of social and civic reform. There was a 
 rage for republican simplicity. The smart set in 
 the salon of Madam Polignac was infected, as 
 was also the King's brother, the Due de Artois 
 and a number of the princes. These new republi- 
 cans were offensive to the Queen, and incurred 
 her displeasure. 
 
 The descendant of the Orleans branch of the 
 Bourbons was the chief mischief maker in these 
 turbulent times, as if fate determined to leave 
 
 21 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 nothing- undone to produce disorder, it gave to 
 the world a man who, with means and opportun- 
 ity, set himself to destroy the monarch}^ and ex- 
 alt himself on its ruins. He did destroy the mon- 
 archy, the King- and his family, but also lost his 
 own head in the chaos of the Reign of Terror he 
 had brought about. He was Louis Philippe, 
 Duke de Orleans, great grandson of the Regent 
 Orleans. Though the Duke was guillotined in 
 the Revolution, his son the Duke de Chartres, 
 who took some part in the Revolution, lived 
 through the 3^ears of Napoleon, and ultimately 
 rose to temporary distinction as Louis Philipj^e, 
 King- of the French, and whose son, the Prince de 
 Joinville came to America in 1841, to meet Eleazer 
 Williams, the lost Prince, as related in this 
 narrative. 
 
 By the death of his father, in 1785, the Duke of 
 Orleans inherited rich domains and palaces with 
 a princely revenue; and this patrimony was so 
 enormously increased by his marriage with the 
 daughter of the Duke of Penthievre, tha't his an- 
 nual income reached two and a half million dol- 
 lars. He was said to be the richest man in P'rance; 
 but he was also the most unscrupulous, and a lib- 
 ertine, keeping wanton women in his own palace, 
 to the scandal of his famil3^ His home was 
 the famed Palais Royal, a massive building in the 
 heart of Paris, still standing-, built by Cardinal 
 Richelieu in 1629. Orleans had surrounded the 
 
 22 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 g-ardens with tenements, still existing", which he 
 letfor commercial purposes to increase his income. 
 The cafes on the groimd floor became the favorite 
 rendezvous of democrats and malcontents, from 
 which the call "to arms" was made, that raised 
 the mob which stormed the Bastille. Orleans 
 aiming- to destroy the royal family, joined the 
 popular party, by whom with subsidies of money, 
 he expected to accomplish his purpose, to have 
 himself crowned King. Inspired by the design 
 for a number of years he had caused to be circu- 
 lated fabricated scandals, about the Queen and 
 royal family. Plots were designed to undermine 
 the government, and a number of riots set in 
 motion. He was a member of the States General, 
 where he assumed the name of Egalite, which he 
 made infamous. The Duke of Orleans, even as 
 Duke de Chartress was never a favorite of the 
 Queen. He was only tolerated at court, because 
 of the lovliness of his wife, and his intimacj^ with 
 Count de Artois. The King often expressed his 
 abhorence of the Duke's character. The winter 
 before the meeting of the States General, was 
 severe. The harvest had been bad; the suffering 
 was extreme. Agitators availed themselves of the 
 misery to excite popular passion. Charity and 
 fear opened both hearts and purses. The gifts of 
 Orleans to the Paris poor, looked suspicious. 
 The archbishop of Paris distributed all he possess- 
 ed, and got in debt one hundred thousand dollars 
 
 23 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 to relieve his flock. Tiie finest houses were 
 opened to wretches dying of cold and anyone 
 might go in and warm themselves in the great 
 halls. 
 
 The States General met on Ma}' 5, 1789, in a 
 sjiacious hall prepared for the purpose in Ver- 
 sailles. There was a vast concourse of people on 
 the occasion. At one end of the hall was a throne 
 for the King, with seats for the Queen and 
 princes. The clergy had seats on the right; the 
 nobles on the left, and the third estate in front. 
 The hall was fitted in royal magnificence. The 
 Queen on this opening day of the States General 
 and the Revolution, appeared for the last time 
 in her life, in regal robes and queenly splendor. 
 The Duke of Orleans had arranged a low insult 
 to the Queen on this May morning. As the royal 
 procession moved toward the convention through 
 the mass of people, a crowd of low women, whom 
 he had engaged at an expense of half a million 
 livres, screamed into her face: "Orleans forever! 
 Orleans forever," By the suddeness of tHe insult 
 the Queen nearly fainted, but loud cries of, 
 "Long live the King," restored her, and the pro- 
 cession moved on. 
 
 24 
 
III. 
 
 THE STORMING OF THE BASTILLE. 
 
 THE States General which had not met since 
 1615, one hundred and seventy-four years 
 before, was not a leg^islative body, but depu- 
 ted by their several electors to present to the 
 throne, complaints which formed petitions to the 
 King-, who was the real legislature. They did 
 have the authoritj' to sanction methods of taxa- 
 tion. In this assembl}^ the King had authorized 
 the third estate to be equal to the nobles and 
 clerg}', and their number was 567; while the num- 
 ber o f the nobles and clergy were four less or 
 563. By mismanagement before the meeting, it 
 had not been ruled by the government, whether 
 the three orders should deliberate separately or 
 collectively in one body, and no settled policy of 
 management had been determined ujDon. About 
 half the third estate were needy provincial attor- 
 neys; the remainder were merchants and farmers; 
 and there were few men of independent means. 
 
 When the members of the States General vis- 
 ited Versailles three days before their session to 
 be presented to the King, the nobles and clergy 
 were admitted at once, but the third estate were 
 left without the gates in a rain storm. They be- 
 came angry and at their clamor the gates were 
 
 25 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 opened to them. The laced coats and decorations 
 of nobles and superb vestments of the clerg-y, 
 made a strong- contrast to the modest cassocks 
 and sombre costumes of the third estate. By an 
 oversight of the government in the apportion- 
 ment of the building for the meeting, there was 
 the throne room of the three orders, a room for 
 the noblesse, and one for the clergy, but none for 
 the third estate, who remained therefore estab- 
 lished in the throne room, which was fitted up 
 with seats and boxes for spectators who occu- 
 pied them. In possession of the main room the 
 third estate was in a strong situation, and master 
 of the position in which the other orders must 
 come to them. They maintained the delibera- 
 tions should be together in one body, and after a 
 contest lasting several weeks, the third estate 
 declining to proceed until the nobles and clergy 
 should sit with them, finally with a confidence 
 sustained by the general excitement in their favor 
 assumed the power to act as if it embraced all the 
 members. When the King had said to them, they 
 should disperse, the fiery orator Count Mirabeau 
 rose at the entrance of the master oi ceremonies 
 and thundered : ' 'Go and tell those who sent j^ou, 
 that we are here by the will of the people, and 
 that we shall not budge save at the point of the 
 bayonet." 
 
 The Revolution was begun. The third estate 
 were soon joined by the nobles and clergy, elected 
 
 26 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 M. Baill}' president, and constituted itself the 
 National Assembly without any authority but its 
 own will, and became a legislative body. 
 
 The excitement in Paris was intense. The pub- 
 lic press teemed with praise of the third estate, 
 and orators harang^ued crowds of people in the 
 streets. The traitor Orleans was busy inciting 
 mobs and insurrection, which being exposed to 
 the people, caused them to throw his bust into the 
 gutter. Necker, the King's popular, but negli- 
 gent minister of finance, riding that way, stopped 
 his carriage and ordered the bust to be taken up 
 and cleaned. It was crowned with laurels, and 
 with Necker's own bust, carried to Versailles. 
 The King's aunts met the procession on the road 
 while they were returning home from the country, 
 and ordered the guards to send the men away who 
 bore the busts. Necker was hence dismissed, 
 which caused mobs to run riot in the streets. By 
 the middle of July the French guards and other 
 regiments fraternized with the mob. There was 
 fighting and bloodshed in the streets, and prisons 
 broken open releasing the prisoners. The civil 
 magistry of Paris sided with the disorder. In 
 this daily riot, the old white flag of the Bourbons 
 was displaced by the red, white and blue banner 
 of rebellion. The Tricolor became the flag of the 
 Revolution. A new militia styled the National 
 Guard was organized. Orleans' agents were busy. 
 With fifty thousand livres of hisraone}', the mob 
 
 27 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 rushed for the arms stored at the hospital of old 
 soldiers, Hotel des Invalids, which was pillaged. 
 The old governor had twenty men at work all 
 night to remove the locks from the muskets, 
 amounting- to twenty-eight thousand. But they 
 had only unscrewed twenty locks as they sympa- 
 thized with the mob. Now twenty-eight thousand 
 armed men raised the crj^, "To the Bastille." 
 This was an ancient fortress four hundred j^ears 
 old, on the old wall of Paris. Its massive stone 
 walls were ten feet thick. Its eight towers rose 
 grim and sombre just at the entrance to the city, 
 while the cannon on its battlements commanded 
 the surrounding streets. It was used infrequently 
 now as a prison of the higher orders, and in its 
 conduct had not appealed to the ill will of the 
 people in an}' way. It was provisioned with two 
 sacks of flour and i^ arrisoned with 138 men, mostly 
 invalids. The mob of one hundred thousand 
 stormed the stout stone towers. The}' cut off the 
 water suppl5^ The commander was prevented 
 from blowing himself up with the magazine. On 
 the surrender of the soldiers, the populace 
 enragedbecap.se some of the mob were killed, tore 
 the commander to pieces. The Bastille was 
 leveled to the ground. A column of Liberty now 
 stands in its stead in the Place de la Bastille. 
 The massive iron forged key of the fortress, sent 
 to General Washington by Lafayette, still re- 
 mains in its glass case on the walls of the old 
 hallway at Mount Vernon. 
 
 28 
 
IV 
 
 AT MIDNIGHT A CRY WAS HEARD: "SAVE THE 
 QUEEN, THEY ARE COME TO ASSASSINATE HER. " 
 
 THE Dauphin died within a month of the 
 first assembling of the States General; and 
 the disturbed condition of the country; with 
 the raising- of the Paris mobs and sack of the 
 Bastille; the murder of its Governor, and the 
 Ma3^or of Paris; the threats against some of the 
 King's brothers and royal families, overwhelmed 
 the Queen with grief. She desired that the King 
 should come to some definite understanding with 
 the members of the Assembly, as the States Gen- 
 eral was now called, and urged the King to 
 arrange it. The day after the sack of the Bastille 
 the King did attend the Assembly for this purpose. 
 He went on foot without pomp or ceremony, sur- 
 rounded only by his brothers. He stood before 
 the Assembly, uncovered, and assured that body 
 that he was firmly determined to support their 
 measures, and aid them in every way. As an 
 earnest of his intentions, he informed them that 
 he had ordered the troops to leave Paris and Ver- 
 sailles. His speech was hailed with enthusiasm 
 and prolonged cries of vive le Roi. On the King's 
 return on foot to the palace, the deputies crow- 
 ded after him, forming his escort. Great crowds 
 
 29 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 gathered and throng-ed the court yard of the cas- 
 tle. There was an immense concourse of people. 
 They demanded to see the King- and Queen and the 
 children. The Queen took the little Dauphin in 
 her arms, and with Madam by her side appeared 
 on the balcony, where she w^as received with loud 
 cries from the vast audience filling every avenue 
 of: "vive le Roil vive le Reine!" with here and 
 there discordant notes of "vive le nation!" "vive 
 d' Orleans!" 
 
 It was thoug-ht that the King's appearance in 
 Paris would quiet the disturbance, and though 
 the Royal family had thought of tiight, and even 
 had the carriages ordered up for the journey, 
 the King thought best to go and visit Paris, 
 Throngs of people filled the streets, but did not 
 hail their King with joy, until when he appeared 
 at the Hotel de Ville and M. Bailly the new 
 mayor g-ave him the tri-colored cockade, the em- 
 blem of the Revolution, which he placed in his 
 hat before all the people; then a great cry went 
 up of '-Long live the King." The Qu'een on 
 hearing that the King- was bound to face the Paris 
 mob, was frantic with grief. "They never will let 
 him return" she exclaimed. All day long she 
 waited his return with conflicting emotions. It 
 was believed the King would be retained in Paris. 
 Late in the evenirig a messenger came with foam- 
 ing horse to announce the King- was returning. 
 This filled the family with joy. In the palace at 
 
 30 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 last he was pleased that no accident had hap- 
 pened; "Happily no blood has been shed, and I 
 swear that never shall a dro^D of French blood be 
 spilled by my order. '' 
 
 The troops now deserted Versailles, and with 
 them went many of the princes, noblesse and 
 members of the Royal family, into exile, the be- 
 ginning- of that exodus of the aristocracy of France 
 who emigrated over the border in these troubled 
 times to the number of many thousands. 
 
 The clemency of the King had little effect on 
 the people, as within a week, a story having been 
 started that M. Foulon, the minister of finance 
 had said, the people if hungry could eat hay, 
 was seized by the peasants and dragged to the 
 Hotel de Ville. His death cry was heard in the 
 Assembly. Some members and La Fayette in 
 vain endeavored to save the minister. After tor- 
 menting him to death his body was dragged about 
 the streets and to the Palais Royal, while his 
 heart was cut out and held aloft by women in the 
 midst of a bunch of carnations. 
 
 The Duke d' Orleans had conceived a horrible 
 consi:)iracy to strike terror through the provinces 
 and furnish the Assembly a pretext for arming 
 the people as a National guard and disband all 
 the regular troops, which was accomplished. 
 Orleans distributed through his agents .six hun- 
 dred thousand francs, for the purpose of creating 
 on the same day and hour, an insurrection to 
 
 31 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 murder all the nobility and burn their |)alaces, 
 the hideous murder aud torch of the incendiary- 
 spread over France. 
 
 The Flanders regiment was stationed at Ver- 
 sailles, and the officers had an audience with the 
 Queen. She was delig^hted with their loyalty. 
 The bodyg-uard at the palace entertained them at 
 a dinner in the theater of Versailles. The Queen 
 sent for the Dauphin and told him, "about having 
 seen the brave officers; and how gaily those good 
 officers had left the palace, declaring they would 
 die, rather than suffer any harm to come to him, 
 or his papa or mamma; and that at that very 
 moment they M^ere all dining at the theater." 
 "Dining in the theater, mamma, "said the Prince, 
 "I never heard of people dining in a theater." 
 "No, my dear child, it is not generally allowed; 
 but they are doing so because the bodyguard 
 choose the finest place to honor their guests, to 
 show how much they liked them. " "Oh, mamma," 
 exclaimed the Dauphin, "Oh, papa, how I, should 
 like to see them." "Let us go and satisfy the 
 child," said the King. The Queen took the 
 Dauphin by the hand and they all went across to 
 the theater. As soon as the royal family ap- 
 13eared they were received with shouts of enthu- 
 siasm by the soldiers, intoxicated with joy and 
 wine; and as the royal famil}^ retired they were 
 followed to the doors of the palace. This scene 
 was noised about, and the Assembly pretended 
 
 32 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 to be offended. To increase the dislike for the 
 Queen and raise a riot, Orleans had one set of 
 agents, many of them dressed in the liveries of 
 the Queen, purchase all the wheat and send it 
 out of the country. Great distress was caused 
 by this famine, and to attract sole credit for 
 relief, Orleans openly emploj'^ed thousands to 
 distribute his bounty, and to spread reports of 
 his generosity. However, the King and all the 
 royal famih' and friends, grieved beyond measure 
 b}" the piteous want, distributed privately im- 
 mense sums for the relief of the sufferers. The 
 plot was discovered to the people too late to 
 allay their animosity against the Queen and her 
 august husband. 
 
 The insurrection had begun on the morning of 
 the fifth of October, by a young virago beating a 
 drum and shouting for bread. An infuriated 
 rabble attacked the Hotel de Ville, which was 
 with difficultj^ saved from destruction. The whole 
 city was in an uproar. La Fa3'ette at the head 
 of the National Guard could not control the mob, 
 which shouted, "on to Versailles.'' Maillard, 
 prominent among the insurgents who had at- 
 tacked the Bastille, took command of this army 
 of viragos. Great alarm bells were ringing. The 
 whole throng was made up of the lowest, the 
 most degraded women, vagabonds, criminals, 
 man}' drunk, roaring revolutionary songs, with 
 cries of vengeance, brandishing old guns, swords 
 
 33 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and pikes. La Fayette's citizen soldiers frater- 
 nized with the rioters; but he supposing his 
 presence might prevent violence finally consented 
 to go with them to Versailles. 
 
 For several days rumors of the intended attack 
 had reached the ro3^al family, but no measures 
 had been taken for protection. On this day the 
 King had gone to shoot at Meudon. The Queen 
 was enjoying the autumn day at Little Trinon, 
 the leaves falling around her. Suddenly a page 
 came hurrying to her with a letter with informa- 
 tion of the doings in the city. Marie Antoinette 
 hastened to leave Trinon, not dreaming it was the 
 last time she would ever see her loved retreat 
 where she had spent the happiest days of her life. 
 The King summoned, returned at full gallop. 
 His sister, the kind Elizabeth, having seen the 
 crowd in the distance from her home had joined 
 the family, and urged her brother to now take 
 energetic measures. Consternation filled all 
 breasts and the carriages w^ere ordered up to 
 depart. The Dauphin's carriage was standing 
 without as he was to have his usual drive. 
 Changing views of the council and delay finally 
 rendered it impossible to fiee as the carriages 
 were stoj^ped and sent back. The women reached 
 the palace. The King distributed money to them 
 and was so kind, that they went aw^ay friendly. 
 The rain fell in torrents, and it was hoped it 
 would depress the rioters. The night came on, 
 
 34 
 
THK llALI'HIN 
 Uncrowned Louis XVII — The Prince of this book. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 dark and gloomy. Ragg'ed men armed with 
 pikes, knocked at the doors in the town demanding- 
 food. The assembly chamber was overrun with 
 the women and men. There they ate and drank. 
 At the palace a letter was received from La 
 Fayette announcing his coming. At ten o'clock 
 at night he appeared with a crowd of rioters and 
 twenty thousand national guard. He went first 
 to the Assembly and assured the deputies that 
 order would be maintained, and then repaired to 
 the palace. Going up to the King he said: "Sire, 
 I bring you my head in the hope of saving your 
 Majesty;" declaring that the large force he 
 brought with him would preserve order; and that 
 he had patrolled the town and all was quiet. He 
 was sincere and believed he understood the situ- 
 ation. He had been seventeen hours in the sad- 
 dle, and deeming all safe, went to his quarters in 
 the town to retire; but he was not aware of the 
 extent of the plans of the traitors, which was 
 amid riot and confusion the nex-t day, for Orleans 
 to suddenly appear and be hailed as King. 
 
 After the horrible expressions of the women in 
 the mob, leveled at the Queen, the noise and 
 excitement, and the reports brought to the royal 
 pair, they had cause for the greatest anxiety as 
 to the outcome of the insurrection. The Queen 
 arranged her papers and gave them into the 
 charge of the English secretary of the Princess 
 Lamballe, who sewed them on to her skirts. The 
 
 35 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 jewels were secured for removal. All prepara- 
 tion was made for departure. The Queen at two 
 o'clock in the morning- visited the bed chamber 
 of her two children, and then told her attendants 
 to retire, and went to bed herself, and slept, tired 
 out by the excitement of the day. She had 
 agreed, with the governess of her children, on the 
 least noise to bring them to her; but later sent 
 word it would be best to take them to the King. 
 On leaving the Queen 's bed chamber, her women 
 alarmed at the riotous events of the day and 
 vigilant for the safety of their Queen, determined 
 to sit up and all remained together against her 
 Majesty's bed room door. "At half past four in 
 the morning," said Madam Campan, "they heard 
 horrible 3^ells and discharge of firearms; one ran 
 in to the Queen to awaken her; my sister flew to 
 the place of tumult; she opened the antechamber 
 door to the guard room and beheld one of the 
 body guards attacked by a mob, his face covered 
 with blood. He called to her: 'Save the Queen, 
 Madam; they are come to assassinate h^r." She 
 hastily bolted the door, and bolted the door on 
 leaving the next room. On reaching the Queen's 
 chamber, she cried out to her: 'Get up, Madame; 
 don't stop to dress, fly to the King's apartment. ' 
 The terrified Queen threw herself out of bed, and 
 the two .ladies guided her to the Bull's Eye. A 
 door which led from the Queen's closet to the 
 King's apartment, had never been fastened except 
 
 36 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 on her side; but what a dreadful moment, it had 
 been secured on the other side. Repeated knock- 
 ing aroused the King's servant, who opened it, 
 and they entered the King's apartment. Very- 
 soon Madam de Tourzel brought in the Dauphin, 
 and the Queen went down into the room of her 
 daughter b}' an interior stairwa}^ and brought the 
 child to the King." 
 
 The insurgents were astir early in the morning, 
 and the horde swej^t toward the palace. They 
 "forced their way into the barracks of the body 
 guard, and massacred everybody the}" found 
 there, except a few whom they took to the castle 
 gates for punishment," says Madam de Tourzel. 
 "The others forced the gates and rushed through 
 the courtyard and terrace to gain an entrance to 
 the castle. These ruffians, who encountered no 
 obstacle, killed two of the body guards who were 
 on duty at the apartments of the King's aunts, 
 had their heads cut off bj" a monster in the gang. 
 Thej" then went up the grand staircase to the 
 ai^artments of the King and Queen, led by Orleans 
 himself." "Many have asserted," says Madam 
 Campan, "that they recognized the Duke of Or- 
 leans at half past four in the morning, in a great 
 coat and slouched hat, at the top of the marble 
 stair case, pointing out with his hand the guard 
 room, which preceded the Queen's apartments." 
 The body guard, though few in number, defended 
 the entrance with the greatest bravery. Several 
 
 37 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 were dang'erously wounded, but they had time to 
 shout, "save the Queen" as related and delayed 
 the assailants; "but hardly had her Majesty left 
 the room," says Madam Tourzel, "than these 
 wretches forced their way in and furious at not 
 finding- her there, they stabbed the bed with their 
 pikes, so as to leave no room to doubt as to the 
 crime they intended to commit." 
 
 All the family gathered in terror into the 
 King's apartments, expecting- the worse from the 
 tumult that raged without. The guard had ar- 
 ranged between themselves to defend each room 
 in succession, and with the greatest courage they 
 awaited death. La Fa3'ette now hurried to the 
 scene of carnage and induced the National Guard 
 to defend the King- and save the Body Guard. 
 The King seeing his Guard butchered in the 
 Courtyard, went to the window and called on the 
 people to save their lives. Then the Body Guard 
 threw out their cross belts and cried, "Long live 
 the nation." The hearts of the savages were 
 touched and they embraced the Guards they were 
 about to murder. 
 
 I he mob outside called loudly, "The Queen, 
 Queen." She appeared before that mass of in- 
 surgents, walking out onto the balcon}^, leading 
 her children. The murderous throng were speJl- 
 bound by the beautiful sight. Then a tiger voice 
 cried out: "No children. " She then led her chil- 
 dren back into the Palace, and expecting to be 
 
 38 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 murdered, she boldly returned. "With her hands 
 and eyes raised toward heaven, advanced upon 
 the balcony, like a self devoted victim." The 
 rabble astonished were soon crying: "Vive la 
 Riene." The throng now began to cry, "to Paris. " 
 After the uj^roar had continued for some time the 
 King faced the savage horde and told them they 
 would go to Paris, which announcement was 
 greeted with "Long live the King;" "Long live 
 the nation. " As the King reentered the room he 
 said: "It is done; this affair will soon be ended." 
 "And with it," said the Queen, "the monarchy." 
 She burst into a flood of tears and exclaimed: 
 "As to myself, I am resigned to my fate. I only 
 feel for your humiliated state, and for the safety 
 of my children." 
 
 The King was seated in his carriage at half 
 past one. He sat on the back seat with the 
 Queen. On the front seat the Dauphin sat on the 
 lap of Madam Tourzel, his governess, and Madam 
 Royal, his little sister sat beside them. La Fay- 
 ette and M. d'Estaing, commandant rode by the 
 doors near their majesties. The ladies of the 
 household and servants followed in other carria- 
 ges., and a hundred deputies in carriages. Brig- 
 ands bearing the ghastly heads of the two body 
 guards in triumph, formed the advance, who had 
 set out two hours earlier, and at Sevre had com- 
 pelled a barber to dress the hair on their matted 
 brows. The poor fellow killed himself from 
 
 39 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 horror of the sight. The bulk of the Parisian 
 army, each soldier having a loaf of bread on his 
 bayonet, followed the King. The poissards or 
 fish women, went before and around the carriage, 
 accomj^anied by an army of prostitutes, the vile 
 refuse of the sex, still drunk with fury and wine; 
 several of them rode astride of cannon, boasting 
 in obscene songs, the crimes they liad committed 
 or witnessed. Those near the Royal carriage 
 sang insulting ballads in vulgar reference to the 
 Queen. Wagons of wheat and flour formed a 
 train escorted by soldiers, surrounded by women 
 and bullies, some armed with pikes. The women 
 stopped the people, and jDointing to the King's 
 carriage howled in their ears: "Cheer up, we 
 shall no longer want bread. We bring the baker, 
 the bakers wife, and the little baker boy." 
 Around the King's carriage, w^ere some of his 
 faithful guards, on foot and horseback, uncovered 
 and unarmed, worn out with hunger and fatigue. 
 In this tumult, clamour and singing, the motley 
 rabble, the outpouring and scum of the Paris and 
 Versailles slums stretched over the dozen miles 
 of that beautiful way from the palace to the City. 
 King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette looked 
 back that bright autumn day over the most splen- 
 did Palace in the w^orld, and beautiful gardens of 
 Versailles for the last time. They never saw 
 that home again where she came as a bride, a 
 Queen and mother. The Duke of Orleans was on 
 
 40 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the Passy road and his children, with his mis- 
 tress, the notorious Madam Genlis, on the balcony 
 of a house along- the way, which he had hired for 
 them to witness the tragedy. 
 
 The usual journey of two hours was prolong-ed 
 to six, and when they reached Paris, they were 
 urged ag-ainst their wishes and fatigue, to alight 
 at the Hotel de Ville. Here the jam of people 
 obliged them to quit the carriage, with great 
 difficulty, make their way through the crowd to 
 reach the City Hall. The little Dauphin, worn 
 out, was fast asleep in the arms of his governess. 
 The King spoke to the ]3eople and said: "I always 
 come with pleasure and confidence among the 
 inhabitants of my good city of Paris." 
 
 At last this day of horror ended by the Royal 
 party entering the Tuileries, tired, worn out and 
 miserable. Nothing was ready for them, as this 
 ancient castle had been occupied only by courtiers 
 for many years. The Dauphin passed the night 
 without a guard of any kind, in a room open on 
 all sides, and with doors that could scarcely be 
 closed. His governess pushed the furniture 
 against them and spent the night seated by his 
 side. 
 
 In the morning the populace swarmed over the 
 gardens, making a great noise out of curiosity to 
 see the Royal family as the palace had not been 
 occupied by their monarch since the days of 
 Louis XIV. The youthful Dauphin hearing the 
 
 41 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 tumult without ran to his mother. "Oh! mamma," 
 he cried, "Is today still j^esterday?" He looked 
 at his new home, so different from the brilliant 
 home where he had always lived and said: 
 "Everything is very ugly here." The Queen 
 wrote her brother Joseph II, Emperor of Austria: 
 "You have heard of our misfortune. I still live, 
 owing to Providence, and one of my guards, who 
 was hacked to pieces in trying to save me." To 
 Princess de Lamballe she wrote: "I still seem to 
 hear the howling roar of the crowd, and the cries 
 of my guard. These horrible scenes will occur 
 again; but death has been too near for me to 
 fear. I thought I should be torn to pieces." 
 And Edmund Burke w^rote from. England: "It is 
 now sixteen years since I saw the Queen of 
 France, then the Dauphiness at Versailles; and 
 surely never lighted on this orb, which she hardly 
 seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw 
 her just above the horizon, decorating and cheer- 
 ing the celebrated sphere in which she had just 
 begun lo move, glittering like the morning star, 
 full of life and splendor and joy^ — little did I 
 dream such disasters would have fallen upon her 
 in a nation of gallant men. I thought ten thou- 
 sand swords must have leaped from their scab- 
 bards to avenge even a look, that threatened 
 her with insult. 
 
 42 
 

V 
 
 WIT AND WISDOM OF THE BABY DAUPHIN 
 
 THE Palais des Tuileries deserves a passing 
 notice for its tragic history. It was the 
 royal palace within the heart of Paris; burned 
 by the communists in 1871, and has been mostly 
 removed, and the ground added to the extensive 
 gardens of the same name. The wings and pavil- 
 ions still remain as part of the Louvre art gal- 
 lery. It was begun in 1564 by the infamous 
 Catharine de Medicis and was cursed by being the 
 place of originating the massacre of St. Bar- 
 tholomew. The tragedy in the misfortunes of 
 France and Marie Antoinette while resident there 
 is one of the most horrible incidents of the Revo- 
 lution; while in later years it cursed the path of 
 Napoleon who as first consul took up his resi- 
 dence here, and after the restoration the French 
 Kings lived there only to be driven out by the 
 mob, ending the Bourbons with the flight of Louis 
 Philippe in 1848. Napoleon III fated by resi- 
 dence here to command the last imperial army, 
 and the history of the Tuileries as a royal resi- 
 dence ends with the flight of the beautiful Em- 
 press Eugenie, after the battle of Sedan. 
 
 Here in this palace the King and Queen were 
 held in polite constraint and obliged to ask the 
 
 43 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 authorities for permission to visit their palace of 
 St. Cloud in warm weather. Marie Antoinette 
 busied herself watching- the education of her 
 children, Madam Royal ten years of age, and the 
 Dauphin who was four 3'^ears of age. The Dau- 
 phin was a charming boy, gifted with astonish- 
 ing intelligence which developed year by year. 
 The Queen dearl}' loved her children and was 
 with them a great portion of the day. The little 
 Dauphin was quite a philosopher. One day he 
 asked his governess: "If God sends the rain to 
 make the corn grow, why does he let it fall on 
 the pavement?" One of the King's body guard, 
 M. Beaurepaire came to the Tuilerie to pay his 
 respects to the Royal family. He was one of 
 "those who in the midnight attempt to murder the 
 Queen at Versailles, had called out, "Save the 
 Queen," and was horribly wounded. The Dau- 
 phin wished to see him in his rooms. He threw 
 himself into the arms of the brave guard exclaim- 
 ing": "How grateful I am to you for having saved 
 mamma." Then going to his governess the little 
 four year old boy said: "Madam, I beg of you to 
 give him some dinner; I am coming down soon, 
 and shall see him for a longer time." 
 
 The Queen's walk was confined to the gardens 
 of the Tuileries where a path surrounded by trel- 
 lis work, had been made as a private walk for the 
 Dauphin, who went there with a commandant of 
 the National Guard and four soldiers. The little 
 
 44 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Prince asked his governess the reason of this 
 change and then remarked: "I see quite well that 
 there are wicked people who trouble papa, and I 
 regret our good body guard whom I loved much 
 better than these guards, for whom I do not care 
 in the least. " His tutor was the Abbe Davauz. a 
 man of merit, who had the skill to make the study 
 time of his youthful student, one of pleasure, and 
 thus he learned very quickly. One day a visitor 
 had jokingly said to the Dauphin on being re- 
 proved: "I will bet that Madam de Tourzel is 
 wrong, and the Dauphin is right." "Monsieur" 
 he replied with a laugh, "you are a flatterer, for 
 I got in a rage this morning." 
 
 One day he thought to test the severit}^ of his 
 governess, and said to her: "If you do not do as 
 I wish, I shall cry; the people will hear me on the 
 terrace; then what will they say?" "That you 
 are a naughty boy." "But if my crying makes 
 me ill?" "I shall put you to bed." Then the 
 Dauphin began to cry, stamp his feet and make a 
 great noise. His governess did not say a word, 
 but had his bed made ready and ordered some 
 broth for his supper. These preparations were 
 sufficient to satisfy him, and he became quiet, 
 and looking straight at his governess said: "I 
 only wanted to see what I could do with you. I 
 see now I must obey you. Forgive me, it shall 
 never happen again. " The next day he said to 
 the Queen: "Do you know who you have given 
 
 45 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 me as a g-overness? It is Madam Severe.*' At 
 Versailles, when the Flanders regiment called on 
 Madam de Tourzel, the visit was mentioned be- 
 fore the Dauphin who had a g^reat desire to see 
 them. The Queen told him, "he would not know 
 what to say to these j>:entlemen."' "Do not trouble 
 yourself, mamma, I shall not be embarrassed." 
 Scarcely had the officers entered the room, than 
 the young" Prince said to them: "I am delighted 
 to see you, gentlemen; but am ver}^ sorry that I 
 am too small to see all of you." Then seeing a 
 very tall officer, he said to him, "Take me up in 
 your arms, sir, so that I can see all these gentle- 
 men. " Then he said with charming gaiety; "I am 
 very glad, gentlemen, to be in your midst." The 
 officers were charmed to hear a four year old child 
 so bright and amiable. Though he learned every- 
 thing with the greatest ease, he found it tiresome 
 to learn to read. When the Queen told him it 
 was disgraceful not to read at four years, he re- 
 plied: "Very well mamma, I will learn as a New 
 Years gift to you." In November he said to the 
 Abbe Davauz: "I must know how much time I 
 have between this and New Years day, because I 
 have promised mamma to be able to read by then. " 
 On hearing he had only a month, he looked at his 
 tutor and said: "Please my good Abbe, give me 
 two lessons a day, and I will give the best atten- 
 tion. " He kept his word and went to the Queen 
 with a book in his hand, and throwing his arms 
 
 46 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 around her neck, the dear child said: "Here is 
 3'our New Years gift; I have kept m}- promise, 
 and I know how to read now. " 
 
 Mr. Arthur Young- an English traveler mentions 
 in his visit to Paris in these Revolutionary days, 
 that when walking in the gardens of the palace, 
 the King was attended by six soldiers; the Queen 
 was similarly attended; and for the Dauphin there 
 was a little garden railed off, in which he amused 
 himself. There was a small room built in it, to 
 retire into in case of rain. Here he was at work 
 with his little hoe and rake. He described him 
 as a pretty good natured looking boy, with an 
 agreeable countenance. Wherever he goes, all 
 hals are taken off to him. In the privacy of her 
 palace the Queen occupied herself in the educa- 
 tion of her children. A few days after their arri- 
 val at the Tuileries, the little Prince went up to 
 his father, and looked at him sorrowfully. The 
 King asked him what he wanted. The Dauphin 
 replied, that he had something very serious to 
 say to him. Pressed by the King to explain him- 
 self, he requested to know why the people who 
 always loved him so much, were all at once angry 
 with him. What had he done to irritate them so 
 much. His father took him upon his knee and 
 spoke to him in a kind manner: "I wished my 
 child, to render the people still happier than they 
 were. But I wanted money to pay for wars, and 
 asked mj^ people for it as all other Kings had 
 
 47 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 done. The Magistrates of the parliament re- 
 fused, as only the people had a right to consent 
 to raising money. Then I called together the prin- 
 cipal inhabitants of the towns, named the States 
 General. When assembled they required many 
 ancient privileges to be given up. Some of them 
 I held to, out of respect for myself, and with 
 justice to you, who will come after me. Wicked 
 men have occasioned the people to rise and com- 
 mit the excesses of the last few days. The peo- 
 ple must not be blamed for them." 
 
 The Queen fearful lest the youthful prince might 
 say things to compromise them, explained to him 
 that he must use great judgment to say proper 
 and kind words to all those whom he met. The 
 child took great pains to please. When he had 
 an opportunity to reply to the mayor or members 
 of the commons, he ran and whispered to his 
 mother, "was that right?" 
 
 The Dauphin requested M. Bailly to show him 
 the shield of Scipio, w^hich was in the royal 
 library. He was asked which he pi^eferred, 
 Scipio or Hannibal? He replied, that he pre- 
 ferred him who had defended his own country. 
 He gave frequent proof of ready wit. The words 
 "dis done" meaning "tell thou then" are pro- 
 nounced in French with the sound of Didon (Dido) 
 the name of the Queen of Carthage, which he had 
 remembered in overhearing the lessons of his 
 sister. Madam Royal. The Queen was hearing 
 
 48 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the princess repeat her ancient history, and she 
 could not for the moment recollect the name of 
 the Carthag-e Queen. The Dauphin quickly said 
 to her: "But dis done, the name of the queen to 
 mamma; dis done what her name was." 
 
 On JuljT- 14, 1790, there was held in Paris a cel- 
 ebration of the Federation of France, and by invi- 
 tation of the City of Paris, deputations attended 
 from all parts of the King-dom. They were in a 
 loyal frame of mind toward the King. On the 
 eve of the celebration the King held a review of 
 the Federates who marched past the King stand- 
 ing at the foot of the grand stair case of the 
 Tuileries. The Queen presented her children to 
 them and gracefully/ said a few words, exciting- 
 the federates to great enthusiasm. The deputa- 
 tions remained several days, and many of them 
 visited the mausion each day. At three o'clock 
 the Dauphin would step onto a little balcony and 
 review the people, say a few words to each as he 
 passed, and then go back to his play. As he 
 amused himself one day pulling leaves from a 
 lilac bush on the balcony, a federate requested 
 them as keepsakes of something his little hand had 
 held. This being seen by others, they soon des- 
 poiled the bush, mid shouts of "Long- live the 
 King, the Queen, and Mgr. the Dauphin." His 
 gaiety, beauty and grace and sprighth^ engaging 
 manner won every heart. Every day at five 
 o'clock he went to his little garden. The feder- 
 
 49 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ates urgently requested to enter it. They were 
 permitted to do so in limited numbers, and in re- 
 la3'^s while his walk lasted. He spoke to them in 
 such winning ways that they left enchanted. 
 Each deputation desired the King to visit their 
 province. "Come" said those from Dauphine, to 
 the young Prince, "come to your province of 
 Dauphine; your name gives you possession of us, 
 and we shall know well how to defend you against 
 your enemies." "Do not forget Monseigneur" 
 said the Normans, "that you have born the name 
 of our province, and that the Normans have al- 
 ways been faithful to their King." 
 
 The Dauphin Dragon regiment in passing 
 through Paris, sent word b}'' its Colonel to Madam 
 Tourzel, to express their regret to the Prince that 
 they could not meet the Dauphin at that time. 
 "How nice it is to have a regiment at my age, and 
 how I should like to see it," he said. "What 
 answer shall I give from you Monseigneur?" 
 "That is an awkward question; answer for me 
 please." "I shall sa}^ that Mgr. the Daupjiin, not 
 knowing at his age (five years) what to say, will 
 reply when he is older." 
 
 "How wicked you are," said the Prince, "and 
 what will my regiment say of me?" He flew into 
 a violent rage, stamping his feet and clapping his 
 hands; and when he saw that they were onl}'' 
 laughing at him, he said looking very sober: "I 
 will reply mj'self as you will not help me. Tell 
 
 50 
 
The Mob Befork ihk Palack uk Versailles 
 
 Crying "to Paris"— ^[arie Antoinette facing the mob with her children, 
 Lafayette kisses her hand. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Colonel Choiseul, that I should like very much to 
 see my regiment, and to put myself at its head, 
 and that I beg- him to say so for me; and at the 
 same time thank him with all my heart for what 
 he has said on behalf of himself and the regi- 
 ment." The governess kissed him, and he 
 thanked her when he saw she approved of his reply. 
 
 A rumor was started in the spring that the 
 Daujohin was to be sent away secretly. Under 
 this pretext, the mob sw^armed the streets and 
 sought to enter the castle by force; but the gates 
 were closed and defended by the guard. Four 
 days after this, a stranger with a small hunting 
 knife was found in a room next to that of the 
 Dauphin. 
 
 It was on the 4th of August, in 1789, that the 
 most extraordinary scene occurred in the assem- 
 bly. Moved by the orations of some of the 
 nobles, the members of all the orders were affect- 
 ed with a delirious impulse to relinquish their 
 individual privileges. All those who by their 
 perverse selfishness brought on the revolution, 
 now vied with each other in liberality. The 
 nobles gave up their ancient rights; the clergy 
 gave up tithes or tenths; and the tiers etat 
 surrendered the privileges of towns. One night 
 had seen the overthrow of abuses a thousand 
 years old. And the next year the assembly abol- 
 ished all titles, and the order of nobility, so that 
 all must be addressed as "citizen." 
 
 51 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Against the insurrectionary movements and 
 mob rule, the higher classes made no head. 
 Yielding to panic they fled the country to the 
 number of many thousands, instead of remaining 
 to use their influence for peace. The finances con- 
 tinued in a deplorable state, and the assembly to 
 provide funds took all the church property, val- 
 ued at four hundred million dollars, and offered 
 it for sale. Loud, but vain was the remonstran- 
 ces of the clergy. But stripped of its patrimony, 
 the church was doomed to suffer a greater indig- 
 nity. The clergy of every degree were by law 
 denied the spiritual dependence on the Pope and 
 reduced to civil servants of the State. They must 
 swear an oath to this by the 4th of January, 1791, 
 on pain of dismissal. Very few took the oath. 
 It was not popular among the people. The King 
 at first refused his sanction to the law, but was 
 finally compelled to do so. The excitement be- 
 came intense as Holy Week, in 1791, approached, 
 as the mob would not permit worship. The King 
 would have only a non-juring jDriest, that is one 
 who would not take the oath. Because of this 
 the excitement spread to the palace. Crowds 
 feurrounded it, and being informed the King would 
 spend Holy Week at St. Cloud, where there was a 
 non-juring priest, the mob opposed the journey, 
 and indulged in most atrocious remarks. The 
 National Guard threatened to quit the service of 
 the King. The King had arranged to start for 
 
 52 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the Queen's castle of St. Cloud the Monday before 
 Easter. The rabble assembled and indulged in 
 sinister remarks about the journey and to oppose 
 it. The King- and Queen got into their carriage 
 with the Dauphin and Madam Royal, and the 
 King's sister Elizabeth. The guards revolted, 
 and placing themselves before the carriage, de- 
 clared they would not permit the King to depart. 
 The Mayor of Paris and Lafayette both tried to 
 persuade the guard their action was wrong. The 
 King said to them: "It is astonishing if after 
 giving liberty to the nation, I should not myself 
 be free." The throng of people in the mob up- 
 held the guards who grossly insulted those who 
 surrounded the carriage, and compelled them to 
 stand aside. They used such violence to M. de 
 Duras, that the King ordered two loyal grena- 
 diers to extricate him; and the Dauphin who was 
 not alarmed until now, began to cry and scream 
 at the top of his voice: "Save him, save him."' 
 Upon being convinced their departure would be 
 attended with danger, the}' returned into the pal- 
 ace. The King was obliged to dismiss his non- 
 juring priests, except one, to whom he confessed 
 and who said mass in secret. The household was 
 very gloomy. The poor little Dauphin was as sor- 
 rowful as the rest. Alone with the Abbe his tutor 
 and Madam his governess, he said with a sigh: 
 "How wicked all those people are, to give papa 
 so much trouble, when he is so good. I only say 
 
 53 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 so to you, my dear Madam, because I know I 
 ought to keep quiet," and putting his little arms 
 around her, kissed her tenderly; then throwing 
 himself on a sofa asked for the history of Ber- 
 quin. The first anecdote he saw as he opened the 
 book, was that of the little prisoner. Running 
 to the Abbe with tears in his e3'^es he exclaimed: 
 "Look my dear Abbe, at the book that has 
 chanced to fall into my hands to-day." He was 
 the most charming child, lovable to all; and never 
 failed to say the kindest and most affectionate 
 words to those about him. 
 
 Word was sent to the Queen that one Palloi, 
 requested permission to present the Dauphin with 
 a set of dominos made of the stone and marble of 
 the Bastille. As they dare not refuse, permis- 
 sion was granted. The speech of the Dauphin 
 was committed to memory to avoid his saying 
 something which might be used against them. 
 He said: "I am obliged to you, sir, for j^our idea 
 that a set of dominos might amuse me, and I 
 thank you sincerely for those you have giv,en me." 
 He was furious at receiving such a present, and 
 still more so, when the giver told him the}'^ would 
 be a reminder of his father in renouncing despot- 
 ism. The Dauphin's face was ver}?^ red. As soon 
 as it was over, he requested to be taken indoors, 
 and at once sent away the dominos, asking that 
 they never be mentioned again. 
 
 The Prince took a lively interest in stirring 
 
 54 
 
PRIXCE OR CR-EOLE 
 
 amusements, and favored playing soldier, by fir- 
 ing- off a little cannon in his garden, while with 
 sword in hand, he gave the command to fire. 
 Another amusement which pleased him, was to 
 dress in the customs of a French knight of olden 
 times, by putting on a miniature armour made for 
 him. "With a helmet on his head, a cuirass on his 
 body, and a lance in his hand, he marched about 
 in great glee. This amusement was only allowed 
 in his own room, for fear of remark; but after 
 begging the Queen to permit him to appear in 
 her rooms in this gallant dress, she consented if 
 he would name the knight he would represent be- 
 fore her. "It will be,'" he said, "The Chevalier 
 Bayard, without fear and without reproach." 
 
 The young Prince was fond of historical anec- 
 dotes. "I like Scipio much the best," he said to 
 the Abbe Berthelemy of the Academy of Science, 
 "he is my hero." "Would you like to see his 
 shield?" "I should be delighted." The shield 
 was brought to him, and after examining it at- 
 tentively and turning it over and over, darted 
 away to bring his sword, which he rubbed on the 
 shield. "What are you doing, Monsigneur?" 
 asked the Abbe. "I am rubbing my sword on the 
 shield of a great man. " Having heard the story 
 of the regiment of grenadiers at Strosburg, who 
 for inspiration to brave deeds, had laid their 
 swords on the tomb of Marshall Saxe, the young 
 Prince took the first occasion to imitate them. 
 
 55 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Playing in a game which required everyone to 
 tell anecdotes, he astonished his teachers by say- 
 ing": "I have a funny one. At the door of the 
 Assembly there was a porter who sold the de- 
 crees as soon as printed. To shorten his cry he 
 called out, "for two sous, for two sous, the Nation- 
 al Assembly. " A wag who was passing said to 
 him, "My friend, you tell us what they are worth, 
 but not what they cost us?" "Now confess," 
 said the Prince, "that was funny." He had been 
 forbidden to mention the assembly, and Madam 
 looking severe, asked who had told him the tale 
 Smiling he replied, "the Abbe, who taught us the 
 game, said all were obliged to relate an anecdote, 
 but it is not part of the game to tell where it 
 came from." 
 
 •^|? 
 
 56 
 
VI 
 
 MIDNIGHT FLIGHT TO VAREXXES 
 
 THE terror of their position, and the constant 
 menace to their lives, by the unguarded ora- 
 tor}' of the Assembly, the inflamatory press, 
 the plots to assassinate and desig'ns to poison, 
 finally determined the King- on flight to Mont- 
 medy, on the eastern border, where there were a 
 number of loj^al regiments and he could feel that 
 their lives wouJd be in safer care than surrounded 
 by the Parisians. The details of the journey hav. 
 ing been completed, at midnight on the 21st of 
 June, 1790, the Queen went to the Dauphin and 
 woke the young Prince from a sound sleep, ex- 
 plaining to him that the\' were going to a fort- 
 ress, where he would command his regiment. At 
 this he jumped out of bed sa3'ing : "Quick, quick, 
 make haste, give me my sword and boots, and 
 let us be off." The idea of being like Henry of 
 Navarre, who was his model roused him to such 
 an extent, that he did not close his eyes during 
 the journey. The Dauphin was disguised as a 
 little girl. Madam de Tourzel took the Dauphin 
 and his sister, Madam Royal, out of the palace 
 by the gloom of unused doorwa5's, and got into a 
 common carriage which was driven by Count Far- 
 sen, in disguise of a coachman. The numerous 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 people in and about the palace and the g:uards 
 made the escape of the Royal family quite diffi- 
 cult, and required great strategy. The usual 
 crowd of people were uiwn the dimly lighted 
 streets. While waiting for the King to arrive, 
 the tiacre was driven along the quays and streets 
 returning by Rue Saint Honore to wait in the dark. 
 Seeing on the side of the road, M. Lafayette, 
 Madam Tourzel hid the Dauphin nnder her petti- 
 coats. He said it was just like a play as they 
 were dressed for it. M. Bailly, the mayor, fol- 
 lowed at a little distance. Neither suspected the 
 occupants of the carriage. They went to visit 
 the King, and he not wishing to arouse their sus- 
 picion, was delayed by their long stay. In about 
 three quarters of an hour. Madam Elizabeth 
 reached the carriage. After midnight the King 
 came to join the fugitives wearing a wig for dis- 
 guise. The King soon became uneasy that the 
 Queen did not arrive. There was much risk to 
 them, waiting in the street in the heart of Paris. 
 The Queen escorted by a guard who did n^ot know 
 the streets about the palace, became confused 
 and they wandered about for some time in the 
 dark and poorly lighted streets, before finding the 
 carriage in which the other fugitives waited so 
 anxiously. The King was delighted on seeing 
 the Queen. As soon as she was in the carriage, 
 he took her in his arms, kissed her, and said over 
 and over again ; "How glad I am to see you here. ' ' 
 
 58 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Farsen now drove at full speed to Bondy, near 
 Paris. At the barrier there was a marriage feast 
 going on, with plenty of people and lights at the 
 gate, but none in the carriage were recognized, 
 and they passed without difficulty. The roads 
 were bad and in the dark the horses fell twice, 
 causing an hour's delay by the breaking of the 
 harness. The fugitives ate in the coach and 
 caused no delay. The children got out several 
 times to walk up hill for fresh air. Near Clinchy 
 they met their large lumbering berlin, which had 
 been sent on ahead. At Laye, they bid an affec- 
 tionate good bye to Farsen, and took post horses. 
 All the barriers being passed, the party was in 
 high spirits. The King said, "Here I am outside 
 Paris where I have experienced so much bitter- 
 ness. When I am once seated in the saddle I 
 shall be very different." The farther they went, 
 the more hopeful they became. "When we have 
 passed Chalons, we shall have nothing more to 
 fear," said the King. "At point de Sommevel 
 we shall find the first detachment of troops, and 
 we shall be safe." 
 
 They passed Chalons and easy in their minds, 
 did not suspect their good fortune was nearly at 
 an end. By unfortunate delays the troops intend- 
 ed to meet them, had changed their positions, and 
 the King was lost. The}'^ passed several towns 
 in expectation but no troops came. At Sainte 
 Menchould, son of the postmaster, a furious 
 
 69 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 patriot happened to be at the door, and led by 
 curiosity to examine the berlin, thought he recog-- 
 nized the King- from his face on the paper money. 
 He mounted on horseback, followed the King to 
 Clermont, and hearing that Varennes was the next 
 stopping place, rode on in advance and warned 
 the authorities. At Clermont the King's troops 
 came up, but refused to march or obey their com- 
 mander M. de Damas, who dare not tell them it 
 was the King's carriage. On nearing Varennes, 
 they saw a man who appeared to be hiding him- 
 self. Their anxiety increased; their situation be- 
 came frightful. They thought they were be- 
 trayed, and pursued their w^ay in distress and 
 grief, which was increased on reaching Varennes, 
 where knowing no post horses were to be had, 
 they had sent on a relay for their use, but none 
 appeared. They knocked at a door of the vil- 
 lage and asked if anything was known of a relay. 
 No information could be had, and they attempted 
 to hire the postillions to do a second stage, which 
 they refused, sa3ing their horses were tpo tired. 
 They were then to be taken to the last inn to 
 start when the horses were rested. The alarm 
 taken ahead had roused the town and National 
 Guard. A wagon load of furniture was up set 
 across the bridge, closing the wa3^ It was half 
 past eleven o'clock at night. Souce, the Ma3'or, 
 caused the carriage with the attendants which 
 was ahead, to be stopped at his house and its oc- 
 
 60 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 cupants compelled to alight, while their pass- 
 ports were examined. Word came to the King- of 
 this, but they could not retreat then. A moment 
 afterward two men stopped the King's carriage. 
 Their passports were asked for, and found to be 
 correct, and though they urged they were in a 
 hurry, yet excuses were made for delay, to arouse 
 the National Guard and citizens. The King re- 
 fused for a long time to leave the carriage, but 
 finally on promise of being allowed to proceed if 
 all was right, did alight and all entered the 
 Mayor's house. The children lay down on a bed 
 and were soon fast asleep. The people were 
 not quite sure if the stranger was really the 
 King; but one Mangin who knew His Majesty 
 went into the room to see and recognized him, 
 rushed out to the town and surrounding country, 
 and within an hour had collected four thousand 
 of the National Guard. The King seeing that 
 further denial was useless, confessed that he was 
 the King; that he left Paris to avoid daily insults; 
 that he had no intention of leaving the Kingdom, 
 but wished to go to Montmedy to be in better 
 position to be of use to his people. Both the 
 King and Queen tried to touch their hearts, "but 
 theirs were hearts of brass, which fear alone could 
 move." The streets were filled with the rabble, 
 and every house was lighted. Some officers came 
 and offered to cut their way through and save the 
 Royal family, but the King would have no blood- 
 
 61 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 shed. At four o'clock in the morning, there came 
 flying into the excited town, on foaming horses, 
 two officers with orders from the assembly to 
 protect and return the Royal family. The Queen 
 snatched the papers and prevented by the King 
 from tearing them, threw them on the ground. 
 The King said as the children needed rest, he 
 should remain there sometime. He had some 
 hope that his faithful soldiers would come; but 
 they came after the departure. 
 
 The King was incessantly urged to depart. His 
 horses were put to the berlin. The clamor in- 
 creased. In vain the Queen pointed to her sleep- 
 ing children and pointed out the need of rest. 
 The mob invaded their rooms, loudly demanding 
 that they should depart. After waiting at Varen- 
 nes eight awful hours, with no news of the troops, 
 the King seeing no way of escaping the mob, 
 which was increasing, concluded to return. The 
 carriage was driven at a high speed to escape the 
 arrival of the soldiers and soon distanced the 
 howling mob. The troops reached tl^e high 
 ground overlooking the town just in time to see 
 the unhappy King departing and because of the 
 temper of the people, the officer fearing for the 
 safety of the King if he attempted to rescue them 
 did not follow. The highways were thronged 
 with excited people who greeted them with insults 
 as they passed. Several who attempted to give 
 them words of cheer were murdered. The day 
 
 62 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 was hot, and the King- and Queen exhausted with 
 fatig-ue, not having- slept for two nights. At 
 Chalons the people were loyal. They slept there, 
 in the same house in which the Queen rested, 
 when as a young- girl she first came into France. 
 Here the children brought flowers. Frightful 
 mobs followed the carriage at every town. They 
 made such a noise all night long at Dormans 
 that it was impossible to sleep. The little Dau- 
 phin thought he was in a forest with wolves, 
 and that the Queen was in danger, he awoke 
 crying and sobbing. He could only be quieted 
 by being taken to her Majesty; when he found 
 she was safe he allowed himself to be put to bed 
 again. It was very annoying to the King and 
 Queen to be compelled to have two of the deputies 
 ride in their carriage. The heat was excessive. 
 Everybody in the carriage was covered with per- 
 spiration and dust. At places the dust raised by 
 the people who surrounded the carriage on horse- 
 back and on foot was as thick as a fog, and the 
 air was cut off, so that the people inside were 
 nearly suffocated. On entering Paris they passed 
 through dense crowds on their way to the Tuil- 
 eries. Their faithful servants were seized and 
 sent to prison. On entering the palace one of the 
 National Guard took hold of the Dauphin to carry 
 him to his room; but as he began to cry he was 
 given over to others who took him to the King's 
 apartments. 
 
 63 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 The Assembly took a-\vay the executive author- 
 ity of the King-, and made him, Marie Antoinette, 
 the Dauphin and Madame Ro^^al, prisoners in 
 their castle. All the rooms and even the chimney 
 were carefully examined to see if any secret 
 means of escape existed. All the doors leading- 
 out of the room occupied by the Dauphin were 
 doubly locked, and the kej^s taken away. A 
 sentry was placed on each stair case inside the 
 castle; sentr}'^ at the door of the King and Queen 
 were commanded to keep them always in sight 
 and the Queen had no privacy, even when she 
 slept. When Madam Campan returned to the 
 Queen, she was astonished to observe the effect 
 grief had produced upon her hair. "It became 
 in one single night, as white as that of a woman 
 of seventy. "' Marie Antoinette exhibited to her a 
 ring mounted, to send to Princess Lamballe, 
 containing a lock of her hair, with the inscription, 
 "bleached by sorrow." Shortly after receiving 
 this ring the Princess Lamballe, returned to the 
 palace, the Dauphin said to her, "You will not 
 go away again, I hope Princess? Oh, mamma 
 has cried so since you left us," of which she 
 writes: "I had wept enough before, but this dear 
 little angel brought tears into the e5"es of us all. " 
 
 By the more thoughtful people, the bringing 
 back of the King was deemed a political blunder. 
 The leaders of the revolutionary party seized 
 upon the occurrence as favorable to promote their 
 
 64 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 scheme of a republic. Mobs were roused to make 
 a grand insurrectionary movement beginning- by 
 a great meeting in the Champ de Mars. The 
 attempt was frustrated by Lafa3^ette at the head 
 of the National Guard, who by a well directed 
 fire, dispersed the concourse of anarchists. If 
 the Assembly had at the same time ordered the 
 closing of the seditious clubs, the progress of the 
 Revolution might have been stayed. 
 
 The King sought to satisfy the people by 
 accepting the constitution which changed his 
 title to king of the French, authorized him to 
 appoint his own guards and retain the right of 
 veto. At the ceremony of acceptance, a studied 
 and insulting discourtesy by the Assembly so 
 deeply affected the King, that on his return to 
 the palace he sank into a chair and sobbed aloud, 
 saying to Marie Antoinette: "All is lost! Ah 
 Madam, and you witnessed such humiliation! You 
 have come to Prance to see." He did not finish 
 the sentence, the Queen threw herself on her 
 knees before him, clasped him in her arms, 
 together they cried over the disgrace to them- 
 selves and the misery of France. Over in another 
 room the Dauphin having completed his lesson 
 said brightly to his teacher: "My good Abbe, I 
 am so hapi^y! I have such a kind papa; such a 
 kind mamma, and a second papa and mamma in 
 you and good Madam Tourzel," 
 
 The Assembly having concluded its labors on 
 65 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the 30th of September, 1791, had decreed the Leg- 
 islative Assembly, that none of the old members 
 could sit in the new, which met October 1st, 1791. 
 The Legislative Assembly was therefore com- 
 posed of individuals generally inferior in social 
 standing. They were poor, noisy, coarse in man- 
 ner, presumptuous and ignorant. They were 
 incompetent to deal with grave legislation. Their 
 measures were characterized by violence, such as 
 dooming to death and confiscation of estates of 
 absent nobles who did not return by a day set, 
 and declared all non-juring, that is non swearing 
 clergy guilty of treason. On the 15th of June, 
 1792 the King refused his sanction to the decrees, 
 ordaining the deportation of non-juring priests, 
 and the formation of a camp of twenty thousand 
 men under the walls of Paris. Very soon a sin- 
 ister appearing throng of twenty thousand men 
 marched up to the Commune to announce that on 
 the twentieth they would plant the tree of liberty 
 at the door of the Assembly and present a peti- 
 tion to the King respecting his veto of the decree 
 banishing the priests. This dreadful rabble 
 issued from the foubourgs and marched over the 
 gardens of the Tuileries. They were covered 
 with filthy clothes; were unkempt, and "the steam 
 from them infected the air." "Nothing so dis- 
 gusting had ever before been seen in Paris." On 
 the appointed day this wretched mob in still 
 greater numbers, swept over the Palace grounds, 
 
 66 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 armed with pikes, hatchets and other murderous 
 implements, decorated with the tri-color, shout- 
 ing: ''The nation forever." "Down with the 
 veto." The King- was without guards. They 
 rushed up the grand stairway into the palace, and 
 began battering at the doors of the King's apart- 
 ment which he ordered to be opened. The nobles 
 who surrounded the King, helped him to the re- 
 cess of the window and baricaded him with 
 benches. Some grenadiers ranged themselves be- 
 side the King. "The torrent poured into the 
 room furiously." An anarchist was to stab the 
 King, but he was kept away. Some said to the 
 King: "Sir, fear nothing." "Put your hand 
 upon my heart and you will perceive whether I 
 am afraid or not." A blow aimed at him was 
 warded off, and a sword thrust was parried by 
 his defenders. Madam Elizabeth ran to him, and 
 the rabble supposing she was the Queen cried: 
 "Death to the Austrian." "Ah, let them think I 
 am the Queen, that she may have time to escape, " 
 she said. A pike was thrust to pierce her, she 
 gently pushed it aside with the remark: "Take 
 care monsieur; you might hurt some one, and I am 
 sure that you would be sorry. " A red cap of lib- 
 erty was held up to the King at the end of a pike, 
 which he took and laid on his head; and forget- 
 ting it, wore it during the three anxious hours 
 which the mob held him in this situation. The 
 Queen was rushing to the King when the tumult 
 
 67 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 beg-an, but was forced by her women to the Coun- 
 cil room, where the great table was placed across 
 the room and the multitude tramped through. The 
 Queen held the Dauphin before her on the table. 
 Madam Royal was by her side. A tricolor cock- 
 ade had been fixed on the Queen's head and a red 
 cap was placed on the Dauphin. The horde 
 passed in files before the table, carrying atro- 
 cious standards, such as a gibbet, to which was 
 dangling a doll, with the words, "Marie Antoi- 
 nette a la Lantern;"' and another was a board, to 
 which was attached a bullock's heart with the 
 words: "Heart of Louis XVI." The loud voice 
 of Santerre the tall monarch of the foubourgs 
 made his subjects file off as fast as possible. The 
 riot lasted for three hours, and after they had 
 cleared the palace, it was found that every lock 
 was broken, the furniture and the building strewn 
 with filth. The King and Queen had no hope 
 now, but in relief by foreign help and that of the 
 army of nobles who had organized on the frontier. 
 The King expected to be assassinated, a,nd was 
 resigned to his fate. The fear of another sack of 
 the Tuileries caused the King and Queen to 
 destroy all their letters and documents, except a 
 few which they entrusted to faithful servants, 
 but which were subsequently mostly destroyed. 
 Under the constant terror and nervous strain the 
 Queen could no longer sleep. The garden was 
 constantly crowded with the rabble. The Queen 
 
 68 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and her children were unable to go out into the 
 open air, and even when the Assembly caused the 
 gardens to be closed, the people crowded the ter- 
 race and "sent forth dreadful howls, and she was 
 twice compelled to return to her apartments." 
 The Sunday before the last days of the monarchy, 
 while the royal famil}' went through the gallery 
 to chapel half the soldiers cried: "Long live the 
 King," and the other half, "No, no King, down 
 with the veto." The night before the slaughter 
 at the palace, the two sentinels at the King's 
 door had a bloody fight in the corridor, each 
 maintaining opposite views of love and distrust 
 of the King. 
 
 $ 
 
 •SK» 
 
 t)9 
 
VII 
 
 MASSACRE AT THE TUILERIES 
 
 THE colonists of San Doming-o having- pre- 
 sented to the Queen a very gracious address 
 upon the occasion of the negro insurrection, 
 the Dauphin asked Her Majest}^ to give him the 
 speech. "What do you want to do with it?" said 
 his mother. "I will place it in my left pocket, 
 which is nearest my heart. ' ' The young Prince was 
 always charming to the Queen, and never lost an 
 opportunity of saying- tender and loving thing's 
 to her. Prom the time of the insulting assault 
 on the palace in June, the King and Queen aban- 
 doned themselves to their fate; their only fear 
 was for their two children. At the joublic cere- 
 mony to celebrate the sack of the Bastille, they 
 knew by the lowering looks of the multitude, 
 that they were subject to merciless hostility. 
 Their danger was increased b}^ the injudicious 
 proclamation of the Duke of Brunswick, saying- 
 that he was advancing from Coblentz at the head 
 of a larg-e army of Germans to free the King and 
 maintain the law. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans took advantage of all 
 these events to inflame and infuriate the mob. 
 By his means an army of Marseilles composed of 
 about seven hundred hardened ruffians from that 
 
 70 
 
The Massacre of Tuileries 
 
 Where seven thousand people were murdered and the monarchy fell. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 seaport town, commenced their march across the 
 whole length of Prance, gathering- to their stan- 
 dard the lowest elements along the way, until 
 when they finally marched unwashed into Paris, 
 they were a hobo band of five thousand provincial 
 cutthroats added to its depraved populace. The 
 frightful excesses constantly committed, were 
 frequently condoned and remitted by the Assem- 
 bly and exterisive massacres celebrated. None 
 but the innocent were punished. These awful 
 excesses derived added horror from wild tumult- 
 uary cries, dances and songs with scenes of blood- 
 shed. The}^ sang Caira over unhappy victims 
 carried to execution, and danced the Carmagnole 
 with a song stimulative of acts of atrocity. The 
 most stirring was the warlike song of liberty of 
 Captain Rouget de Lisle, caught up by levies of 
 revolutionary troops, its stirring refrain swept 
 through the rough camp of the refuse of Marseilles 
 who gave to the song and tune the name of Mar- 
 seillaise. 
 
 The cap of liberty, as it was called, made of 
 red woolen goods, formed like a Phrygian bonnet, 
 became popular. 
 
 As crimes went unpunished all kinds of excesses 
 were committed and neither person nor property 
 was safe. In their maniacal fury, the French did 
 not stop at mere murder, but cut off the heads of 
 victims which they carried about the streets; and 
 even sank so low as to eat parts of the flesh. Mr. 
 
 71 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 William Chambers writing of this period says: 
 "A people priding themselves on their philosophy, 
 their literature, and their refinement, sank in 
 social estimation below the Bosjesmen of Southern 
 Africa, or the natives of Tierra del Puego. The 
 excesses were of course the work of the most 
 despicable of the population, but in ever}" instance 
 politicians of high standing, men renowned in 
 science and art, fomented and extenuated atroci- 
 ties." 
 
 In midsummer the insurrection was ready to 
 burst forth. Rumors of their impending fate had 
 come to the Queen from time to time. They had 
 warning of the uprising. They saw the sun go 
 down in red on the evening of August 9th, 1792. 
 With dread and anxiety they waited all night 
 long. None in the palace retired. Seven hundred 
 nobles had gathered, old and^^oung, armed with 
 old pistols or swords to make their last futile 
 defense of the head of their order. The servants 
 snatched the tonges from the hearth. Out on 
 the midnight air rang" the bells, the tocsin of 
 anarchy, as notice to the multitude to slide out of 
 their slums into the street. The Queen, Eliza- 
 beth and the King trembled at the ominous 
 sound. Over in the suburbs the din was begin- 
 ning. Soon they were on the march, gathering 
 forces from every street. Thousands holding 
 aloft pikes, guns and daggers swarmed along the 
 morning dew wet streets of Paris. The maj^or 
 
 72 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 was powerless. Mandat head of the guard was 
 murdered; the mob commanded the town and set 
 up its own government. Little preparation was 
 made for resistance at the palace. The guard 
 were infected and the gunners put out their fuse. 
 The King walked out to review the guard. They 
 met him with angry looks; but the faithful Swiss 
 in their bright red coats, "were drawn up like 
 red walls." 
 
 The money and jewels in the jDalace were 
 secreted. All was made ready for the assault. 
 A musket shot was heard from the garden. The 
 Queen said: "There is the first shot; unfortun- 
 ately it will not be the last." The}" heard of 
 Mandat's assassination at the Hotel de Ville for 
 ordering the National Guard to protect the cit3^ 
 When the King went among the gunners of his 
 guard, they thrust their fists in his face, "insult- 
 ing him in the most brutal language."' The Queen 
 remarked: "All is lost. " The Queen and Eliza- 
 beth went to the window to watch the sun rise, 
 which that day set on the monarchy. The un- 
 kempt multitudes from the foubourgs with their 
 pikes and cutlasses filled the Carrousel and streets 
 about the Tuileries, the din was deafening. The 
 black Marseillais were at their head, dragging 
 cannon which was pointed at the Tuileries. 
 
 Since the advent in town of the Marseillais the 
 audacity of the rebels had surpassed their pre- 
 vious insults to the Queen, from underneath the 
 
 73 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 windows of her private apartments and she had 
 moved up into the rooms of the Dauphin. The 
 little prince after his short walks in the protected 
 garden, would go to his lessons; in the evening 
 he was entertained by a marvelous story teller in 
 the person of a retired naval officer. "This 
 amiable child who was not old enough to foresee 
 the misfortune which threatened him, was still 
 happy." Being warned not to talk of things he 
 overheard said to Madam Tourzel: "Confess, 
 that I am very discreet, and that I have never 
 compromised anybody; I am inquisitive; I like 
 to know what is going on; and if I am not trusted, 
 do not say anything before me." This discretion 
 so rare at his age of seven years, he retained in 
 sj^ite of future ill treatment. The Dauphin was 
 delighted to have the Queen sleep in his room, 
 and ran to her bed as soon as she was awake, put 
 his arms around her, and said tender loving 
 things to her. Now on this fatal and last night 
 in their palace of the Tuileries "the Dauphin's 
 calm and peaceful slumbers were in stril^ing con- 
 trast with the agitation that reigned in every 
 mind." 
 
 As the rebel mob throbbed about the defenseless 
 palace, it was seen there was no hope for the 
 King but in flight. The attorney general Roe- 
 derer hastened to the King. "There is not five 
 minutes to lose sir," he said, "there is no safety 
 for your majesty but in the National Assembly. 
 
 74 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 The gunners are not willing-; they cannot be re- 
 lied upon; they will not fire; the assault will 
 begin immediately." As the King was reluctant 
 to go he was informed: "The Foubourgs are 
 coming down, sir, the crowd is enormous, and 
 they bring cannon." The King arose. "Let us 
 go," he said. The ministers and some members 
 of the Assembly joined the procession. The 
 garden was still free. The Dauphin kicked the 
 dried autumn leaves before him. As they ap- 
 proached the wooden building adjacent occupied 
 by the Assembly the crowd closed about them, 
 curious, menacing pressed into the passage. The 
 little Dauphin could not go ahead. A sapper of 
 the National Guard took the little Prince in his 
 arms; he screamed; the Queen cried out with 
 affright, but the man pushed an opening through 
 the throng, made a path before her through the 
 surging crowd of people, entered the Assembly 
 leading the Royal family, and placed the child on 
 the desk of the Assembly, as the King and Queen 
 entered the hall, pursued by the invectives of 
 the mob. The King was seated by the side of 
 the president. "Gentlemen, " said he, "I have 
 come here to prevent a great crime." "Your 
 Majesty may count on the firmness of the Nation- 
 al Assembly," replied the President, which con- 
 sidering the Assembly had secretly used eight 
 hundred thousand dollars to create the insurrec- 
 tion, was well said. The King, Queen, Dauphin 
 
 75 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and Madam Royal, together with a number of 
 faithful followers were given places in the re- 
 porters' box back of the president's stand, where 
 for fifteen hours, they were obliged to sit listen- 
 ing to the wild harangues. 
 
 In the meantime the excited mob had brought 
 up their cannon and fired into the Palace. The 
 Swiss guard returned the fire with musketry and 
 the mob recoiled. Napoleon Bonaparte, then an 
 artillery officer, an eye witness, stood looking 
 over the combat wrote: "In ten minutes the 
 Marsellais were driven as far as the Rue I'Echele, 
 and only came back when the Swiss retreated," 
 on the order of the King not to fire. Then was 
 begun the massacre. The red coats of the faith- 
 ful Swiss guards marked them for an easy prey. 
 Through the Palace the mob swarmed murdering 
 all who could be reached, "The Palace was 
 abandoned like its defenders. The popular anger 
 and frenzy destroyed all signs of fallen grandeur; 
 all the splendor of monarchy perished with its 
 power; it was not pillage, it was devastation. 
 The same fury pursued the gentlemen who had 
 come to defend the King, as they fled through the 
 streets they were everywhere massacred." And 
 another writes: "Some of the Swiss tried to 
 escape by the gardens behind the palace, but 
 pursued, were killed amidst the trees and statues. 
 A few servants were saved by leaping from the 
 windows, others put to death. The palace was 
 
 76 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ransacked and plundered; the furniture destroyed 
 the most horrible scenes took place, and the x)ile 
 of ancient buildings set on fire. Streams of blood 
 flowed everywhere from roof to cellar, and it was 
 not possible to set foot on a single sjDot without 
 treading on a dead body. Bands of ferocious 
 women killed the wounded Swiss prisoners, tore 
 out their entrails, cut up their bodies, which they 
 roasted and ate." Over seven thousand perished 
 in the massacre of the Tuileries on the tenth of 
 August. 
 
 The sound of the carnage reached the Assembly. 
 The King and Queen were the only ones who had 
 hearts that felt for men. The Queen seemed for 
 the first time to lose courage. She hid her face 
 in her hands. Each discharge of cannon made 
 them tremble as they thought of those dear to 
 them left in the Palace. ' 'The poor little Dauphin 
 cried; thought of those whom he loved, and had 
 left behind in the castle, threw himself in my 
 arms," says Madam Tourzel, "and kissed me." 
 Several deputies noticed this, and the Queen said 
 to them: "My son is tenderly attached to the 
 daughter of his governess who has remained in 
 the Tuileries." Pauline Tourzel was the child 
 love of the Dauphin and he was charming on this 
 occasion, by the sympathy with which he dis- 
 played his satisfaction on learning that his Paul- 
 ine was not among the slain. 
 
 Deprived of all servants and of their wardrobe 
 
 77 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and all their personal effects, the royal family 
 were kept for three days in the monks cells of the 
 old building, when it was determined to take 
 them to the Temple. The Queen shuddered when 
 she heard of the Temple, saying: "You will see 
 they will put us in the tower and make it a regular 
 prison for us. I always had such a horror of that 
 tower, that I begged the Count d' Artois to have 
 it pulled down." The household was reduced to 
 a few servants, and the Dauphin and his sister 
 Madam Royal joined in requesting Pauline would 
 go with them, throwing their arms around the 
 neck of her mother, begging her to give them 
 their dear Pauline. Their request was granted. 
 Madam Campan found the Queen in the Feuil- 
 lans cell, the next morning, "in bed in an 
 indescribable state of affliction. We found her 
 accompanied only by a bulky woman. Her 
 Majesty stretched out her arms to us saying: 
 "Come unfortunate women, to one still more 
 unhappy. We are ruined; we are arrived at that 
 point to which they have been leading us for three 
 years; we shall fall in this dreadful Revolution." 
 Then the children came in and the Queen said: 
 "Poor children, how heart rending it is; instead 
 of handing down to them so fine an inheritance, 
 to say it ends with us. '" The wife of the English 
 ambassador sent her some linen for the Dauphin, 
 and the Queen having been robbed by a pick poc- 
 ket of her watch and purse while jostled by the 
 
 78 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 crowd at the entrance to the assembly, borrowed 
 seventy-five louis of one of her ladies. 
 
 The assembl}" in the presence of the King- and 
 Queen decreed the forfeiture of the crown and the 
 authority of the King- was at an end. They 
 assigned to the royal family a residence in the 
 tower of the palace called, "Le Temple"' which 
 had been used in olden time by the Knights 
 Templars, and was the property of Artois. It 
 was now the prison and last home of King Louis 
 XVI and Marie Antoinette. 
 
 4* 
 
 79 
 
VIII 
 
 THE KING FALLS A VICTIM OF ANARCHY. 
 
 AFTER three days spent in the ancient 
 monks cells, the King, Queen and children, 
 were taken at six in the evening into one of 
 the large court carriages, and commenced their 
 journey across the city to the gloomy Temple. As 
 soon as the carriage started the multitude "made 
 the air resound with shouts of "Long live the 
 nation," "Long live liberty," adding the filthiest 
 and coarsest remarks," which never ceased dur- 
 ing the prolonged journey over the boulevards. 
 Passing the statue of Louis XIV which had been 
 thrown down by the vandals, Manuel said to the 
 King: "You see, Sire, how the people treat their 
 Kings." "May it please God," replied Louis 
 XVI, "that its fury may only be vented on inani- 
 mate things." They were glad to arrive, at the 
 Temple to escape the insults of the mob. It was 
 lighted from one end to the other. The hall was 
 filled with candles. They were met by a large 
 delegation of the Commune, disgustingly attired, 
 who kept their hats on and plied the King with 
 ridiculous questions. "What is your profession" 
 asked the King of one of them. "Cobbler" he 
 replied. 
 
 80 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 The poor little Dauphin overcome with sleep 
 and fatigue begged to be put to bed, but was 
 always told it was not ready. He was laid on a 
 couch, where he slept soundly. After a long wait 
 a grand supper was served. No one was tempted 
 to eat. The Dauphin was so fast asleep when he 
 took his soup, that his governess was obliged to 
 take him on her knee. An officer came to say his 
 room was ready; he took him up in his arms and 
 hurried him off with such rapidity that we had 
 great difficulty in keeping up with him. "We were 
 in mortal dread," says Madam Tourzel, "as we 
 saw him go through subways, and this dread was 
 increased when we saw him take the young Prince 
 to a tower, and place him in the room set apart 
 for him. 1 put him to bed and then seated myself 
 in a chair, the prey to the saddest reflections. I 
 shuddered at the idea of being separated from 
 the King and Queen, and I was very glad when I 
 saw Her Majesty come into the room. She took 
 my hand, saying: "Did I not tell you truly?" and 
 then going to the bed side of the dear child, who 
 was fast asleep, the tears came to her e3''es." 
 
 The Temple prison consisted of one large tower 
 of considerable height, with turrets at the angles; 
 a smaller tower, was annexed, in which the fam- 
 ily was at first located. It had two rooms on each 
 floor, with a small passage between the two. In 
 the passage went the Princess de Lamballe, and 
 the Queen had the room facing that of the Dau- 
 
 81 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 phin. The King was on the floor above and a 
 guard had the opposite room. There being no 
 place for Princess Elizabeth, she was given a 
 "frightfully dirty kitchen which opened into the 
 guard room." As for Pauline she was taken in 
 charge by Elizabeth, who had a folding bed set 
 up next to her own. The noise of the soldiers in 
 the adjoining room, put an end to all sleep. The 
 Queen's room being the largest, was used by the 
 family during the day, but not alone, as a guard 
 was kept constantly in the room. Often during 
 pleasant days their Majesties took the children 
 for a walk in a garden within the walls. 
 
 Madam Campan seeking in vain among the city 
 authorities for a permit to live in the Temple and 
 serve the Queen, had been told b}^ Petion the 
 Ma5^or: "You may be certain that all those who 
 were then with Louis XVI and his family, would 
 not staj^ with them long," and they were all 
 removed except the King's valet, Clery, within 
 five days. They had suspected something of it in 
 the evening, but Madam de Tourzel had >retired 
 and was asleep, when she was awakened to be 
 informed that Princess de Lamballe had been 
 arrested. A moment after, an officer came to 
 order her and Pauline to dress at once and go out 
 into the night with them. Madam carried the 
 Dauphin fast asleep in his bed to the Queen, who 
 made them a sorrowful parting of touching sym- 
 pathy. The three women were incarcerated in 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the La Force prison, from which Pauline and Mad- 
 am escaped, but the good Princess was murdered 
 on the 3rd of September, and had her head carried 
 past the Temple to the horror of the Royal family. 
 
 There were searching- visits to private houses, 
 ostensibly to secure all arms for the soldiers said 
 to be making ready to defend France from inva- 
 sion, but which was to disarm innocent people, 
 fill the prisons with enemies and suspected aris- 
 tocrats, who it was resolved by the anarchists to 
 massacre en masse, for which purpose the city 
 government hired three hundred assassins, at 
 twenty-four francs, about five dollars each. The 
 victims driven from their cells, were stabbed, cut 
 down and murdered, as they issued into the 
 street. To afford amusement to spectators, the 
 city arranged seats in the streets for the people, 
 and at night lighted the shambles. Two hundred 
 clergy perished. To women they were peculiarly 
 barbarous. This riot of blood lasted four days 
 and eight thousand persons perished. 
 
 The taxes which worried Louis XVI at the 
 beginning of the troubles was only thirty-five 
 million, whereas now the annual expenditures 
 increased to s650,000,000. The French forces or- 
 ganized by the genius of Carnot and commanded 
 by Dumourier drove all before them in the for- 
 eign war. 
 
 The Royal family in confinement in the Temple, 
 enjoyed themselves as best the}^ could. They 
 
 83 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 mended and made over clothing, and read from 
 books in the prison library, A new wall having 
 been made about the garden, they enjoyed there 
 the fresh air and green grass. The King took 
 delight in instructing the Dauphin, and the Queen 
 washed and dressed him. They had never been 
 quite so intimate before as they were now. From 
 their lofty tower they could hear the ferocious 
 multitude shouting revolutionary songs and men- 
 aces. It was only by means of the whispering of 
 Clery, the faithful valet, that they learned of 
 things outside. He dressed the Queen's hair and 
 at such times could give her information without 
 being noticed by the guard, who remained in the 
 room. After the Queen had dressed the Dauphin, 
 he would kneel to say his prayers. While the 
 family were in the garden the children played 
 ball and games with Clery. The garden con- 
 tained a walk shaded by chestnut trees. In the 
 evening the little Dauphin took his supper separ- 
 ately and was put to bed, the Queen hearing him 
 say his prayers, and undressing him herself. She 
 mended his clothing in the evening after he had 
 retired. 
 
 Until the shock of the dreadful death of the 
 Princess de Lamballe, the Queen had preserved 
 her usual energy; but after that event lived in a 
 state of terror. Daily the crowd assembled under 
 the windows of the Temple, demanding with loud 
 cries the heads of Louis XVI and Marie Antoi- 
 
 84 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 nette. She could heroically face danger to her- 
 self; but the horror of constantly dreading- the 
 murder of her children and husband before her 
 eyes was too much for her; and when on the 29th 
 of September, the city officers came to remove 
 "Louis Capet" as they named the King, to the 
 large tower, the Queen was in despair, being 
 convinced they intended to murder him. She 
 passed the night in sobs and tears. In the morn- 
 ing refused all food and implored the guard with 
 such passionate entreaties for permission to see 
 the King at meals, the favor was granted. They 
 were all very soon transferred to the larger tower, 
 but it broke the Queen's heart to have the 
 Dauphin lodged with the King and Clery on the 
 second floor, taking him away from his mother at 
 night. The rooms were dark and gloomy with 
 heavy locks and massive keys, hoodwinked 
 windows, iron bars. The little Dauphin was 
 much depressed by this. No divine service was 
 permitted them, so the King read the prayers 
 and gospel. They were deprived of pens, ink, 
 paper and pencil. The King was thirty-eight 
 years of age; the Queen thirty-seven; Madam 
 Elizabeth twenty-eight; Madam Royal thirteen 
 and the Dauphin seven years old. The festive 
 season Christmas and New Year brought only 
 fresh sorrows. 
 
 On the 6th of December, Clery heard that the 
 King was to be tried and that during its course 
 
 85 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 he would be separated from the Queen and the 
 family. Clery had the painful duty of preparing 
 the King- for this new ordeal and gently broke 
 the news to him while undressing- his master. On 
 the 11th, there was a great noise in the streets. The 
 drums beat to arms and the troops came into the 
 garden of the Temple. After breakfast the King 
 went down stairs as usual with his son for his 
 lesson; but at eleven o'clock two guards came to 
 take the Dauphin away to his mother. At one 
 o'clock there came a deputation to take the King 
 to the bar of the National Assembly for trial. When 
 the Queen knew that the King had been taken away 
 she was alarmed for his safety, and urgently 
 plied the guards with questions for some informa- 
 tion. When the King returned at six o'clock he 
 begged to see his family, but in vain. He was to 
 remain alone with Clery after this. The Dauphin 
 was with the Queen. "My mother, ' ' says Madam 
 Royal, "spent the night with him. As he had no 
 bed, she gave him her own, and sat up all night 
 so absorbed in grief that my aunt and >myself 
 would not leave her." In vain did Marie Antoi- 
 nette entreat to be permitted to see her husband 
 in the morning. She never saw him again in this 
 world, except once, when he bid her farewell to 
 go to his death. On Christmas the King wrote 
 to his wife in a letter which she was not permit- 
 ted to see. "I charge my son, in case that he 
 should ever have the misfortune of being a King, 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 to remember that he must be entirely devoted to 
 the happiness of his fellow citizens; that he must 
 forget all rancor or hatred, more especially with 
 reg-ard to the misfortunes and sorrows to which I 
 am subject." 
 
 The sentence of death was pronounced by a 
 majority of seven. The infamous Orleans in- 
 curred ignominy and contempt by adjudging- his 
 kinsman to death, in voting as a member of the 
 Assembly for the sentence of "death." It was 
 announced to the King on the 20th of January to 
 take place the next day. Being permitted to say 
 farewell to his familj% the Queen holding the 
 little Dauphin by the hand came in first, followed 
 by Madam Elizabeth and Madam Royal. All had 
 learned the awful truth by overhearing the news- 
 boys calling their papers on the street. With a 
 flood of tears the Queen threw herself into his 
 arms. They all wept together. The King ex- 
 plained the trial, excusing the wretches who 
 wanted to put him to death. '-He then addressed 
 religious exhortations to my brother; he espe- 
 cially commanded him to forgive those who were 
 the cause of his death, and gave him his blessing, ' ' 
 says Madam Royal. In his last moments he sum- 
 moned Clery and gave into his hands a small 
 packet for the Queen, containing a seal for the 
 Dauphin and his wedding ring. 
 
 The Queen had spent the night before the death 
 of the King, lying on her bed, without undressing, 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 incessanth' "sobbing- and shuddering' with grief. " 
 The morning passed in the horrible expectation 
 of the visit of the King to say farewell. At the 
 last moment he had not the courage and was 
 carried away. They never saw him afterwards, 
 and learned his fate from the public criers in the 
 street. At seven o'clock the Queen had been 
 refused permission to go to the King's chamber. 
 The Dauphin who was now up and dressed, under- 
 stood the terrible situation. He sprang from his 
 mother's arms and rushed to theg^uards, clasping 
 their knees and crying: "Let me go, Messieurs I 
 let me go." "Where do you want to go?" "To 
 speak to the people, to beg them not to kill 
 my papa the King, let me go." The guard pushed 
 the boy aside. He went slowly away, but kept 
 on crying, "Oh! papa, papa." The Queen pressed 
 him in her arms. 
 
 ff* 
 
 88 
 
IX 
 
 THE LITTLE KING TORN FROM HIS MOTHER. 
 
 THE heir of the title which once filled half the 
 world with its scepter, a little helpless child, 
 was weeping" bitterly in prison beside his 
 widowed mother. She treated her son as King- 
 of Prance, with the etiquette which had been 
 conceded to the King father even in prison. In 
 many parts of Prance the Dauphin was hailed as 
 Louis XVII. In La Vendee in southwest Prance, 
 the people would not recognize other authority 
 than Louis XVII. The Dauphin was acknowl- 
 edged to be King in all the courts of Europe; and 
 by the armies fighting- ag-ainst the Republic, as 
 Prance called itself, he was proclaimed by the 
 title of Louis XVII. At the same time his uncle, 
 the Count de Provence (who afterwards became 
 King Louis XVIII) assumed the title and position 
 of Regent of the Kingdom of Prance, during the 
 minority of Louis XVII. All these marks of 
 esteem and titular dignity were of no avail to 
 mitigate the sufferings of the little boy in prison, 
 as the anarchists had usurped the g-overnment 
 and instituted for the revolution the Reign of 
 Terror. The prisoners were under the commune 
 of Paris, and by their various mean agents were 
 subject to the most cruel privations. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 The cruel whims of the commune toward the 
 Queen and children, did not go to the extent of 
 denjdng- them the permission to w^ear mourning- 
 for their beloved dead, and as the garments sent 
 to them were badly made, and caused them to 
 appear ridiculous, permission was given to a good 
 friend to alter them. As she was out of the prison 
 at night and could obtain information of friends, 
 of whom the Queen wished to know, but could not 
 talk to the roj'^al prisoners because of the presence 
 of the guards, or the Tyson woman, who though 
 doing menial service, was really a spy. The lit- 
 tle King made up a play of running from the 
 Queen to this lady while she plied her needle and 
 back again, always taking a few words of a mes- 
 sage. This pretty scene is described by Madam 
 Tourzel: "The Dauphin whose age was an excuse 
 for any curiosity, took advantage of it to ask me, 
 under cover of an apparent game, all the ques- 
 tions the royal family wished. He ran by turns 
 to me, then to the Queen, the two Princesses and 
 even to the municipal guard. Every time he 
 came to me he never failed to question me about 
 the persons in whom the royal family took an 
 interest. He told me to embrace you and Paul- 
 ine for him, and forgot none of those he loved. 
 He played his part so well, that no one suspected 
 he spoke to me.'' 
 
 The little King was taken sick and they would 
 not give him any but the prison medicine. The 
 
 90 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 physician kindly consulted Brunger the court 
 doctor to obtain information about the temper- 
 ament of the child, and the littleKing- soon re- 
 covered. 
 
 The Duke of Orleans came frequently to the 
 Temple disguised as a guard with a wooden leg, 
 to secretl}^ gloat over the condition of the royal 
 family. On one occasion he had bribed the men 
 who were to light the fires, to admit him in their 
 place to the room of Princess Elizabeth. Find- 
 ing her on her knees in prayer for the soul of the 
 murdered King her brother, he was so overcome 
 with remorse that he hurried out saying: "That 
 woman has unmmaned me," by which he was dis- 
 covered. The Queen exclaimed when she heard 
 of these visits: "Merciful Heavens! is he not yet 
 satisfied? Must he even satiate his barbarous 
 brutalit}' with being an eyewitness of the horrid 
 state into which he has thrown us?" She gave 
 way to a flood of tears as she recalled to mind 
 the cruel injustice of this most unworthy relative. 
 
 Some time after this it is certain that he visited 
 the Queen and that the just reproach with which 
 she scorned him, led to her being removed to the 
 common prison, the Conciergerie, and to her trial. 
 It also led to Orleans being sent away to Marseil- 
 les to prevent his schemes to liberate the [Queen, 
 for the sole purposeof having her in his own power. 
 
 Marie Antoinette was broken with sorrow and 
 despair when the little King was brutally taken 
 
 91 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 away, and delivered over to the cruel care of the 
 * 'cobbler" Simon. It was at ten o'clock at night, 
 the time usually set for the dark deeds of the com- 
 mune, July 3, 1793, the six commissioners came 
 into the room where the Queen was with the 
 youthful King and read a decree of the conven- 
 tion, that the son of Louis Capet should be sepa- 
 rated from his mother, and given into the hands 
 of a ' 'tutor, ' ' who would be appointed by the com- 
 mune. The child was ill and sound asleep. Over 
 the posts the Queen had hung a shawl to guard 
 his eyes from the light, by which she and Eliza- 
 beth were mending their clothes. I he noise made 
 by the men awakened the little King. As soon 
 as he heard this, he threw himself into his moth- 
 er's arms and piteously begged, "entreated with 
 violent cries not to be separated from her." The 
 Queen "was struck to the earth by this cruel 
 order; she would not part with her son, and she 
 actually defended against the efforts of the offi- 
 cers, the bed on which she had placed him, she 
 exclaimed, "that they had better kill her, than 
 tear her son from her." She resisted the officers 
 for an hour, while they heaped threats and insults 
 on her. Princess Elizabeth and Madam Royal 
 joined their tears, entreaties and prayers to keep 
 the little boy with them. The officers threatened 
 to kill the poor boy and his sister, if further 
 resistance was made to the order, when the Queen's 
 maternal "tenderness at length forced her to this 
 
 92 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 sacrifice. " Princess Elizabeth dressed him, then 
 the Queen took him in her arms "and delivered 
 him to the officers, bathing- him with her tears, 
 and foreseeing- that she should never see him 
 ag-ain. The poor little fellow embraced us all 
 tenderly, and was carried off in a flood of tears." 
 When about to give him up to the men who were 
 coarsely expressing- their impatience, the broken 
 hearted Queen gave him this beautiful message: 
 "My child, we are about to part. Bear in mind 
 all I have said to you of your duties when I shall 
 be no longer near you to repeat it. Never forget 
 God, who thus tries you; nor your mother, who 
 loves you. Be good, patient, kind and your 
 father will look down from heaven and bless you. " 
 Then she kissed him and they parted forever. 
 
 The Princess Royal says that her mother never 
 looked up after the loss of her son. It was thus 
 that the envoy of Austria saw her sitting on her 
 low stool, her face the picture of apathy. A 
 treaty had been made with Robespierre the erst 
 while dictator of France, to free the Queen; but 
 she refused a liberty which did not include her 
 children. 
 
 After her son had been delivered up to Simon, 
 "then," says the Princess Royal, "my poor 
 mother would sit whole hours in silent despair; 
 and her only consolation was to go to the leads 
 of the tower, because my brother went often on 
 the leads of the tower on the other side. The 
 
 93 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 only pleasure my mother enjoyed was seeing- him 
 through a chink as he passed at a distance. She 
 would watch at this chink for hours together, to 
 see the child as he passed; it was her only hope, 
 her only thought. " 
 
 Princess Elizabeth was informed by friendly 
 g-uards of the ill treatment and degradation of the 
 little King-, and "which was beyond imagination, " 
 says Madam Royal. They were entreated not to 
 mention it to the Queen; but she was only too sure 
 of his treatment when she caught sight of her 
 child through the "chinks" and saw his pale, sor- 
 rowful face. The last time that such miserable 
 comfort was granted her, was on July 30th, three 
 days before she was removed from the Temple. 
 She had been keeping her faithful vigil at the 
 "chinks," and at last saw him, cowed and terri- 
 fied, bereft of his golden curls, wearing a red rev- 
 olutionary cap, and singing a song of coarse 
 insult against herself. She knew then how the 
 child must have suffered before he could have 
 been brought to this." 
 
 She was forced to rise at two o'clock on the 
 night of Aug-ust 2nd, to dress in presence of three 
 men, and taken to the Conciergerie prison. On 
 passing the low doorway of the cell she struck 
 her head. Being asked if she was hurt, she re- 
 plied: "Nothing can hurt me now." She was 
 placed in a low, damp cell, where the mould cov- 
 ered her shoes, deprived of all comforts and even 
 
 94 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 privacy, for two maleg-uards remained in the cell 
 nig-ht and day. After a miserable existence in 
 this gloomy prison, and an insulting- trial, the 
 brave, beautiful, broken Marie Antoinette, was 
 taken in a two wheeled criminal cart along streets 
 lined with heartless men and women to the place 
 where was set up that sharp blade of the g-uillo- 
 tine. A Queen to the last moment, she apolo- 
 gized to the executioner Sanson, for stepping on 
 his foot. The knife fell; her head was held aloft 
 for exhibition to the populace. This was October 
 16th, and on November 6th, Orleans who had 
 been incarcerated in the same cell, was tried, con- 
 demned and executed, meeting his fate with stoi- 
 cal fortitude, "leaving none in France to mourn 
 his loss." The horrible history of the Revolu- 
 tion has been mentioned only so far as required 
 to understand the story of the Prince. Passion, 
 outrage and murder had long since possessed the 
 government. They now abolished the calender; 
 they abolished the sabbath day; they destroyed 
 with ghoulish ferocity the tombs of the King's at 
 St. Denis; and abjured Christianity; desecrated 
 the churches; and declared marriage a civil con- 
 tract. Its ridiculous and horrible proceedings 
 came to end within two years when Napoleon shot 
 it to pieces, and scattered the mob. "The num- 
 ber of persons destroyed during the Revolution" 
 says Mr. Williams Chambers, "has been reckoned 
 to be 1,027,106. The world has nothing to equal 
 
 95 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 this in atrocitjs nor is there any such instance of 
 a worthless faction terrifying the community into 
 submission. The fact is not less curious, that 
 during- the worst period of the Reign of Terror, 
 all the theaters and other places of amusement 
 in Paris were open and well attended. And a 
 peculiar characteristic, the conclusion of the 
 Reign of Terror was signalized by a ball, called 
 "Le bal des Victims;" only those ladies being 
 admitted who had lost relatives by the guillo- 
 tine and their hair was tied up as if ready for 
 execution," 
 
 ^fy 
 
X 
 
 THE LITTLE KING DID NOT DIE IX THE TEMPLE. 
 
 1. The Baby King in the Temple. 2. Went Living Out From 
 THE Temple. 3. The Dumb Boy. 4. The Chatterbox. 5. The 
 Solemn Fabce. 6. Fab too Tall for the Little King. 7. Cof- 
 fin Marked '-L— XII" Exhumed and the Bones Found to be 
 Adult. 8. History Confirms the Escape. 9. The Unclaimed 
 Heart. 
 
 I. THE BABY KING IN THE TEMPLE. 
 
 ON that unhappy night when the King and 
 family were taken to the illuminated 
 Temple, the entrance hall was filled with 
 vulg-ar members of the infamous commune. They 
 were mostly there to see the misery of the King. 
 They boldly "asked him a thousand questions," 
 says Duchess de Tourzel, "and one of them seated 
 on a sofa, said the most extraordinary things to 
 him about the happiness of equality. -What is your 
 profession?' said the King to him. 'Cobbler,' he 
 replied." This was Simon the cobbler, who be- 
 came the jailor or tutor of the baby King on that 
 sorrowful night of the third of July, when the 
 child was torn from his bereaved mother's arms 
 by the heartless commissaries. 
 
 Simon would threaten him with the guillotine, 
 which so filled him with terror that he fainted. 
 He forced him to drink raw spirits which stupefied 
 him. As soon as Simon had the Prince in his 
 power, he stripped him of the suit of mourning, 
 
 97 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 g-iven him for his father, and dressed him in a red 
 cap, coarse jacket called carmag-nole, or sans 
 culotte uniform; taught him revolutionar}^ songs 
 and blasphemous oaths which he obliged him to 
 repeat at the windows, so as to be heard by the 
 guards. He would rouse the Prince at night from 
 sleep with loud cries of Capet! Simon was fre- 
 quently intoxicated, when his ill usage of the 
 child was still more horrible; and if not protected 
 by the wife of Simon, the Prince would have been 
 killed through the crazy violence of the brute. 
 The grateful Prince showed her every attention, 
 as she boasts he would run to clean and black 
 her shoes, and bring the foot warmer to her bed- 
 side before she arose in the morning. Think of 
 such service for the wench Simon, "fat, short, 
 brown and ugly. " 
 
 Simon was fifty-seven years of age, short, 
 robust, square, with repulsive deformed features, 
 coarse black hair, thick eye-brows. A loud 
 anarchist in his section, no wonder he had politi- 
 cal influence, and was spewed into the Covmcilof 
 the City. Such as he sat the saddle in those 
 days. None live in Prance or elsewhere to ap- 
 plaud the "tutor" of the little King. 
 
 Once he plied him with wine, took him into the 
 presence of the saintly Elizabeth and Madam 
 Royal, to sing the Carmagnole, then compelled 
 him to relate the trial of the Queen, and when 
 the poor child began to sober, and attempted to 
 
The Little King in the Temple 
 
 Under the Infamous Simon The Shoe Cobbler. iFrom Guizot's Historj-.) 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 kiss his sister's hand, the wretch snatched him 
 away. 
 
 "The Royal Child," says Guizot, History of 
 France, "had been at first thrown into infamous 
 hands. It was to a shoemaker, known by Marat, 
 his neighbor and passionate admirer, that the son 
 of Louis XVI, but lately tlie 'child of Prance,' 
 had been delivered. Coldly cruel, bent upon de- 
 stroying- in the child that superiority of race and 
 education, which irritated the jealous passions of 
 his soul, Simon at first loaded him with bad treat- 
 ment; one day, however, he became uneasy and 
 went to the Committee of Public Safety. 
 
 "The young- wolf has learned to be insolent; I 
 know how to break him in, but if he should die, I 
 am not responsible for it. Do you want to kill 
 him?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "To poison him?" 
 
 "No." 
 
 "To get rid of him?" 
 
 "Silence alone replied to Simon. " "I am horri- 
 fied," continued Guizot, "at the recitals and 
 spectacles of human cruelty, and this systematic 
 cruelty exercised upon a child, offers a character 
 so odious, that I do not care to dwell on it long, 
 Simon wished to degrade the soul, debase the 
 mind of the royal child confided to him. He 
 intoxicated him, and forced him to repeat the 
 songs which sullied his own lips; he had thus 
 
 99 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 obtained a signature, perhaps by force, to the 
 infamous question produced before the judges of 
 Marie Antoinette. But by and by the little child 
 got weaker, the shame and horror of his situation 
 overwhelmed him; he had no longer strength to 
 resist, but he had sufficient to suffer in silence. 
 He did not speak, he did not complain; suspicion 
 of everything around him alone occupied this poor 
 abandoned soul; he still said his prayers, in spite 
 of the jugs of cold water that Simon threw over 
 him at these times. When his tormentor had the 
 honor to enter into the commune, the members of 
 the Commission did not grant even a jailer to the 
 son of Louis XVI. The former chamber of the faith- 
 ful Clery was metamorphosed into a dungeon, the 
 door was closed, and bread and water passed 
 through a wicket; the child remained alone. His 
 sister has related the sufferings of the little king, 
 in a solitude which she was never permitted to 
 break, and which oppressed her with grief in her 
 neighboring prison. 
 
 "He had no other recourse than a small bell, 
 which he never rang, so much fear had he of the 
 persons he would have called, preferring to want 
 everything rather than to ask the least thing 
 from his persecutors. He was in a bed which was 
 not made for more than six months, and which he 
 had no longer the strength to make. Fleas and 
 bugs covered him, his linen and his body was full 
 of them, and his shirt and stockings had not been 
 
 100 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 changed for more than a year. His \Yindow, shut 
 ■with a padlock, was never opened. It was not 
 possible to stay in the infected chamber; the 
 unfortunate child was dying- with fear. He asked 
 for nothing, so much he trembled at his keepers. 
 He passed the days without doing- anything; they 
 g-ave him no lights; it is not astonishing that he 
 fell into a f righ tf ul consumption. To have resisted 
 so many cruelties so long proves that he had a 
 good constitution.' '' 
 
 The commune in its selection of the brutal shoe- 
 maker Antoine Simon named his salarj^ at 500 
 francs a month. His wife, formerly a domestic 
 servant, was his second wife and childless. His 
 seat in the commune became suddenly vacant, as 
 merited retribution followed Simon, who sided 
 with Robespierre and perished with him on the 
 same guillotine. 
 
 II. THE LITTLE KING WENT LIVING FROM THE 
 TEMPLE. 
 
 Whatever may have been the motive inspiring 
 those who secretly arranged for the removal of 
 the young King from his living tomb in the Tem- 
 ple, it is certain that he did not die there. 
 
 Some have supposed the Prince was secretly 
 saved because Barras and Josephine had hopes 
 that in happier times, they might bring him for- 
 ward, and seated on his throne their fortune 
 would be secure. Barras had been a soldier, and 
 
 101 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 having been a libertine and debauche had dissipa- 
 ted an ample fortune, which drew him into the 
 revolution as an adventurer, a member of the 
 third estate and though a noble, a most ardent 
 revolutionist. At the head of the committee and 
 the soldiers who overthrew the infamous Robes- 
 peirre, Barras was at the time he visited the 
 Temple, the most powerful man in France, and 
 retained his influence until Napoleon, whom he 
 had made famous b}^ appointing to command the 
 artillery which scattered the mob and saved the 
 convention, seized the government, when Barras 
 went into obscurity. Some have thought the 
 Prince was removed to a place of safety and 
 obscurity, to clear the pathway for the Comte de 
 Provence to the throne when the people of France 
 should demand the Restoration. He was after- 
 ward King of France, styled Louis XVIII. 
 
 That the Prince was saved to serve the purpose 
 of ambitious men and not from any feelings of 
 humanity, does not change the suspicion and 
 facts of history. In 1852, M. Beauchesne pub- 
 lished an exhaustive work in two volumes, evi- 
 dently inspired by some high authority, to prove 
 the death of the Prince in the Temple, yet he 
 only added to the obscurity surrounding the tomb 
 of the Prince, while he admits, "Before the veil 
 which has enveloped the tragical end of the son 
 of Louis XVI, one is not astonished to hear it 
 said with the warmth of profound conviction, 
 
 102 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 that the young- victim went out living from his 
 prison." 
 
 France in 1794 was becoming tired of the hor- 
 rors of the Revolution and the legitimists or 
 Ro3'al party, were growing- in favor and their 
 hopes centered in the prisoner in the Temple, or 
 the stronger man be3^ond the border, the Comte 
 de Provence, who had been justly accused even 
 in his brother's lifetime of designs on the throne. 
 His hopes increased as the condition of France 
 grew worse; he kept up a correspondence with 
 emissaries throughout the kingdom. 
 
 Barras was among the leaders who overthrew 
 Robespierre and was bound to maintain the power 
 now in his hands. 
 
 "By conniving at the escape of the young King 
 or even by contriving it, Barras could please 
 Josephine de Beauharnais, who at that time had 
 an all-powerful influence over him, and the child 
 could he be produced at the right moment, might 
 checkmate the ambitious projects of Louis XVIII. , 
 and serve purposes of his own. 
 
 It is a fact that on the very night of his triumph 
 on the 9th Thermidor, Barras went to the Temple; 
 that he there saw the child King; that the very 
 next da}', without any communication with the 
 committee of public safety, which up to that time, 
 had controlled affairs in the prison, he assigned 
 a retainer of his own to be superintendent of the 
 prison, Laurent, a man born in Martinique, (Jose- 
 
 103 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 phine's birthplace). Laurent turned out the peo- 
 ple charged with the care of the child and put in 
 a man and his wife named Lienard." 
 
 After Simon gave up the care of the Prince on 
 January 19, 1794, he was transferred to the 
 smaller room once used by Clery. It had one 
 window fastened by a padlock, which stood in the 
 deep recess of a nine foot stone wall, its meager 
 light obscured by iron grating. His food was 
 handed in through a revolving cage, obscuring the 
 jailor, who never opened the apartment. No sun- 
 light, no fresh air came to him, the room never 
 cleaned or emptied, echoed to the sound of a gruff 
 voice at evening, bidding him to bed, or calling 
 him at dead of night for inspection at an iron grat- 
 ing, by the light of a lantern. 
 
 On his appointment July 27, 1794, Laurent keep- 
 er of the Temple, went at night to the child King. 
 No response came to the loud calls of Laurent, 
 and the barricaded door was broken open. The 
 chamber was hideous in filth and pestilential air. 
 Laurent and associates made their way tq the cot 
 of the Prince, who was discovered to be still 
 alive. His last food was not tasted. Worn to a 
 skeleton, his skin scarcely visible for dirt, cov- 
 ered with vermin, and vermin everywhere even 
 knotted in his hair. He answered no questions, 
 was conscious of nothing. His eyes had no ex- 
 pression. "To the first accents of pity which 
 struck his ear for a long time, he only replied, 
 
 'No, I wish to die.'" 
 
 104 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 III. THE DUMB BOY. 
 
 During- the first three months, (July 27 to Nov. 
 8, 1794), after Laurent took the care of the Royal 
 children, many, persons saw the Prince, but none 
 of them described him as either dumb or scrofu- 
 lous, on the contrary all spoke of him as a some- 
 what delicate child, with gentle manners, who 
 charmed all of them. 
 
 But suddenly instead of allowing visitors to 
 have access to him, as had been the case for 
 three months after Laurent came in, every one 
 was forbidden to see him. This prohibition cor- 
 responds with two circumstances: 
 
 Madam Royal, his sister, relates that on the 
 last night of October in the middle of the night, 
 two municipal guards, much excited, forced their 
 way into her chamber. They said nothing. All 
 they wanted ai)parently was to see if she was 
 there. No such thing happened before or after 
 during her captivity. The second fact is that a 
 week later Gomin was joined to Laurent. 
 
 Laurent, a man of private property, not de- 
 void of taste, information and good feeling-, but a 
 zealous republican, was kind to the little King, 
 but after awhile tired of his lonel}^ vigil applied 
 to the Committee of General Safety for a col- 
 league. Doubtless this was the method of intro- 
 ducing a new warden to the boy, who took the 
 place of the Prince in the Temple. 
 
 105 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Gomin, who was appointed on Nov. 8, 1794, as 
 associate, owes to this his only title to mention 
 by posterity, corresponded with equal freedom 
 with either royalist or republican and doubtless 
 had an itching palm, for we find he made such 
 favor with Madam Royal by his own story of his 
 goodness to the Prince as to be taken into her 
 service when she became the Duchess de Angou- 
 leme. 
 
 ' 'Gomin was cleverer than Lasne, " says Duchess 
 de Tourzel, "but more ambitious and not so frank. 
 He paid great attention to Madam de Chautereine, 
 in hope that she might be useful to him; and he 
 persuaded her that he came of a very good fam- 
 ily, although he was merely the son of the guard 
 of Madam Nicolai." 
 
 On the century anniversary of the reputed 
 death of the little King in the Temple, June 8, 
 1895, "Figaro" the great Paris journal, issued a 
 long review of the subject showing the King did 
 not die in the Temple, from which Mrs. Latimer 
 finds authority to write: "About the tiipe that 
 Gomin went into the Temple there was a general 
 impression among the underlings of the Temple 
 that something strange had taken place. The 
 fidelity of Laurent was called in question in the 
 Sections. An official connected with the Temple 
 said openly that it was hard for the guard to say 
 if they were keeping watch over prisoners, or 
 only over stones. All those w^ho serA^ed in menial 
 
 106 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 capacities in the Temple were changed, some of 
 them at the request of Laurent, who had begun 
 his service July 27, 1794, and some afterwards by 
 the desire of Gomin. Up to this man's time there 
 had been a daily inspection of the prison and the 
 prisoners, bj^ members of the Council-General of 
 the Commune. This inspection was replaced by a 
 daily visit from a deputation from the sections, 
 taking the thirty-six sections in turn, so that 
 instead of men who had seen the prisoners only 
 a short time before, new men came, w^ho were not 
 likely to take their turn again for a long while. 
 
 According to an old custom, things coming into 
 the Temple were not examined, — only those that 
 went out. It was easy enough therefore to bring 
 a child into the Tower in a clothes basket, and 
 this was done probably with two children, one 
 after the other, while the young King was hidden 
 in some secret corner, waited on by Gomin, Lien- 
 ard and Laurent. 
 
 This is the only way to account for the sudden 
 dumbness of the child in prison, which took place, 
 not in consequence of remorse for having been 
 made to malign his mother, but nine months after 
 the Simons had been removed from him, and 
 kinder jailors had taken their place. The first 
 child brought in to take the place of the young 
 captive was dumb. The Dauphin, up to the time 
 when Laurent divided his care of him, had spoken 
 at least to twenty people. But the child com- 
 
 107 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 mitted to Gomin's care on November 8, 1794, 
 could not speak a single word. There are plenty 
 of official documents and depositions on this sub- 
 ject, the most important of which is the testimony 
 of members of the Committee of Public Safety." 
 (Figaro.) 
 
 "Gorain told me that when the young King was 
 handed over to their care," says the Duchess de 
 Tourzel, "he was in a state of neglect which was 
 painful to see, and from which he suffered the 
 most disastrous inconvenience. He had fallen 
 into a state of continual absorption; speaking 
 little, and displaying unwillingness either to walk 
 or to occupy himself with anything." 
 
 Rev. Dr. John Hanson who wrote the "Lost 
 Prince" supposed the Prince still the prisoner in 
 the temple when Gomin went there and describes 
 the secret operations of agents of the Comte de 
 Provence to get possession of him. He supposes 
 the escape of the Prince a few days before the 
 death of the substitute who died June 8th, 1795. 
 He says, "Gomin was a confident of M. le Marquis 
 de Fenouil, a secret agent of Comte de Provence, 
 who corresponded through one Doisy his valet 
 de chambre. About the same time one Debierne 
 appointed acting Commissioner co-ojierated with 
 Gomin concerning the escape of the Prince. 
 
 Debierne and Doisy represented themselves as 
 relatives of Gomin and came frequently to see 
 him in the apartments of Lienard the steward, 
 
 108 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 who was also a sentinel. Debierne brought first 
 plaything's for the Prince; then showed Gomin 
 some assignats issued in the name of Louis XVII, 
 made payable on the restoration; also told Gomin 
 of a design to carry the Prince into La Vendee. 
 One day he brought a dove concealed under his 
 cloak into the temple. 
 
 In the convention on December 28, 1794, it was 
 declared there was no hope of quelling the royal- 
 ists while the Prince remained in Paris, and 
 "measures should be taken to purge the soil of 
 the sole vestige of tyranny that remained;" and 
 moved the Prince should be exiled. But on the 
 22d of January, 1795, the committee reported un- 
 favorable to the proposition because, "the expul- 
 sion of tyrants had always prepared the way for 
 their return. '" 
 
 On February 26, 1795, the commissaries of the 
 temple, Laurent and Gomin, reported to the com- 
 mittee of General Safety that the life of the prince 
 was in imminent danger and on being asked, 
 "what was the nature of the danger," replied, 
 "that the little Capet had tumors on all the arti- 
 culations and particularly at the knees, that it 
 was impossible to obtain from him a single word, 
 and that always whether sitting or lying down he 
 refused all kinds of exercise." 
 
 A committee consisting of Hammond, Matthieu 
 and Reverchon were appointed to visit the pris- 
 oner, three friends of Barras, like himself mem- 
 
 109 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 bers of the convention. They found him in a 
 clean and well lighted room, having no furniture 
 but a bedstead, a table and earthen stove. 
 
 "The Prince," says Hammond, "was sitting 
 before a little square table, on which were scat- 
 tered some playing cards, some bent into the form 
 of boxes and little chests, others piled upin castles. 
 
 He was amusing himself with these cards when 
 we entered, but he did not give up his play. He 
 was dressed in a sailor jacket of slate colored 
 cloth, his head was bare. " Hammond approached 
 him, he took no notice; and spoke to the Prince, 
 but he looked steadily forward without any 
 change in his position. He promised him toys, 
 but he stared vacantly. To all questions he ans- 
 wered neither by gesture, expression nor word. 
 "Monsieur, have the goodness to give me your 
 hand. He presented it, and I felt a tumor at the 
 wrist, another at the elbow, like knots. The 
 tumors were not painful for the Prince showed 
 no sign of their being so. The other hand Mon- 
 sieur. He presented it also. There was nothing. 
 Permit me sir, to touch your legs and your knees. 
 He raised himself up. I felt the same swelling at 
 the two knees under the joints." His dinner was 
 now brought. He ate without saying anything. 
 They threatened if he did not speak to remove 
 Laurent and Gomin, who were kind to him, and 
 send him others who might be more disagreeable 
 to him. He neither changed his look, nor gave 
 
 110 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 an answer. "Do j'ou wish," inquired Hammond, 
 "that we should g"o away?" There was no reply. 
 
 "The commissioners were present at his meal, " 
 says Guizot, "and found it insufficient for a sick 
 child." "It was much worse before our time," 
 said the keepers. For the honor of the nation, 
 which was ignorant, for the honor of the conven- 
 tion, which should not have been ignorant of 
 what passed at the Temple, for the honor of the 
 culpable municipality of Paris, which knew all, 
 and which allowed all," wrote Harmand of the 
 Meuse, one of the representatives charged to 
 visit the little King, "we limit ourselves to order 
 provisionary measures. We do not make a public 
 report to the Convention, but we render an ac- 
 count under the seal of secrecy to the Committee 
 of Public Safety. The prison and the solitude 
 gradually finished their work; no doctor had yet 
 been called to the child." 
 
 "Another curiouscircumstance isthatHarmand, 
 almost immediately after this visit, was sent 
 away as delegate to the West Indies. Barras 
 himself had some idea of accompanying him on 
 this mission. It looks as if they were planning to 
 secure their own safety in any event, or as if it 
 had been intended to send the child to some 
 French colony in America." 
 
 "Both Harmand and Barras went to Brest, 
 stayed there several weeks, and then returned to 
 Paris." 
 
 HI 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 "Laurent left the Temple on March 29, 1795. 
 It was said that he too was going to the West 
 Indies to attend to family affairs; but he did not 
 leave Paris. Sometime later indeed he went to 
 the Windward Islands on a mission for which he 
 was well paid by the government. But by that 
 time Barras was a member of the Directory, and 
 Laurent was sent on the mission at his recom- 
 mendation. A new turnkey took his place at the 
 Temple, Etienne Lasne, on March 31, a house 
 painter. [A captain of Grenadiers.] ['-A frank 
 soldier devoid of ambition," says TourzeL] 
 
 "Gomin and Laurent had had under their care 
 for six months a child who never spoke a word." 
 
 "The child confided to Lasne, he tells us him- 
 self, could chatter like a little magpie. Gomin 
 had nothing more to do with the young prince (or 
 the child who personated him.) He was transferred 
 to the service of Madam Royal." (Latimer.) 
 
 IV. THE CHATTER-BOX. 
 
 Soon as Lasne came in, there w^as a disposition 
 to aid in the escape. The keys which made a 
 noise in the locks were oiled. He ordered the 
 doors on the landings to be left open. The act- 
 ing commissaries objected to this saying doors 
 were put there to be kept shut. There was per- 
 fect accord between Gomin and Lasne. Hereto- 
 fore the keys could only be used in presence of 
 both the keepers, but now placed at the disposal 
 
 112 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 of either of them at an}^ time. They introduced 
 music into the tower, and though unskilled, 
 Gomin played the violin, and Lasne sang. All of 
 which was said to allay suspicion. The Prince 
 yielded after three weeks to the kindness of 
 Lasne and during the rest of his life took pleas- 
 ure in chatting with him, and "contrary to his 
 habit, he theed and thoud him, and treated him 
 with familiarity." 
 
 "Beginning of May, 1795, the keeper wrote on 
 the Register of the Tower "the little Capet is 
 indisposed," and the next day, "the little Capet 
 is dangerously ill, and there is fear of his death." 
 
 "On 6th of May, 1795, the keepers were informed 
 that M. Desault the chief surgeon in France, and 
 of world wide renown, was appointed to take 
 care of the Prince. He ordered a decoction of 
 hops and next day that his tumors be rubbed with 
 volatil salts. These were his remedies while he 
 attended him up to the 30th of May. June 1st 
 Desault was poisoned." (Lost Prince.) 
 
 ''Desault is reported by M. Beauchesne to have 
 said in conversation, that the Prince had the 
 germ of the scrofulous affection of which his 
 brother had died, at Meudon: but this malady 
 had scarcely imprinted its seal on his constitu- 
 tion, nor manifested itself with any violent sym- 
 tom; neither vast ulcers, nor rebellious ophthal- 
 mia, nor chronic swellings of the joints." He said 
 he was sinking under decline occasioned by con- 
 
 113 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 finement and advised removal to the country. 
 The Duchess D' Angouleme says "he undertook 
 to cure him." No record of Desault's opinion 
 remains. His papers cannot be found. Dr. 
 Desault had been physician to the roj^al children 
 and some said he did not recognize the Prince in 
 his patient. Desault did not treat the patient as if 
 he felt he was seriously ill. M. Abeille, his medical 
 pupil, fled to America and declared that Desault 
 was poisoned. " (Lost Prince.) 
 
 "Three doctors were sent to see him, Desault, 
 Chopart and Doublet. It is hinted that it proved 
 a dangerous mission. All three shortly after died 
 suddenly. The principal pupil of Desault, Dr. 
 Abeille, went off to America for safety, and sub- 
 sequently affirmed in an American paper ("The 
 Bee"), that his master had been poisoned, because 
 having seen the prince in happier times he had 
 not recognized him in the child he was called 
 upon to visit in the Temple, and had had the 
 impudence to say so. Another physician and Dr. 
 Desault's wndow have made a similar declara- 
 tion." (Latimer.) 
 
 Four days after the death of Dr. Desault the 
 Committee of General Safety appointed Dr. Pel- 
 letan (June 5, 1795) an eminent surgeon to attend 
 the boy in the Temple. He had never seen the 
 Prince before. The child was in a sad state and 
 he demanded another to be associated with him. 
 "This child was not so shy, instead of waiting to 
 
 114 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 be spoken to he began to converse with the 
 strang'e physician and displayed every sig"n of a 
 child alive to his surrounding's." He required 
 his removal into another room and fresh air. 
 This was an airy chamber, no bars to the win- 
 dows, which had white curtains. Here he could 
 see the sunlight and sky. M. Dumangin, chief 
 physician to the Hospital of the Unity, was joined 
 to Pelletan, and both at once examined the child 
 who continued to talk and chat with unabated 
 interest. But their efforts were too late to save 
 the life of this poor waif, who expired in the arms 
 of Lasne at thirty minutes past two of the after- 
 noon of June 8, 1795. (Lost Prince.) We are 
 told that this event is recorded on the tombstone 
 of this jailer in Pere Lachaise. 
 
 V. THE SOLEMN FARCE. 
 
 Some little time after the death, Gomin set off 
 to the Tuileries to report it to the Committee of 
 Public Safety, who had closed their sitting for 
 the day, but met a member on the stairs who 
 bade him "keep the secret until tomorrow." The 
 next day after the Process Verbal (post mortem) 
 had been held, the Committee reported to the 
 Convention, the death of the Prince, from "a 
 .swelling in the right knee and left wrist," add- 
 ing, the committee had "received the news of the 
 death of Capet's son at a quarter past two of the 
 previous afternoon." The process verbal says 
 
 115 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 he died at three o'clock; and Lasne saj'^s, at half 
 past two. Gomin says three o'clock. But the 
 very hour of the same day of the death of the 
 Prince, the Committee of General Safety made 
 the discovery that he had escaped, and the order 
 was recorded and sent out to the departments to 
 arrest on every high road in France, any traveler 
 having- with them a child of eight years or there- 
 about, as there had been an escape of Royalists 
 from the Temple. This order bore date June 8th, 
 1795, the day of the death of the supposed 
 Dauphin. Several people bear witness to being 
 arrested and detained for identification; among 
 them M. Guerwiere of Paris; while traveling in 
 the carriage of the Prince de Conde, under the 
 suspicion that he, a boy of ten years was the 
 Dauphin. 
 
 On the morning of June 9, two members of the 
 Committee came at 8 o'clock to verify the decease 
 of the prince; but did not examine the body. 
 "The event," they said, "is a matter of no im- 
 portance." "Proceed to the inhumation without 
 any ceremony." Four surgeons were named to 
 open the body. Dr. Pelletan took the heart. He 
 was buried in the cemetery of L' Eglise, Ste 
 Marguerite, June 10, 1795. 
 
 Mr. Auvray says he was well acquainted with 
 the Dauphin, and was joresent when the body was 
 exhibited to the National Guard, and, "that it 
 was not the body of the Dauphin." (Lost Prince.) 
 
 116 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ' 'There is a mystery even as to what this child died 
 of. The dumb child had the rickets (rachitis) a 
 disease that begins in infancy, preventing the 
 nourishment of all the tissues affecting the spinal 
 column and the rest of the bones. There was no 
 mention in his case of scrofula, but the second 
 child, the chatterbox, was eaten up by scrofula." 
 (Latimer.) 
 
 The physicians appointed to open the body of 
 the dead child in the Temple were Pelletan and 
 Dumangin, who had attended him, associated with 
 Professors Lassas and Jeanroy, both of Medical 
 schools. The latter was an old man over eighty 
 years of age, a royalist and scrupulously honest. 
 He was selected to disprove the charge of poison- 
 ing. He at first refused to go to the Temple, 
 warning them that if he found the slightest trace 
 of poison he would mention it, even at the risk 
 of his life. "You are jorecisely the man we must 
 have," the}^ replied, "and it is for that reason 
 that we prefer you to anyone else." Their report 
 recites: "We found upon a bed the body of a 
 child, who appeared to us about ten 3'^ears of age, 
 which the Commissaries told us was the son of 
 the deceased Louis Capet," and the .death was, 
 "evidently the effect of a scrofulous disease of 
 long standing."' The Convention had every 
 reason for wishing to establish, as a fact, the 
 death of the young King; and yet not a single 
 person who had ever known the Dauphin living 
 
 117 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 was called to identify the dead childs remains, 
 though his sister was in the Temple and mem- 
 bers of the Royal household were in the power 
 of the authorities. The only j^eople summoned 
 to identify the remains were the municipal guards 
 on duty at the Temi:)le, about twenty men, and 
 according to the official document, "the greater 
 part attested that they recognized Little Capet 
 because they had seen him formerly at the Tuiler- 
 ies. The child died at the age of ten, and for 
 ■five years before his death he had been little seen 
 by the Parisians. "The man who announced the 
 death to the Convention in the name of the Com- 
 mittee of Public Safety, assured his hearers "that 
 everything had been verified and all the docu- 
 ments placed in their archives." This was not 
 true. No one has ever seen the originals of 
 these documents. A copy on a loose sheet of 
 paper (contrary to the law of 1792) was among 
 the city archives, and was burnt up when the 
 Hotel de Ville was destroyed by the Communists 
 in 1872. What is still more remarkable is that 
 Gomin was not called upon to sign what is called 
 'the act of decease. ' It was signed by one Bigot, 
 a man totally unknown to the public, who called 
 himself 'a friend of the King of France.' The 
 interment was also singular. The archivist of 
 the police affirmed that 'it was secret, and in some 
 sort clandestine. ' " ' 'But, Voisin, undertaker for 
 the Section of the Temple says: 
 
 118 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 I. That the coffin was not closed in the Temple. 
 
 II. That the four men who were concerned in 
 the burial died sudden and mysterious deaths. 
 The theory advanced is that while the coffin lay 
 unclosed after official inspection of the child w^ho 
 died of scrofula, the real prince, who had been 
 hidden away in some corner of the Temple, and 
 waited on by Laurent at first, and afterwards by 
 some other man, may have been placed in the 
 coffin, and so carried out of the Temple. The 
 coffin was not carried in a hearse, but in a furni- 
 ture wagon. The child may have been taken out 
 of it on the way to the cemetery and something 
 heavy substituted. A watch for three days was 
 placed over the graveyard. An old Member of 
 the Committee of Public Safety has affirmed in 
 writing- that the boy who died of scrofula was 
 secretly buried at the foot of one of the towers of 
 the Temple; and General d' Andigne, seven years 
 later, being confined in the Temple, and permit- 
 ted to amuse himself with gardening, testifies 
 that he found there a small skeleton, that had 
 been buried in quicklime." (Latimer do.) 
 
 "The names of the two children substituted for 
 the prince are known. M. Charles Tardif twice 
 affirmed that he furnished the dumb boy. As to 
 the scrofulous child who died June 8, 1795, his 
 mother, Mademoiselle Lamonger, fled with ano- 
 ther child, a daughter, to Martinique, the native 
 Island of Josephine de Beauharnais, and they did 
 
 119 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 not come back to France as long- as the Bourbons 
 were in power. All these thing's did not take 
 place without a rousing suspicion. Children were 
 arrested on the roads out of Paris under the idea 
 that they might be the Dauphin. The leaders of 
 the royalist party in La Vendee refused to believe 
 in his death, and would not acknowledge Louis 
 XVIII as their King. Charette, the Vendean 
 leader at that date, thus apostrophizes Louis 
 XVII, in a celebrated order to his forces: "Hard- 
 1}^ by the fall of Robespierre wast thou delivered 
 from the ferocity of the extreme Jacobins, when 
 thou becamest the victim of natural defenders." 
 (Latimer do.) 
 But w^hat, then became of Louis XVII? 
 
 VI. "FAR TOO TALL," FOR THE LITTLE KING. 
 
 But here is a narrative repeated in the "Lost 
 Prince" from Ireland, w^hich read in connection 
 with the finding of the remains said to be those 
 of the boy w^ho died in the temple, add greatly to 
 confirm the escape of the Prince. 
 
 "A ver}^ respectable tradesman," says Iceland, 
 
 in stating the prevalent disbelief in Paris at the 
 
 Restoration, concerning the Dauphin's death, "is 
 
 my authority for the following narrative, who 
 
 has heard my father, to whom the circumstance 
 
 occurred, repeat it in society fifty times. I shall 
 
 now give it, as nearly as jjossible in his own 
 
 words, or, rather, as if the father himself were 
 
 repeating the facts: 
 
 120 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 " 'As I was then a resident in that part of the 
 city in which the Temple was situated, in my 
 capacity as National Guard, it became my turn 
 to attend there as sentrj^; when having- seen the 
 Dauphin about six months before, and being- 
 anxious to behold him again, if possible, prior to 
 his death, as the current report was his being 
 in a very dangerous state; I, in consequence ap- 
 plied to the jailor to know whether I might be 
 permitted to occupy the post of the guard, 
 destined to keep watch on the Dauphin's apart- 
 ment, there being always one stationed there. 
 To this request, after regarding me with an air 
 of doubt, which the frankness of my manner dis- 
 pelled, he acceded under one proviso, that I was 
 not to exchange a single syllable with citizen 
 Capet in case he addressed me, as the infringe- 
 ment of such order would be attended with the 
 loss of my head. I promised strict obedience to 
 his commands, and immediately entered upon my 
 duties, being forthwith introduced into the cham- 
 ber, where I relieved a brother guard. In this 
 apartment there were three common chairs, a 
 table, and a low bedstead, whereupon the Dau- 
 phin was lying, but from the position (^f the bed 
 clothes, I could not perceive his countenance, and 
 thus I continued nearly the space of an hour, only 
 observing, at intervals, a motion beneath the 
 covering; at length, however, he pushed away 
 the sheet from his head, when I was able to con- 
 
 121 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 sider a countenance squalid in the extreme, par- 
 tially covered with blotches, and disfigured by- 
 one or two sores; as he perceived in me a stran- 
 ger, he inquired, in a faint voice, who I was, but 
 the peremptory order received, and the heavy 
 price set upon a breach of my faith, sealed my 
 lips, upon which I placed my finger, thereby in- 
 dicating the prohibition under which I lay. At 
 this he appeared displeased, and after turning 
 about, I beheld his body rise until he sat upright 
 in bed, when nothing could exceed my astonish- 
 ment, on viewing a figure much taller, from the 
 head to the bottom of the back, than the Dauphin 
 could possibly have displayed from what I had 
 seen of him only six months before; my wonder, 
 however, increased on beholding him thrust his 
 legs from beneath the covering, from which I was 
 enabled to form an estimate of the figure before 
 me, if standing erect, when I felt an inward con- 
 viction, that however extraordinary the efforts of 
 nature may be in some cases, no such change 
 could have taken place in the growth of a youth 
 in the half a year, as must have been the case, 
 supposing the object before me to be the Dauphin. 
 "With respect to the pliysiognomy it was impos- 
 sible to identify from thence anything for a cer- 
 tainty, as the frightful effects of disease, with 
 blotches and sores, had so disfigured the counte- 
 nance, that no conjecture could be hazarded as 
 to what its appearance might be in a healthful 
 
 122 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 state; the lips, like the face, were also covered 
 with livid spots, and it appeared to me that there 
 were also scabs on the hinder part of the head, in 
 short, a more pitiable object never met the human 
 sight, whosoever it may have been, for as to the 
 DauiDhin, I am fully convinced it was not him. 
 After remaining- some minutes with the legs 
 exposed, and seated in a kind of stupefied posi- 
 tion, he again replaced them beneath the clothes, 
 and covered himself as high as the neck, leaving 
 the face exposed, and turned toward me, the 
 eyes being somewhat shut for a few minutes, 
 which, when reopened, were always bent upon 
 me, and in two or three instances, I saw the lips 
 move, and heard a faint articulation, but nothing 
 was distinguishable. In this manner the allotted 
 period of my attendance elapsed, upon which I 
 was relieved by another National Guard from the 
 melancholy duty, and descended to the chamber 
 adjoining the grand entrance to the Temple, 
 where I found the jailer, who inquired of me how 
 I left the citizen Capet; upon which, after 
 expressing my opinion that his death must soon 
 take place, I very foolishly remarked that I 
 thought the youth by far too tall for the Dauphin 
 — when he hastily demanded my reason for har- 
 boring such a doubt. I then explained having 
 seen the youth six months before, and the abso- 
 lute impossibility of such a change in stature 
 taking place within so short a period. To which 
 
 123 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 remark I received the followinfr singular reply; 
 'Sick children, citizen, will sometimes shoot up 
 ver}^ fast; but I advise you to g^o home and keep 
 a still tong^ue in 3'our mouth, lest you should grow 
 shorter by the head.' I immediately left the 
 prison and profited by his advice, as I never 
 opened my lips upon the subject until the settled 
 state of affairs in Prance, left me to do so with- 
 out any apprehension of danger." (Lost Prince.) 
 
 YII. COFFIN MARKED "L — XVII " EXHUMED AND 
 THE BONES FOUND TO BE THOSE OF AN ADULT. 
 
 It is singular how closely the above narrative 
 is confirmed b}?^ the examination of the bones. 
 
 ' 'The Dauphin's body was interred in the church- 
 yard at St. Marguerite, which is now a garden. 
 At the Restoration a search for it was instituted, 
 but abandoned. In 1846, workmen while digging 
 for some repairs came upon a lead coffin contain- 
 ing bones. These were believed to be the Dau- 
 l^hin's, and the discover}^ was reported by two 
 doctors to the Academy of Medicine. The coffin 
 was closed again and reburied. The Prefact of 
 the Seine allow^ed a fresh search to be made in 
 June, 1894. The coffin found in 1846 was taken 
 
 up, on the lid was found "L XVII," but the 
 
 medical experts pronounced the body to be of the 
 stature of an adult, and the teeth to be those of a 
 person more than twelve 5'ears of age, the milk 
 teeth having all disappeared, while the wisdom 
 
 124 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 teeth were on the point of cutting. Thus the 
 ag^e was from eighteen to twenty, and the height 
 5 feet, 7 inches." (Paris, in 1789-1794, by J. G. 
 Alger; James Pott & Co.; New York, 1902.) 
 
 VIII. HISTORY CONFIRMS THE ESCAPE. 
 
 The political party which in 1795 succeeded 
 the Reign of Terror, and the Provisional Govern- 
 ment of the Commune of Paris, was willing 
 enough to favor the child's escape. A time might 
 come when in their hands he might be played off 
 against Louis XVIII. But his existence and 
 recognition were above all unwelcome to his 
 uncle and his partisans. The Due de Bourbon, 
 prince of the blood, writes thus to Conde: "Ru- 
 mors are becoming rife that the little king did 
 not die in the Temple. True or false, this would 
 be for us a serious embarrassment, if the rumors 
 should take any consistency." 
 
 In the camp of the emigres at Coblentz were 
 numerous noblemen and gentlemen whose lands 
 had been confiscated, and who had accustomed 
 themselves to look to the Comte de Provence as 
 the man who would restore them. They could 
 make no use of a child ten years of age as an 
 active head of their party. Far better for them 
 that if living, his existence should be denied. 
 They had accustomed themselves to speak of 
 Louis XVI. with small respect, and to place all 
 their hopes upon his brother. Goguelat, (the 
 
 125 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 unlucky Goguelat of the Flight to Varennes), 
 who had escaped to Coblentz, wrote: "I never 
 heard Louis XVI, spoken of with so much irrev- 
 erence as by these men. They call him a poor 
 creature, a mere chip; a bigot only good to say 
 his prayers. And their opinions, I am told, 
 emanate from the personal following of Monsieur, 
 who had set them afloat. " Had Louis XVII sud- 
 denly appeared among his supporters even in La 
 Vendee, their first enthusiasm would soon have 
 been damped by a feeling of his uselessness to 
 help their cause. Thechild would have been unwel- 
 come to the allies, even to Austria, whose min- 
 isters, as we have seen, were eager to make peace, 
 Louis XVIII, who hated Marie Antoinette, had 
 not scrupled long before to hint that he believed 
 her son to be a bastard. He would certainly 
 have treated him as such had he fallen into his 
 hands. Clearly the best thing to be done with 
 the poor child was to hide him away till the time 
 came for his restoration of the monarchy, which 
 Barras, in common with most men, belieyed to 
 be at hand. Then he could be played off against 
 Louis XVIII. Barras could not forsee the ten 
 years of the Empire that would precede the 
 Restoration, or imagine that his friend Josephine 
 (in possession of his state secret if not, indeed 
 his partner in it) would be seated on a throne as 
 empress of half of Europe. (Latimer do.) 
 
 The Figaro from which most of this account is 
 
 126 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 copied gives a whole column to the names of per- 
 sons who have testified to some knowledge of the 
 substitution of other children for Louis XVII, 
 and of his being spirited away from the Temple. 
 Among these names is that of a Marquise de Bro- 
 glie-Solari, attached to the household of Marie 
 Antoinette, and to that of the Princesss de Lam- 
 balle. This lad}^ testified that she heard it in 
 1803 from Barras, and in 1819 and 1820 from 
 Queen Hortense, the daughter of Josephine. 
 
 There is reason to think that Josephine 
 knew the story and believed it. Of late years 
 papers have been written to attribute her sudden 
 and somewhat mysterious death to that incon- 
 venient knowledge. The Comtesse d' Adhemar, 
 ex-dame du j^alais of Marie Antoinette, wrote: 
 "Assuredly I do not wish to multiply the chances 
 of imposters, but in writing this in the month of 
 May, 1799, I certify on my soul and conscience, 
 that I am positively certain that Sa Majeste 
 Louis XVII did not die in the Temple." The 
 Duchesse d' Augouleme was never convinced of 
 her brothers death, though she was obliged, from 
 motives of policy, to acquiesce in the view taken 
 by the male members of her family. The Vicomte 
 de Rochejacquelin wrote to her on the subject: 
 "Though we may believe that the unhappy child 
 was withdrawn from the cruelt}" of his persecut- 
 ors, and that, to save his life, he was obliged to 
 live in obscurity, such a lifewould make him little 
 
 127 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 suitable to be recog-nized as heir to the French 
 monarchy; and, in short, in the condition of 
 Europe, it is quite conceivable that it would have 
 been useless to bring forward Louis XVII, and 
 that bis death, and the death of those that sup- 
 ported him would have been the consequence." 
 
 It is said that to the Treaty of 1814 between 
 France and the|allies, which restored Louis XVIII 
 to the throne; there was this secret article: 
 "That although the high contracting powers, the 
 allied sovereigns, have no certain evidence of the 
 death of the son of Louis XVI, the state of 
 Europe require that they should place at the head 
 of the government of France, Louis Xavier, 
 Comte de Provence etc.," and also this added: 
 
 "The contracting parties reserve their liberty 
 to assist in mounting on the French throne him 
 w^ho they may conceive has the more legitimate 
 right toit. " 
 
 It is certain that Josephine said to the Emperor 
 Alexander, "You may re-establish royalty, but 
 you will not re-establish legitimacy. " A peer of 
 France has recorded in his souvenirs that in April 
 1814, one month before the death of the Empress 
 Josephine he had seen documents "which con- 
 tained secrets calculated to upset European 
 diplomacy, if they ever came to light." He 
 implored Josephine to destroy them. "No," she 
 said; "my resolution is fixed. I shall communi- 
 cate these papers to the Emperor Alexander. He 
 
 128 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 is just, I know, and will wish that everything' 
 should be put in its right place. He will look 
 after the interests of an unfortunate young man." 
 "I made no further objections," added the narra- 
 tor. "Josephine acted as she thought best, and 
 told what it had been better for her to have kept 
 secret. Her sudden death, a week later, took an 
 important witness out of the way," 
 
 It may be added that on the very night of her 
 death, which the three physicians who attended 
 her attributed to poison, all her papers, on a 
 frivolous pretext, were seized by the police, and 
 the larger part of them were never restored. 
 
 As soon as the empress was dead, it was rumored 
 in Paris that she had known the circumstances 
 of the Dauphin's disappearance from the Temple; 
 that she had even had a hand in it; and that in 
 a secret interview with the Emperor Alexander it 
 had been agreed between them that the affairs of 
 France should be provisionally settled until Louis 
 XVII should be discovered, when the Emperer 
 Alexander "reserved to himself the right" to do 
 him the justice that was legitimately his due. 
 With this the secret clause in the Treaty of 1814, 
 already quoted, would seem to agree. (Latimer 
 do.) Louis Blanc says: "After the Restoration, 
 which placed Louis XVIII on the throne, the 
 recovery of Louis XVII would have caused incal- 
 culable embarrassments. This being the case, a 
 government by no means scrupulous could very 
 
 129 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 easily overlook family considerations, in virtue 
 of reasons of state, whether it knew the truth, 
 or i)referred to ig-nore it. " 
 
 The most remarkable proof that Louis XVIII 
 did not believe in his nephew's death was, that 
 when he raised the Chapelle Expiatoire to the 
 memory of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, he 
 took no notice of the death of Louis XVII. But 
 the Duchesse d' Angouleme seems always to have 
 had it in her heart that she might recover traces 
 of her lost brother. Not that it would have been 
 in her powder to do anj^thing to restore him to his 
 position; and her acknowledgment of the rights 
 would have destroyed those of her husband, her 
 father-in-law, her uncle, and her great-nephew, 
 the Due de Bordeaux. On leaving the Temple in 
 1796, the princess wrote to her uncle, speaking of 
 the Jacobins, "They have compassed the deaths 
 of my father, and my mother, and my aunt." She 
 does not mention her brother. Again in 1801, 
 when General d' Andigne had discovered the little 
 skeleton in the Temple garden, and was anxious 
 to speak of it to the Duchesse d' Angoulerhe, he 
 was not permitted to have an interview with her. 
 She told Comte de Feys when search was being 
 made for the Dauphin's body in the cemetery of 
 Ste. Marguerite, "that from the first she had not 
 been sure of her brother's death in the Temple, 
 but that she at last knew what had become of 
 him. " There was not only no monument erected 
 
 130 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 to Louis XVII in the Chapelle Expiatoire, but a 
 funeral service to his memor}^ that was to have 
 taken place at St. Denis, was never had. The 
 Bishop of Moulins has told us that his father (at 
 the time Grand Master of Ceremonies), having- 
 asked Louis XVIII, the reason, received this ans- 
 wer: "We do not feel sure of the death of my 
 nephew." There was a superstition among- the 
 French clerg}^ that all the misfortunes that fell 
 fast on the Royal Bourbons after their restora- 
 tion were a judgment upon them for the non- 
 recognition of Louis XVII. The Secretary-Gen- 
 eral of the Diocese of Strasburg said that the cer- 
 tainty Monsignor Tarin had of the existence of 
 Louis XVII led him to give up his position as 
 tutor to the Due de Bordeaux. "Monsignor," 
 said the Marquis de Nicolai, one day to him, "the 
 royal family believes as much as you or I do that 
 Louis XVII is still living-." (Latimer do.) 
 
 The necessity that the Bourbons on their restor- 
 ation should maintain the truth of the death of 
 the little King- was forcibly set forth by a Russian 
 named Van Rochow, on the first attempt made by 
 Naundorff to establish his identity with Louis 
 XVn. "If this young man be the Dauphin of 
 France, " he said, "he cannot be acknowledged as 
 such, because that acknowledgment would be to 
 the dishonor of all the monarchies of Europe." 
 
 In January, 1816, a law was passed in both 
 Chambers, to erect a monument at public expense 
 
 131 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 to Louis XVII, and the King issued a royal ordi- 
 nance to have the monument erected in the church 
 of the Medeleine and directed Lemot a parisian 
 sculptor to execute it. But it was never erected. 
 The epitaph furnished for the monument remains 
 uncut on the marble. The minister of police, 
 issued an order to place the remains in St. Denis. 
 A report was made locating- the grave in one of 
 two lots at the cemetery. But no exhumation 
 was attempted. Orders were also issued to have 
 the heart placed in the coffin, but this was never 
 accomplished. 
 
 IX. THE UNCLAIMED HEART. 
 
 The heart of the boy who did die in the temple 
 had a romantic career. Pelletan secreted it in a 
 handkerchief, arrived at home he placed it in a 
 bottle of spirits. A student abstracted it, but 
 after confessing it was restored. The Duchess of 
 Augouleme after the Restoration visited the 
 hotel Dieu hospital to question Pelletan about it, 
 for Chateaubraind had spoken of it in the Cham- 
 ber of Peers. The hundred days intervened, and 
 two years later Pelletan had hopes of some recog- 
 nition for its restitution, as inquiry was begun, 
 but neither Louis XVIII nor Charles X dis- 
 played any inclination to weep over that stray 
 heart, or accept it. It is said Lasne informed the 
 King Louis XVIII that he was present and Pelle- 
 tan did not take the heart. It was in charge of 
 
 132 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the archbishop of Paris, until his palace was 
 sacked by the mob in 1831, whenitVas found in a 
 cupboard and sent to Pelletan's son. From 1879 
 it was possessed by Prosper Deschamps, heir of 
 Dr. Pelletan, son of the Pelletan who abstracted 
 it. Comte de Chambord would not notice offers 
 of it made to him, but in 1895, a century after be- 
 ing abstracted, it was accejDted by Don Carlos, 
 and found a burial at last in the tomb of Comte 
 de Chambord, who died 1883. 
 
 $: 
 
 fr 
 
 133 
 
XI 
 
 FLIGHT OF THE LITTLE KING TO AMERICA 
 
 M' 
 
 'ADAM Campan had been all her life a close 
 intimate of the Royal family up to the 
 moment she was refused permission to go 
 with them into the Temple, and knew everyone 
 in France who was any body. Her brother M. 
 Genet had early esjioused the republican cause, 
 though not to the disfavor of his sister with the 
 King- or Queen, and had been many years in the 
 diplomatic service, to different European coun- 
 tries under the King and under the Revolution, 
 and had been Ambassador of France to the United 
 States. He was therefore in a position to have 
 heard the whisperings disclosing the hiding place 
 of the little King. He was to bring both the 
 royal children to America when he came as 
 Ambassador. A carriage with a false back to 
 conceal them had been made, but was seized and 
 broken by the mob. 
 
 In the year 1818 there was a dinner party at 
 the house of Dr. Hosack, in New York City, at 
 which were present as guests M. Genet, the ex- 
 ambassador; the Comte Jean d' Angeley; Dr. 
 John W. Francis; Dr. Macneven; Counsellor Simp- 
 son; Thomas Cooper of Carlisle. Of these Dr. 
 Francis alone survived when he gave this infor- 
 
 134 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 mation which was published in 1853 by Rev. Dr. 
 Hanson. The conversation included the subject 
 of the little King- and his disappearance. Then 
 Genet said: "Gentlemen, the Dauphin of France 
 is not dead, but was brought to America." There 
 was much conversation on the same subject, dur- 
 ing which M. Genet informed the company among 
 other things, that he believed the Dauphin was in 
 western New York, and that Le Rayde Chaumont 
 knew all about it. In 1795 or 1796 this French 
 gentleman, arrived from France and settled in St. 
 Lawrence County, in northern New York, where 
 he lived in affluence, and was intimate with the 
 Indians of St. Regis and Hogansburg, where the 
 Mohawks of the Iroquoi nation were living at 
 their reservation and mission. 
 
 There gathers about the name of Belanger, 
 Bellenger, Bellanger, or Boulanger, as variously 
 spelled, through the years of mystification which 
 cover the retreating steps of the little King, a 
 peculiar fascination which is becoming quite as 
 positive history as much that passes for that sin- 
 gular name for misinformation. Mary Hartwell 
 Catherwood in that interesting fiction "Lazarre" 
 which purports to be founded on the story of the 
 lost little King, has made much of this Bellenger, 
 who she keeps at the front in many a ficticious 
 adventure with the little King- in Europe and 
 America. Mrs. Catherwood implies that she be- 
 lieves King Louis XVIII was concerned to retain 
 
 135 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the little King in obscurity. In the well written 
 iind well played drama of "Lazarre" by its play- 
 wrig-ht and actor, Otis Skinner, this character of 
 Bellenger also acts an important part. While 
 for the most part the story of Belleng-er as pic- 
 tured in both the book and the play is pure fiction, 
 there is historical evidence that Belleng-er was 
 associated in those dark Temple days with the 
 little King- and some ground to believe that he 
 was the one who brought the little King to 
 America. This Bellenger was a character in the 
 Revolution and a member of the Jacobin Club, 
 which was among the worst of the Revolutionary 
 societies of France. Bellenger had been a lieu- 
 tenant under Rosin the butcher of the Vendee. 
 When Robespierre was denounced on the 9th 
 Thermidore (July 27, 1794), at the same time 
 Billaud Varennes arose in the Convention, and 
 exclaimed: "I demand that Dumas be arrested as 
 well as Boulanger; he was the most ardent j^ester 
 night at the Jacobins." While many were ar- 
 rested and executed with the infamous Robes- 
 pierre, Bellenger went unmolested, but whether 
 due to friendship of Barras we do not know. 
 That he was a person of means, having landed 
 estates is shown by the following record: "Belan- 
 ger an architect and landscape gardener, com- 
 plained that a house which he had let out in flats 
 was seized upon by the place Vendome section, 
 which turned out the occupants and crowded 
 
 136 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 sixty-three Eng-lish into it as a house of deten- 
 tion. He was threatened that if he remonstrated 
 he would himself be arrested." (J. G. Alger, 
 ' 'Paris 1789-1794. ' ') Formerly this Bellenger had 
 been an artist and desig^ner, trusted by King 
 Louis XVIII when he was the Comte de Provence; 
 and the Rev. Dr. Hanson who wrote the "Lost 
 Prince," supjiosed it was by his efforts under the 
 pay of the Comte de Provence then in exile, that 
 Bellenger secured the release and flight of the 
 little King. Under whose patronage we do not 
 know, but it is certain that Bellenger was ap- 
 pointed between May 31st to June 5th, 1795, as 
 Commissary at the Temple. The only prisoners 
 there then, being the boy substituted for the 
 King, and Madam Royal. Mrs. Elizabeth Worm- 
 le}^ Latimer in, "My Scrap Book of the French 
 Revolution" says: "The idea of Rev. Hanson is 
 that the substitution of the child who died of 
 scrofula took place between May 31, 1795 and 
 June 5, four days, when no one saw the boy but 
 Laurent, Lasne, Gomin and Bellenger, who had 
 just been appointed Commissionary at the Tem- 
 l^le. I may here remark that neither Eleazer Wil- 
 liams nor Rev. Hanson had ever heard the name of 
 Bellenger in connection with the prisoner in the 
 Temple, until after his confession on his death- 
 bed at Batan Rouge, Louisiana." The following 
 description of Bellengers' coming to the Temple 
 is from Beauchesne of 1852: "On the 11th Prairial 
 
 137 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 (30th May), le Sieur Brieullard, the acting- com- 
 missary for the day, who accompanied Desault, 
 said to him in going down the staircase: 'The child 
 will die, will he not?' 'I fear it; but there are, 
 perhaps, those persons in the world who hope he 
 will," replied Desault, the last words which he 
 pronounced in the tower of the Temple, and 
 which, though spoken in a low voice, were heard 
 by Gomin, who walked behind Brieullard. 
 
 "On the 12th Prairial (31st May), the acting 
 commissary, on his arrival at nine o'clock, said 
 he would wait for the doctor in the chamber of 
 the child, to which he caused himself to be intro- 
 duced. This commissary was M. Bellanger, 
 painter and designer of the cabinet of Monsieur, 
 (the Comte de Provence, afterwards Louis XVIII) , 
 who lived at No. 21 Rue Poissonniere. He was 
 an honest man: the misfortune of his benefactor, 
 alas, in these sad times, almost an exception, 
 had not dried up the devotion of his heart. M. 
 Desault did not come. M. Bellanger, who had 
 brought a portfolio filled with his drawings, 
 asked the Prince if he liked painting; and, with- 
 out waiting for an answer, which did not come, 
 the artist opened his portfolio- and put it under 
 the eyes of the child. He turned it over, at first 
 with indifference, afterwards with interest, dwelt 
 a long time on each page, and when he had fin- 
 ished, began again. This long examination 
 seemed to give some solace to his sufferings and 
 
 138 
 
/ 
 
 \. 
 
 4 ^ 
 
 ^^-^ 
 
 ' f 
 
 H 
 
 ■a 
 
 ^ r 
 
 Eleazer Williams, i8o6 
 
 Vac simile of pencil sketch by Chevalier Fagnani from original portrait by 
 J. Stewart of Hartford in 1806— (from lost Prince.) 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 some relief to the chagrin which was caused by 
 the absence of his physician. The artist often 
 gave him explanation of the different subjects of 
 his collection. The child had at "first kept silence 
 but, little by little, he listened to M. Bellanjj-er 
 with marked attention, and finished by answer- 
 ing his questions. 
 
 "In taking- the portfolio from his hands, M. 
 Bellanger said to him, 'I much desire, sir, to take 
 away one drawing more, but I will not do it if 
 you object.' 
 
 'What drawing?' said the Dauphin. 'That of 
 your countenance; it will give much pleasure, if 
 it will not cause you pain.' 'Will it give you 
 pleasure?' said the child, and the most gracious 
 smile completed;his sentence and the mute appro- 
 bation which he gave to the desire of the artist. 
 M. Bellanger traced in crayon the profile of the 
 young king, and it is from this profile, that some 
 days later, M. Beaumont, the sculptor, and 
 twenty years after, manufacturer of Sevres i^or- 
 celain, executed the bust of Louis XVII." 
 
 Eleazer Williams was the name under which 
 the little King was known in the United States. 
 He was known among the Indians of Caughna- 
 waga and St. Regis as Lazare, which in some 
 erroneous manner has been changed to. Eleazer. 
 In the great mass of literature on the subject he 
 is styled the Lost Dauphin, which is an historical 
 error we cannot explain, as he was King Louis 
 
 139 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 XVII, after the murder of the King his father, 
 and so styled by his friends and called the little 
 King. While relating in 1851 to Rev. Hanson the 
 evidence of his descent from the Bourbons, Rev. 
 Eleazer Williams said of this Bellenger whose 
 name Rev. Hanson spells Belanger, that: "A 
 French man died at New Orleans in 1848, named 
 Belanger, who confessed on his death bed that 
 he was the person who brought the Dauphin to 
 this country, and placed him among the Indians, 
 in the northern part of the state of New York. It 
 seems that Belanger had taken a solemn oath of 
 secrecy, alike for the preservation of the Dau- 
 phin, and the safety of those who were instru- 
 mental in effecting his escape, but the near 
 approach of death, and the altered circumstances 
 of the times, induced him to break silence before 
 his departure from the world. He died in Janu- 
 ary, 1848. Now the person who had charge of 
 the Dauphin after the death of Simon, stabbed a 
 man in a political quarrel in France, and fled for 
 safety. He it was I suppose who, with the 
 assistance and connivance of others, carried the 
 youth with him to the low countries, and thence 
 to England. He must have changed his own 
 name for greater security, crossed the Atlantic, 
 and after depositing him with the Indians, gone 
 to Louisiana and there lived and died. " The let- 
 ter referred to was, as Rev. Eleazer Williams 
 says received by him from Mr. Thomas Kimball 
 
 140 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 dated at Baton Rouge, and he told Rev. Hanson 
 in the presence of Dr. Hawks the eloquent 
 preacher and historian in Dr. Hawks' study in 
 New York, in 1852, that: "Mr. Kimball's letter 
 is I think among- my papers at Green Bay;" Rev. 
 Eleazer Williams has never produced this letter, 
 which leaves the statement dependent on his ver- 
 acity which many have questioned, yet not suc- 
 cessfully in this particular at least. This letter 
 is said to have been a fiction of Colonel Henry E. 
 Eastman of Green Bay, who was in 1845 the 
 agent of Amos A. Lawrence, the wealthy Boston 
 business man in negotiating as to the interest 
 Lawrence had acquired in the landed estate of 
 Rev. Eleazer Williams. He claimed to have 
 written a romance based on Louis XVII and to 
 have made Eleazer Williams the chief character, 
 gave him the manuscript to read, and he having 
 copied them returned them to Colonel Eastman. 
 The story of the death-bed confession of Bellen- 
 ger, Eastman says was his own fiction included 
 in the story as exhibited to Eleazer Williams. 
 Colonel Eastman assumes to be amazed when he 
 saw his fiction repeated in "Putnams Magazine" 
 in 1853, in connection with the article, "Have we 
 a Bourbon among us," by Rev. Dr. John Hanson. 
 Mr. Eastman says he wrote the story in 1847 or 
 1848 at Green Bay. Rev. Hanson went to New 
 Orleans but could find no trace of Bellenger. As 
 the information connecting Bellenger in any way 
 
 141 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 with the Temple was not a matter of g"eneral 
 information until after 1852, when M. Beauchesne 
 published his two volumes and the Figaro dis- 
 closures in 1895, it was impossible that Eastman 
 could have hit upon the name. 
 
 "In the fall of 1841, quite an excitement was 
 raised in our quiet town by the visit of the Prince 
 de Joinville. Prom that time beg"an the question 
 of Rev. Eleazer Williams being- the lost Prince," 
 says Mrs. Mary Irvin Mitchell. This was seven 
 years before Eastman claims to have invented the 
 story. Mr. W. W. Wight's paper proves the East- 
 man claim to discovering Eleazer Williams to be 
 the Lost Dauphin, as an evident desire to break 
 into the sensation. Putnam of 1853, contained: 
 "The startling discovery of the mislaid Daujihin 
 in my own language;" says Colonel Eastman, 
 "the original story of the 'Lost Prince' was my 
 story," composed about the summer ^of 1847, or 
 the following winter of 1848. This is disproved 
 by Mr. Wight who says: "Just about 1838 Eleazer 
 entered the office of Geo. H. Haskins, editor of 
 the Buffalo Express, and confided to him under 
 seal of the most profound secrecy that he, Eleazer 
 was not what he appeared to be, but was in real- 
 ity the Dauphin of France." This was ten years 
 before Eastman claimed he "was the originator 
 of the idea and story of Williams being the Lost 
 Prince." Rev. Dr. Lathrop writes, says Lyman 
 C. Draper, "that Mr. Williams gave him both in 
 
 142 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 1843 and 18-48, an accountof the interview with 
 the Prince de Joinville;" and the William's jour- 
 nal records the interview in 1841, all of which dis- 
 credited the presumption of Colonel Eastman to 
 the authorship of the Williams Dauphinship. 
 After the appearance of "Putnam" with Dr. Han- 
 son's paper in 1853, the subject attracted wide 
 spread attention and added twenty thousand new 
 subscribers to the magazine. Mrs. Brown living- 
 in New Orleans in 1854, but who had not seen the 
 article, was visited by Dr. Hanson and voluntar- 
 ily testified under oath that she had been wife to 
 the secretary of the Comte de Artois, and had 
 resided at Holyrood, from 1804 to 1810; that she 
 was admitted to some intimacy by the Duchesse 
 d' Aug-ouleme, sister of the little King, who once 
 told her that she knew the baby King- was alive 
 and in America; that she heard of Bellenger as 
 the man who brought him over; and the name of 
 Williams was mentioned in that connection. She 
 added that while the royal family knew the baby 
 King was alive, they asserted he w^as incompe- 
 tent to reign. The wife to the secretary of the 
 Comte de Coigny had told Mrs. Brown that she 
 had heard Bellenger had brought the King to 
 America; that the subject had been much dis- 
 cussed in the royal palace, where it was said the 
 elevation of such a person to the throne would 
 but increase the disorder of the times, and that 
 one who came from America to confer with the 
 
 14.3 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 family on the subject, had been given money and 
 he returned. 
 
 As to the Rev. Eleazer Williams being of 
 French descent, brought to America and depos- 
 ited among the Indians at Lake George: One 
 John O'Brien, a half breed Indian, made an affi- 
 davit in 1853, that he was born about 1752 at 
 Stockbridge; his father was an Irishman, and his 
 mother an Oneida. In 1764 he was sent to Prance 
 to be educated, where he remained until in the 
 Revolution returning with Lafayette, and went 
 among the Oneidas. In 1795, while at Ticonde- 
 roga on Lake George, there came two French- 
 men, with whom he conversed in their language, 
 who had with them a silly French boy about ten 
 or twelve years of age. After the Frenchmen 
 departed O'Brien saw this boy in the family of 
 Thomas Williams, an Indian where the child lived. 
 He was at Lake George sometime after, when this 
 boy playing with the children at the southwest 
 end of the lake near the old Fort, either jumped 
 or fell into the lake, and was taken out wounded, 
 and carried to the hut of Thomas Williams. ' He 
 saw the boy after this from time to time and he is 
 the same now known as Eleazer Williams. 
 
 144 
 
XII. 
 
 ELEAZER WILLIAMS 
 
 HOWEVER descended, Eleazer Williams had 
 a most remarkable and distinguished an- 
 cestry, as he was himself a remarkable 
 and 'distinguished character. The story of his 
 birth as told by friend or enem}^ is equally as his- 
 torically noble. Every possible genealogy yet 
 made up for him traces him back to kings and 
 queens, who have made history in every stage of 
 the world's progress for over a thousand years. 
 
 Whether Creole or Bourbon, his veins ran noble 
 blood. In either descent he can trace a relation- 
 ship to King Henry VIII, Queen Elizabeth of Eng- 
 land and Oliver Cromwell, or a direct descent 
 from Maria Theresa of Austria, and St. Louis or 
 Henry of Navarre. In his veins ran the blood of 
 either Bourbon, Hapsburg or Tudor. His birth is 
 not a mystery, in that his origin is unknown. It 
 is known to be either one or the other of these 
 noble lines. His worst enemy will admit and 
 prove his descent from the most distinguished 
 ancestry. His friends also. His enemies only 
 claim he is not the Lost King Louis XVII, of 
 France; to prove which they show a genealogy 
 ranging back in the days of the earliest kings of 
 Britain, even eleven hundred years before the 
 
 145 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 christian era, Avhose descendants came with the 
 early wave of Puritans to Roxbury, Mass., in 
 1637, in the person of Robert Williams, the grand- 
 father of Rev. John Williams of Deerfield, who 
 became the great grandfather of Eleazer Williams. 
 
 One writer has said that "The history of this 
 Williams family in America embraces a consider- 
 able portion of the history of New England, if 
 not of the history of the United States." 
 
 Robert's son, Samuel, had a son Rev. John 
 Williams, who with his family were all killed or 
 taken prisoners at the Deerfield massacre. All 
 who survived their capiivity returned except 
 Eunice. When taken captive she was but eig-ht 
 years old, but preferred to remain with her Mo- 
 hawk captors, and married one of these savages. 
 Their home was at Caughnawaga, ten miles above 
 Montreal on the St. Lawrence river, north of New 
 York State. Her savage husband's name was 
 Amrusus. Their daughter Sarah, was married to 
 an Indian, whose son Tehoragwanegen, alias 
 Thomas Williams, it is claimed was the father of 
 Eleazer Williams. In his younger days he did 
 live with this Indian, and supposed him to be his 
 father. 
 
 Eunice Williams was descended from four puri- 
 tan ministers, and her two brothers were likewise 
 ministers. I believe that it has been stated that 
 Robert Williams of Roxbury, was the ancester of 
 twenty-three ministers of the gospel, not includ- 
 
 146 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ing- Eleazer Williams, though in his life long de- 
 votion to his savage wards as missionary and 
 teacher, and the conversion of one whole tribe, 
 he certainly has as much to his credit in the book 
 of good deeds as mau}^ other men, whose lot has 
 been cast in happier times and more pleasant 
 fields. 
 
 Therefore if it is true that Rev. Eleazer Wil- 
 liams the missionary to the Oneida, had a Mo- 
 hawk mother and father, and grandmother and 
 grandfather and great grandfather, whose wife 
 was Eunice Williams, he had less white blood 
 than his life and features would indicate, and yet 
 enough to make him the descendant of most illus- 
 trious ancestr5\ The reputed Indian father and 
 mother of Eleazer Williams, resided at Sault St. 
 Louis in Canada, on the St. Lawrence river, ten 
 miles above Montreal. He died there in his nine- 
 tieth year, September 10, 1848, having resided 
 after the war of 1812 a number of years at St. 
 Regis Indian Reservation in New York. The 
 wife of Thomas Williams was Mary Ann Rice. 
 They were married January 7, 1779. She died 
 May 1. 1856, seventy-seven years after her mar- 
 riage, and nearly a centenarian. They were both 
 ardent Catholics. They were both apparently 
 full blooded Indians, and spoke no language but 
 Mohawk. 
 
 The settlement which the French called Sault 
 St. Louis but in Iroquois, is Caughnavvaga, situ- 
 
 147 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ated ten miles above Montreal, on the south side 
 of the St. Lawrence. The inhabitants were mostly 
 Mohawks with a few Oneidas, who had been con- 
 verted by Jesuit missionaries to Catholicism and 
 to the French interest, and had been induced from 
 time to time to abandon their ancient seats in 
 New York for homes near Montreal, where they 
 would be under the wing- of the Church. Thus 
 dwelling they served both as a bulwark against 
 the English, and as allies of the French in war 
 and in marauding, while they enriched themselves 
 by lucrative contraband trade between the lower 
 Hudson and the St. Lawrence. At about the per- 
 iod of the Deerfield massacre, (1704) two-thirds of 
 the New York Mohawks had gone to Caughna- 
 waga; so that about three hundred and fifty pray- 
 ing Indians were then living there. In 1750 the 
 entire population may have been one thousand 
 souls. But notwithstanding the religious influ- 
 ences, these mission Indians still continued sav- 
 ages. "Although baptized, and wearing the cru- 
 cifix, they yet hung their wigwams with scalps, 
 yet wielded their tomahawks against feeble 
 women and innocent children." "Remnants of 
 the Caughnawaga mission still exists and travel- 
 ers down the St. Lawrence peer curiously at 
 naked pappooses sporting about the shore and at 
 tawny braves stalking aimlessly under the arch- 
 ing trees." 
 
 It had two, long, narrow streets separating low, 
 
 148 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ding-y frame or losf huts, and a few of rude, dark 
 stone masonry. A Roman Catholic stone church 
 stands in the middle of the street. It was a 
 lonely place with its shabby huts, dirty streets, 
 crowds of naked little Indian children. Such is 
 the reputed place of birth of Eleazer Williams, to 
 those who do not believe he was the Lost King-. 
 But it is as easy or as difficult to prove one as the 
 other. His reputed father was a Mohawk brave, 
 and chief who could speak only their lang^uage, 
 and conversed with the whites throug-h an inter- 
 preter. He lived the roving- life of the Indian in 
 the wig-wam, or rolled in his blanket, he slept on 
 the side hills along- the banks of Lake Georg-e. 
 His reputed mother was a squaw, who could not 
 speak a word of any lang-uag-e but Mohawk. 
 Their parents had been Mohawk bucks and 
 squaws before them, and the g-randfather of this 
 Thomas was a Mohawk buck. If descended 
 throug-h this uncertain unrecorded g-enealog-y, 
 and the great g-randmother of Eleazer, was the 
 unfortunate Eunace Williams, then this waif of 
 the marriag-e bed of the forest wig-wam, had but 
 one-eig-hth white blood in his veins. It is true he 
 did for many years call these Indians his parents. 
 This was natural, as disclosed by the story of his 
 life. But that they were his parents, has never 
 been proven. Even the place and date of his 
 birth they have been unable to show. Nor is there 
 any reason why these Indians have the name of 
 
 149 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Williams, as they all possess unpronoiincable 
 Indian names. 
 
 Eleazer Williams was early led to believe he 
 was born a.t Caug-hnawag^a. His reputed mother 
 made iin affidavit that he was born there two 
 years after she had said he was born on the banks 
 of Lake Georg^e, she thought in June. No one 
 knows the year, though Lyman C. Draper, con- 
 cluded that it was 1790, while John Y. Smith con- 
 cluded it was 1792, and his reputed father once 
 said in January, 1800, that in May he would be 
 twelve years old; and General Albert E. Ellis 
 writes that in 1800 Eleazer was fourteen years of 
 ag"e, which would make his birth date 1796. 
 
 When the mission register was examined and 
 fouT^d to contain the names and dates of birth of 
 eleven children of these reputed Indian parents 
 of Rev. Eleazer Williams, and no name was dis- 
 covered there which could be tortured into La- 
 zarre or Eleazer, then some time between births 
 must be found in which to bring forth Eleazer. 
 There is printed in Hanson's, "The Lost Prince, " 
 a transcription from the register of thfe mission 
 at Caughnawaga authenticated by Father Francis 
 Marcoux, priest at the mission in 1853, when the 
 transcription Avas made, showing the names and 
 dates of births of the eleven children of Thomas 
 and Mary there registered. 
 
 This list is as follows; 
 
 150 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 "BAPTISMAL RECORD. 
 
 "EXTRACTS DES REGISTRES DE LA MISSOIN DU 
 SAULT ST. LOUIS." 
 
 "1779, du 7 Janvier, Thomas Tehora Kwanekeu 
 a espouse Marie Anne, fille de Haronhumanen. 
 Leurs enfants sont 
 
 "Jean Baptiste ne le 7 sept 1780 
 
 Catharine nee le 4 sept 1781 
 
 Thomas ne le 28 avr 1786 
 
 Louise nee le 18 mai 1791 
 
 Jeanne Baptiste 00" 21 avr 1793 
 
 Pierre 25 aout nee le 1795 
 
 Pierre " 4 sept 1796 
 
 Anne nee le 30 janv 1799 
 
 Dorothee " 2 aout 1801 
 
 Charles ne 8 sept 1804 
 
 Jervais " 22 juil 1807 
 
 Marcoux, Prete." 
 
 In the second affidavit of Mar}' Ann Williams, 
 she seeks to name her children as "Peter, Catha- 
 rine, Ig-natuis, Thomas (Eleazer adopted), Louisa, 
 Charles and Jarvis." This statement was made 
 in 1853, and Dr. Williams who visited her in 1851, 
 said: "The mother of Eleazer was very old, pos- 
 sibly one hundred. She was what miyht be called 
 feeble minded.'" I cannot make the names of her 
 children as she gives them agree with the church 
 register, and am content to leave the task with 
 those who seem too anxious to fill in the "gaps," 
 
 151 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 for I agree with Eleazer himself, who once said 
 while a guest of Dr. S. Williams in 1851: "If I 
 am a Williams I am so old, but if I am the Dau- 
 phin, I am older." There is no reason why he 
 was not born in 1785, the birthdate of the Dau- 
 phin. No one has j^et furnished one sing-le incon- 
 testable fact to prove Eleazer of Indian birth, 
 though the law would presume him to be their 
 child, in the absence of the evidence to the con- 
 trary, because of his long life as their admitted off- 
 spring. It may not be out of place here to state 
 that in 1852, all the children of Mary Ann Wil- 
 liams were dead, and that all died of consumption. 
 
 ^(^ 
 
 152 
 
XIII 
 
 THE LITTLE KING RECOVERS HEALTH AND MIND, 
 AMONG THE ADIRONDAC HILLS, ALONG THE SYL- 
 VAN BANKS OF BEAUTIFUL LAKE GEORGE. "HE 
 WHO DIED A KING IS REGENERATED A BEGGAR." 
 
 IN 1804 after the battle of Plattsburg-, Mr. Wil- 
 liams and his reputed father went to Albany," 
 says Rev. Eleazer Williams in conversation 
 repeated by Rev. Dr. Hanson, "at the request of 
 Governor Tompkins, and while in the city, 
 Thomas Williams said, that he had been invited 
 by his old friends, Jacob Vanderheyden, a well 
 known Indian trader, to spend the evening-, and 
 to bring his son with him. In the midst of good 
 cheer over their bottle of brandy, a conversation 
 took place in Eleazer's hearing- to this effect. 
 They spoke of Vanderheyden having encamped 
 at Caldwell's, on Lake George, in October, 1795, 
 and remained there for several days waiting for 
 the Indians to come down from the north to pur- 
 chase furs, and supply them with g-oods during- 
 their winter hunts, and that while he was there, 
 a French gentleman came among them, having 
 a French boy with him about ten years old, and 
 after staying sometime he departed, leaving the 
 boy behind him. The boy was deranged at the 
 time, spoke French and German, and was well 
 
 153 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 dressed. The first time that Vanderheyden saw 
 him was in the company of Thomas Williamis, 
 who broug-ht him to his camp, when the boy ran 
 boisterously about the store, and ui)set his g-oods. 
 After speaking- of these circumstances, Vander- 
 heyden said, "Thomas, did I not tell you then he 
 was not 3^our boy?" The reply was, "You have 
 said so many times — if you will have it so let it 
 be so.'* He also asked "Thomas, what has be- 
 come of that Frenchman?" But Williams does 
 not remember what answer was g^iven." 
 
 "I then asked Mr. Williams if he had been ac- 
 quainted with Le Ray de Chaumont, during- his 
 residence in St Lawrence County, and if anything 
 had ever occurred between them, which would 
 tend to prove that he had a knowledge of the 
 Dauphin being- in this country. He replied, that 
 he had only, to the best of his recollections, seen 
 Le Ra3' once, in the month of Januarj'- or Febru- 
 ary, 1819 or 1820, when a conversation to this 
 effect occurred between them. Williams was at 
 that time a resident at Oneida, among- the In- 
 dians. In this place there also lived a Colonel 
 de Ferrier, formerly an officer of the body g-uard 
 of Louis XVI, who had fled from France during the 
 Revolution, and married an Indian woman who is 
 still living-. Le Ray inquired of Williams con- 
 cerning- the health and welfare of De Ferrier; 
 adding- that he had been a great sufferer in the 
 royal cause;that the King's familyhadbeen widely 
 
 154 
 
Eleazer Williams, 1852 
 
 From a Daguerreotype in Putnams with the paper "Have we a Bourbon 
 
 among us?" Gold cross of St. Louis on the sash left with the child 
 
 king when given over to the Indians. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 scattered; but that, notwithstanding- all the mis- 
 fortunes of De Ferrier, he was no greater sufferer 
 than a member of the royal family, whom both 
 Colonel de Ferrier and he believed to be in this 
 country." 
 
 "On questioning him concerning the French- 
 man, who is said to have visited him in child- 
 hood, Mr. Williams said, in effect as follows: 
 'That after the restoration of his reason, about 
 the year 1799, his reputed father went from 
 Caughnawaga, as usual, with his family in the 
 month of September, to hunt in the vicinity of 
 Lake George. While encamping on the shores 
 of the lake, with other Indian families, two 
 strange gentlemen came to visit Thomas Will- 
 iams, one of whom had every indication of being a 
 Frenchman, from his dress, manners, and lan- 
 guage; for he remembers understanding a few 
 words, sufficient to know that he spoke in French. 
 He had on a ruffled shirt and his hair was powder- 
 ed, and bore to him a very splendid appearance. 
 When the gentlemen first came in sig^ht, Williajis 
 and the other boys of the family were sporting 
 on the lake, in a little wooden canoe, and saw 
 them in company with Thomas Williams take 
 their seats on a log, at a little distance from the 
 wigwam. As their curiosity was excited, to know 
 who these strangers were, they left their canoe 
 and strolled slowly to the encampment when 
 Thomas Williams called out, "Eleazer, this 
 
 155 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 friend of yours wishes to speak with you." As 
 he approached, one of the gentlemen rose and 
 went off to another Indian encampment; but the 
 other one, who appeared to be a Frenchman, ad- 
 vanced several steps to meet him, embraced him 
 most tenderly, and when he again sat down on 
 the log- made the boy stand between his legs. In 
 the meantime he shed abundance of tears; said, 
 "Pauvre garcon," and continued to embrace him. 
 Thomas Williams was soon after called to the 
 wigwam, and Eleazer and the Frenchman were 
 left alone. The latter continued to kiss him and 
 weep, and spoke a great deal, seeming very anx- 
 ious that he should understand what was said, 
 which he was unable to do. When Thomas Will- 
 iams returned to them, he asked Eleazer whether 
 he understood what the gentlemen said to him, 
 and he replied, "No." They then both left him, 
 and walked off in the direction in which the other 
 gentleman had gone; who, though he cannot 
 speak certainly, yet on comparing his other re- 
 collections with those of this time, he is of the 
 opinion was Thomas Becker, the Indian interpre- 
 ter. The gentleman came the next day to the 
 wigwam, and the Frenchman remained several 
 hours. Thomas Williams took him out in a ca- 
 noe on the lake, and the last which Mr. Williams 
 remembers was their all sitting together on the 
 log, when the Frenchman took hold of his bare 
 feet and dusty legs, and examined his knees and 
 
 156 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ankles closely. Again the Frenchman shed tears, 
 but young- Eleazer was quite indifferent, not 
 knowing- what to make of it. Before the gentle- 
 man left, he gave him a piece of gold. After a 
 few days, Thomas Williams, contrary to his us- 
 ual custom, returned to Caughnawaga instead of 
 remaining for his winter hunt at Lake George. 
 The cause of this visit he can only conjecture, 
 but thinks it probable, that after the restoration 
 of his mind, Thomas Williams had informed Bel- 
 anger of the fact, and that he came to make ar- 
 rangements respecting his education, Shortly 
 after this incident, while the family of Thomas 
 Williams were at Caughnawaga, Nathaniel Ely, 
 of Long Meadows, at the request of some of the 
 members of the European branches of the Will- 
 iams family, asked Thomas to let him have some 
 of his boys for education. " 
 
 "When the child was brought over from Europe 
 and left with Thomas Williams in the neighbor- 
 hood of Albany in Nov., 1795, by the agent, who- 
 ever he was, for so far I regard from the informa- 
 tion I have recently obtained, to be exceedingly 
 probable, two boxes of clothing and other things 
 by w^hich he could be hereafter identified, were 
 left with him. All this, and what follows, the 
 old Indian woman has confessed. One of these 
 boxes has been carried off by a daughter of 
 Thomas Williams, and cannot now be recovered. 
 The other there is every reason to suppose is still 
 
 157 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 in Montreal; but efforts are made in certain 
 quarters to conceal it. In this box were three 
 coins or medals, one of gold, one of silver and 
 one of copper, fac-similes of each other, being 
 the medals struck at the coronation of Louis 
 XVI, and Marie Antoinette. The gold and sil- 
 ver medals being of value, were sold by the In- 
 dians in Montreal. The copper one was re- 
 tained and is now in my possession. The gold 
 medal has also been seen in the possession of a 
 Romish Bishop at Montreal or Quebec. The prob- 
 ability that these traces of the Dauphin are to 
 be found in Montreal is increased by the proxim- 
 ity of Caughnawaga to that city." 
 
 "Have you any memory of what happened in 
 Paris, or of your voyage to this country?" 
 
 "Therein," he replied, "lies the mystery of my 
 life. I know nothing about my infancy. Every- 
 thing that occurred to me is blotted out, entirely 
 erased, irrevocably gone. My mind is a blank 
 until thirteen or fourteen years of age. You 
 must imagine a child who, as far as he, knows 
 anything, was an idiot, destitute even of con- 
 sciousness. He was bathing on Lake George, 
 among a group of Indian boys. He clambered 
 with the fearlessness of idoc}'- to the top of a high 
 rock. He plunged down head foremost into the 
 water. He was taken up insensible, and laid in 
 an Indian hut. He was brought to life. There 
 was the blue sky, there were the mountains, 
 
 158 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 there were the waters. That was the first I knew 
 of life." 
 
 "As it is imj)ortant to compare the statements 
 of personal feelings, given to different persons 
 b}^ Mr. Williams, I may mention here that a gen- 
 tleman of the bar, of high standing, whose opin- 
 ions I shall frequently refer to, recently said to 
 me. "I must do him the justice of saying, that 
 he never pretended to know anything personally 
 of what occurred in his childhood; but he said, 
 however, that after the plunge in Lake George, 
 his mind seemed to recover its tone and sound- 
 ness, and a good many images of things came 
 back, but without any possibility of giving them 
 name and place." "He then told me an incident 
 of startling and dramatic interest. A gentleman 
 of distinction, on his recent return from Europe, 
 in an interview with Mr. Williams, threw some 
 lithographs and engravings upon the table, at 
 the sight of one of which and without seeing the 
 name, Williams was greatly excited and cried 
 out, 'Good God! I know that face. It has 
 haunted me through life, ' or words to that effect. 
 On examination it proved to be the portrait of 
 Simon, the jailor of the Dauphin." 
 
 "The next link in the evidence is yet more sin- 
 gular. A French gentleman hearing my story, 
 brought a printed account of the captivity of the 
 Dauphin, and read me a note in which it was 
 stated, that Simon the jailor having become in- 
 
 159 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 censed with the Prince for some childish offence, 
 took a towel which was hang-ing- on a nail, and in 
 snatching- it hastily drew out the nail with it, 
 and inflicted two blows upon his face, one over 
 the left eye, and the other on the rig-ht side of 
 the nose. And now, said he, let me look at your 
 face. When he did so, and saw the scar on the 
 spots indicated in the memoirs he exclaimed; 
 'Mon Dieu, what proof do I want more!' 
 
 It is possible for the brain diseased by misuses 
 of the body to recover its normal condition by a 
 shock. Many instances of this are reported, and 
 one often reads them in the daily press. 
 
 Some have supposed that the outdoor and wig-- 
 wam life of the wilderness in the bracing- climate 
 of northern New York, would have been a severe 
 blow to the little King- in his weak condition 
 when saved from the Temple; but this w^as the 
 very place to take him to save his life. Fresh 
 air, out of doors, coarse but wholesome food, the 
 smell of the wild flowers that mantled the hills, 
 fishing-, hunting- and the chase, freedom, all that 
 builds up the frame, revives the nerves, ma'de him 
 a man ag-ain, and saved his life. This veiy lo- 
 cality where the Prince was left among- the In- 
 dians is a celebrated resort for invalids and con- 
 sumptives. 
 
 160 
 
XIV. 
 
 THOSE LONG MEADOW DAYS 
 
 HAPPILY unconscious of the throne which 
 lay in the wreck and chaoe of the Revolu- 
 tion across the Atlantic, the wild boy of 
 the woods, "who died a prince, was regenerated 
 a beg^g'er, " barefooted, hatless and coatless, 
 ranged the hills, chased the deer through the 
 opening's, took trout from the wild mountain 
 streams, or swiftly sped his canoe across the 
 lake, the happiest King who ever breathed the 
 air of freedom. He heard only the Mohawk 
 tongue, and played with equally ragged and 
 hungry boys like himself, who shivered in the 
 long, bleak winter, or shouted with joy in the 
 hazy Indian summer along the valley of the St. 
 Regis river. Thus he disported, gaining health 
 and strength for a number of years. 
 
 The Indian Thomas was on a v^isit to Long 
 Meadow four miles below Springfield, Massachu- 
 setts, in the winter of 1796-7, to Deacon Nathan- 
 iel Ely, Jr., whose wife was a descendant of the 
 Williams family, and who after a long sickness 
 had taken a vow to devote his life to good works. 
 Deacon Ely proposed to Thomas that he send one 
 of his boys to them at Long Meadow to attend 
 school. Though the proposition seemed to be 
 favorably received, such things did not appeal to 
 
 161 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the Indian Thomas, and nothing- came of it. A 
 neighbor of Deacon Ely traveling in Canada two 
 years later, was given in December, 1799, a letter 
 to Thomas, conveying an urgent request to send 
 two of his boys to be educated. When this let- 
 ter arrived at the wigwam at Caughnawaga, Dr. 
 Hanson says: "Eleazer was lying in bed in the 
 same room wnth his supposed parents, and as 
 they imagined asleep. The Indian strongly 
 urged a compliance with the request, but his 
 squaw objected to let any of the children go for 
 an education among heretics, lest they should 
 peril their souls. But when he persisted in the 
 demand, she said, 'if you will do it, you may 
 send away this strange boy; means have been put 
 into your hands for his education, but John, I 
 cannot part with' ". Her willingness to sacrifice 
 him, and the general tenor of the conversation, 
 excited suspicions in his mind as to belonging to 
 their family, but they soon passed away. It was 
 decided that both he and John should go; and 
 January 23, 1800, the Indian Thomas,^ came 
 marching over the snows into Long Meadow, fol- 
 lowed by Eleazer, and his son, John, dressed in 
 buckskin and moccasins, where he left them to 
 live in the family of Deacon Ely and attend the 
 New England school of a century past. Eleazer 
 was then fifteen, and John was twenty years of 
 age, or seven, as there were two of that name. 
 There w^ere in this humble school other boys, but 
 
 1&2 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 of Puritan families and among- them, Mr. Colton, 
 who thirty-three years afterward in his book, 
 "Tour of the American Lakes," remembered the 
 wild untamed antics of these sprigs of the wigwam 
 and wild wood in these words: "Prom the wild- 
 ness of their nature and habits it was necessary 
 for the master to humor their eccentricities until 
 they might gradually accomodate themselves to 
 discipline; and but for the benevolent object in 
 view, and the good anticipated it was no small 
 sacrifice to endure the disorder which their man- 
 ners at first created. Unused to restraint and 
 amazed at the orderly scenes around them, they 
 would suddenly jump and cry 'Umph'! or some 
 other characteristic and g^uttural exclamation, 
 and then perhaps spring- across the room and 
 make a true Indian assault upon a child on whom 
 they had fixed their eyes, to his no small affright 
 and consternation; or else dart out of the house 
 and take to their heels in such a direction as their 
 whims might incline them. Confinement they 
 could ill endure at first; and so long as they did 
 nothing but create disorder (and that they did 
 very effectually) they were indulged until by de- 
 grees they became used to discipline and beg-an 
 to learn. Their first attempts by imitation to 
 enunciate the letters of the Roman alphabet were 
 quite amusing, so difiicult was it to form their 
 tongues and other organs to the proper shapes. 
 If the children of the school laughed (as there 
 
 163 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 was some apology for doing-) these bo3\s would 
 sometimes cast a contemptuous roll of the eye 
 over the little assembly and then leaving an 
 "Umph!" behind them would dart out of the 
 house in resentment." 
 
 The patience and good judgment of the earnest 
 Deacon Ely assisted by the example at his home, 
 slowly tamed the young men. In 1802, a revival 
 swept over Long Meadow which effected Eleazer 
 and he is supposed to have joined the church at 
 this time. 
 
 Eleazer clung to his studies and made remark- 
 able progress. Deacon Ely kept a diary or 
 journal of events, and doubtless taught this to 
 Eleazer, as he seems to have made it a practice 
 all his life to record almost daily events that 
 came within his life or under his notice. From 
 the swift manner in which he developed his mind 
 at the school of Deacon Ely, one would suppose 
 he must have had some teaching at the French 
 mission school at Caughnawaga. His diar}?^ be- 
 ginning two years after he came to this school, 
 shows almost unheard of progress, not only in his 
 study, but his piety. His diary at this time, shows 
 too much advance for only two years at school, 
 though his expression is still tangled or mis- 
 placed, as illustrated by this quotation from the 
 entry of December 9, 1802: "God is once more 
 pleased to send our father. He came today about 
 sundown, and brought us news that my sister is 
 
 164 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 sick. God be praised. " Mr. Storrs explains this 
 visit of Thomas. That in the winter of 1803 
 Thomas and his wife came to Lonjj;- Meadow, to 
 carry one or both of the boys home on pain of 
 excommunication by the priest. John therefore 
 returned to Caughnawaga, but after a year came 
 back and remained four years longer. The diary 
 of Deacon Ely records, that during these days, 
 Eleazer was much subdued by religious influences. 
 At the time he came to this school, he was youth- 
 ful in appearance, as w^ell as action, for his school- 
 mate Mr. Calvin Colton supposed him to be but 
 ten years of age, and Mr. Hale with whose father 
 Eleazer was a pupil at Mest Hampton says when 
 he first saw him in 1800 he was but ten years of age. 
 Governor Williams of Vermont, who knew Eleaz- 
 er, supposed he was born in 1790, whereas he was 
 born five years before. Mr. Ely records in his 
 diary that he was "19 years of age," and in 1802 
 that he was 15 years of age. We suppose his 
 boyish appearance was due to his handsome 
 countenance and his simple deportment. 
 
 As the impression he made on those who knew 
 him in these young days at Long Meadow is im- 
 portant and interesting, we will let a number of 
 these neighbors tell the story in their own lan- 
 guage. 
 
 Julia M. Jenkins of New York, a lady who 
 knew him at Long Meadow, says February 17, 
 1853: "His total unlikeness in his personal ap- 
 
 165 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 pearance as well as character and habits to his 
 reputed brother, forbade at once, the supposition 
 of one and the same origin. While the latter 
 was truly an Indian, with long, black hair, his 
 complexion and every feature corresponding- with 
 his race, Eleazer had brown hair, hazel eyes, 
 light complexion and European features." "A 
 tinge of thoughtful sadness stole over him when 
 interrogated with regard to his early history. 
 He would say he could not remember much about 
 it, and it gave him pain apparently, that he could 
 not. The prevalent opinion in that vicinity was 
 that he was a French boy, taken from his family 
 at an early age." 
 
 "We are assured by one of our schoolmates, 
 who remembers their entrance into the village, in 
 their Indian costume, that a distinction was at 
 once perceived between Eleazer and John. John 
 was evidently of Indian blood. He showed no 
 fondness for study, always kept his bows and 
 arrows hid away, and on any excuse or occasion 
 would make use of them. Eleazer although en- 
 tirely illiterate when he came there, sooii became 
 fond of his books. John learned little or nothing, 
 and soon returned home. Eleazer made satis- 
 factory progress and remained. His aifable man- 
 ners were such as to excite unusual attention in a 
 quiet village, not much used to exagerations of 
 the graces of life, so that he was alwaj^s called a 
 plausible boy. He was thought by his school- 
 
 166 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 mates somewhat haughty, despised the Indian 
 g-ames of his supposed brother, and yet was led 
 by those who had learned his character without 
 much diflficulty. These peculiarities we have 
 spoken of quite independently of any presump- 
 tion that Mr. Williams was other than a son of 
 Thomas Williams. The only considerations of 
 importance which those who knew Mr. Williams 
 at West Hampton can contribute to the inquiry 
 respecting- his birth, is the fact that he showed 
 none of the traits of the Indian race, and al- 
 though spoken of as an Indian, was not really 
 regarded as of Indian blood." (Boston Daily 
 Advertiser, February 17, 1853). 
 
 Declaration of Urania Smith, Port Washington, 
 Ozaukee County. Wisconsin; 
 
 "I, Urania Smith, do hereby declare that my 
 maiden name was Urania Stebbings; that I was 
 born on March 22d, in the year 1786, in Long 
 Meadow, Massachusetts; that I was deprived of 
 my parents when young, and was brought up by 
 Ethan Ely, of Long Meadow, Massachusetts, who 
 was my uncle, and lived next door to Deacon 
 Nathaniel Ely. In the beginning of the year 
 1800, two boys were brought from Canada to 
 Long Meadow, to receive an education, and lived 
 with Nathaniel Ely, who had charge. They were 
 called Eleazer or Lazau Williams, and John Wil- 
 liams, and were represented as tlie descendants 
 of the Rev. John Williams, who was captured by 
 
 167 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the Indians in the year 1704, at Deerfield. They 
 were entirely unlike each other in complexion, 
 appearance, form and disposition; John having 
 the look of an Indian, and Eleazer thatof a Euro- 
 pean. I distinctly remember that when the said 
 Nathaniel Ely was remonstrated wnth for calling 
 Eleazer and John brothers, as there was no simi- 
 larity between them, he said there was something 
 about it which he would probably never reveal; 
 that Eleazer Williams was born for a great man, 
 and that he intended to give him an education to 
 prepare him for the station. Eleazer was very 
 rapid in his acquisitions of learning, and wrote 
 at an early period. Much notice was taken of 
 him by everybody, and Mr. Ely was fond of ex- 
 hibiting him to strangers." 
 
 "Sworn to and subscribed before me, October 
 8, 1853, at Port Washington, Lafayette Forsley, 
 J. P., Clerk Ozaukee District Court." 
 
 "He w^as a fine handsome boy, " says Mrs. Dick- 
 enson, "sprightly and fair in complexion, and my 
 father frequently told him that, he looked more 
 like a Frenchman than an Indian. The scars 
 were always upon his face, from the earliest 
 period of my recollection, and'one day, he came 
 in heated with exercise, and the perspiration 
 standing on his forehead; as he passed the mirror, 
 his eyes fell upon the scars and turned quickly 
 around and asked me if I had ever noticed them, 
 and if I had any idea where he "got them? I 
 
 168 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 replied, I suppose in childhood;" upon which he 
 added, there were painful thoug-hts connected 
 with them in his mind, which he could not dwell 
 upon. At this period of his life, thoug-h usually 
 happy, and frank in his disposition, he was, as the 
 whole famil}' remarked, frequently subject to fits 
 of musing- and abstraction, as if endeavoring to 
 remember something, and when questioned as to 
 the reason of it, he said, that there were painful 
 images before his mind of things in childhood, 
 which he could not get rid of nor exactly under- 
 stand. I saw an asserted brother of Mr. Williams, 
 who was sent to Long Meadows for education. 
 He was entirely unlike Mr. Williams in appear- 
 ance, being quite thin, dark, and like an Indian, 
 whereas Mr. Williams was always full and portly 
 in person. "Clarissa W. Dickenson." 
 
 "February 13th, 1853." 
 
 There is another important letter which I will 
 
 here introduce, and which will tell its own tale: 
 
 "46, Bank Street, New York, 
 
 Dear Sir: September 7, 1853. 
 
 "In reply to your inquiries respecting my 
 acquaintance with the Rev. Eleazar Williams in 
 early life, I beg to say that I was a schoolmate of 
 his at Long Meadow. I am a descendant of the re- 
 deemed captive, the Rev. John Williams, who was 
 my great-great-grandfather. According to the 
 best of my recollection, Eleazer was about six- 
 teen years of age, when he came to the care of 
 
 169 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Mr. Ely. There was no similarity whatever in 
 appearance between him and any of his family, 
 either his brother John, or his reputed father and 
 mother, who I saw on their visit to Long Meadow. 
 Thomas Williams I saw frequently. Eleazer was 
 a very studious boy — indeed, he seemed to do lit- 
 tle but study; and I can well remember his 
 remarkable proficiency in writing-, and that the 
 second winter after his coming- to Long- Meadow, 
 he would say to me, 'Come, Cousin Mary, and 
 hear my sermon,' when he would produce and 
 read some MS. on relig-ious subjects. There was 
 something so remarkable in his character, attain- 
 ments, and amiable and religious disposition, 
 that the highest attention was shown him by the 
 most distinguished persons, as he was not like 
 other children, and was always in the company of 
 gentlemen of literature and sobriety. 
 "Very truly yours, 
 
 Mary W. Jewett. 
 
 From Mrs. Temple, daughter of Nathaniel Ely: 
 
 "Dear Sir: 
 
 ''The efforts made by my dear departed father, 
 deacon Nathaniel, to educate and qualify you for 
 usefulness among your countrymen, as well as to 
 prepare you for glory, honor and immortality, 
 have given me so deep an interest in you, that I 
 should feel pleasure in complying with any rea- 
 sonable request of yours. I, therefore, state in 
 writing, as you desired, that there was an entire 
 
 170 
 
^^^' 
 
 Eleazer Williams, 1852 
 
 From a painting by Chevalier Fagnani a portrait painter in New York citj-, 
 painted about 1852 — (from lost Prince.) 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and striking dissimilarity between yourself and 
 your brother John, in the features of your face, 
 your general appearance and also in your predi- 
 lections and character. 
 
 "Your early and sincere friend, 
 
 Martha E. Temple. 
 "Rev. Eleazer Williams, 
 "January 24, 1851." 
 Among- the Indians and at Long Meadow he 
 was known as Lazare, often twisted by unfa- 
 miliar spelling of the French pronunciation into 
 Lazo, Lazar, Lazau, Lezau, Leazer. Mrs. Cather- 
 wood has doubled the "r" and some yank in 
 Long Meadow, imagined he was named Eleazer. 
 His mother calls him Lazare. Doubtless the true 
 name given him was Lazare, after the Saint La- 
 zare, which is an honorable name in France, be- 
 ing given to the Close St. Lazare in Paris; and 
 Lazare Carnot bore the name. It is frequently 
 met with in French and Italian history. It is de- 
 rived from Lazarus, and adopted by an order for 
 the assistance of lepers, introduced into France 
 by Louis VII., in the twelfth century; while the 
 name Eleazer is derived from the high priest, son 
 of Aaron, and neither are similar names or cor- 
 ruptions of each other. Mr. Draper is mistaken 
 in supposing his name Eleazer points to a Will- 
 iam's relationship. Lazare is frequently met 
 with as a name among the Oneida, in honor of 
 Rev. Williams. The accentis on the first syllable. 
 
 171 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 His close application to study impaired his 
 health, and he was given an opportunity to trav- 
 el. In 1805 he was taken to Boston by Deacon 
 Ely and later in the year to Canada. While in 
 Boston, Deacon Ely, who was a member of the Leg- 
 islature, boarded with an Irish Roman Catholic 
 gentleman, where he took Eleazer to board while 
 in Boston. Of this period Dr. Hanson relates an 
 occurrence as told him by Eleazer. "As Ely was 
 a great admirer of the music in the Roman 
 Church, they all went there. A few days after, 
 the Irishman introduced Williams to Chevreuse, 
 then only a priest, and rector of the church, as 
 an Indian youth, who was receiving an educa- 
 tion, mentioning his supposed descent from Will- 
 iams, the captive; whereupon Chevreuse inquired 
 whether there were many descendants of Europ- 
 ean captives still among the Indians, and children 
 of French Canadians adopted into Indian families. 
 He replied there were. Chevreuse then asked if 
 he had ever heard of a French boy, who had been 
 brought from France, having been adopted by 
 the Indians. The reply was ' 'no. " ' 'Now it was 
 curious," said Williams," that he was making 
 these inquiries of the very person of whom he 
 was in search." 
 
 The following year he went to study with Dr. 
 Welch of Mansfield, Connecticut, where many 
 descendants of Rev. John Williams resided. The 
 next May found him at study in Hartford where 
 
 172 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 he met President Dwig-ht of Yale college, who 
 records that he, "has a very good countenance, 
 pleasing manner, good understanding, with 
 scarcely a trace of Indian character." In No- 
 vember he visited Dartmouth college, and took 
 up his studies in the Academy connected with it, 
 where he sustained a reputation for scholarship 
 and Christian character. He remained here for 
 sometime which led Parkman to say, he was "ed- 
 ucated at Dartmouth. " Now at twenty-two, he 
 was said to appear to be about twenty, and "a 
 very pompous person, wore a tinsel badge or 
 star on his left breast and styled himself Count 
 de Lorraine,'' while he recorded of his fellow 
 students at Hanover: "The young genltemen ap- 
 pear to be scholars, but I perceive that there is 
 something wanting in them to make them com- 
 plete gentlemen. Modesty is the ornament of a 
 person". Why he claimed to be Count de Lor- 
 raine is not explained but I would suppose it had 
 reference to the Lorraine ancestry of Marie An- 
 toinette. He certainly had heard and seen many 
 things to arouse his curiosity and direct his mind 
 toward French history for an explanation of him- 
 self. He became a student of Rev. Enoch Hale at 
 West Hampton with whom he remained except at 
 intervals when traveling until August, 1812, when 
 the war with England commenced; but during 
 much of this time he traveled. One of his jour- 
 neys was at the request of the American board of 
 
 173 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Missions, to his old home atCaug-hnawaga to as- 
 certain the encouragement he might have to in- 
 troduce a protestant mission among those Mo- 
 hawks. It was during these years also that he 
 met Bishop Hobart of New York, who was at- 
 tracted by him and gave him much attention and 
 Eleaser was strongly urged to join the Episcopal 
 communion at this time. The Rev. Benjamin 
 Moore, D. D., Bishop of New York, and Rev. Dr. 
 Mountain of Montreal, were esjjeciall}^ urgent 
 that Eleazer should become a member of the Pro- 
 testant Episcopal church, promising flattering 
 things to complete his education and preparation 
 for missionary work. Eleazer's education had 
 been paid for by contribution from the Massa- 
 chusetts Missionary Society, Hampshire Mission- 
 ary Society and others, and the Massachusetts 
 Legislature had voted him three hundred and 
 fifty dollars as early as 1804. 
 
 At this time Deacon Ely was dead, and the 
 Congregational people who we suppose had been 
 supporting him during his study, were embar- 
 rased for funds to keep him. He went again to 
 Caughnawaga on a similar mission. He was met 
 this time by the Jesuits who proposed he should 
 accept authority from their bishop as a teacher 
 to the Indian tribes. The offer is said to have 
 been so attractive that he was actually commis- 
 sioned by the Jesuits as a teacher, and to have 
 received from them a church library with prayer 
 
 174 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 book and missal. That he had the books may be 
 true, but General Ellis must be in error as to his 
 entering the Catholic priesthood. 
 
 Some criticisms having been made, Mr. Storrs 
 replies to them in 1811: "I have heard it ob- 
 jected to Eleazer that he appeared fickle, but 
 who would rationally expect that an Indian 
 would at once become steady? I have heard it 
 said that he was assuming; this no one will think 
 strange who considers how much he has been 
 flattered and caressed by many of the first char- 
 acters in New England." 
 
 In March 1812, after having had no success as 
 a protestant missionary among the Caughnawaga 
 savages, he received a message from the Iroquois 
 chiefs, requesting his attendance at a Council, 
 they manifested their esteem by declaring him a 
 chief of that nation. About the same time that 
 the government sought his services in the war, 
 the St. Regis Indians requested his advice on 
 their course during the war. 
 
 Eleazer had now, after thirteen years of study, 
 so far perfected himself in the English language 
 as to begin the work of authorship, and in the 
 first month of 1813, when he was twenty-eight 
 years of age, had prepared and published at Bur- 
 lington, Vermont, "A tract on man's primitive 
 rectitude, his fall and his recovery through Jesus 
 Christ." 
 
 Over in New York at Plattsburg in the same 
 
 175 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 year, he published, "A spelling- book in the lan- 
 guage of the seven Iroquois nations." It is 
 proper to observe that for an Indian, the publi- 
 cation of two works after a recorded study of 
 thirteen years is quite unusual. 
 
 f|? 
 
 176 
 
XV. 
 
 SCOUTING BETWEEN THE LINES. 
 
 AT the request of the National g-overnment 
 and the Northern Indian department of 
 New York, he entered the service, in the 
 war with Eng-land, as a confidential agent or 
 scout. "Much will depend upon your zeal and 
 activity as an Indian chief in that section of the 
 Country, which is the principal theatre of the 
 war," wrote the secretary of war. Eleazer Will- 
 iams writes July 27, 1812: "I am sent for to pre- 
 vent the Indians from taking up the hatchet 
 against the Americans. I tremble! my situation 
 is very critical, indeed. I hope God will direct • 
 .me what to do." His long acquaintance with the 
 tribes on the Canada border made him useful es- 
 pecially as he could speak both languages. His 
 patrons in Massachusetts were disappointed 
 when they learned he had joined the army. He 
 was invited to join General Brown, under good 
 pay, to gather information through the border 
 Indians, for the American General. He did in 
 several instances render valuable assistance with 
 important information. He was also actively en- 
 gaged as a soldier in the ranks. "He received 
 the commendation of his officers for zeal, bravery 
 and fidelity." 
 
 Plattsburg is located on the north bank of 
 Saranac river in northern New York, at its en- 
 
 177 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 trance into Cumberland Bay on Lake Champlain. 
 In Aug-ust 1814, 5,000 men were withdrawn from 
 there, leaving General Macomb in command at 
 Plattsburg, with only 1,500, one of whom was 
 Eleazer Williams. The British in Canada being 
 strongly reinforced by veterans, who had served 
 under Wellington, advanced in September, under 
 Sir Georg-e Prevost at the head of 14,000 men. 
 On the sixth the enemy arrivedat Plattsburg. The 
 Americans crossed the river and during four days 
 withstood all attempts of the enem}'^ to force a 
 passage. On the 11th, after a naval battle of 
 two hours, the British fleet was silenced and 
 most of the vessels captured. The land battle 
 continued all day, but the loss of their fleet 
 caused the enemy to beat a hasty retreat, leav- 
 ing behind a large quantity of military stores, 
 and their sick and wounded. It was at this bat- 
 tle, upwards of five thousand British deserted. 
 Eleazer Williams was wounded in the left side by 
 a splinter. His father's nursing and Indian rem- 
 edies restored him to health and strength after 
 several weeks. A good many years af{er the 
 event, he was refused a pension for his wound, or 
 services, by Congress. In exhibiting this wound 
 to Dr. S. W. Williams in later years to obtain his 
 opinion for a pension, the doctor observed his 
 unexposed skin was more the color of an Indian 
 than a white man. About fifteen years after this 
 General Louis Cass then Governor of Michigan, 
 
 178 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 writing to Hon. John H. Eaton, then secretary of 
 war at Washing^ton, made this glowing' tribute to 
 Eleazer Williams, that in the event of a vacancy 
 in the Green Bay Indian Agency, "I beg leave to 
 recommend the Rev. Eleazer Williams as a proper 
 person to fill the vacancy. This gentleman is an 
 Episcopal clergyman of very respectable stand- 
 ing, and partly descended from the Iroquois In- 
 dians. He rendered essential services to the 
 United States during the late war, in which, he 
 was actively engaged and badly wounded, the 
 effects of which will probably continue during 
 life. I understand that he enjoyed the confidence 
 of our highest and most distinguished officers 
 and bravely led a heavy column at the battle of 
 Plattsburg. He is a gentleman of education and 
 talents, and from his position and associations 
 can render important services to the Government 
 and the Indians". 
 
 4* 
 
 179 
 
XVI. 
 
 THK ELOQUENT MISSIONARY TO THE ONEIDA. 
 
 THE war, which had swept across his own 
 home for two years, coming to a close, he 
 followed in the wake of peace and again 
 lived with his old Indian mother and father, at 
 their new home in St. Regis. He could not re- 
 main long here. In November he visited Oneida 
 Castle and some Indians he had previously met. 
 Believing these bands susceptible to Christian 
 teaching and civilization, he determined to go 
 among them. During the war he met Lieut. 
 Governor Zachariah Taylor at Albany, and his 
 rector Rev. Dr. Clowes, and the Rev. Butler of 
 Troy, both of whom interested him in the Epis- 
 copal church. At this place he renewed his ac- 
 quaintance with Bishop Hobart. Gen. Taylor 
 had recommended the Oneida Indians to ask 
 Eleazer Williams to go to them. He now ap- 
 proached Bishop Hobart on the subject. He 
 went to New York and was confirmed by Bishop 
 Hobart, May 21, 1815, at St. John's Episcopal 
 Church, and prepared "a book of prayer in Iro- 
 quois, which was published at Albany in 1816, and 
 was called to the Oneida as a religious teacher, 
 lay reader and catechist, March 23, 1816, taking 
 with him a letter from Bishop Hobart. Here he 
 remained for six years. His labors at Oneida 
 
 180 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Castle were very successful. This Indian town 
 was about twenty miles west of Utica, beautiful- 
 ly located. Eleazer Williams lived in the old 
 homestead of Skenandoah, the old head chief of 
 the Oneidas, who died on the 11th of the same 
 month, located at the famous old butternut orch- 
 ard. 
 
 He had very little furniture, but quite a li- 
 brary, some very rare, choice books; a good num- 
 ber in French, and a set of Catholic missal, one 
 volume fourteen inches wide and two feet high 
 and very heavy, printed in different colors, the 
 mass book complete in latin. He was very fond 
 of books, though General Albert G. Ellis who 
 appeared there as his companion in the fall of 
 1819, says that his reading was mostly confined 
 to narrative and history. 
 
 He was of jovial temper, enjoyed life, and a 
 good appetite. The book of prayer revised by 
 him was an improvement of Brants which had 
 been arranged twenty-five years before, and which 
 used twenty English letters in writing the Mo- 
 hawk, while Williams only used eleven letters — 
 a, e, h, i, k, n, o, r, s, t, w. This simplified the 
 orthography so much that an Indian child could 
 be taught to read in a few lessons. He had the 
 morning service printed, and introduced in his 
 church services; and no English congregation 
 ever responded in their prayers more fully than 
 did the Oneidas in theirs. By composing and 
 
 181 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 having published a small, ''spelling and rudi- 
 mental book,'" he greatly facilitated the teaching 
 of the young people to read Oneida or Mohawk. 
 It was the knowledge of the Mohawk language 
 and the captivating, forcible, elegant use he 
 made of it that gave him such hold on the Onei- 
 das and all Indians who heard him. There were 
 fifteen hundred Indians living in huts, wigwams 
 and otherwise about the town and country whose 
 recovery from their pagan ways he had set for 
 his task and few were better qualified. These 
 were the descendants of the same tribes who had 
 murdered missionaries and tortured the Jesuit fa- 
 ther Jogues, by pulling the nails from his fingers, 
 and holding his hand over a slow fire until it was 
 destroyed. Their warriors had swept the Eries 
 and Neuters entirely out of existence, and driv- 
 ing the tribes before them had conquered the 
 lands to the Mississippi river. The Jesuit 
 dreaded them as a scourge, and Parkman has 
 recorded that two hundred years of missionary 
 work had not raised up a priest among the Iro- 
 quois. When they rose against the Colonists 
 during the Revolution, the Oneida remained neu- 
 tral and thus they were saved from the ven- 
 geance that swept over their brother tribes, when 
 forty of their villages were put to the torch. 
 The Oneida was one of the powerful tribes of the 
 confederacy of the six nations of Mingoes, as 
 styled by the English or Iroquois of the French. 
 
 182 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Such were the descendants of untutored, war like 
 savag-es among- whose huts Eleazer "Williams ap- 
 peared. These famed missionaries Cecum and 
 Kirkland had been there before him. 
 
 "Mr. "Williams," says General Ellis, "in the 
 Mohawk, was a born Orator. Perfect master of 
 the lang-uag-e, he held his audience, whether in 
 these levees, or in the church, perfectly en- 
 chained. Till Williams came among- them, they 
 had heard the g-ospel only throug-h the clouded 
 vehicle of an interpreter and their missionary, 
 Jenkins, a man of low order of intellect, obscured 
 by bad habits, who presented only a dim view of 
 the great subjects, and g-ave but a faint picture 
 of the glorious gospel of good news to fallen 
 men. "Williams addressed them in the mother 
 tongue, and with enthusiasm. They were soon 
 captivated, and poor Jenkins only had empty 
 benches." 
 
 "Williams, besides being tolerably versed in 
 the Christian system and in theology, was thor- 
 ough master of the Indian language, his mother 
 tongue, besides being a natural orator and most 
 graceful and powerful speaker, the sine qua non 
 of persuasion and success with Indians." 
 
 "He found at Oneida a nominal christian party, 
 and the name only of a church under the patron- 
 age of the Presbyterians, with Mr. Jenkins as 
 missionary. Jenkins was weak, inefficient, 
 without influence; and his cure partook of the 
 
 183 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 like character; the numbers were small, and the 
 congregation on the decline. Williams saw at a 
 glance his vantage ground. He told the Onei- 
 das, it was a mistake in that order of Christians 
 to intrude themselves among Oneidas, and called 
 to their recollection the fact, that two venerable 
 missionaries of the London Missionary Society 
 of the Church of England had many years ago 
 planted the gospel among them." 
 
 "That old Dr. Barclay and Dr. Ogilvie of that 
 church, had been specially commissioned by the 
 Great Head of the church, to baptize the Onei- 
 das, and that he, Williams, had been sent by the 
 same divine authority to remind them of the 
 claims of that church, and to bring them back to 
 their allegiance. Instant success attended these 
 addresses. Many of the older Indians of both sexes 
 remembered Dr. Barclay and Dr. Ogilvie, and 
 confirmed the statements and claims of the young 
 Catechist; the whole Christian party very soon 
 forgot Jenkins, and hung on the teachings of 
 Williams." But his views went further; four- 
 fifths of the whole tribe were Pagans, and held 
 Christianity in utter abhorrence; and the conver- 
 sion of this part of the tribe now engaged his at- 
 tention. Assuming a tone of authority, and de- 
 manding of them to listen to a message to them 
 from the Great Spirit, he assembled them in the 
 open air, and challenged them either to obey or 
 refute the Gospel. In ten months the Pagan 
 
 184 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 party made a formal renunciation of paganism 
 and recognized Christianity as taught by the Pro- 
 testant Episcopal Church as the true faith, and 
 announced their determination, as a tribe, to re- 
 ceive it and encourage its promulgation among 
 the people. The following winter, the chief of 
 this party, taking Williams and their interpreter, 
 repaired to Albany, and their treated with the 
 Governor of the State for a cession of a part of 
 their reservation, for the express purpose of 
 building a Protestant Episcopal Church, and pro- 
 viding a small fund for the support of a minister. 
 The church was built that year; a neat edifice, 
 about thirty-six by fifty feet, with a small tower, 
 tastefully painted, and otherwise fitted up in an 
 appropriate manner for a place of worship. 
 "Williams entered it as minister, though not as 
 yet ordained; and the worthy Bishop was called 
 to consecreate it, and confirm about fifty com- 
 municants." 
 
 The eclat of this sudden success of the Gospel 
 at Oneida, under the efforts of Mr. Williams, 
 sped far and wide, and brought him suddenly in 
 great notice, and to a dizzy height. 
 
 It will be remembered that Eleazer Williams ap- 
 peared at Oneida on March 23, 1816, to take up 
 his work in this very unpromising field. In just 
 ten months in the winter of January 25, 1817, the 
 heathen and pagan tribes were converted, and 
 appeared before the Governor of New York, at 
 
 185 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Albany, and signed the renunciation of pag-an- 
 ism. their heathen beliefs and practices, "have 
 abandoned our idols and our sacrifices," "objura- 
 tion of paganism and its rites", signed by eleven 
 "chiefs and principal men of that part of the 
 Oneida nation of Indians," known as Pagan 
 Party; and they treated with him for the cession 
 of a portion of their lands for the building of a 
 church, and providing for a minister and his sup- 
 port. The church was built and Eleazer Williams 
 mounted the pulpit in his robes as minister, 
 though not yet ordained. The next year (Sep- 
 tember 3, 1818) Bishop Hobart made the journey 
 to Oneida Castle and confirmed a class, Ellis says 
 of fifty, Wight and Hanson say eighty-nine, and 
 Draper says five hundred. 
 
 The labor of the missionary is among the no- 
 blest callings of man, demanding self sacrifice 
 incalculable, and beyond the understanding of 
 any one outside the work itself. A volunteer 
 missionary is worthy of all praise. Many of them 
 labor among these heathen peojDle and no impres- 
 sion is made for generations. But here 'Eleazer 
 Williams accomplished among these Oneida 
 braves in one summer, the Christianization of a 
 whole tribe; and it was sincere, it was successful. 
 Those same savages are citizens and voters in 
 New York and Wisconsin today. All the world 
 has been dragged for some little item of abuse to 
 
 186 
 
Rev. Eleazer Williams, 1850 
 
 From a painting now in possession of George Williams in St. Louis, given to 
 
 him by his mother Mrs. John L. WilHams of Oshkosh — It was painted 
 
 in Boston for Amos Lawrence about 1830 and given to 
 
 John L. Williams about 1857. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 heap on Rev. Eleazer Williams, but this one act 
 of his, accomplished alone and unaided which 
 shall endure for ever to the benefit, even to the 
 last generation of those people, and the good of 
 humanity, is a monument worthy of the best of 
 men. 
 
 He made visits to the surrounding- tribes of the 
 Iroquois nation, and preached to them with great 
 power and persuasive eloquence, assisted by 
 Jasper Parish and Horatio Jones, they persuaded 
 the Senecas whose chief was Red Jacket to estab- 
 lish schools and other improvements among 
 them, a large majority of whom had hitherto re- 
 sisted any advance among them toward civiliza- 
 tion. Most of this great work had been accom- 
 plished within two years. 
 
 It was in the summer of 1818, while on a visit 
 to Montreal, that father Richards had told Rev. 
 Williams of a conversation with the Abbe de 
 Colonne at Three Rivers, intimating there was 
 mystery in his history, saying, "you are, I sus- 
 pect, of higher grade by blood, than the son of 
 an Iroquois Chief." On returning to Caughna- 
 waga, he found of the eleven children, whose 
 birth was recorded in the mission church register, 
 his was absent, which helped to raise in his mind, 
 serious doubts of his parentage. 
 
 While at Oneida Castle, Thomas Williams 
 twice came over the wooded hills and through 
 the valleys from St. Regis, to visit him. Gener- 
 
 187 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 al Ellis who saw the chief on these visits says 
 that many noticed their resemblance to each 
 other. Eleazer Williams must have been a living- 
 composit picture, as it is variously asserted that 
 he strongly resembled the Catholic Bourbons, 
 the puritan Williams, and the last of the Mo- 
 hawks. Rev. Williams had a wide reputation as 
 one versed in the story and history of the Indian 
 and frontier experience. But his information 
 was quite limited as he had not traveled far, 
 seen much or interviewed more than a few mem- 
 bers of a limited number of tribes. His mail was 
 loaded with inquiries on these subjects. Letters 
 came to him from New York, Boston, Hartford 
 and other places, asking- for information of mis- 
 sionary labors which he could answer; but those 
 were more difficult for him to answer to, which 
 made inquiry of the travels of La Salle, Henne- 
 pin, Marquette, early conflicts of the Indian with 
 New England and kindred topics. Rev. Samuel 
 Jarvis, D. D., Colonel Elihu Hoyt, Franklin B. 
 Hough, and Mrs. Lydia Huntly, Sigpurney, 
 sought his information of Indian tradition and 
 history. In trying to satisfy this demand for ab- 
 original information he gave them some stories 
 which might have taxed their credulity. He re- 
 peated a tradition of "the Bell of St. Regis'', 
 which Mrs. Sigourney wove into a beautiful poem 
 and Henry W. Longfellow found worthy of his 
 notice. The story as learned by Eleazer Will- 
 
 188 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 iams, and repeated to these inquiring' people, 
 was that at the burning' of Deerfield, the savages 
 tore the bell from the steeple of the little church 
 "where Rev. John Williams preached those devout 
 sermons. Carrying it away through the forests 
 and over the rivers, the clanging of the hammer 
 filled them with superstitious dread, and they 
 buried it beside a wild mountain stream from 
 whence years afterward they carried it in solemn 
 procession to St. Reg'is and mounted it into the 
 little steeple in their mission church where it still 
 rings the ang'elus. Some one more correct to his- 
 tory than charmed with romance has discovered 
 that the old church of Deerfield had no bell, but 
 we will ever be charmed by the sweet poem: 
 "Then down from the burning church they tore 
 
 The Bell of tuneful sound. 
 And on with their captive train they bore 
 That wonderful thing to their native shore, 
 
 The rude Canadian bound." 
 
 f|? 
 
 189 
 
XVII. 
 
 THE DREAM OF AN INDIAN EMPIRE IN THE FAR 
 WEST. 
 
 MANY generations agone the Apostle Eliot, 
 had preached to the savages in Massa- 
 chusetts and later Sampson Occom had 
 been raised up a minister from the native wig- 
 wam, to stir with his savage eloquence tempered 
 by Christianity into a song of peace, the longing 
 hearts of broken tribes who had gone out on 
 their last war party. The Pequot and warriors 
 of King Philip now lined up and received the 
 communion. The forest savage became a mis- 
 sion Indian and the remnants of those children of 
 the wilderness who had greeted our forefathers in 
 New England, gathered into a colony of brother- 
 ly love from which they took the name of Broth- 
 ers and their town Brothertown. Occom having 
 gone among the Oneida where he had great in- 
 fluence, long before Williams took up his work 
 there, had just before the Revolutionary T;var ob- 
 tained from his New York flock a deed of ten 
 miles square of their lands in the Mohawk valley 
 as a home for his Brothertown flock. Some of 
 whom removed there at once, but all of them 
 soon after the close of the war. Samuel Kirk- 
 land, laboring among the Oneida, joined with 
 Occom to establish a missionary school which 
 was the founding of Hamilton College. 
 
 190 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 The Muh he ka no ok or Husic Indians of Mass- 
 achusetts had been the constant friends of the 
 colonists and aided in the defense of the frontier 
 from attack by Canada. The first white man to 
 lay down in their wigwams and teach them a 
 higher life was the elder John Sargeant. He re- 
 moved them to Stockbridge where Jonathan 
 Edwards preached to them. Soon as the Revolu- 
 tion was at an end, these civilized tribes wishing 
 to go farther from civilization and whiskey, were 
 also invited by the Oneidas to occupy a portion 
 of their lands beside those given to the Brother- 
 towns, and thus it was that Oneidas, the Stock 
 bridges and Brothertowns were all located about 
 the forest clad hills skirting the beautiful valley 
 of the Mohawk river. 
 
 Emigration was in the air. White men were 
 moving westward. The Mohawk and Cayugus 
 tribes of the Iroquois who had remained loyal to 
 the King in the war had removed into hunting 
 grounds given them in Canada. The population 
 of whites constantly increased about the Indian 
 lands. The New^ England Indians were ready for 
 another migration. Some of the Munsees or 
 Delawares, had settled with the Miamis at White 
 River, in Indiana, and by July 3, 1809, extended 
 a formal invitation for the Stockbridge and 
 Brothertown Indians to join them. As early as 
 1808, Thomas Jefferson, President of the United 
 States had carefully guarded a grant to the 
 
 191 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Stockbridge tribe on White River. Henry Aupau- 
 mut their principal chief who had served in the 
 colonial army against Burg^oyne is named in the 
 instrument as "Captain." Captain Hendrick 
 Aupaumut was in the White River country from 
 1810 and later. While there he joined the na- 
 tional forces against Tecumseh and became an 
 officer in the war of 1812. Losing- his usefulness 
 because of drunkenness, he was succeeded as chief 
 in his tribe by his son Solomon Hendrick, who 
 was a powerful advocate for emig-ration. By 
 1817, two families had reached White River. The 
 emig-ration began next year led by Deacon John 
 Matoxen a Mohegan, educated by the Moravains 
 in Pennsylvania, of whom Rev. Calvin Colton 
 has said — "Than whom a man of more exalted 
 worth cannot be found upon earth, " They march 
 away over lands, after first organizing a church, 
 and resting on the Sabbath day, sang the songs 
 David Brainard had translated in Mohegan for 
 their fathers. Weary and footsore this pilgrim 
 band of psalm singing ex-savages arrived upon 
 the banks of the White River, to find that the 
 government had purchased their lands and they 
 had no home in all that broad unpeopled forest. 
 Back there on the banks of the Mohawk, Solo- 
 mon Hendrick, the young chief, "a man of more 
 than ordinary energy and talent among the In- 
 dians," says Albert G. Ellis, "regarding the lan- 
 guishing condition of his people as a reproach to 
 
 192 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the former name and g-lory of the old Mo ke kun 
 mucks, used all his eloquence to cause the young 
 men to rise and make an effort to recover their 
 name and character. That their condition was 
 due to their small space of ground, and being 
 surrounded and preyed upon by the whites, from 
 whose pernicious contact they w^ere losing their 
 physical energy by drunkenness. Their only 
 hope lay in moving westward, at such distance 
 from the whites as to escape the grog shop and 
 whiskey." Then resident missionary. Rev. John 
 Sargeant, the younger, seconded the views of the 
 eloquent young chief. Soon the whole tribe be- 
 come anthisastic for removal. The American 
 Board of Missions became interested and gave 
 their influence and aid, through whose inspiration 
 Rev. Dr. Jedediah Morse, the father of the in- 
 ventor of telegraphy, became deeply interested. 
 He counselled the Indians that some one should 
 go at once to the western tribes, to select the 
 proper place and obtain the cession of land. Dr. 
 Morse himself was selected. The War Depart- 
 ment was requested to favor with money and in- 
 fluence the scheme, and appointed Dr. Morse as 
 commissioner to make a general tour of the 
 northwestern tribes to form a better understand- 
 ing between them and the government. He was 
 during the summer of 1820 in the West, spending 
 three weeks at Green Bay, where he preached the 
 first protestant sermon in Wisconsin. On his re- 
 
 193 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 turn he advised the Indians to move to the Green 
 Bay region. "You will never again be disturbed. 
 The white man will never go there. He will nev- 
 er desire these lands. They are too far off." 
 
 During this time John C. Calhoun, the eloquent 
 statesman of South Carolina, was secretary of 
 war and favored the project of removing the New 
 York Indians to the Wisconsin region to form an 
 Indian Territory of the north to reduce the number 
 of possible free states. The state could not compel 
 removal, though public sentiment was favorable. 
 The Ogden Land Company owned the reversion- 
 ary right in the New York Indian lands and were 
 financially interested in their voluntary emigra- 
 tion. The Christian people desired their removal 
 from the influence of those who sold them whis- 
 key. Among the earliest advocates of westward 
 emigration was Eleazer Williams, who had just 
 made his famed conquest of heathendom in the 
 wilderness settlement of the Oneida. Some have 
 supposed he originated this splendid means of 
 preserving this race of red men. He gave it all 
 the favor his eloquence and energy could com- 
 mand. "Whether Mr. Williams borrowed the 
 idea from Dr. Morse", says Mr. Ellis, "the Mo 
 he kun nucks or the Ogden Land Company or 
 whether it was as he stoutly maintained, original 
 in his own mind, certain it is, that some time in 
 1818, he began to broach cautiously among his In- 
 dian people a proposition of removing all the In- 
 
 194 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 dians of that State, as well as many of those of 
 Canada, and the Senecas at Sandusky, to the 
 neighborhood of Green Bay, and there unite them 
 in one grand confederacy of cantons, but all un- 
 der one federal head; the government to be a 
 mixture civil, military and ecclesiastic, the lat- 
 ter to be pre-eminent. Grand imposing and fas- 
 cinating in the extreme were the plans and de- 
 signs of the new government, which he conceived 
 and embodied, to lay before the Indian Chiefs. 
 With some of the younger men, the thing took 
 deeply; but with the other and more sober minded 
 chiefs, it had no charm, and his late popularity so 
 high, now descended more quickly than it had 
 risen. Seeming to withdraw his proposition, he 
 however adroitly plied his ingenuity with the 
 younger men of note and talent in the tribe, and 
 very soon succeeded in drawing into his plans 
 some four or five of the young hereditary chiefs. 
 Having secured this point among the Oneidas, he 
 visited the other tribes of the Six Nations, and 
 by holding out dazzling promises of future glory 
 and aggrandizement, he enticed a few young men 
 of each tribe to enter into his scheme. He next 
 addressed the War Department, in imitation of 
 the Stockbridge soliciting its countenance and 
 assistance to enable a delegation of twenty from 
 the several tribes of the Six Nations to visit the 
 western tribes for the purpose of obtaining a 
 cession of the country for a new home. The re- 
 
 195 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 sponse of the department was favorable, having- 
 doubtless been influenced by other parties mov- 
 ing- for the same objects. 
 
 "Thus, it is to be observed, that whether singu- 
 lar or not, there was a combination of influences, 
 dissimilar in motive but perfectly consonant in 
 purpose, all operating- at the same moment in 
 urging a removal of the New York Indians to 
 Green Bay. Each one of the parties claimed 
 the eclat of originating the scheme; we incline to 
 the belief, however, that they all, the Land Com- 
 pany, the Mo-he-kun-nucks and Mr. Williams, 
 might, and probably did conceive at pretty near 
 the same period of time, the idea of a new home 
 for these Indians in the west," says Mr. Ellis. 
 In the winter of 1819 and '20 the application of 
 the Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Senecas, Onondagas, 
 St. Regis and Stockbridge delegates (the latter 
 acting independent and separate) was made to 
 the War Department, for permission to visit the 
 Indians in the neighborhood of Green Bay. The 
 response of the Department was made by grant- 
 ing them a copy of an order to the several Super- 
 intendents of Indian affairs, and Commandants 
 of military posts, to issue to the delegates, not 
 exceeding twelve certain amounts of rations, 
 blankets, powder, lead, &c., and to facilitate 
 their movements on their journey. The Superin- 
 tendent of Indian affairs at Detroit was moreover 
 ordered to make a requisition, on the naval officer 
 
 196 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 stationed at that place for a Q. S. vessel, should 
 one be at that post fit for service to be put at the 
 disposal of the delegates to take them across 
 Lake Huron and Michig-an to Green Bay. Thus 
 equipped, in July 1820, the delegation repaired 
 to Detroit, and paid their respects to Gen. Cass. 
 As Superintendent of Indian Affairs, Gov. Cass 
 received the party courteously; but it was soon 
 apparent that as Governor of Michigan, the pro- 
 ject of New York's quartering her Indian tribes 
 on his territory, would receive no special en- 
 couragements, beyond the line of his duty, in 
 obedience to the orders of his superiors. By him 
 the delegates were furnished with blankets, 
 powder, lead, rations, etc., but were informed 
 that no government vessels were fit for the ser- 
 vice. They were further informed, (and the news 
 was astounding enough), that their proposed 
 journey to Green Bay, if for the purpose of treating 
 with the Menomonees, would be quite unneces- 
 sary, as that tribe had a few days before ceded 
 to the United States, Col. John Bowyer, Indian 
 Agent at Green Bay, acting as commissioner, 
 forty miles square of their land in the immediate 
 vicinity of Fort Howard, the eye of their intended 
 purchase, the key to the country they sought — 
 this purchase by the United States frustrated all 
 their plans, defeated their dearest hoyies. Cha- 
 grined, but not discouraged, the delegates re 
 traced their steps to New York." Dr. Morse was 
 
 197 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 provoked on learning- of the treaty, saying- it was, 
 "an attempt of wicked speculators to defraud 
 them of valuable lands." He explained the situ- 
 ation to President Monroe, who rejected the 
 treaty, without even submitting- it to the senate. 
 
 The following- spring-, a new order was issued 
 by the War Department to Indian agents and 
 commandants of Military forts in favor of the 
 deleg-ates. There were fourteen deleg-ates, three 
 from the Stockbridg-es, one of whom was the 
 eloquent Solomon Hendrick, four from the Oneida, 
 one Onandag-o, two from the Tuscaroras, the emi- 
 grant tribe who had joined the Iroquois from 
 South Carolina, the descendants of those who 
 had tomahawked John Lawson, three from the 
 bold Senecas who admitted Red Jacket their 
 chief, and the eloquent missionary Eleazer Wil- 
 liams, who represented the St. Reg-is branch of 
 the Mohawks. The Munsees had one deleg-ate. 
 In the party was a youngs Oneida chief, "a man of 
 the best morals, and unshaken fidelity as well as 
 of hig-h standing- in the tribe, Cornelius Bear, who 
 had made up his mind to look with marked favor 
 on the project of emig-ration," says Mr. Ellis. It 
 was Bear who induced Mr. Ellis to become a 
 member of the party and thereby lead by an 
 Oneida Indian he came to honor Wisconsin by a 
 residence of over fifty years. 
 
 Rev. Eleazer Williams, who led the party, car- 
 ried a long letter from Bishop John Hobart, of 
 
 198 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 New York, written to prepare the Oneida for 
 removal, and urging- them: "My children, let 
 Mr. Williams go and aid him all you can in the 
 objects of the journey." Also a letter from Gov- 
 ernor De Witt Clinton of New York State: "Mr. 
 Eleazer Williams, etc., being on an exploring 
 tour to the west, on business of importance, I do 
 hereby recommend them to the protection, etc., 
 of all persons." (May 17, 1821). The removal 
 was also favored by Mr. Monroe, President of 
 the United States, John C. Calhoun, Secretary of 
 War, Rev. Dr. Morse and many other eminent 
 divines and statesmen. 
 
 In the bright month of June the mission party 
 crowded the stage coach, which wound over the 
 hills and through the flower swept valleys of 
 picturesque New York, fanned by breezes from 
 Ontario and hearing for the first time the roar of 
 Niagara, the delegates landed in the straggling 
 frontier village of Buffalo, then containing a 
 hundred wooden homes and no harbor. The new 
 steamboat, "Walk in the Water," lay at Black 
 Rock, two miles up the Niagara river, where 
 these travelers took passage, to be propelled by 
 her "powerful low pressure engines" to Detroit. 
 But she could not stem the rapids to the lake and 
 was towed out by nine yoke of oxen going along 
 the beach at the end of six hundred feet of rope. 
 This wonderful steamer was very long and slen- 
 der, and the next fall proved unseaworthy by 
 
 199 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 breaking into pieces in a storm on Lake Erie. 
 We wonder how much the world would have lost 
 in little Kings, if the last of the Bourbons or 
 Mohawks had found an early grave in the bottom 
 of the lake. 
 
 In three days they arrived at Detroit, "built 
 on a single street," a mile long, and Governor 
 Cass dwelling in a log house a mile out of towm. 
 He received the Williams delegates courteously, 
 but informed them the French inhabitants of 
 Green Bay were hostile to their intentions. Gov- 
 ernor Cass added Hon. C. C. Trowbridge to the 
 party as special agent for the government and 
 very soon speeded them on their way by a pas- 
 sage on the "Walk in the Water," which carried 
 five companies of troops to the up country posts. 
 In a few days they steamed into the far off white 
 washed French hamlet of Green Bay, on the first 
 steam boat to ride upon the charming Fox river. 
 
 Eleazer Williams discovered that Mr. Bowyer 
 the Indian agent was dead and the Menomonee 
 and Winnebago savages not having been apprised 
 of their coming must be hunted up and Brought 
 into council. By August 18, 1821 the date of the 
 treaty, they had a grant for the New York In- 
 dians «^f a strip of land four miles wide, crossing 
 the Fox river at Little Chute, running each way 
 across Wisconsin. But on the return of the dele- 
 gation in the fall the tribes expressed opposition 
 to emigration and consequently those who op- 
 
 200 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 posed it became bitter ag-ainst Eleazer Williams, 
 who however, believing he was doing them a 
 great good by seeking a home removed from the 
 vices that surrounded them persisted in his en- 
 deavors to obtain their consent to removal. 
 
 The following year he led a larger delegation to 
 Green Bay under the inspiration of the War De- 
 partment, to which Governor Cass added the 
 Rev. John Sargeant, the famous Congregational 
 missionary of the Stockbridges. Having paid 
 five hundred dollars the year before on the four 
 mile strip they carried with them fifteen hundred 
 dollars worth of goods to complete the purchase. 
 The delegation arrived in the cool of September 
 and took possession of the empty house formerly 
 occupied by Agent Colonel Bowyer, near the 
 fort. The native tribes were assembled, who 
 came and camped on the surrounding plain along 
 the river bank to the number of four thousand, 
 an imposing spectacle, a wild jabbering throng of 
 Wisconsin savages, of the Menomonee and Winne- 
 bago natives. Solomon Hendrick made the open- 
 ing talk. The goods in complete payment for the 
 former session were sorted out and heaped into 
 two equal piles, consisting of blankets, calicos, 
 blue cloth, guns, powder, lead, shot, barrels of 
 pork and flour, and a quantity of tobacco. "Not 
 a drop of liquor was seen." The next day the 
 Williams party sought an increase of the grant of 
 land, but were refused. "The Winnebagoes were 
 
 201 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 preparing- to leave," says Mr. Ellis, "for their 
 fall bunt; but before starting they would treat 
 their grandfathers to a dance. The whole tribe 
 assembled in front of the house in a large circle, 
 the dancers, and drummer, the master of cere- 
 monies, in the center; first they gave the pipe 
 dance, an amusing affair, a single one dancing at 
 a time, the trick of which seemed to be to keep 
 time with the drum, and especially to suspend 
 action instantaneously with the cessation of the 
 instrument, the dancer to remain in the exact atti- 
 tude in which the cessation of the drum caught 
 him; frequently the attitude was ridiculous in the 
 extreme; and the maintaining it for a moment, 
 till the drum commenced again, formed an excit- 
 ing tableau. Next followed the begging dance, 
 preceded by a speech of the .drummer, setting 
 forth the extreme want of some of their very old, 
 poor people, and asking charity in their behalf. 
 The whole concluded with the war dance, a sight 
 to test the nerves of the stoutest heart. The 
 Winnebagoes at that time, fifty-four years ago, 
 were in all their perfectfon of savage wildness; 
 two thousand of them, men and women, 3^oung 
 and old, were massed in a circle, standing fifty 
 deep; the whites, army officers, in the inner ring, 
 and the warrior dancers, drummer, and singers 
 in the center. Twenty of their most stalwart 
 young warriors took their places with not a thread 
 of clothing save the breech cloth; but all painted 
 
 202 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 in most gorgeous colors, and especially the faces 
 with circles of black, white, red, green and blue 
 around the eyes, giving the countenances expres- 
 sions indescribably fierce and hideous, all armed 
 with tomahawks, knives and spears. At first the 
 dance was slow, to measured time of the drum 
 and song; for there were a hundred singers, with 
 the voice of the drummer, both male and female, 
 the latter prevailing above the former. Soon 
 they began to wax warm, the countenances as- 
 sumed unearthly expressions of fierceness; their 
 tread shook the solid earth, and their yells at the 
 end of each cadence, rent the very heavens. None 
 could endure the scene unmoved — unappalled. 
 This tribe at that period, with their stalwart men, 
 Amazonian women, and independent mein, ath- 
 letic figures, and defiant bearing, can hardly be 
 recognized as the same race, in the degraded 
 Oneidas, who are now seen in our streets, whose 
 abject mien, attenuated, shrunken forms, half 
 starved, naked, destitute, miserable mendicants, 
 half civilized though they be, furnish a painful 
 commentary on our Indian civilization." 
 
 "When the dances were concluded, a shaking of 
 hands, with a grand "bosho," all round, the Win- 
 nebagoes prepared to leave the ground; and in an 
 hour, there was not a sign of one to be seen. The 
 Menomonees lingered; they felt more kindly dis- 
 posed towards the two grand-fathers; negotia- 
 tions were soon renewed, resulting finally in a 
 
 203 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 further treaty, granting the New York Indians a 
 right in common with them, to all their country 
 without reserve; the which treaty though no 
 doubt made in good faith, became subsequently 
 the source of almost endless trouble, terminating 
 at last in confining the New York Indians to two 
 small reserves; one for the Stockbridges, Munsees 
 and Brothertowns, on the east shore of Lake 
 Winnebago, of some eight by twelve miles; and 
 the other twelve miles square on Duck Creek, for 
 the Oneidas; and from this last, the whites are 
 just now moving heaven and earth to dislodge the 
 Indians.'" Most of the Stockbridge, Brother- 
 towns, Munsees and several hundred Oneidas set- 
 tled on these lands, but the majority of the Onei- 
 das and most of the other Iroquois tribes never 
 favored the movement. Dr. Morse expected to 
 locate a school, by funds held in trust by Harvard 
 and by Dartmouth, but did not succeed. "To the 
 people who followed Eleazer Williams to what is 
 now Wisconsin, belong the credit of building the 
 first Protestant church in all this region,'' proba- 
 bly at Little Kakalin, where Eleazer Vvilliams 
 built himself a log cabin home in the forest on 
 the high red banks of the Fox river, upon a tract 
 of five thousand acres of rich land. In the one 
 great hope of those who favored the isolation of 
 the Indian for his own good were g-reatly disap- 
 pointed in the moral results, for Deacon John 
 Metoxen in a speech before the council in 1830 
 
 204 
 
^ 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 remarked: "You see brothers the white man is 
 here, he has brought the strong water to sell to 
 our people." The hopes of the good John Sar- 
 geant had not been realized, who had written 
 when the people were moving: "Means will now 
 be used to exclude spirituous liquor and white 
 heathen from Green Bay." 
 
 Eleazer Williams should have full measure of 
 praise in his laudable endeavor to better the con- 
 dition of the Oneida, and that it was not wholly 
 successful, was no fault of his. "Surely the his- 
 torian, the patriot, and the philanthropist may 
 well rejoice over the coming to Wisconsin of the 
 New York Indians. Sometime, it may be, the 
 story will be told in romance or in song," says 
 Rev. John Nelson Davidson, A. M. 
 
 There was a contest for years over the rights 
 in this grant, and at the treaty of Little Butte des 
 Morts Lake, held at the foot of the great prehis- 
 toric mound, named "Hill of the Dead" on the 
 western bank of the charming little lake in Pox 
 river and opposite the present city of Menasha, 
 during the Winnebago trouble in 1827, where over 
 5,000 Indians held a council with Governor Lewis 
 Cass, the Menomonee ceded to the Government 
 all these lands. But the contest for the rights of 
 the New York Indians continued until some years 
 later. The unpopularity of the emigration among 
 the Indians in New York and the open objection 
 to it in Wisconsin, reflected on Rev. Eleazer Wil- 
 
 205 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 liams, and made him unpopular, though he had a 
 host of stronj^-, influential friends. In all about 
 eleven hundred Oneidas, and four hundred Stock- 
 bridges and Brothertowns came to Wisconsin, a 
 very large number considering the strong party 
 opposing. 
 
 The Oneida were finally located on a tract of 
 forest land lying about five miles west of Depere 
 and ten miles south-west of Green Bay, of 65,400 
 acres in extent, watered by Duck Creek and its 
 tributaries. Of this seven thousand acres have 
 been cleared and brought under cultivation. 
 Their station on the railway is Oneida, where is 
 located the mission buildings, hospital and li- 
 brary, and the government buildings and schools. 
 The Oneida have their own native trained nurses 
 and doctor and Deacon; also saw mill, black- 
 smith shop and creamery. 
 
 They have long since abandoned blankets and 
 feathers and the tepee; live in log houses, and 
 many of them in modern frame or brick homes, 
 adorned with pictures, and they have books; 
 while well kept lawns, gardens and shade trees 
 are seen about their homes. They are self sup- 
 porting, subsist by labor of their own hands, and 
 the males have recently been granted the right 
 of ballot in Wisconsin. During the civil war 
 they sent 135 Union volunteer soldiers to the 
 fronts The population now numbers 2,000 souls, 
 while often 1,000 of these are in the grand old 
 
 206 
 

PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Hobart stone church at once. The picture shown 
 is representative as it was taken with a camera 
 with a large number of others at the annual 
 Oneida fair and the people did not pose or dress 
 for the purpose. 
 
 After Rev. Williams resigned as their Mission- 
 ary in 1830, the Rev. Richard F. Cadle served 
 them until 1836, when he was succeeded by the 
 good Rev. Solomon Davis who labored among 
 them for eleven years. Rev. P. R. Haff, his 
 successor came in 1847 and remained until 1852. 
 He is still a revered and beloved working rector 
 in the Episcopal church, now located at Oshkosh. 
 Then came Rev. Edward A. Goodnough whose 
 splendid work of thirty-six years as their preacher 
 and good angel only ended with his death. It 
 was during this period that the change was made 
 of reading the church service from the Mohawk 
 Prayer Book to the English Prayer Book in the 
 year 1870, about a half century after Rev. Wil- 
 liams by his eloquence had persuaded them from 
 their pagan rites. It was during this mission also 
 that the great grand stone Hobart church was 
 erected in 1886, from which Rev. Goodnough was 
 buried. The Rev. Solomon S. Burleson then took 
 up the work and remained to die in his labors and 
 was buried on the Reservation. Then came Rev. 
 F. W. Merrill the present missionary who is car- 
 rying on the splendid work the great Protestant 
 Episcopal Church has pursued so many years, 
 
 207 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 begun by the noble missionary Rev. Eleazer Wil- 
 liams under the inspiration and patronage of the 
 Rt. Rev. Bishop John Henry Hobart of New York. 
 The Rev. Cornelius Hill a former chief was the 
 first Oneida Indian elevated to be Deacon and 
 Interpreter. 
 
 f|? 
 
 208 
 
XVIII. 
 
 MARRIED TO "THE BELLE OF THE FOX RIVER 
 VALLEY. ' ' 
 
 WHILE living- in New England Mr. Williams 
 had been disappointed in his courtship 
 with some white maiden of an austere 
 puritan home. 
 
 When he came to Green Bay, he sought in mar- 
 riage one of the beautiful daughters of the Grig- 
 non family, which would have united the fugitive 
 from the Temple to the descendants of Charles 
 de Langlade, who had no peer in his defense of 
 France in Canada. Over a century ago there 
 came to Green Bay, almost the first smith, then a 
 young man, Joseph Jourdian, a French Canadian. 
 He was an expert at the forge, an artist over 
 the anvil; could fashion a razor or a sword. 
 Life would have been hardly worth the effort 
 on the distant frontier without the smithy, for 
 there were no made up nails, farm utensils or 
 other necessaries. The pipe tomahawks which 
 he forged out of the tip of a gun barrel are cele- 
 brated and bring fancy prices. The handsome 
 smith married Margaret, the Creole daughter of 
 Micheal Gravel, whose wife was a Menomonee 
 princess. One son of Joseph Jourdain was well 
 known to the writer. He was tall, large, hand- 
 some and well liked by all who knew him. Joseph 
 
 209 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Jourdain moved to Menasha in 1835, where he 
 lived until his death in 1866, and was buried in 
 Allouez cemetery, Green Bay. He was beloved 
 by all his neighbors, as a kind-hearted, generous 
 man. ("Such was the parentage of beautiful Mary 
 Magdalene Jourdain, who at fourteen years of 
 age, and a school girl, was informed one morning, 
 March 3, 1823, by her sister; "that she need not 
 go to school that day, as she was to be married 
 to Priest Williams in the evening. "\ There is a 
 tradition that the handsome creole, said by Mr. 
 Draper to have been the "belle of the Fox River 
 valley," was then betrothed to another, whom 
 some have said was a military gentleman. Of 
 the courtship we are not informed; but all ac- 
 counts agree that as arranged by Mr. Williams, 
 with the mother of Matilda, it was, "a marriage 
 without courtship. " In the evening Mr. Albert 
 G. Ellis drove Mr. Williams to the Jourdain resi- 
 dence, located near the site of the upper bridge 
 on the east side of the river, where he found Mr. 
 Ebenezer Childs, the wag of the settlement, 
 neither of whom knew what was to happen. 
 Judge James Porlier, the cultured gentleman 
 trader and Probate Judge, was sent for over the 
 river where he resided in the home later called 
 the Tank House. He drew up the contract in the 
 French language, and performed the marriage 
 service, as there was no minister in the settle- 
 ment. 
 
 210 
 
•t '^ 
 
 Mrs. Mary Hobart Williams 
 
 From an old print in possession ot Josephine Phillips on the homestead. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Mr. Williams commissioned Mr. Ellis to repair 
 to New York to solicit funds to establish a mis- 
 sion school for the Indians, but he did not meet 
 with success. Nor would the school have met 
 with favor among the Oneidas, thej^ were not 
 quite up to that. The school afterward estab- 
 lished by that good man, Rev. Cadle was run for 
 a year with only one scholar. 
 
 The immense tract of 4,800 acres held by Mr. 
 Williams was laid out by Mr. Ellis in 1826. It 
 was at Little Kaukalin, now known as Little 
 Rapids, six miles above De Pere, and about four- 
 teen miles by river above Green Bay. He resided 
 in the log cabin on this place as long as he re- 
 mained in the west, and his wife resided there 
 until her death, and died there. The extent of 
 the tract was much reduced, but the homestead is 
 still occupied by the descendant of "Nan" who 
 lived with the family many years. 
 
 The most prominent man in Green Bay when 
 Rev. Eleazer Williams went there, was Pierre A. 
 Grignon, a grandson of Captain Charles de Lang- 
 lade, the famous frontier scout, ranger and leader 
 of the western savages in some of the most cele- 
 brated battles in colonial history. Pierre was 
 head of the family, the eldest of five brothers, 
 one of whom was Augustin. The family owned 
 nearly all the land about the village. Rev. 
 Eleazer Williams soon made the acquaintance of 
 Pierre, was well received by him, and invited to 
 
 211 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 - ^ 
 
 the abundant hospitalities of his home. He had 
 the manners of a courtier, was intelligent, liberal 
 and generous, of a tall commanding' figure, and 
 open countenance, which obtained the respect 
 and good will of strangers. He became attached 
 to Rev. Williams, and through his Indian hunters, 
 kept his table well supplied with game, venison, 
 fish and fowl. In the winter of 1823, he was very- 
 ill and sent for Rev. Williams, who on arrival at 
 his home found him prostrated with lung fever, 
 and a bad cough. The surgeon of the garrison 
 had prescribed for him without relief. Rev. Will- 
 iams read prayers, and offered the comforts of 
 religion, which he repeated for several days, 
 w^hen Mr. Grignon was found to be very weak and 
 failing rapidly, then he offered the consolation of 
 the Catholic church for the dying, reading in 
 French and Latin from the Roman missal. Mr. 
 Grignon sensible of the kindness of Rev. Williams 
 and wishing to do something for him, requested 
 Rev. Williams to express a wish, when he re- 
 minded him of his old saw mill, and requested to 
 use it to make the lumber for his house. This 
 was readily agreed to, and the use of the mill 
 given him for one or two years. He died March 
 3, 1823, and Rev. Eleazer Williams officiated at 
 the funeral. 
 
 Eleazer took his wife to New York in 1825, 
 where her confirmation by Bishop Hobart in Trin- 
 ity Church excited much interest, at the same 
 
 212 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 time she was given the name Mary Hobart. The 
 following year Eleazer Williams was ordained as 
 deacon by Bishop Hobart at Oneida in New York 
 State. On this occasion there was present a 
 great many clergymen, among whom were Rev. 
 Dr. Anthon of St. Marks, and Rev. Treadway of 
 Malone. The performance of the marriage cere- 
 mony being a civil service at that time in Michi- 
 gan territory, the civil division wherein was lo- 
 cated Green Bay, Rev. Eleazer Williams was au- 
 thorized to perform the service. He officiated as 
 clergyman at the Bay, at different times for many 
 years, though not at any stated and regular dates. 
 One day there landed at the sleepy post one 
 Colonel John McNeil, who woke up the whole 
 garrison, and had them painting and brushing 
 and polishing up the old barracks. After estab- 
 lishing a school, he erected a building styled the 
 assembly room for all manner of social gather- 
 ings; "a place to make people happy," he said. 
 Finding the Rev. Eleazer Williams without a 
 place for meetings, he was invited to occupy 
 these rooms for religious services. Seats were 
 provided, notices given, "and the hall filled to 
 its capacity" by the soldiers and officers in uni- 
 form, and citizens. "Thus a full congregation 
 heard the word of truth from the missionary, and 
 in this way the gospel was proclaimed on Colonel 
 McNeil's invitation, at his Assembly room for the 
 winter,*' says Mr. Ellis. 
 
 213 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Rev. Williams had an annual salary for a num- 
 ber of years of two hundred and fifty dollars 
 and some years of one hundred and fifty dollars; 
 whether it was paid or not, we do not know; but 
 he was most of his life harassed by poverty, both 
 at Oneida, Green Bay and St. Reg^is. At one 
 time Mr. Whitne}-, the rich merchant at Green 
 Bay had sold some of Rev. William's cattle for 
 debt; though he gave him a good character to 
 Bishop Kemper in 1834, who said in his diary, 
 Whitney "has at least kind feelings, toward Wil- 
 liams." The missionary" seldom lives in affluence. 
 
 Rev. Will iams often traveled to Washington and 
 New York state, to obtain from the Government 
 the money justl}^ due himself and his reputed 
 father for his losses in the war. He also visited 
 in Buffalo. Being in the east at Oneida in 1831, 
 without funds or support, or money with which 
 to travel home, he was given this letter by Bishop 
 Onderdonk: 
 
 Hudson, June 13, 1831. 
 
 "The bearer, the Rev. Eleazer Williams, hav- 
 ing by various expenditures, while in th^ spirit- 
 ual service of his brethen, the aborigines of our 
 country, and in consequence of a long and severe 
 indisposition, became seriously embarrassed in 
 his circumstances, is hereby respectfully and 
 affectionately commended to the Christian bene- 
 ficence of the members of our communion. I also 
 introduce him to my clerical brethren generally, 
 
 214 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 as a clerg-3"man of respectable standing- and at- 
 tainments, and good, moral and religious charac- 
 ter. "" "Benj. T. Onderdonk, 
 
 ••Bishop of the diocese of New York." 
 
 Returning to St. Regis in 1835, he established 
 a school and was appointed schoolmaster by 
 Lord Aylraer, Governor General of Canada; but 
 on being informed by Mr. James Hughes the In- 
 dian agent, that he must instruct the Indian chil- 
 dren, to listen to the Catholic priest in matters 
 of religion, he resigned rather than infringe on 
 "The liberty of conscience." 
 
 By uncertain assistance he was enabled to con- 
 tinue the school until the following summer. He 
 then returned to his home in Wisconsin. 
 
 With his son John Lawe Williams, a young man 
 of sixteen, on June 22, 1841, he set out for New 
 York state. June 29th they were at Oneida; from 
 whence they journej-ed to Hogansburg, and on 
 the way to New York Cit}-, Rev. Williams was 
 taken sick at Cohoes. They attended the cele- 
 bration in August 1841, of the quarter centur}' of 
 the conversion of six hundred pagan Oneida In- 
 dians to the Christian faith. This wonderful 
 event had been celebrated with great pomp and 
 ceremony every three 3'ears. As his eloquence 
 and persuasive power had drawn them from their 
 pagan ways, he was one of the chief men at these 
 triennial gatherings. On this occasion, before the 
 vast concourse of Indians and whites, he delivered 
 
 215 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 two sermons on — "The salvation of sinners," 
 which have been published. 
 
 October 1st, he was at Hogansburg", a small 
 village three miles from St. Regis, where he was 
 waiting the meeting of Commissioners to hear 
 the evidence and pass upon some claim to rights 
 of the St. Regis Indians to certain government 
 funds. He was in correspondence with Hon. 
 "William B. Ogden of New York, about some mat- 
 ters of importance to himself, when in his reply, 
 Mr. Ogden had informed Williams of the intended 
 journe}^ of the Prince de Joinville to Green Bay. 
 Rev. Williams wishing to see the Prince, cut 
 short his stay at Hogansburg, and with his son, 
 began his immediate return home. We are in- 
 formed of this by his own letter sent back to the 
 inn keeper soon after, in which he said — "It was 
 my intention to remain in Hogansburg, till after 
 the meeting of the commissioners, but I was hind- 
 ered in consequence of the intimation of the 
 Prince de Joinville of visiting Green Bay, and I 
 was just in time to meet him on the route." 
 
 ^(? 
 
 216 
 
XIX 
 
 ALL THROUGH THE YEARS WHEREVER HE WENT THE 
 GHOST OF THE LOST KING HOVERED ABOUT HIM, 
 
 WHEN the first idea of his identity with 
 King- Louis XVII of France, came to 
 Eleazer Williams is lost in obscurity. He 
 did not know himself, as he has placed it at dif- 
 ferent periods. Way back in those early days of 
 his triumph over the heathen customs of the 
 Oneida, about a year after Mr. Albert G. Ellis 
 arrived to be his companion, in 1820, "he dropped 
 a few remarks," says Ellis, "that but for his 
 Dauphin claim, thirty years after, I should have 
 forgotten. He was vain of his personal appear- 
 ance. One day after shaving- and making his 
 toilet, he was admiring himself before the glass, 
 when he challenged me to admire his fine looks, 
 especially his keen eye, rosy cheeks and bright 
 countenance; and truth to say, he was not bad 
 looking at the age of thirty or thirty-five. 'See,' 
 said he, 'is this the face of a savage? How much 
 Indian blood is there ? We will see in time, whether 
 the Indian or white man prevails in this face." 
 
 Numerous instances have been given in former 
 pages of Frenchmen visiting him at the home of 
 his Indian lather, and of the conversations he 
 had overheard at home and other places, all cal- 
 culated to arouse his suspicion of something in his 
 
 217 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 history which remained a mystery. But he seemed 
 to have solved it by 1838 or before, for at that 
 time as mentioned in another j^lace, he entered 
 the newspaper office of George H. Haskins, editor 
 of "the Buffalo Express," in Buffalo, New York, 
 and "confided to him under seal of most profound 
 secrecy, that he, Eleazer, was the lost Dauphin 
 of France, mentioned his early idiocy, his fall in 
 Lake George, and miraculous restoration of mem- 
 ory." 
 
 Then came the French officers tramping into 
 Caughnawaga from Montreal, met him at the 
 wigwam of the ancient squaw, he owned as 
 mother, "and told him that he looked like the 
 Bourbons, that he was the same age the Dauphin 
 would have been, and that perhaps he was the 
 Dauphin himself. " And so all through the years, 
 wherever he went, the ghost of the Lost King 
 hovered about him. 
 
 Now came the visit of the Prince de Joinville 
 in the cool of autumn, October 1841. 
 
 Napolean who had ridden on the last waves of 
 the Revolution into power made a wreck of iSurope 
 and established a court outshining in sjDlendor 
 and etiquette, all the ancient courts of Europe, 
 saw his star set when the Russian and German 
 armies entered Paris, ten years later. Emperor 
 Alexander then permitted the French to choose 
 their own ruler, and the Senate decreed France 
 to be an hereditary monarchy, and called the 
 
 218 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 eldest surviving- brother of Louis XVI to the 
 throne. The entry of Louis XVIII into the Tuiler- 
 ies met with universal approval ; but in exile he, had 
 "nothing- remembered, and nothing- forgotten." 
 From the ver}^ first it was intended to restore the 
 monarchy with all its former absolutism, which 
 was unpopular. With the return of the royal 
 party came Madam Royal, sister of the Lost 
 King-, now the Duchese d' Angouleme, who was 
 so effected on entering the palace again after 
 twent3'-two 3'ears, that she fainted. What re- 
 mained of the Temple was demolished in 1811; 
 but a weeping willow in the garden, planted in 
 1814 by the Duchese of Angouleme, marks the 
 spot to-day where the tower stood. 
 
 A funeral service took place at the ancient 
 Cathedral of Notre Dame in memory of Louis 
 XVI, Marie Antoinette and Princess Elizabeth, 
 an imposing public ceremony of deep solemnity, 
 attended by the members of the royal family, all 
 the monarchs, generals and ministers of state in 
 Paris. Some months later, the remains of the 
 royal martyrs were exhumed and ceremoniously 
 interred at St. Denis, that mausoleum of all the 
 Kings of France. Wh}'- was not the Lost King 
 Louis XVII included in this imposing funeral serv- 
 ice? Also in this removal to St. Denis; and why 
 was his name not placed on the monument erected 
 to these royal victims of the Revolution? In a 
 few months Napoleon had landed from Elba, the 
 
 219 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Bourbons bundled out of Paris and "Napoleon 
 entered the Tuileries; and such was the enthusi- 
 asm of his welcome, that he was literally borne by 
 the crowd up the staircase of the palace, with 
 cries of 'vive le Emperor, ' yet in a hundred days 
 he met his Waterloo. Wellington and Blucher 
 made their triumphal entry into Paris. Louis 
 XVIII returned to the Tuileries, was unpopular, 
 and on his death after a reign of ten 3'ears, the 
 Duke d'Artois, his brother, became King Charles 
 X. He was too much a Bourbon to be poj^ular. In 
 1830, after a stormy reign of six years, an insurrec- 
 tion in Paris at which eight thousand people were 
 killed, compelled him to flee across the channel. 
 The infamous Duke of Orleans, originator of the 
 Revolution, cousin of the King, and who as mem- 
 ber of the Assembly voted for "death," in the 
 trial of the King, had by his noble wife, the only 
 daughter of the grand old nobleman, the Duke of 
 Penthievre, a family of whom the eldest son, 
 Louis Philippe, Duke de Chartres, fought under 
 Demourier in the Revolutionary army, and escaped 
 into Sw^itzerland, where he taught school; ,after- 
 w^ards traveled in America and lived in Brooklyn. 
 There is a story that he was a changeling, the 
 son of low birth. He married Princess Marie 
 Amelie, daughter of a sister of Marie Antoinette, 
 who as a child had wept for the death of the Dau- 
 phin in the Temple, and who was to have married 
 him if he lived. 
 
 220 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 He returned to France in the train of the royal- 
 ists when Napoleon abdicated in 1814, as Duke of 
 Orleans, recovered^his property and lived with 
 his family at the beautiful chateau of Neuilly, 
 near Paris. 
 
 The provisional^'g-overnment which rose out of 
 the insurrection^which drove King Charles out of 
 France was composed of the veteran revolution- 
 ists Lafayette, Lafitte, the rich banker, Thiers, 
 the literary historian and Talleyrand the diplo- 
 mat. They determined to bring- Louis Philippe to 
 the throne, but the envoy sent to inform, could 
 not find him. At:midnig-ht he entered Paris on 
 foot in plain clothes, having: clambered over the 
 barricades. First made Lieutenant General of 
 the King-dom, he was elected by the bourg-eoisie 
 or trades men and merchants, as King. "He was 
 short-and stout. His head was shaped like a 
 pear and surmounted by an elaborate brown wig, " 
 to cover his gray hair. He was not majestic. 
 He was not popular, nor an ideal Frenchman, but 
 of the small groser tj^pe. He was anxious to marry 
 off his children to prosperous and rich thrones. 
 There were many occasions to cause him to study 
 the means to make his throne more secure. In 
 fact he ^was driven into exile after reigning 
 eighteen years as the citizen King. He had not 
 favored Lafayette, after he became King and 
 Talleyrand who when signing his constitution 
 had remarked that it was the thirteenth he had 
 
 221 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 signed, now an old man died in a few years. The 
 masses beg-an to clamor again against the classes 
 "as guilty of diabolical selfishness and systematic 
 robbery of the poor. " The gay Duchess de Berri, 
 with several friends landed near Marseilles in 
 1832, with the ambitious design of placing her 
 son, the Duke de Bordeaux, grandson of Charles 
 X. on the throne. After many adventures she 
 was caught and imprisoned in the citadel of 
 Blaye. Louis Napoleon impelled by fancies re- 
 garding his "destiny," resolved to make an at- 
 tempt to recover the Empire, appeared at Stros- 
 burg in 1836, and endeavored to seduce the soldiers 
 to rally to his standard, but having failed he was 
 deported. Again he made the attempt, was seized 
 and imprisoned in the fortress of Ham. 
 
 Louis Philippe was shot at thirteen times; but 
 escaped assassination. He is said to have ridden 
 in a steel lined carriage with his back to the 
 horses. Though there was comparative peace 
 abroad, "He had," says William Chambers, 
 "what might be called a continual battle for 
 existence, which rendered it imperative ofi him 
 to adopt those stringent and repressive measures, 
 which supplied to his indefatigable adversaries 
 renewed grounds of reproach and vituperation." 
 
 Such being the history of his reign, one can 
 readily believe that he would be justified in pro- 
 posing terms to all those who laid claim to rights 
 in the crown, which he must feel he held, but by 
 
 222 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 accident. The story of Eleazer Williams which 
 was known long before 1841, may have come to 
 his notice. He would not despise it. Talleyrand 
 who expired in 1838, had left secret memoirs. 
 Barras, whose name has been so long connected 
 with the disappearance of the Little King, had 
 died the year before Louis Philippe became King, 
 and Barras had left secret memoirs of his time, 
 which had been seized by the government, and 
 never published until 1895. The archives were 
 accessible to the King, and doubtless revealed 
 the unknown history of Louis XVII. There was 
 every reason why King Louis Philippe should 
 seek an arrangement with Eleazer Williams, who 
 was making claim to the throne, even if his story 
 was a myth, for he thereby removed any trouble 
 which it might bring to his unstable position. 
 
 •^t(? 
 
 223 
 
XX 
 
 THE PRINCE DE JOINVILLE CROSSES AMERICA TO 
 INTERVIEW ELEAZER WILLIAMS. 
 
 THE son of King Louis Philippe would be the 
 proper person to conduct the negotiation as 
 it was strictly a family affair, and being in 
 command of a ship, the Prince could sail to New 
 York or Boston with his "Belle Paule, " with her 
 five hundred sailors and his staff, without excit- 
 ing any suspicion. This he did do. The Prince 
 de Joinville, third son of Louis Philippe was now 
 twenty-three j^ears of age, "slender, tall, dark, a 
 very naval appearing man." 
 
 In the autumn of 1841, when Mrs. Elizabeth 
 Wormeley Latimer was a girl of nineteen, she 
 came out to Boston to remain the winter with the 
 family of George Ticknor, and go into society 
 with their daughter a debutante. Some weeks 
 before Christmas it was announced that the Prince 
 de Joinville, who, after bringing back the body 
 of Napoleon, the year before from St. Helena to 
 Paris, had brought his frigate the Belle Paule to 
 America, was coming to Boston. A great reception 
 and ball was to be given for him and his officers 
 in the historic Faneuil Hall, and the young girls 
 in the smart set were elated at the prospect. 
 The daj^ fixed upon drew near. The officers of 
 
 224 
 
"^ '-m 
 
 Prim i i 'I j , ■• /ille 
 Son of King Louis Philippe, sent to see Eleazer Williams at Green Bay. 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the Belle Paule assembled in Boston, but there 
 was no Prince, nor any news of him. Where 
 could he be? The officers were questioned, said 
 they "believed he was in western New York, near 
 the frontier of Canada." There was mystery in 
 his movements, which were kept secret from the 
 public and his officers. The day before the ball 
 and still no Prince. How could they have the 
 ball without him? Expectation rose hig^h among 
 the young ladies. On the morning of the ball, 
 however, the}" heard the Prince had arrived. 
 
 It was a most beautiful reception, with tricolor 
 decorations, which still lingers in the memory of 
 the happy participants. But none discovered 
 until the appearance of Putnam's with the "Bour- 
 bon among us" story, the whereabouts of the 
 Prince while they waited in Boston for his return. 
 He was off across America to interview Eleazer 
 Williams. 
 
 After the celebration of his early triumph in 
 missionar}' labor at Oneida, Rev. Williams, 
 journeyed to St. Regis, to see the aged Indian 
 chief and squaw whom he had supposed were his 
 parents. Here he tarried until in October, then 
 began his return to his wife and children on the 
 bank of the Fox river above Green 'Bd.y in Wis- 
 consin. He crossed New York state by stage, 
 took a Chicago boat at Buffalo, which landed him 
 at Mackinac. Before leaving St. Regis he had 
 learned of the arrival of the Prince de Join vi He 
 
 225 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 in America. Of this he says: "One of the first 
 questions that he asked on his arrival in New 
 York was, whether there was such a person 
 known as Eleazer Williams, among the Indians 
 in the northern part of the state; and after some 
 inquiries, in different quarters, he was told that 
 there was such a person, who was at that time a 
 Missionary of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
 at Green Bay, Wisconsin, and he was advised to 
 apply for further information to some prominent 
 members of the church in the city. He accord- 
 ingly applied to Mr. Thomas Ludlow Ogden, who 
 at the Prince's request, wrote to me, stating- that 
 the Prince was then in the country, and before 
 his return to France, would be haj)py to have an 
 interview with me. I replied to Mr. Ogden, that 
 I should be exceedingly happy to see the Prince 
 at any time. I was much surprised with his com- 
 munication; but supposed however, that as I had 
 resided a long time in the west, and had been 
 cbaplin to Gen. Taylor, he might desire some lo- 
 cal information which I could give him as readily 
 as most men." The Prince leaving most of his 
 companions at Albany had taken stage across 
 the whole state of New York to Buffalo; where 
 he took steamer to Green Bay; on a voyage across 
 Lake Erie, passed Detroit through the St. Croix 
 river and lake; then over Lake Huron to the strait 
 of Mackinac, landing at the old fort of Mackinac 
 on the Island, thence over the head of Lake 
 
 226 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Michigfan to Green Bay, over the waters of which 
 he arrived at the villag'e, and put up at the Astor 
 House. Of this journey the Prince has furnished 
 the plausable explanation in his Memoirs: "I was 
 anxious to go, via. the Great Lakes to Green 
 Bay, on Lake Michigan, and there starting from 
 Mackinac, the old Indian Michillimacinac, to fol- 
 low up the track of our ofl&cers, soldiers and mis- 
 sionaries who pushed on till they discovered the 
 Mississijjpi. " He denies afterwards that he made 
 the journey to see Eleazer Williams. But the 
 reason he gives for the journey is singular, in 
 view of the historical fact that the French "offic- 
 ers, soldiers and missionaries" voyaged on the 
 Ottawa river in Canada, to the upper Lake Huron 
 and thence to the strait of Mackinac, not over 
 New York state, or Lake Erie or Huron. Also 
 that the Michillimackinac of those "soldiers and 
 missionaries," was on the mainland in Michigan 
 on Lake Michigan, not on the Island where he 
 landed, but eight miles distant. Also that the 
 Astor House at Green Bay where he lodged and 
 the home of Captain John McCart}' where he 
 slept, were across the river from the old French 
 Fort, and the McCarty lodge was fourteen miles 
 away from the old French fort, or six miles from 
 DePere, the only historical scenes. Herce the 
 Prince journeyed a good many hundred miles to 
 see the sites which he did not seek to see when he 
 arrived. If his purpose is to be credited, it is 
 
 227 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 very strang-e that after an historical pilgrimag-e 
 of thousands of miles, he had not set his patent 
 leather boot on a single spot of earth made sacred 
 by that noble army of discoverers, missionaries or 
 soldiers of Prance, who blazed the pathway to 
 the west. That the Prince did seek to meet 
 Eleazer Williams, is verified by Captain Shook 
 of the Columbus, on which he voyaged to the 
 Island of Mackinac of whom he requested inform- 
 ation of Eleazer Williams. 
 
 Mr. George T. Raymond, editor of "Northern 
 Light" of Hallowell, Maine, wrote Putnams — "I 
 joined the Joinville party in New York, traveled 
 with it to Green Bay, and during several conversa- 
 tions with the Prince, heard him express a most 
 particular anxiety to find out this Mr. Williams, 
 and have an interview with him." Mr. James O. 
 Brayman, one of the editors of the "Buffalo 
 Courier" wrote to Rev. Dr. John Hanson: "In 
 the fall of 1841, I took steamboat at Cleveland 
 for Detroit. The Prince de Joinville and party 
 were on board, having come up from Buffalo. 
 There were also several gentlemen of French des- 
 cent from Detroit, aboard. In the evening, when 
 sitting- in the cabin, the prince conversed freely 
 — part of the time in French, part in English. 
 While conversing- with the late Col. Beaubien, he 
 made the inquiries concerning Mr. Williams, and 
 spoke of his intention of visiting him at Green 
 Bay. Col. B., who had, I believe, been an Indian 
 
 228 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 trader, knew Mr. W. well, personally or by repu- 
 tation, and replied to the Prince as to his where- 
 abouts and occupation. The Prince inquired as 
 to his personal bearing-, and asked various gen- 
 eral questions concerning him, and had the 
 aj^pearance of considerable earnestness in his 
 inquiries. The conversation continued some min- 
 utes, and concluded by the Prince remarking: 'I 
 shall see him before I return.' This matter has 
 slept in my memory, and having been called up 
 b}' the late discussions, is not very distinct as to 
 particulars; the general features, however, are 
 as fresh in m}' mind as an occurrence of yesterday. 
 I have a relative who was some years a teacher 
 in the Indian Mission school at Green Bay. I 
 have heard her relate the circumstances of the 
 visit of the Prince de Joinville to Mr. "Williams 
 as something involving much of mystery, and 
 that it, for a while, produced a marked and ob- 
 servable change in Mr. W. 's conduct. He ap- 
 peared abstracted at times, and excited as by 
 some great emotion. She remarked that the 
 Prince treated him with more than ordinary def- 
 erence and consideration, for which she could not 
 account at the time." 
 
 Hon. Theodore Conkey of Appleton, also came 
 as a young man of twenty-two from Buffalo to 
 the Ba}' with the Prince and heard him ask for 
 Rev. Williams. (See appendix IV.) 
 
 Rev. Eleazer Williams had kept a diary of 
 
 229 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 everything- which happened to him since the year 
 1808, from which, with the interview taken down 
 by Rev. Dr. John Hanson, the material of the 
 narrative of the meeting with the Prince is 
 obtained. Rev. Williams, with his son, John 
 Lawe Williams on their journey toward home, by 
 the steamer from Buffalo bound for Chicago, had 
 arrived at Mackinac Island at two o'clock in the 
 afternoon of Saturday, October 16, where they 
 remained to await the arrival of the steamer 
 from Buffalo to Green Bay. His son was indis- 
 posed for which reason they were pleased to 
 land. Rev. Williams visited Rev. Coit, pastor of 
 the Congregational church, who had been mis- 
 sionary for a long time among the Chippewa In- 
 dians. It was arranged to have divine service 
 the next day which was Sunday at the Presby- 
 terian meeting house, and that Rev. Williams 
 should officiate in the morning. 
 
 At the service Sunday morning, "all the gentle- 
 men of the garrison, the soldiers and the citizens 
 of the place were in attendance." "Two soldiers 
 called and asked for prayer books. I Was only 
 able to give them one." 
 
 Vessels which had recently arrived announced 
 the speedy arrival of the Prince de Joinville. 
 The regular steamer for Green Bay came into 
 port on Mondaj^ (October 18) at twelve o'clock. 
 "His royal Highness, Prince de Joinville and his 
 suit were among the passengers." Public ex- 
 
 230 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 pectation was on tiptoe and crowds were at the 
 wharf. The steamer at length came in sight, 
 salutes were fired and answered, the colors run 
 up, and she came into port in fine style. Imme- 
 diatel}' she touched, the Prince and his retinue 
 came on shore and went out some little distance 
 from the town, perhaps half a mile, to visit some 
 natural curiosities in the neighborhood — the 
 Sugarloaf Rock and the Arch Rock. The steamer 
 awaited their return. During their absence I was 
 standing on the wharf among the crowd, when 
 Capt. John Shook, (who confirmed the statement) 
 came up to me and asked whether I was going on 
 to Green Bay, adding that the Prince de Joinville 
 had made inquiries of him two or three times 
 since leaving Buffalo, concerning a Rev. Air. 
 Williams, the missionary to the Indians at Green 
 Bay, and that he had told the Prince he knew 
 such a person, referring to me, whom he supposed 
 was the man he meant. I replied to the captain 
 he must mean another person, as I do not know 
 the Prince. Soon after the Prince and his suite 
 arrived and went on board. I did the same, and 
 the steamer put to sea. It was, I think, about 
 2 o'clock when we left Mackinac. When we 
 were fairly on the water, the captain came to me 
 and said, 'The Prince, Mr. Williams, requests me 
 to say to you that he desires to have an interview 
 with you, and will be happ}" either to have j^ou 
 come to him, or allow me to introduce him to 
 
 231 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 you.' 'Present my compliments to the Prince,' I 
 said, and say that I put myself entirely at his 
 disposal, and will be proud to accede to what- 
 ever may be his wishes in the matter. ' The Cap- 
 tain again retired, and soon returned bringing 
 the Prince de Joinville with him. I was sitting 
 at the time, on a barrel. The Prince not only 
 started with evident and involuntary surprise and 
 amazement when he saw me, but there was a 
 great agitation in his face and manner — a slight 
 paleness and quivering of the lip — which I could 
 not help remarking at the time, but which struck 
 me more forcibly afterwards in connection with 
 the whole train of circumstances, and by contrast 
 with his usual.self-possessed manner. He grasped 
 both of his hands with mine, earnestly and re- 
 spectfully, accompanied with earnest and cheer- 
 ing gratulations of his having met me, and drew 
 me immediately into conversation. The atten- 
 tion which he paid me seemed to astonish, not 
 only myself and the passengers, but also the 
 Prince's retinue." 
 
 " 'Amazing sight!" he said. 'It is what I have 
 wished to see for this long time. I trust I shall 
 not be intruding too much on 3'our patience were 
 I to ask some questions of your past and present 
 life among the Indians. ' His eyes were intently 
 fixed on me, eyeing my person from head to foot. ' ' 
 
 "At dinner time there was a separate table laid 
 for the Prince and his companions, and he invited 
 
 232 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 me to sit with them and offered me the seat of 
 honor by his side. But I was a little abashed by 
 the attentions of the Prince, and there was an 
 American officer who had attached himself to the 
 party and behaved in an obtrusive and unbecom- 
 ing- manner, which seemed to annoy them, and 
 indeed one of the Prince's companions had ex- 
 pressed to me his disgust at his behavior. So I 
 thought I would keep out of the circle, and begged 
 the Prince to excuse me, and permit me to dine 
 at the ordinary table with the passengers, which 
 accordingly I did. After dinner the conversation 
 turned between us on the first French settlements 
 in America, the valor and enterprise of the early 
 adventurers, and the loss of Canada to France, 
 at which the Prince expressed deep regret. 
 
 In the course of his remarks, though in what 
 connection I cannot say, he told me that he left 
 his suite at Albany, took a private conveyance 
 and went to the head of Lake Georg-e. He was 
 very copious and fluent in speech, and I was sur- 
 prised at the good English which he spoke — a 
 little broken indeed, like mine, but still very in- 
 telligible. We continued talking- late into the 
 night, reclining in the cabin, on the cushions in 
 the stern of the boat. When we retired to rest, 
 the Prince lay on the locker and I in the first berth 
 next to it. The next day the steamer did not 
 arrive at Green Bay until about 3 o'clock, and 
 during most of the time we were in conversation. 
 
 233 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Looking- back thoug-htfuUy upon what was said, 
 I can now i)erceive that tlie Prince was gradually 
 preparing- ray mind for what was to come at last, 
 although then the different subjects seemed to 
 arise naturally enough. 
 
 This afternoon the Prince did wish to take 
 my son with him to France for an education. In 
 connection with this he was informed that we had 
 an infant who had not yet received baptism. He 
 readily consented to stand as a godfather, and 
 would give the name of his mother to the child. 
 But alas! in my first landing, I received the mel- 
 ancholy intelligence that the lovely babe was 
 in her grave, buried on the preceding Sunday; 
 service performed by the Rev. Mr. Porter of the 
 Congregationalist Church. When the news was 
 communicated to the Prince he appeared to sym- 
 pathize with me, and remarked, taking me by the 
 hand, "Descendant of a suffering race, may you 
 be supported in this affliction. " At three o'clock, 
 Tuesday, October 19th, the boat reached Green 
 Bay, and came proudly up to the Astor ware- 
 house and dock, near the present upper bridge. 
 The Prince said that I would oblige him by 
 accompanying him to his hotel, and taking up my 
 quarters at the Astor House. I begged to be 
 excused, as I wished to go to the house of my 
 father-in-law. He replied that he had some mat- 
 ters of great importance to speak to me about, 
 and as he could not stay long at Green Bay, but 
 
 234 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 would take his dei^arture the next day, or the day 
 after, he wished I would comply with his request. 
 As there was some excitement consequent on the 
 Prince's arrival, and a great number of i3ersons 
 were at the Astor House waiting to see him, I 
 thought I would take advantage of the confusion 
 to go to my father-in-law's (Joseph Jourdain) and 
 promised to return in the evening, when he would 
 be more private." 
 
 Green Baj^ at this date was a village of about 
 one thousand inhabitants living in various condi- 
 tioned houses strung along the river front for 
 three miles, and known as Menomineeville, 
 Shantytown, Astor, and Navarino, all promoted 
 under different interests and in sharp contest for 
 the final location of a future metropolis. On the 
 west side of the river there were only a half 
 dozen houses, beside the almost abandoned bar- 
 racks of old Fort Howard, just partially brought 
 to life by Major Shaler, who with some oflQcers had 
 only a short time before, scattered the bats and 
 swept awa}- the cobwebs, preparatory to assuming 
 residence and command. Astor the central one 
 of these rival villages, promoted by the company 
 of which John Jacob 'Astor was the principal 
 proprietor, had a large warehouse and boat land- 
 ing, and near by on the corner of the present 
 Adams and Mason street stood the Astor Hotel, 
 all nearly new having been completed only three 
 years before. This celebrated house, was a three 
 
 235 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 story frame building', "furnished elegantly for 
 those days," "considered the finest hotel this side 
 of Detroit." 
 
 News of the expected visit of the Prince had by 
 some means preceeded him, and the villagers put 
 on their dress coats and white aprons, and 
 crowded to the river front to catch sight of the 
 son of a king. The old settler still relates with 
 great glee, how a number of the important peo- 
 ple suddenly discovered they must take their sup- 
 per that evening at the Astor House, and of their 
 disappointment when they did not have the Prince 
 for table guest, as he had ordered his dinner in 
 his rooms. "Quite an excitement was raised in 
 our quiet town by the visit of the Prince de Join- 
 ville and suite," says Mrs. Mary Irwin Mitchell. 
 "From that timebeganthequestionof Rev. Eleazer 
 Williams being the lost Dauphin." 
 
 "On my return I found the Prince alone with 
 the exception of one attendant, whom he dis- 
 missed, ' ' continues the narrative of Rev. Williams. 
 "The gentlemen of his party were in an adjoining 
 room laughing and carousing, and I coUld dis- 
 tinctly hear them during my interview with the 
 Prince. He opened the conversation by saying 
 that he had a communication to make to me of a 
 very serious nature as concerned himself, and of 
 the last importance to me, that it was one in 
 which no others were interested, and therefore 
 before proceeding further, he wished to obtain 
 
 236 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 some pledg-e of secrecy, some promise, that I 
 would not reveal to anyone what he was going to 
 say. I demurred to any such conditions being 
 imposed previous to my being made acquainted 
 with the nature of the subject, as there might be 
 something in it after all, prejudicial and injurious 
 to others, and it was at length after some alter- 
 cation, agreed that I should pledge my honor, 
 not to reveal what the Prince was going to say, 
 provided there was nothing in it prejudicial to 
 anyone, and I signed a promise to this effect on a 
 sheet of paper. It was vague and general, for I 
 would not tie myself down to absolute secrecy, 
 but left the matter conditional. When this was 
 done, the Prince spoke to this effect: 
 
 "You have been accustomed, sir, to consider 
 yourself a native of this country; but you are not. 
 You are of foreign descent; you were born in 
 Europe, sir, and however incredible it may at 
 first seem to you, I have to tell you that you are 
 the son of a king. There ought to be much con- 
 solation to you to know this fact. You have suf- 
 fered a great deal, and have been brought very 
 low, but you have not suffered more, or been more 
 degraded than my father, who was long in exile 
 and poverty in this country;. but there is this dif- 
 ference between him and you, that he was all 
 along aware of his high birth, whereas you have 
 been spared the knowledge of your origin." 
 
 When the Prince had said this I was much over- 
 
 237 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 come, and thrown into a state of mind which you 
 can easily imagine. In fact I hardly knew what 
 to do or say, and ray feelings were so much 
 excited that I was like one in a dream, and much 
 was said between us of which I can g-ive but an 
 indistinct account. However, I remember that I 
 told him that his communication was so startling- 
 and unexpected that he must forg-ive me for being- 
 incredulous, and that really I was "between two." 
 
 "What do you mean," he said, "by being 
 'between two?'" 
 
 I replied that on the one hand, it scarcely 
 seemed to me that he could believe what he said, 
 and on the other I feared he mig-ht be under some 
 mistake as to the person. He assured me, how- 
 ever, that he spoke the simple truth, and that in 
 regard to the identity of the person, he had 
 ample means in his possession to satisfy me that 
 there was no mistake in that respect. I then 
 requested him to proceed with the disclosure 
 already partly made, and to inform me in full of 
 of the secret of my birth. He replied that in 
 doing so, it was necessary that a certain process 
 should be gone through in order to guard the 
 interest of all parties concerned. I inquired 
 what kind of process he meant. Upon this the 
 Prince rose and went to his trunk, which was in 
 the room, and took from it a parchment which he 
 laid on the table, and set before me that I might 
 read and give him my determination in regard to 
 
 238 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 it. There was also on the table pen, ink and 
 wax, and he placed there g-overnmental seals of 
 France, the one, if I mistake not, used under the 
 old monarchy. It was of precious metal, but 
 whether of gold or silver, or a compound of both, 
 I cannot say. I think, on reflection, the latter; 
 but I may be mistaken, for my mind was so 
 bewildered, and agitated, and engrossed with one 
 absorbing question, that things which at another 
 time would have made a strong impression on me 
 were scarcely noticed, although I must confess 
 that when I knew the whole, the sight of the seal 
 put before me by a member of the family of 
 Orleans, stirred my indignation. The document 
 which the Prince placed before me was very 
 handsomely written, in double parallel columns 
 of French and English. I continued intently 
 considering it for some time. During this time 
 the Prince left me undisturbed, remaining for the 
 most part in the room, but he went out three or 
 four times. The purport of the document, which 
 I read repeatedly word b}" word, comparing the 
 French with the English, was this: It was a 
 solemn abdication of the crown of France in 
 favor of Louis Philippe, by Charles Louis, the 
 son of Louis XVI, who was styled Louis XVII, 
 King of France and Navarre, with all accom- 
 panying names and titles of honor according to 
 the custom of the old French monarchy, together 
 with a minute specification in legal phraseology 
 
 239 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 of the conditions and considerations, and provisos, 
 upon which the abdication was made. These 
 conditions were in brief, that a princely estab- 
 lishment should be secured to me either in this 
 country or in France, at my option, and that 
 Louis Philippe would pledge himself on his part 
 to secure the restoration or an equivalent for it, 
 of all the private property of the royal family 
 rightfully belonging to me, which had been con- 
 fiscated in France during the Revolution, or in 
 any way got into other hands. Now^ you ask me 
 why I did not retain, at all hazards, this docu- 
 ment, or, at any rate, take a copy of it; but it is 
 very eas}' for you, sitting quietly there, to 
 prescribe the course which prudence and self- 
 interest would dictate. A day or two afterwards 
 all these points, and the different lights in which 
 the thing might be viewed, came to my mind, but 
 at the moment I thought of nothing except the 
 question of acceptance or rejection. And then 
 remember the sudden manner in which the whole 
 affair came upon me, and the natural timidity 
 and bashfulness of one who had always considered 
 himself of such obscure rank when called with- 
 out preparation to discuss such topics with a man 
 of high position like the Prince. Besides which, 
 my word of honor had been so recently and 
 solemnly pledged, and a sense of personal dignity 
 excited by the disclosures of the Prince, that I 
 never so much as thought of taking any advan- 
 
 240 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 tagce of the circumstances, but simply and solely 
 whether or not I should sign my name, and set 
 my seal to a deliberate surrender of my rights 
 and those of my family. It was a deeply painful 
 and harrowing- time, and I cannot tell you, and 
 you cannot imagine, how I felt when trying to 
 decide this question. At length I made my 
 decision, and rose, and told the Prince that I had 
 considered the matter fully in all its aspects, 
 and was prepared to give him my definite answer 
 upon the subject; and then went on to say, that 
 whatever might be the personal consequences to 
 myself, I felt that I could not be the instrument 
 of bartering away with my own hand the rights 
 pertaining to me by my birth, and sacrificing the 
 interests of my family, and that I could only give 
 to him the answer which de Provence gave to 
 the ambassador of Napoleon at Warsaw, ' 'Though 
 I am in poverty, sorrow and exile, I will not 
 sacrifice my honor." 
 
 The Prince upon this assumed a loud tone, and 
 accused me of ingratitude in trampling on the 
 overtures of the King, his father, who he said was 
 actuated in making the proposition more by feel- 
 ings of kindness and piety towards me than by any 
 other consideration, since his claim to the French 
 throne rested on an entirely different basis to 
 mine, viz., not that of hereditary descent, but of 
 popular election. When he spoke in this strain 
 I spoke loud also, and said that as he, by his dis- 
 
 241 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 closure, had put me in the position of a superior, 
 I must assume that position, and frankly say that 
 my indignation was stirred by the memory that 
 one of the family of Orleans had imbrued his 
 hands in my father's blood, and that another 
 now wished to obtain from me an abdication of 
 the throne. When I spoke of superiority, the 
 Prince immediately assumed a respectful silence 
 for several minutes. It had now grown very late, 
 and we parted, with a request from him that I 
 would reconsider the proposal of his father, and 
 not be too hasty in my decision. I returned to 
 my father-in-law's, and the next day saw the 
 Prince again, and on his renewal of the subject 
 gave him a similar answer. Before he w^ent away 
 he said, 'Though we part, I hope we part friends. ' 
 
 In the evening after his arrival at Green Bay, 
 the citizens gave him an elaborate reception and 
 dinner, which was attended b}^ the polite society 
 for W'hich this frontier metropolis Avas famous. 
 Among the guests were Mrs. Morgan L. Martin 
 and Eleazer Williams. The Prince remarked 
 that he w^as surprised to hear the French lan- 
 guage sjDoken so correctly in this far off out-post 
 of civilization. 
 
 That night the Prince remained at the Astor 
 house in Green Ba}^ and until tw^elve o'clock 
 noon of Wednesday, October 20th. "The adieus," 
 says Rev. Williams, "between the Prince and 
 myself were affectionate, he promised to write 
 
 242 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 me on his arrival at New York. The g-entlemen 
 officers, presented me with their cards, urged me 
 to call on them in France. May the best blessings 
 of Heaven rest on the whole party." Through a 
 cold rainstorm which lasted the whole afternoon, 
 the Prince and escort on horseback proceeded 
 by a narrow trail which wound through the woods 
 along the river margin, southward fourteen miles 
 to the temporary wilderness log cabin shack of 
 Captain John McCarty on the east bank of the 
 river, where the Prince and suite spent the night. 
 Rev. Williams has not related the incident of 
 the Prince de Joinville visit to his home. This 
 visit we suppose was made during the journey to 
 Captain John McCarty's house, or the next day. 
 Mrs. Sharpe, now an old lady, recalls it quite 
 vividl}'. She says the Prince came over the 
 ferry to her house at DePere alone; that her 
 father Captain Stewart drove the Prince in a lum- 
 ber wagon, six miles south to the home of Eleazer 
 Williams, and brought the Prince back again; and 
 while he ate his late dinner with them he was 
 constantly talking of Williams, and of his sad 
 poverty. She is possibly in error in supposing 
 that her father drove the Prince back to the 
 Astor House; it was we suppose to Captain Mc- 
 Carty's, he was taken. Her narrative is given in 
 full in Appendix II. For some of the journeys 
 Dan Whitne}', Jr., was given a watch as related 
 by Mrs. Dunham, Appendix III. 
 
 243 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Captain John McCarty was a g-entleman of 
 Alexandria, Virginia, who was temporaril}' living- 
 in Wisconsin, i^urchasing and overlooking large 
 tracts of land. His shack was on the east bank 
 of the river opposite the homestead of Eleazer 
 Williams, fourteen miles up river from Green Bay. 
 Mrs. Frederick Pleasants, a daughter of John Mc- 
 Carty, has resided for many years at Menasha, 
 Wisconsin, and informs the author that the cor- 
 respondence of her father was by her mother's 
 request, buried in her grave; and that a number 
 of years ago their old homestead on the banks of 
 the Potomac was destroyed by fire with all its 
 priceless treasures of family pictures, books, let- 
 ters and papers reaching back for several hun- 
 dred years. 
 
 The family were connected with the Lord Fair- 
 fax, George Washington, and the Robert E. Lee 
 families of Virginia. Mrs. Pleasants when a girl 
 heard Eleazer preach, and has furnished a letter 
 giving her impressions which will be found in the 
 — appendix. 
 
 Proceeding on his journey along the trail 
 which meandered the east bank of the Fox river 
 as far as Kaukauna, then known as Kakalin Rap- 
 ids, they struck out through the wilderness over 
 the hills on an uncertain highway known as the 
 military road cut out by young Jefferson Davis, 
 when on duty in Wisconsin, and were finally com- 
 pelled by the cold rain to put up at a negro Catos' 
 
 244 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 shanty in the Stockbrid^:e woods on the east 
 shore of Lake Winnebago. There was no other 
 house near and this was their only chance for a 
 covering-. The Priest Bondual who had seen the 
 Prince at Green Ba}^ said that the Prince was 
 much pleased and highly gratified with his inter- 
 view with Rev. Williams. 
 
 After the interview was published in Putnam's, 
 the "secretar}^ for the commands of the Prince 
 de Joinville"' sent a long denial, admitting he met 
 a passenger, "whose name has entirel}^ escaped 
 his memory," and that he felt bound to reply to 
 the paper. CajDtain John Shook then living at 
 Huron, wrote, "so far as the matters relating to 
 me. Rev. Williams has stated truthfully. I recol- 
 lect the apparent surprise of the Prince on the 
 occasion and wondered why he should pay to the 
 humble and unpretending Indian missionary" such 
 pointed and polite attention. I have long known 
 Rev. Williams and seen much of him in our voy- 
 ages on the lakes, and always found him an ami- 
 able upright man, to be relied on in any state- 
 ment he might make.'" 
 
 But here is a statement which shows the im- 
 pression of the officers who were with the Prince. 
 
 Mr. George Sumner, brother of Senator Charles 
 Sumner of Massachusetts met in the year 1846, 
 at Brest, one of the officers who accompanied 
 the Prince de Joinville to Green Bay, and, in the 
 cabin of his vessel, looking cautiously round be- 
 
 245 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 fore-he spoke, he said to Mr. Sumner, that there 
 was something- very singular in the American 
 trip of the Prince who went out of his way to 
 meet an old man among the Indians, who had 
 very much of a Bourbon aspect, and who was 
 spoken of as the son of Louis XVI. " 
 
 I 
 
 •55? 
 
 246 
 
XXI 
 
 "PAINT ME AS I AM, WITH ALL MY WARTS AND 
 SCARS AND IMPERFECTIONS," SAID CROM- 
 WELL TO THE PAINTER. 
 
 THE life of Eleazer Williams is hereafter 
 mostl}^ an account of preaching at different 
 }3laces about the country. He delivered the 
 historical sermon at Deerfield on the anniversary 
 of the death of Rev. John Williams, the pastor of 
 long ago. He became by other arrangements of 
 the societies almost disassociated with the 
 Indians. In 1846 the society for the Propagation 
 of the Gospel among the Indians, and others in 
 North America, appropriated money for his 
 support for two years. About 1850 he retired to 
 St. Regis at the home of his ancient Indian 
 mother, where he commenced a school, and had a 
 missionary appointment from the Diocesan 
 society of New York, and the Boston Unitarian 
 Society, and again from the Societ}'^ for the 
 Propagation of the Gospel. He traveled over all 
 the east, preaching everj^where. As related 
 above, Mrs. Pleasants heard him at Alexandria. 
 Hon. Randolph B. Latimer before his marriage, 
 wrote his impressions at the time, to his bride to 
 be: 
 
 247 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 "About the time that the question: -Is there a 
 Bourbon among" us?' was being- discussed in this 
 country, it was announced that the Rev. Eleazer 
 Williams would preach on Sunday evening", at 
 Mr. Killin's Church, on West Lexing-ton Street, 
 Baltimore. I was interested in the subject, and 
 read a great deal about it, and determined to go 
 and see the supposed Louis XVII, and hear him 
 preach. In the vestibule of the church I met 
 Mr. Killin, whom. I knew personally, and he was 
 accompanied by a tall, portl}', fine-looking' man 
 in the plain costume of an Episcopal clerg'y- 
 man. Instantly I recog'nized him as the supposed 
 Bourbon, and made him a bow, which he returned 
 most graciously. As he remained in the vesti- 
 bule I could not take my eyes off him, and could 
 see in his face, figure and manner nothing of the 
 half-breed Indian, which some claimed he was; 
 but a very decided resemblance to the jDortraits 
 of Louis XVI, and other members of the Bourbon 
 family; in fact, I could not help thinking, that 
 had he been clad in royal robes he would have 
 'looked every inch a King.' His sermorf was a 
 plain, practical one, his language simple, and his 
 pronunciation rather more French than English, 
 such as might be expected from a man who had 
 passed his life doing missionary work among the 
 Indians and half breeds along our Canadian bor- 
 der, where French was used quite as much as 
 English. His apparent age corresponded with 
 
 248 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 what would have been that of the unfortunate 
 prince, and I came away satisfied that he was the 
 real Bourbon. His claim to the throne of France 
 mig-ht have been substantiated, but he had no 
 desire to raise it, and preferred the simple useful 
 life in which he lived and died. " Of this peculiar 
 nature Rev. Dr. Hanson says: "Not only tlie 
 physical but the mental characteristics of Mr. 
 Williams, curiously correspond with what the 
 Dauphin would probably be if alive, in such a 
 position after such a complicated career. He 
 possesses a great amount of native talent; an 
 easy g"race and dignity of manner when in polite 
 society, which seems innate; a winning sweetness 
 of disposition, and much simplicity; apparently 
 warm religious feelings; but his judgment in 
 matters of self-interest is not of the strongest; 
 fluent and eloquent in diction, his ideas are not 
 always well assorted; a mystery to himself as 
 well as to others, subject to perpetual question- 
 ings, he is sometimes abrupt; accustomed to 
 Indian life, there is semibarbarism mingled with 
 courtly grace and roving habits with warm 
 affections; — in a word, he seems like one jumbled 
 out of place by destiny, a partial wreck, shat- 
 tered, but not broken. And the peculiarity of 
 his character must be taken into account, in 
 forming an estimate of his conduct, the singularity 
 of which will create in many minds a prejudice 
 against his veracity, since they will be unable to 
 
 249 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 understand how a poor man could reject offers so 
 splendid, or a man of the world neglect the 
 op]»ortunity of establishing his regal birth, 
 which the communication of De Joinville afforded, 
 In this situation, they would have acted differ- 
 ently. " Dr. Hanson says, Mr. Williams, while 
 consenting to his paper in Putnams', did not 
 suggest it. 
 
 Dr. Hanson visited St. Regis in 1852 of which 
 visit he relates — 
 
 "He is a missionary at St. Regis and Hogans- 
 burg, both miserable lonely places; receiving no 
 pa3'ment from the Indians among whom he labors, 
 and but a small stipend from the Missionary com- 
 mittee. The rigors of the climate are excessive; 
 the thermometer being frequently 30 degrees be- 
 low zero, and one can scarcely conceive a situa- 
 tion for an intelligent mind more lonely, more 
 unbefriended, more destitute. He lives on the In- 
 dian reservation, a wild tract of woodland par- 
 tiall}'^ cleared, here and there at the edges. Dead 
 evergreen swamps, decayed vegetation, rude 
 fences, half prostrate, surround the rickety shed, 
 admitting the cold at a thousand crevices in 
 which reside poor Williams and the old Indian 
 woman, his reputed mother, Avhom be heroically 
 treats as if she were his parent, though believing 
 himself to be the son of the peerless Marie An- 
 tionette. I found him well spoken of without 
 exception, by all whom I conversed with in the 
 
 250 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 vicinity, a g-ood neighbor, an active missionary, 
 a brave, cheerful old man, having a kind word 
 for all, and breasting fate with nothing outward 
 to encourage him. He has no church building. 
 He is trying to build a school-house on the Indian 
 reservation, but it stands roofless in the piercing 
 cold, the picture of desolation. "' 
 
 "The impression among all who know him, 
 whether white persons or Indians, is, that he is 
 not an Indian; and I conceive no fact in the world 
 to be more certain than this. A respectable 
 neighbor gave me a certificate, from which the 
 following is an extract: "I was brought up at 
 Hogansburg, and have served in the army, as a 
 private in Florida, under General Worth. I have 
 known Indians of various tribes, especially the 
 Seminoles and the Iroquois. I have known In- 
 dians as long as I have known white men. I am 
 personally acquainted with the Rev. Eleazer 
 Williams, and have known him since my child- 
 hood. I do not believe him to be an Indian. He 
 is entirely unlike the rest of the family. I knew 
 his supposed brothers. They bore no resemblance 
 to Eleazer. He looks like a German or a French- 
 man. They were evidentlj^ Indians. I know an 
 Indian as well as a cow or a horse." An intelli- 
 gent Indian, who spoke English, said, 'He speaks 
 very good Indian; but he is not like any Indian I 
 ever saw. When I first met him I took him for 
 
 251 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 an American. He is as much like a Frenchman 
 as anything-.'" 
 
 His former landlady at Hogansburg said, "I 
 don't know whether he is an Indian or not. He 
 does not look like one. If I had not head that he 
 was one, I should not suppose that he was any 
 more than you. He is not like any of his family. 
 All the other children are dead." 
 
 "All the undoubted children of Thomas Wil- 
 liams were strongly marked Indians, notwith- 
 standing- the white blood in their veins. They 
 bore not the slightest resemblance to Eleazer 
 Williams." 
 
 "He is an intelligent, noble looking old man, 
 with no trace, however slight, of the Indian 
 about him, except what may be fairly accounted 
 for by his long residence among Indians. Being 
 far more familiar with their language than with 
 English which latter he speaks correctly and 
 even eloquently as far as style is concerned, but 
 pronounces imperfectly; his manner of talking 
 reminds you of an Indian, and he has the habit of 
 shrugging his shoulders and gesticulatrng like 
 one; but he has the port and presence of an 
 European gentleman of high rank; a nameless 
 something which I never saw but in persons 
 accustomed to command; a countenance bronzed 
 by exposure below the eyebrows; a fair, high 
 ample, intellectual but receding forehead; a 
 slightly aquiline but rather small nose; a long 
 
 252 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Austrian lip, the expression of which is of ex 
 ceeding- sweetness when in repose; full fleshy- 
 cheeks but hot high cheek bones; dark, bright, 
 merry eyes of hazel hue; graceful, well formed 
 neck; strong muscular limbs, indicating health and 
 great activity; small hands and feet, and dark 
 hair, sprinkled with grey, as fine in texture as 
 silk. I should never have taken him for an In- 
 dian. Some persons who saw him several years 
 ago tell me that their impression is that he looked 
 partially like one, but admit that their opinion 
 may have been influenced by their having been 
 previously told that he was of Indian extraction. 
 I will here insert a description of him by another 
 hand, furnished me by Mr. Williams. 
 
 " 'His complexion is rather dark like that of one 
 who had become bronzed by living much in the 
 open air, and he passes for a half-breed. But his 
 features are decidedly European, rather heavily 
 moulded, and strongly characterized by the full, 
 protuberant Austrian lips. This the experienced 
 observ^er is well aware is never found in the abo- 
 riginal, and very rarely among the Americans. 
 His head is well formed, and sits proudly on his 
 shoulders. His eyes are dark but not black. His 
 hair may be called black, is rich and glossy and 
 interspersed with gray. His eyebrows are full, 
 and of the same color; upon the left is a scar. 
 His beard is heavy and nose aquiline. The nostril 
 is large and finely cut. His temperament is gen- 
 
 253 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 ial, with a dash of vivacity in his manners, he is 
 fond of good living, and inclines to embonpoint, 
 which is the characteristic of his (the Bourbon) 
 family.' " 
 
 Rev. Dr. Francis L. Hawes, Episcopal clergy- 
 man and eminent historian sent the Bourbon 
 papers to Putnams, and with it a letter in which 
 he said that "Rev. Dr. Hanson was a clergyman 
 of worth and ability." "That his character and 
 standing are such as to justify entire confidence. " 
 "As to Mr. Williams himself, I know him very 
 well. He is a clergyman of the Protestant Epis- 
 copal church whose labors have been, almost 
 entirely, those of a missionary among the Indians. 
 He is in good standing as a clergyman, and is 
 deemed a man of truth among his acquaintances 
 and those with whom he has longest lived. As 
 his character for veracity becomes an all-impor- 
 tant question, in considering the very remarkable 
 facts contained in the narrative, Mr. Hanson took 
 great pains in his inquiries on that point; and to 
 that end made a visit to the spot where Mr. Wil- 
 liams had spent many years of his life, and was 
 best known; the result was abundant and satis- 
 factory testimonials, now in Mr. Hanson's posses- 
 sion, that Mr. Williams has always been deemed 
 a worthy and truthful man. I can add to this 
 merely my statement that in all my intercourse 
 with him, I have never found reason to doubt the 
 correctness of his neighbors and acquaintances on 
 
 254 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 their testimon)'^ to his character as stated above."' 
 "From personal knowledge, I am able to say 
 that there is a remarkable simplicity both of man- 
 ner and character about Mr. AVilliams. He pos- 
 sesses an ordinary share of intellectual power; 
 with but little quickness, however, of combina- 
 tion in g-rouping; facts that bear on a common cen- 
 tral point, and without much readiness in deduc- 
 ing- conclusions from them; and is incapable of 
 framing- a mass of circumstantial testimony, made 
 up of a combination of many isolated facts. To 
 do this, requires g-enius, and a hig-h inventive fac- 
 uilt}'. Indeed, nothing" has struck me more forci- 
 bly in my frequent conversations with him on the 
 facts embodied in Mr. Hanson's narrative than 
 his seeming-ly entire non-perception of the bear- 
 ing- of many of the facts as testimony, and their 
 coincidence with other events known to him, until 
 these were pointed out to him. And sometimes 
 he could not at first be made even then, to com- 
 prehend readily the indicated relations. When, 
 however he did comprehend the relations, his 
 countenance would lig"ht up with a smile, and he 
 would say, 'I see it now, but I never saw it 
 before.'" 
 
 "I have found him uniformly amiable, and g-en- 
 tle in manner, and to all appearances a truly pious 
 man." 
 
 "In short, a knowledg-e of the man has seemed 
 to me to be an important part of the story he 
 
 255 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 tells; his temperament, disposition, mental opera- 
 tions, etc., all go to establishing^ one of the facts 
 explanatorj" of some particulars in the narrative." 
 
 "Whether the historical problem presented by- 
 Mr. Hanson be here solved, is a matter which I 
 will not undertake to decide. The only points of 
 which I would speak with certainty are two: 
 first, Mr. Williams is not an Indian: and secondly, 
 he is not able to invent a complicated mass of 
 circumstantial evidence to sustain a fabricated 
 story." 
 
 But over against these noble endorsements, 
 Hon. John Y. Smith who knew him for ten years 
 in Green Bay and often sat with him at the same 
 table says: "He was a fat, lazy, good for nothing- 
 Indian; but cunning, crafty, fruitful in expedients 
 to raise the wind. I doubt whether there was a 
 man at Green Bay whose word commanded less 
 confidence than that of Eleazer Williams." And 
 General Albert G. Ellis writing of his character 
 says: "EleazerWilliams was the most perfect adept 
 at fraud, deceit and intrigue that the world has 
 ever produced. " But Judge Morgan L. Martin also 
 knew him at Green Bay, and seems better to have 
 understood him: "I never was any admirer of 
 Williams or his methods, but I am inclined to 
 thinli that General Ellis and others are too severe 
 on him. A man reared amid savage surround- 
 ings," sa^^s Judge Martin, "as he was, should be 
 judged by a different standard than we set up for 
 
 256 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 one who has spent his life entirely among" white 
 people. No one can from childhood fraternize 
 with Indians without absorbing- their character- 
 istics to some extent, and becoming vain, deceit- 
 ful and boastful. He was a remarkable man in 
 man}" respects, but was deeply imbued with false 
 notions of life, and his career was a failure. He 
 was neither better nor worse than his life-long 
 companions and was what might have been ex- 
 pected from one who had been sent into the world 
 with certain racial vices and whose training and 
 associations were not calculated to better him." 
 
 "I verily believe he ate four pounds of that 
 ham before he left the table," saj^s Ellis. 
 "Eleazer was built very much like a hogshead, 
 largest in the middle and tapering a little both 
 ways, and if you could have seen him eat, you 
 would have thought him about as hollow. But 
 not to exaggerate, in his capacity for eating he 
 was a match for the hungriest Indian I ever saw, " 
 says Hon. John Y. Smith. How his appetite re- 
 calls the humiliation often experienced by the 
 delicate Marie Antoinette upon the gormandising 
 exhibition of her husband Louis XVI. 
 
 "Williams would have passed for a pure Indian, 
 with just a suspicion of the African in his com- 
 plexion and features," says John Y. Smith. 
 "His skin was dark and of peculiar Indian tex- 
 ture. His hair, e3'ebrows and eyelashes were of 
 the most inky raven blackness, and such as no 
 
 257 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 blonde ever wore," says Mr. Ellis. "I have 
 known him for almost thirty years. His color, 
 features, and the conformation of his face, testify 
 to his (Indian) origin, " says Governor Lewis 
 Cass. It will be remembered that the Dauphin 
 had light hair. 
 
 But it is not infrequent that blonde in child- 
 hood becomes brunette in after years. Captain 
 McCarty, the host of the Prince de Joinville at 
 Little Kaukauna, had then raven black hair, but 
 in childhood was light blonde. "Indian-ologists 
 assure me that his ears were a sure mark of his 
 Indian origin,"' says Dr. John G. Shea. "About 
 his ears whether evidence of his Indian blood or 
 not, they were much turned forward, protruded 
 from his head. His toes turned in, Indian like," 
 says Mr. Ellis. 
 
 Two doctors, John W. Francis and Richard S. 
 Kissam, of New York, made an examination of 
 Rev. Williams, and reported him: "a robust Europ- 
 ean, of French blood," "and there is no traces of 
 the aboriginal or Indian in him. " 
 
 Another eminent New York doctor, B. 'Geron- 
 delo, reported him, of "obviously European com- 
 plexion." 
 
 Dr. H. N.Walker, of Hogansburg, in the vicinity 
 of the St Regis reservation, reports that Eleazer 
 Williams "has no ethnological connection with 
 the St. Regis Indians, nor with any other Indians 
 I have ever known." When four eminent medical 
 
 258 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 men pronounce him a white man it must require 
 more positive testimony than yet produced to 
 secure belief that he was of Indian parentage. 
 
 Corresponding- marks of identification were a 
 scar over the left eyebrow inflicted by Simon; 
 tumors on both elbows, both wrists, both knees, 
 inoculation marks on his arm, one of which was 
 in the form of a crescent. 
 
 On the arm of Eleazer, "there were two dis- 
 tinct marks of inoculation on the upper part of 
 the left arm, one of which is semi-circular or 
 crescent shaped on the outer margin, " wrote Dr. 
 John W. Frances in 1853. 
 
 "The Dauphin had on his arm inoculation 
 marks of which one was the shape of a crescent, " 
 sa3's Madam de Rambaud in a letter to Duchess 
 d" Angouleme. Dr. Charles W. Collins, secretary 
 of the Franklin County Historical Society of 
 Malone, X. Y., the Capital town of Franklin 
 County, in which Hogansburg is located, writes, 
 the authur under date of August 3, 1904: 
 
 "Concerning this matter of vaccination, I have 
 investigated the local history. In 181-4 Dr. Albon 
 Man, of Constable, N. Y., but then assisting the 
 U. S. army surgeons at French Mills (Ft. Coving- 
 ton) inoculated several persons at the latter 
 place with vaccine virus. This was the first in- 
 stance of that practice in this county. The 
 next physician to practice vaccination was Dr. 
 Roswell Bates of Ft. Covington, January 9, 1820, 
 
 259 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Dr. Bates announces that he has inoculated 
 patients with "kine pock" several times, and be- 
 lieving' it is to be a "reliable remedJ^" he is pre- 
 pared to treat all applicants. Dec. 12, 1820, Dr. 
 Paul Thorndike and Dr. H. S. Waterhouse, both 
 of Malone, announced that they too were pre- 
 pared to inoculate with ''kine pock." There 
 were no physicians then or at any previous time, 
 at either St. Regis or Caughnawaga. You will 
 see that Williams could not have been vaccinated 
 here." 
 
 That Eleazer was gentlemanl}^ but absolutely 
 moral, there has never been any question. The 
 one great test of Indian origin ha.s never been 
 applied to him; which is appetite for strong 
 drink. No Indian can resist it. All are over- 
 whelmed bj^ it. It was the curse of the mission 
 Indian. "The Indian is good for nothing when 
 he can get strong water," says Chief John 
 Metoxen. Eleazer Williams did not drink, nor 
 crave liquor. Neither did he smoke, which was 
 a constant Indian pastime. 
 
 He wrote the following letter, Septerrtber 21, 
 1848, which is among the very few he ever wrote 
 referring to this subject. It is addressed to 
 Pierre Bernard Grignon of Green Bay, and was 
 recently destroyed by the burning of the David 
 Grignon place. 
 "Dear Bernard" — 
 
 The intelligence I am now to give you is in 
 
 260 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 accordance with the hints I gave you in our last 
 interview, which now prove too true. Am I the 
 child of the most unfortunate parents? A descen- 
 dant from one of the most unhappy potentates of 
 Europe? The secret commissioners from Fr — 
 have in a great measure confirmed it. Oh, the 
 unhappy and cruel fate of parents! Can you 
 wonder, my friend, I am in distress, yea agony. 
 The news has seized me with such a poignant 
 grief and sorrow as it would require with the 
 tongue of an angel, and the pen of a ready writer 
 to describe my feelings. When all this affair 
 will end, God onlj* knows. Tremendous scenes 
 may be before me or it will end in peaceful and 
 calm weather ****." 
 
 ffe^ 
 
 261 
 
XXII 
 
 THE FORTUNES OF A MISSIONARY. 
 
 ABOUT 1849 or 50, Eleazer Williams took 
 up missionary work at Hogansburg the 
 white town of the St. Regis Indians in 
 Northern New York. Here he remained until his 
 death in 1858, often visiting- Washing-ton to urge 
 claims of Mary Ann Williams, and Thomas 
 Williams his reputed i>arents, which were incor- 
 porated in bills before Congress. He also urged 
 his own claims of long standing which he had 
 prosecuted before Congress for over thirty j^ears. 
 These claims were all just and supported with 
 ample testimony, but never paid by Congress, 
 except some slight part of them. After the close 
 of the war he was paid ten thousand dollars for 
 his services as a scout; but all of this money he 
 expended for the benefit of the Oneida Indians 
 and their schools. In 1857, Rev. Williams 
 returned to Wisconsin for a few days, Where he 
 had not been for over seven years before. In a 
 letter to his son John Lawe Williams, dated 
 Hogansburg, July 9, 1857, he announced his visit: 
 "My dear son — I now prepare, if God willing, 
 to visit you and your mother. I shall set out in 
 seven or eight days from this. It will take me 
 perhaps two weeks if not more before I can reach 
 
 262 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 you, as I must stop at several places on the way. 
 Inform mother of it. While there I will be con- 
 fined j^retty much in the office, as I wish to over- 
 haul all my papers to find certain ones which 
 may assist in sustaining' our claims upon the 
 Government. You must try to go down with me 
 to Green Bay, and stay while I am there. Can 
 you get a one horse wagon, which will be more 
 agreeable to me to go down with. My stay must 
 be short. My great object is to find some papers, 
 which are very important to accompany my own 
 claim now pending- in the Senate. As for Mary 
 Ann Williams' claim, that is abundantly sustained, 
 and I have strong hope, it will pass in the next 
 session of Congress. On my arrival at Milwau- 
 kee, I will write you and let 5^ou know the day I 
 will reach you. Have all in readiness for the 
 journey that we may be in motion the next day 
 after my arrival. This business has already 
 been very expensive to me, but hopes of getting 
 a little sum, has prompted me to continue in my 
 application. My health is much better than it 
 has been, and I hope by the blessing of heaven 
 to reach you safe. Remember me kindly to 
 your family. In haste. 
 
 "Your alfectionate father, 
 Eleazer Williams." 
 Rev. William's arrived in Oshkosh by boat 
 from Fond du Lac, the last days of July, and 
 took boat up Fox and Wolf rivers to Winneconne 
 
 263 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 where he remained one night only with his son 
 John who was living on a farm that joined the 
 edge of the village. He had been married in 
 1851; but his wife and George, their five year old 
 son, now saw "father" Williams, as they affec- 
 tionately speak of him, for the first, last and only 
 time, on this short visit. As all America was at 
 this time full of the story of Rev. Williams royal 
 rights, wherever he went, he was seen by 
 alleyes. Mrs. Washburn traveling on the boat 
 to Fond du Lac was called out of the cabin by 
 her husband, Judge Geo. W. Washburn of Osh- 
 kosh to see the Lost Prince, and Mrs. Theodore 
 Conkey saw him on the same journey. Rev. 
 Williams made a hurried visit to his old home, 
 Little Kaukauna, to visit his wife and examine 
 his papers. The latter were in a little mission 
 house or chapel, the first protestant church in 
 Wisconsin, now used for his office. He soon 
 found the documents for which he was in search, 
 and returned to Hogansburg. His wife and 
 western friends saw him on this visit for the last 
 time. He never returned and died about one year 
 afterward. 
 
 Upon his return he wrote the following letter 
 to his son — 
 
 "Hogansburg, Aug. 25th., 1857. 
 "Dear Son: — 
 
 I reached this place on Tuesday in the follow- 
 ing week after leaving you. I stayed over night 
 
 264 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 at Racine and saw Mr. Emerson, who informed me 
 in the purchase he made of the Kakalin tract 
 from Mr. Lawrence that there was no written 
 provision made for your mother's holding the 
 place where she is now, only verbally — that is, 
 during- the pleasure of the owner. Now this is a 
 hard case. I will, however, make one more effort 
 to get this into a different shape. I am preparing 
 now, my papers to repair to Boston and place 
 them before some of the eminent lawyers there 
 for their opinion. Mr. Lawrence has certainly 
 committed himself in one of his letters to me, 
 which does show, that he did not consider him- 
 self to be the owner of the whole estate. The 
 result of my journey you may expect to hear. I 
 was highly gratified in my visit to your place to 
 find you to be in a prosperous state as to worldly 
 matters. 
 
 I find your place or farm above is considered 
 to be valuable. It may be to your advantage 
 after all to dispose of it. Still it is a kind, 
 venerable place. There is no place I have been 
 taken up with so much, as Martin's place. If I 
 were to select a place of private residence in 
 Wisconsin, it would be there. I wish you would 
 examine the land and the little island opposite 
 to it. Should I obtain from the government a 
 little sum, I should be very apt to purchase of 
 the above place. 
 
 Your present position and connected as you are 
 
 265 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 with that liquor store, it is far from pleasing to 
 your Avife, as well as myself. I hope you will dis- 
 connect yourself from it as soon as ma}?^ be con- 
 venient. It is not for your reputation as a 
 reputable 3'oung o-entleman, to be in that position. 
 I am also preparing for m}^ Washington compaign 
 in next session of Congress. " 
 
 "Yours truly, 
 
 E. Williams." 
 The references in the above letter to his lost 
 estate, closed the final struggle to retain his 
 princely landed property, worth now a million 
 dollars. This estate lay on the west bank of the 
 Fox River, six miles south of DePere, at a country 
 location since known as Little Kaukauna, from 
 the name of the rapids in the river, and now the 
 steam railway station; and interurban street car 
 station; and post office of Little Rapids. The 
 lands were in his day mostly a wilderness thickly 
 grown with oak, maple, elm and pine, all suitable 
 for saw logs, which have been cut away at great 
 profit, leaving the farm lands now occupied by 
 numerous extensive and rich farms; impr6ved by 
 highways, fences and grand farm buildings, and 
 pleasant country homes. This noble woodland 
 estate, was originally three hundred and fifty 
 chains north and south along the river, and two 
 hundred and fifty chains westerly inland, contain- 
 ing 8750 acres, about two miles of the finest lands 
 the sun ever shone upon; high and self drained. 
 
 266 
 
^ 9 
 
 a M 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 This beautiful forest had been the hunting ground 
 of the Jourdain family, expressly reserved to 
 them by their Menomonee Indian connection in 
 the cession to the New York Indians; and to 
 avoid future doubt the lands were made over to 
 "Magdeline Williams,"" two years after her mar- 
 riage to Rev. Eleazer Williams, on August 22, 
 1825, by a formal deed signed by six of "The 
 chiefs, warriors and head men of the Menomonee 
 nation of Indians." The property covered on 
 the river front a valuable hydraulic power. By 
 the treaty of 1838 made with the government by 
 the Menomonee, the grant was confirmed to Elea- 
 zer Williams, and the Patent duly issued from the 
 President of the United States. 
 
 On the bank of the river on this estate, Rev. 
 Mr. Williams, built a log house and outbuildings. 
 His office was the old log cabin originally erected 
 as the first protestant church in Wisconsin, and 
 stood near the dwelling. The New York Indians 
 at first located upon this charming property and 
 the location of his home was to have been the 
 seat of the western Indian empire, so long the 
 dream of statesmen and philanthropists. Prom 
 the high bank of the river at his home, the pros- 
 pect is the grandest on the beautiful river, which 
 at this place is nearly a mile wide, with Black 
 Bird Island in the mid channel. The old log 
 cabin chapel of early days rotted down and dis- 
 appeared long ago. The old log cabin home has 
 
 267 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 been rebuilt. Only sixty five acres still remain 
 with the old house, the last relic of a princely 
 domain. 
 
 The woodland of those days was of little profit 
 to Rev. Eleazer Williams, and his missionary 
 income was uncertain and verj' small. He strug- 
 gled against financial ruin all his life. The store 
 bill with the trader was constantly growing 
 larger with small prospect of being paid. Per- 
 haps he was like many another who have given 
 their life to the good they could do among the 
 humble, not a good manager. His bills at Mr. 
 Whitney's ran up to twelve hundred dollars, and 
 on June 10, 1840, Mr. Daniel Whitney recovered a 
 judgment against Williams for $1285.03. Rev. Mr. 
 Williams was in Boston and mentioned his 
 troubles. He was advised to see Mr. Amos 
 Lawrence, who agreed to buy the judgment and 
 in settlement to take half the lands, which had 
 been surveyed at 4800 acres, and leave Mr, 
 Williams with the other half clear. It had 
 always been understood that half the land was 
 the property of Mrs. Williams. This agreement 
 was not carried out, we suppose because Rev. Mr. 
 Williams was a better preacher than lawyer, and 
 on April 25, 1842 the entire estate was sold by 
 the judgment and all passed out of the hands of 
 both Rev. Mr, Williams and his good wife. Mrs. 
 Williams purchased the sixty five acres about the 
 house and held it all her life, as her homestead 
 
 2G8 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and willed it to Josephine Penney Phillips, the 
 daug-hter of her old and faithful Indian servant, 
 "Nan." 
 
 That Rev. Mr. Williams is right in his conten- 
 tion, that Amos Lawrence did not keep faith with 
 him in the purchase of the judgment and sale of 
 the whole 4800 acres of rich lands for a $1200.00 
 judgment, is evidenced in the one fact that 
 Lawrence obtained the land for twenty-five cents 
 an acre, which was worth then at government 
 price six thousand dollars, and by actual value, 
 one hundred thousand dollars, and now worth 
 nearly a million dollars, and on which there is a 
 water power worth fifty thousand dollars. Amos 
 Lawrence was ashamed of his own act, and con- 
 tinued a negotiation to make Rev. Mr. Williams 
 happy in being plucked even to the very day of 
 his death, fifteen years afterward. As late as 
 1857, Col. H. E. Eastman acting as agent for 
 Lawrence, approached John Lawe Williams to 
 purchase the claim of Eleazer Williams in the 
 lands sold away from him by this judgment. Of 
 this Eleazer writes: 
 
 "It was doubtful with me when 3^ou informed 
 me, that crafty man (Eastman) would attempt 
 to purchase a jDroperty which he has heretofore 
 considered was conveyed by us to Mr. Lawrence. " 
 The next year Rev. Mr. Williams agreedwith Col. 
 Miller of Oshkosh to give him half of his half of 
 the land if he w^ould recover it, and Miller 
 
 269 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 proposed to Lawrence to refer the subject to 
 arbitration, but nothing" ever came of it. This 
 splendid estate was lost to Williams, because he 
 placed too much confidence in the honest}^ of 
 others. I have read over a great many unpub- 
 lished letters of Eleazer Williams, and much that 
 has been published of him, and must confess that 
 I have yet to find a single act of dishonesty on 
 his part, though some of his enemies have bit- 
 terly denounced him. Because of his jjovert}?^ we 
 have showm he lost a great fortune in land, on a 
 judgment obtained for a store bill. He was 
 obliged to remain in the east the last ten years 
 of his life, while urging Congress to pay his just 
 claims, because he had no money to pay traveling 
 expenses, and only got home once during that 
 time. "I have made several attempts to go to 
 you, when I would, I failed for want of means for 
 such a journey," he writes home in January, 1857. 
 The New York world in 1867 gave credence to 
 a tale from Canada, that Rev. Eleazer Williams 
 had collected for the Caughnawaga tribe, an 
 annuity from 1812 to 1820; but had not paid it 
 over to the Indians. This charge was made forty 
 seven years after the occurrence, and from rumor; 
 but is discredited very effectually by the fact 
 that the St. Regis Indians acknowledged their 
 indebtedness to Williams, not that he owes them. 
 Under date of January 21, 1858, Rev. Mr. Williams 
 writes his son John: "There are some things 
 
 270 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 which I wish to inform you; that is, that the St. 
 Regis Indians are indebted to me two thousand 
 dollars, and for which I have a regular document, 
 signed by sixteen of them. This paper is depos- 
 ited by me in the county clerk's office at Malone 
 for safe keeping, and I have a certificate of such 
 deposit. I cannot commence suit as there is no 
 special law. To remedy this something may be 
 done by the present legislature." He died Aug- 
 ust 28, 1858, in great poverty, having dwelt 
 mostly alone in a neat cottage erected by friends 
 after the publications which excited general 
 interest. "His household presented an aspect of 
 cheerless desolation, without a ray of comfort or 
 genial spark of home life." "His neatly finished 
 rooms, had neither carpet, curtains or furniture 
 save a scanty suppl3'of broken chairs and tables; 
 boxes filled with books lay stored in corners." 
 All "left upon the visitors an oppressive feeling 
 of homeless solitude, that it was impossible to 
 efface from the memory." "The occupant, his 
 family a thousand miles away, his hopes and 
 ambitions turned to decay and ashes, crept scarce 
 honored into a lonely grave," over which by the 
 bounty of his son John, a monument was erected. 
 On the monument there is cut a masonic emblem 
 of the square and compass. In September 2, 
 1824, the Menomonee Lodge was instituted in 
 Fort Howard, and ceased to exist in 1830, and 
 its records cannot now be found; but a month 
 
 271 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 after the establishment of this lodge, Rev. 
 Eleazer Williams made application for member- 
 ship as shown by the documents now in the His- 
 torical Society at Madison. There is no doubt 
 he was admitted. Aurora Lodge No. 383 of 
 Masons took charge of the funeral at Hogansburg, 
 N. Y. 
 
 After the story of Rev. Mr. Williams had been 
 widely read, a purse was made up in England to 
 build him a frame church and school at Hogans- 
 burg scarcely completed when he died. This 
 structure is now used as a hay barn. While 
 he resided in the east, his son John frequently 
 visited him, and while he was sick he went to see 
 him; but was not there when he died. He went 
 there with his wife as soon as he heard of his 
 death, and left money with a merchant for the 
 stone, who kindly had it erected. Mrs. John L. 
 Williams informs the writer that the house was 
 empty, someone had carried off all his effects. 
 Ten years after his death, inl867, Rev. Mr. Robert- 
 son then at Malone, asked for letters of adminis- 
 tration, which were issued to him, and h'e took 
 possession of what papers and effects he could 
 discover. His inventory is on file in Franklin 
 County Court House, Malone, New York. He 
 was subsequently Bishop of Missouri and his 
 widow writes me she has no pictures of Williams. 
 No administration was ever had on his estate in 
 Wisconsin. 
 
 272 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 There is at Appieton a small blank book in 
 possessionof Miss Anna L. Tenneywith "Eleazer 
 Williams" stamped all over the cover, which 
 contains the Hymn: "Great Godl with wonder and 
 with praise, " translated into the Indian tong-ue by 
 Rev. Mr. Williams, page 281. There are nine 
 verses, the first one begins with — "Ni ish tsi ni sia 
 ta no ran," etc. It is possible, none can read his 
 numerous Indian translations and works, now 
 almost a dead language; but some where, if not 
 now, some day, the descendants of those who 
 were benefited by his labors will sing to him, 
 "Great Godl with wonder and with praise." 
 
 A few years ago when James Hammond Trum- 
 bull died, no one remained in all the world who 
 could read the Bible which Rev. John Eliot 
 translated into the Indian tongue. Yet his work 
 will live forever. Only last summer an Oneida 
 Indian was ordained a deacon, and he was a 
 descendant of those to whom Rev. Mr. Williams 
 preached. When John Wesley died it was said 
 he left a silver spoon, a teapot, and the Metho- 
 dist church. Those whose mission is in the 
 nobler walks of life, have little time or inclination 
 to amass wealth. Their riches are in their good 
 works. As a missionary. Rev. Eleazer Williams" 
 met with the most wonderful success that ever 
 followed the labor of any man among savages. 
 
 While there is much of attractive interest and 
 a flash of romance in the gossip which seeks to 
 
 273 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 discover the lost King-, in the person of Rev. 
 Eleazer Williams, yet it is only g;ossip or the 
 evidence which a court would dignify by the 
 name of hearsay evidence and thus inadmisable; 
 and the case would be dismissed without g^oing- 
 to the jury. However, there is a court of public 
 opinion, whose rules of evidence are more elastic. 
 This court will ever discover in each particular 
 of this half century old, twice told tale, themes 
 of animated discussion which thoug-h tinged with 
 a mixture of romance and fact will keep it alive 
 in perennial freshness, a never ending stor}'^ as 
 strong as holy writ, full of mystery and expecta- 
 tion of still undiscovered facts. At the beginning 
 of our study of the subject, we held a different 
 view and the examination of the evidence has led 
 us to believe Eleazer Williams to be Louis XVII, 
 though our only purpose has been to present in a 
 connected history, the entire story of Louis XVII 
 the uncrowned King of France, whose sad story 
 will out live the ages. If there was positive 
 proof on the identity of any of the stories of the 
 end of the dear child whom Marie Antoinette so 
 fondly loved, there would be no mystery. We 
 believe an impartial unbiased person must find 
 from the testimony that the Little King was 
 taken alive from the Temple, and to America 
 into northern New York, into the family of the 
 Mohawk Indian whom the whites called Thomas 
 Williams, named by his French conductors 
 
 274 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Lazare, and afterwards became the missionary, 
 whose fiery eloquence swept a whole tribe of 
 heathens into the arms of the church. He was 
 not a Creole, but was a Prince. 
 
 I 
 
 ^r 
 
 275 
 
XXIII 
 
 FAMILY AND DESCENDANTS. 
 
 THE wife of Eleazer Williams, was named by 
 her parents, Mar}' Magdalene, she was born 
 in 1809, at Green Bay of French father; and 
 mother, half French and half Menomonee. After 
 their marriage when she was fourteen years of 
 age they repaired to their new house at their 
 forest estate at Little Kaukauna, where she 
 resided the rest of her life except a few years 
 when they leased the home. Here were born to 
 them three children. Two girls died in infancy, 
 one in the fall of 1841. Their son John Lawe 
 Williams, named for the rich trader of Green Bay, 
 was born at their forest home, January 1, 1825. 
 At her confirmation in the famous Trinitj^ Church 
 on Broadway in New York City by Bishop 
 Hobart he gave her the name of Mary Hobart 
 Williams, w^hich she bore ever after. She lived 
 twenty eight years after the death of her husband, 
 and died in her home, July 22, 1886, and was 
 buried in Woodlawn Cemetery (protestant) at 
 Green Bay. As described by visitors, "her 
 house was as neat as wax. " In her old age much 
 of her time was spent sitting on a broad sofa 
 near the ancient fireplace. She could speak 
 French very well, and was versed in English 
 which she easily read and wrote. Her quaint 
 diary was written in a well, rounded perfect 
 English scrip. It w^as a record of the country 
 side for generations, making note of every birth, 
 
 276 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 death, marriage, or other events; also the name 
 and date of every boat which passed her window. 
 It even g-ave Indian names to every cow and 
 animal on the premises, and noted the offspring- 
 with a name ready at hand, giving- the day of the 
 month and year of its birth. Some of these were 
 kept in old account books, until filled. One of 
 them is a store pass book utilized for the purpose. 
 She is described as a ''neighborly, kindly hand- 
 some old lady.'' 
 
 One week before her death she made her will, 
 which was witnessed, by Dr. F. L. Lewis and 
 Mr. Van Buren Brownley, wherein she is des- 
 cribed as Mary Hobart Williams, "widow of the 
 late Rev. Eleazer Williams, popularly known as 
 the alleged Dauphin, son of Louis XVI, King of 
 France.*' It gives to Hon. Morgan L. Martin all 
 her books, manuscripts, and the oil portrait of 
 her husband, in trust to sell and pay the proceeds 
 to her grandson George Williams; the balance of 
 her property she bequeathed to Josephine Penney 
 who was born in her house, with the condition 
 that she care for her mother Nan, during her 
 life. Written on the will was a memoranda: "I 
 wish to be buried in Woodlawn Cemeter}'. That 
 my finger ring be given to Mrs. Fay, daughter of 
 Mrs. Dequedre; to be buried with my silk dress, 
 and have on the ear rings in the tin box in the 
 bureau." By this will Josephine Penne}^ came 
 into possession of the old Williams homestead, 
 
 277 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 consistirifjf now of sixty-five acres of land and 
 appraised as valued at ^975.00. The personal 
 property consisting- of farm implements, stock, 
 and household furniture was appraised at §252.20. 
 The books were not listed in the records of Pro- 
 bate, but the memoranda on tile show that a few 
 of the books were sold for $12.25; the balance, 
 mostly sermons sold through West book Co., of 
 Milwaukee for $5.00; and that the oil painting 
 of Rev. Mr. Williams by Catlin was taken by the 
 the Wisconsin Historical Society for $50.00. The 
 debts amounting to $65.65, being^ expenses of last 
 sickness and burial, were jDaid from the sale of 
 effects. 
 
 A narrative of Mother Williams is not complete 
 without mention of the faithful Indian servant, 
 whom all visitors saw at their home. Her name 
 was Mary Jane Garrety, nic named by John 
 Williams, "Nan." She was a Menomonee, except 
 the slight strain of white blood from her grand- 
 mother who was a captive white child married 
 to a Menomonee Indian. Nan was born Septem- 
 ber, 1821, and died twelve years after her niistress, 
 March 29, 1898, and was buried three miles from 
 the old Homestead, at Schneiderville, where her 
 daughter Josephine has erected a monument for 
 her. At a verj'^ early age she came to mother 
 Williams and remained there all her life, a faithful 
 servant on whom mother Williams depended for 
 most of the work. 
 
 278 
 
Mr. George Williams, 1904 
 
 The last of the Bourbons, and only rightful claimant to the French throne - 
 From a recent photograph — Grandson of Eleazer Williams. 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 In 1853, Nan married Andrew Penney an indigent 
 Frenchman, who deserted her before her child 
 was born. Five years before this John Lawe 
 Williams had moved onto his farm atWinneconne, 
 and Rev. Eleazer Williams was constantly 
 engaged at Washington and the east, leaving 
 Mother Williams at home with Nan as her only 
 companion. When Nan's child Josphine, was 
 born, she also formed part of the household at 
 home after school hours to help on the farm. 
 After Mother William's death, Josephine became 
 owner of the old Williams homestead as stated 
 by the devise of Mrs. Williams, and still owns 
 the property. The whole Williams household, 
 even to Nan, believed that Rev. Mr. Williams was 
 the legitimate King of France. His son John, his 
 son's widow, and their son George, firmly believed 
 the story. 
 
 DESCENDANTS. 
 
 John Lawe Williams, only son of Eleazer Will- 
 iams, was born in Green Bay, January 1, 1825; 
 where he was educated and remained until Aug- 
 ust 7, 1849, when he purchased a farm in Winne- 
 conne and moved onto it. When sixteen years of 
 age he traveled east with his father as related in 
 auother place, and met the Prince de Joinville at 
 the same time with his father when returning 
 home. When he was twenty-six years of age, he 
 married, December 26, 1851, at Fond du Lac, Miss 
 Jane Pattison Enery who was born December 26, 
 
 279 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 1836. Her father and mother were born in Ire- 
 land, where Paul Enery her father was educated 
 for the priesthood, but disliking- this, emigrated 
 to Fredericton, New Brunswick, and taught 
 school, and married. There were seven children 
 born to them, of whom Mrs. S. R. Clark, Mrs. 
 Matt Hasbrouck, and widow of John Lawe Will- 
 iams are now living in Oshkosh. Mrs. Judge 
 George Gary was a daughter. Mr. C. W. Stribley 
 has in his possession the diary kept by John L. 
 Williams in 1841, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7. 
 
 John Lawe Williams sold his farm and resided 
 in Oshkosh, which was his home until his death. 
 He was fatally injured while in the woods at 
 Tigerton, and died the next day, September 22, 
 1883. Rev. F. R. Haff, Episcopal rector con- 
 ducted the service at the home on Mount Vernon 
 street in Oshkosh, and Colonel Gabe Bouck at 
 the grave in the Masonic Cemeter}-, acted as 
 Grand Master of the Masonic order which had 
 charge of the funeral. 
 
 Their three children were, George, Louis and 
 Eugene; the last two were born in Oshkosh and 
 are not now living. George Williams, their old- 
 est child was born at Wlnneconne, November 8, 
 1852. He now resides in St. Louis, has been mar- 
 ried since 1884, but no children have been born to 
 them, so that this Bourbon line will end w'ith 
 George Williams the only true King- of France 
 now living; the last of the Bourbons. 
 
 280 
 
William's Brass Candle and Memoranda 
 
 Book page 273, Miss Anna L. Tenney collection, Appleton, from her 
 own kodak. 
 
XXIV 
 
 GOLD, SILVER, BRASS AND CHINA. 
 
 ELEAZER WILLIAMS was the recipient o 
 many rich gifts of gold, silver, and brass, as 
 well as books. I cannot trace the present 
 possessor of the gold cross and star of the order of 
 St. Louis, which is illustrated on the sash in the 
 picture page 154, and which he says: "I received 
 from the Indian family of which I supposed my- 
 self a member,'' in writing to Dr. Stephen W. 
 Williams, September 23, 1853. Some one sent 
 him an oil painting of Louis XVI on wood, which 
 as navigation had closed he left at Mr. Brown's 
 hotel in Sheboygan, about fifty-five years ago 
 and never called for it. It is still in possession 
 of Mrs. L. H. Jones, their daughter, who reports 
 it as too dark by age for photograjDhing. Some 
 one gave him a picture of Louis XVIII, which 
 was said to resemble Rev. Mr. Williams. 
 
 Some one in France sent to Eleazer Williams a 
 case containing a number of pieces of gold 
 jewelry, supposed to have been worn by Marie 
 Antoinette, and with them were two engravings 
 executed in France, cabinet size, one of Louis 
 XVI, and one of Marie Antoinette, both with 
 square black stucco frames. The jewelry was 
 retained by mother Williams, who gave the royal 
 
 281 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 portraits to her son, John L. Williams, and his 
 widow, still has them in her parlor at Oshkosh. 
 I do not know the present ownership of the 
 jewelry. In 1832, George Catlin painted in oil the 
 portrait of Rev. Eleazer Williams. For fifty-live 
 years this i^ainting adorned the walls of the log 
 cabin home of Rev. Mr.Williamsonthe bank of the 
 Fox River. For nearly thirty years Mother 
 Williams kept those jiortraites of King Louis 
 XVI, and Marie Antoinette, hanging upon either 
 side of the oil painting of her husband. In 1887 
 the Historical Society of Madison, came into pos- 
 session of the oil painting b}^ purchase for the 
 sum of fifty dollars, from Morgan L, Martin, 
 administrator of the estate of Mary Hobart 
 Williams. 
 
 Hearing the story of Eleazer Williams, a gentle 
 lady of Northampton, Mass., presented him with 
 a beautiful brocade silk dress, with a train twelve 
 feet long. The note accompanying the gift was 
 as follows: "Presented to Rev. Eleazer Williams, 
 with respectful regards of Mrs. Edward >Clark of 
 Northampton. Being in England some 3^ears 
 since, I had an opportunity there to purchase 
 this dress, once worn by Queen Marie Antoinette, 
 of France. It had been bought at the court by a 
 gentleman attached at that time to our embassy. 
 I was informed that the dresses once worn by the 
 queen, were afterward distributed among the 
 ladies of the Court, who would sometimes dispose 
 
 282 
 
> s 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 of them in this manner at auction. Round Hill, 
 Northampton, Mass., Jan. 3, 1851." Rev. Mr. Wil- 
 liams kept this old faded silk gown by him during" 
 the remainder of his life, and ten years after his 
 death it was listed in the Rev. Robertson inven- 
 tory of William's effects at ten dollars, and finally 
 cut into small pieces and sold as souvenirs, for 
 the benefit of the estate. Mary E. Seaver of 
 Malone recalls the dress as, "brocade white satin 
 and small designs colored like Dresden decora- 
 tions. " Mrs. E. W. Knowlton of Malone has a 
 fragment in her possession. The pair of octagon 
 silver candlesticks, given to John L. Williams by 
 his mother, were intended by him for the Histori- 
 cal Society of Madison and he consulted Judge 
 Washburn as to the method of making the gift, 
 but in the meantime they were left by him in the 
 Masonic Lodge at Oshkosh, where they were 
 destroyed in the "Great fire," April 28, 1875, 
 which consumed the lodge, and all its contents 
 except some of the records, and swept over the 
 best part of the city. A brass candlestick was 
 obtained at the old homestead by Miss Anna L. 
 Tenney, who still retains it at her home in Apple- 
 ton (page 281). A royal set of brass andirons, 
 exquisitely shaped and perhaps unequalled in 
 beauty by any other ever in the west, were pur- 
 chased of the administration of mother Williams 
 estate, by Mrs. C. F. Button of Wausaukee. A 
 china teapot, sugar bowl and cream pitcher pink 
 
 283 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 lustre are in the collection ol Hon. A. J. Reid of 
 Appleton (page 283). The four beveled edge, solid 
 wood bottom, spindle back, turned leg chairs, 
 purchased by Eleazer Williams from Lieutenant 
 John W. Cotton of Fort Howard, in 1825, are still 
 at the old homestead, except one, which many 
 3'ears ago came into possession of Judge Morgan 
 L. Martin, who had the top of the side spindles 
 and the legs tipped with brass, the seat uphol- 
 stered, and the body stained mahogan5^ It is 
 still at his old homestead. The arm chair with the 
 leathern cushion used by Rev. Mr. "Williams in his 
 chapel office is still at the old homestead, having 
 survived the office. The old hair deer skin trunk, 
 iron bound, which carried the important papers, 
 books, sermons and wardrobe of the uncrowned 
 king, up and down the land for many years, 
 finally rejected and dumped among the rubbish in 
 the barn at the old home, was resurrected from 
 destruction by Mr. John C. Mitchell of Kaukauna. 
 It has the initials E. W., in large bold capitals on 
 the cover, made of brass covered sadler nails. 
 The sword carried by Williams through the war 
 of 1812, as a general of scouts, is in possession of 
 the widow of John L. Williams at Oshkosh; and 
 the brass eagle from the flagstaff of his command 
 is owned by Dr. H. B. Kendall at Menasha. Mrs. 
 Chester W. Smith of Kilbourn, Wis., mentions 
 a jewelled snuff box of Rev. Mr. Williams which 
 I cannot locate, and a gold snuff box the gift of 
 
 284 
 
:U 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the Prince de Joinville is mentioned by Mr. Par- 
 son, (see appendix V). Mrs. John L. Williams 
 writes me: "I thoug-ht the uniform was in the 
 Historical Library rooms at Madison. The last 
 time I saw it, it was in a very bad condition, 
 smoke stained and moth eaten, so was the flag. 
 Both looked as if they had seen hard service." 
 But none of these can be found. "I do not dis- 
 cover in our museum any relics of Eleazer Wil- 
 liams, save the oil painting; the neck band which 
 he wore during the period of his ministry; a cop- 
 per kettle; and a great many manuscripts written 
 by him; his diary, and numerous sermons copied 
 by him into the Oneida language," writes Dr. 
 Reuben G. Thwaites, Secretary of the Historical 
 Society. The large field glass carried by him 
 through the war, and his spurs are still at the old 
 homestead, owned by Mary Phillips, daughter of 
 Josephine. A dozen silver spoons given by Mother 
 Williams as a post mortem gift to Dr. H. B. Ken- 
 dall of Menasha, he still retains; and a sterling 
 silver spoon once owned by Williams is at the 
 library in Menasha. 
 
 Mrs. Susan Hough, of Green Bay, has an im- 
 mense china platter, old blue colonial, given to 
 her by Mother Williams. But Mrs. Francis Law- 
 ton Dunham, of DePere has the largest and finest 
 collection of Williams china, silver, pewter and 
 wooden designs, anywhere to be seen. She has 
 twenty-two pieces of china, four Sheffield plates 
 
 285 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 and a quantity of wooden pieces, besides tbe 
 eighty books mentioned in another place. The 
 china consists of one large soup tureen, old blue 
 Ridgway; soup plate, E. and E. W. Pekin, Pearl 
 china incised; light blue plate, pearl china, 
 (Page 285); four blue plates and octagon pitcher 
 to match; large soup plate, large plate, sugar 
 bowl, teapot and three cups and saucers all to 
 match, with blue corner grapes, chelsea ware 
 N. S. 0., (Page 286); a beautiful pink lustre cup 
 and saucer; two toy cups and saucers. Also a 
 low delft cup, yellow white lining, which Nan said 
 was Rev. Mr. William's shaving mug (Page 285). 
 Of the Sheffield plate, there are two decanter 
 stands, which Nan says were used by Williams to 
 pass the bread at the communion; a dinner castor 
 with six bottles; a low plate warmer with lead 
 feet, has an iron weight to heat. There is also 
 a queer steel knife with wood handle. There are 
 carved moulds for maple sugar, one the shape of 
 a beaver, one of bear's paw and one round. These 
 were said to be great treasures among the jiatives 
 and descended from generation to generation, 
 and possibly belonged to Mother Williams. There 
 is also a long wooden ladel to stir the maple 
 sugar, and a small mocock of birch bark to con- 
 tain the sugar. 
 
 Dr. H. B. Tanner of Kaukauna, has several let- 
 ters written by Eleazer Williams. There is a 
 pink luster cup and saucer in possession of Mrs. 
 
 286 
 
^ ; 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Barton L. Parkerof Green Bay; and an exquisitely 
 carved bellows with which Eleazer Williams 
 quickened the log- fire of the old fire place now 
 owned by Mrs. Eugene Smith of DePere. Mrs. 
 Edwin Moore, has a i:)itcher of blue and cream 
 stone ware decorated with figures in relief. 
 Numerous other effects of Rev. Mr. Williams are 
 still cherished among the homes of the Pox River 
 Valley too numerous to detail. 
 
 4^ 
 
 287 
 
XXV 
 
 RARE LIBRARY OP ELEAZER WILLIAMS. 
 
 Rev. Eleazer Williams possessed a rich library 
 of rare and valuable books. He bad the largest 
 library anywhere in the west in his day, with 
 possibly the exception of the rare Percival col- 
 lection. From the information I gather of the 
 Williams library it must have contained more than 
 two thousand volumes. When Rev. Mr. Robert- 
 son made his inventory now on file in Malone, New 
 York, he found in Hogansburg over twelve hun- 
 dred books. But a great many remained at his 
 home inLittle Kaukauna. He frequently bartered 
 his books at Green Bay for a little money. In this 
 manner Judge Martin came to possess some of 
 the rarest books in his collection. The books are 
 widely scattered. The historical Library at Mad- 
 ison reports no books from this library. The 
 book firm of H. H. West & Company, Milwaukee, 
 purchased a quantity in 1888, but cannot trace 
 them now. At the time of his death, in his home- 
 stead at Hogansburg, there were unopened boxes 
 of books piled in the room; but a few weeks after 
 the event when his son John Lawe Williams with 
 his wife, visited Hogansburg to look after his 
 affairs, the house was empty. He dearly loved 
 his books. It will be noticed in the partial list 
 
 288 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 given below their deep religious character out 
 ranks all other subjects. 
 
 In possession of Mrs. John Lawe Williams, 
 Oshkosh: Christ our Life, Angus; The Hugenots, 
 2 Vol. 1843; Jonstone's Chemistry; View of the 
 United States, published 1820; North America, Imlay, 
 1797;^ Tour of New York to Detroit, 1819; Manual 
 of Family Prayers, Bishop Blomfields, 1831; Horace 
 Paulinal, William Paley, 1805; Hebrew Prophet, 
 1837; Frencli Eevolution, M. A. Thiers, 2 Vol, 1843. 
 Some of the above books have the name "E. 
 Williams" in lead pencil. Williard's United States, 
 N. Y., 1842; Memoirs of Napoleon, M. de Bour- 
 rienne, 1835; Life of Lafayette, S. Andrus and son, 
 1847; Burgoyne's Campaign, Charles Neilson, Al- 
 bany, 1844; Life of Jefferson, William Linn, Ithaca, 
 1843; Life of Kirkland, Lathrop, Boston, 1848; 
 Whately on St. Paul, N. Y. 1831: The Young Chris- 
 tian, Jacob Abbott, Boston; Life of Piev. James 
 Hervey, Hamilton, 1848; Oxford 'Theology, Venburg 
 Livingston, N. Y. 1841; The Parish Library, N. Y. 
 10 Vols. 1832; Home Education, Isaac Taylor, N. Y., 
 1838; Yamayden, a tale of the wars of King Phillip, 
 N. Y. 1820; The Backwoods of Canada, Charles 
 Knight, 1832; Elegant Extracts, 1816; Haskins As- 
 tronomy, 1841, with writing on fly-leaf — "Rev. E. 
 Williams, with regards of the author, Buffalo, 
 June 21, 1841; Zaco7i or Many Things in few words. 
 Rev. C. C. Colton, N. Y. 1821; a total of 38 
 Volumes. 
 
 289 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 In possession of Judge E. G. Ellis of Green 
 Bay: "I bought of Judge Martin, Blair's Lectures 
 and 3Iurrm/s Reader.'" 
 
 In possession of George Utz, cashier National 
 Bank, Menasha, who purchased them of Judge 
 Martin for fifty cents— Price's Sermons, London, 
 1787; Hist, of Christianity, Priestlj% Boston, 1797; 
 a bound volume made up of pamphlets of funeral 
 sermons. 
 
 Owned by Miss Deborah B. Martin, Green Bay: 
 Hennepin, 1698. This is an original published in 
 French in Amsterdam. Written on inside — "M. 
 L. Martin, 1831." Journal Historeque. by Joutel, 
 Paris, 1713. This is an original in French; 
 written inside in French; "Owned by the Aca- 
 demy at Quebec 1778. " 
 
 History of Neiv France, De Charlevoix, Paris, 
 1745, 8 volumes. This is an original published in 
 French. 
 
 The book of Common Prayer, etc., Mark Baskett 
 1766. It is 16 inches long, 10 inches wide and one 
 and a half inches thick. On the fly lea,f there 
 is written infine, large letters, "Presented by 
 Rector, Wardens and vestry of King's Chapel 
 in Boston to Reverend Mr. Williams, Pastor of 
 the Oneidas, November, 1816." 
 
 Owned by Mr. M. D. Kimball, Milwaukee: 
 Senecas Morals by Roger L. Estrange Knt. 15th. ed. 
 London, 1746. Written inside— "M. D. Kimball, 
 Green Bay, August 14, 1892," who received it 
 
 290 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 from his sister, who inscribed on fore cover, "I 
 secured this volume from 'Old Nan' for many- 
 years servant in the home of Eleazer Williams. 
 She still lives at the old mission house at Little 
 Kaukauna and firmly believes him to have been 
 the Lost Dauphin," sgd. "Sara Sale." 
 
 Owned by Miss Anna L. Tenney, Appleton — 
 Sword's Pocket Almanac, 1824, New York; Ameri- 
 can Spelling book, Noah Webster, Hartford, 1821, 
 written on the fly leaf: "John Williams, Green 
 Bay;" Flint's Dictionary, Hartford, 1806; Paley's 
 Christianity, New York, 1814, written on the cover, 
 "E. Williams;" Christian Monitor, No. 18, 1811. 
 On the fly leaf is written— "A. G. Ellis; New Tes- 
 tament, New York, 1830, Cover has printed label 
 — "Female Bible and Prayer book society, St. 
 John's Church, Canandaiqua;" Classical letters; 
 London, 1817; Christian Monitor-, History oi Jesuits, 
 History q/ Mass., Boston 1831; Sermons by Blair, 3d 
 vol. Phil. 1794, written on fly leaf, "from Mrs. 
 Sarah Patten, Hartford, Conn. 1826;" The Psalter 
 of David, with canticle painted for chanting-. 
 Miss Tenney has given away the last four books. 
 In possession of Miss Agnes L. Dwight, Appleton: 
 Croly on St. John, Philadelphia, 1827. 
 
 In possession of William W. Wight, Milwau- 
 kee: Episcopal Prayer Book, in French language, 
 New York 1803; Practical Discourses, by Rev. 
 Daniel Williams, Vol. I., London 1738, on fly leaf: 
 "From Eleazer Williams library, Presented to 
 
 291 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Mr. William W. Wight by Francis L. Dunham, 
 DePere, Wisconsin, Dec. 3rd, 1903;" Tracts, being 
 a bound volume of polemical sermons; Essays to 
 do Good, Cotton Mather, New York, 1815, also at 
 head of preface this : "Presented to Miss Catharine 
 Nichols, as a testimony of the approbation of her 
 affectionate L. Huntley, Hartford, June 10, 1816," 
 in the writing of the poetess; The Child's 
 Catechism, by Nahum Mower, Montreal, 1809; 
 Hymns for Infant Minds, Boston 1812; Nathaniel 
 Ames Alm,a7iac, 1749, has "William Williams" on 
 fly leaf. All the above have same Mrs. Dunham 
 presentation as above. 
 
 Owned by P. V. Lawson, Menasha, Wisconsin: 
 Extracts from Scriptures. Boston, 1815; Bhetorick, 
 Blair, Concord, 1830; Walks of Usefulness, Campbell, 
 N. Y. 1812; Baptist Manual, Phil., 1835; Sacred His- 
 tory, Turner, N. Y. 1835; Christian Monitor; Greek 
 and English Lexicon, Bass, London, 1829; System 
 of Theology, Livingston, N. Y. 1832; Happiness of 
 the Blessed, Mant, Phil., 1833; Constitution of the 
 Presbyterian Church, Phil., 1839; Exposition, But- 
 ler, about 1820; End of Religious Controversey , Mil- 
 ner, Baltimore, 1818. 
 
 Owned by O. E. Clark, Appleton: Juvenile 
 Repository, July, 1811; Callto the Unconverted, Baxter, 
 1825, on fly leaf; "Mary Battle to Mary Williams, 
 Dec. 9, 1841; Geography, by Jedidiah Morse, Bos- 
 ton, 1806; Astronomical Almanac, 1784, Hartford; do., 
 for 1760, by Nathaniel Ames, Boston. Owned by 
 
 292 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Mrs. Francis Lawton Dunham, DePere: Novum 
 Testamentum Graecium, Dakins, London, 1808; 
 Bible, 1808; New Testament, 1812; Jesws Obinadisiwiu, 
 Ojanda, A King-, Paris 1837; Gospel St. Mathew, in 
 Mohawk language, presented to Rev. E. Williams 
 by Joseph "VV. Powless, Dec. 6, 1842, missionary 
 to Onandagos; Lenni Lenape, Indian Grammar, 
 1816, given to "Rev. Williams by the American 
 Philosophical Society;" Historie Abregsi: Zelotes, 
 by Cotton Mather, 1717, written on fly leaf "Wil- 
 liam Williams;" Beligious Affections, by Jonathan 
 Edwards, Boston, 1824; Duty of Christian, 1794; 
 Psalms, by Isaac Watts, Woodstock, Vt. 1824, 
 written "presented by Mr. Edward Cook, Hart- 
 ford, Conn."; The Dairyman's Daughter,'^ 1812; 
 Address to Young Christians; Evangelical Tracts, 24 
 of them in all; the four Evangelists by Newcome, 
 1809; Call to Unconverted, Albany, 1811, presented, 
 "from Mrs. Sarah Potter, Hartford, Conn., 1826;" 
 Weeks preparation jor the unconverted, by Bishop 
 John Henry Hobart, D. D., "to Mary Hobart Wil- 
 liams from J. H. Hobart;" Christian Religion: Mliole 
 duty of man: Jeusuit Juggling, Baxter, N. Y. 1835; 
 Tryal of a Saving Interest in Christ, Boston, 1701, 
 "property of Tho. Croswell, 1725," et al; Essays 
 to do Good, 1808, Cotton Mather; Christian Monitor, 
 1807; Popery, 1836, Orations of Cicero, London 1758, 
 written "David Dickenson book, 1776;" Cookery, 
 London 1816; Voyage of Anson, round the world, 
 Dublin, 1819; Juliana Oakley by Mrs. Sherwood, 
 
 293 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Tlie Spy; Works of Henry Fielding, Vol. 14-1819; 
 Childs Catechism, French 1819; A Token for Children, 
 1795. And man}'' other books on similar subjects 
 to the total number of eighty, some bound in 
 leather, some in cloth and a number in paper. 
 
 Mr. Charles W. Stribley of Kaukauna, has 
 books : L iving Man ners, Phil. , 1822 ; A^eiv Testament, 
 1822; Harmony in Ch'eek, 1828; Clergyman's Compan- 
 ion Yol. I., 1828; English Ch'ammar^ Ingersoll, N. 
 Y. 1822; Christian Monitor, contains written "David 
 Dickenson 1807; Welche's Arithmetic, 1834, with 
 autograph: "John L. Williams, 1840;" Christian 
 Theology 1826; Arithmetic, McDonald, Norwich, 1795. 
 
 Emily V. Keever of Freeport, 111., has a music 
 book in which Rev. Mr. Williams wrote simple 
 tunes and monosyllable words for his Indian 
 converts. 
 
 About the year 1853, Eleazer Williams traveled 
 through New England in search of Indian stories 
 of experiences of the pioneers for a book he pro- 
 posed to write. While at Char] estown, N. H., he 
 saw a book containing accounts of white people 
 captive among the Indians. As he could not buy 
 it, Mr. Robertson gave him his copy. 
 
 Dr. King of Green Bay possessed a great num- 
 ber of Williams books. They were great friends. 
 Mrs. Kate King Ramsey of Appleton, has one of 
 these. Exposition of the Epistle of Hebrews, 1731, 
 Edinburg. He often sold Dr. King his books and 
 would then borrow them back in armfuls. 
 
 294 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 Mr. Clinton Stevens of Malone, N. Y., has a 
 book from the Williams library; and Mrs. H. A. 
 Taylor of Malone has one of his Manuscript Ser- 
 mons. Mr. John W. Knapp of Beaver, Penn., has 
 a leather bound Volume of Sermons in French dat- 
 ing back to 1693 with occasional special notes, 
 and on the fly leaf in pencil "Louis Roi 1707." 
 
 Mrs. Martha Grange of Fort Covington, N. Y., 
 has ''Life of the Bauphin,'' given by Rev. "Williams 
 to her at one of her visits to him during his last 
 illness at Hogansburg. He frequently preached 
 in their town house to the few Episcopalians at 
 Fort Covington and while there made his home 
 with Richard Grange. ' 'Lfe of the Dauphin" is an 
 English translation from the French by Percival, 
 rector at, Bucks, England, 1838, London. It 
 accepts as a fact the death of the Dauphin in the 
 Temple. There are numerous led pencil correc- 
 tions to the text. 
 
 •^|? 
 
 295 
 
APPENDIX I. 
 
 HEARD ELEAZEK WILLIAMS PREACH. 
 
 Menasha, Wise, July 18, 1904. 
 p. V. Lawson, Esq., 
 My Dear Sir:— 
 
 In response to your request that I 
 would write you an account of the occasion on 
 which I was fortunate enough to see Eleazer 
 Williams, I send you the following brief sketch, 
 which is true as far as my memory serves me 
 after the lapse of many years. In the early 50's 
 of the last century (I do not remember the exact 
 year) when I was a young girl, I lived in the old 
 town of Alexandria, Virginia, and with many 
 others was much interested in an article j^ub- 
 lished at the time in ^^Putnams Maqazine,'' called 
 '^Have ive a Bourbon among us?" It impressed me as 
 a most remarkable and interesting story of the 
 strange vicissitudes in the life of a , Bourbon 
 prince, and to my mind bore the stamp of truth. 
 My father had visited Wisconsin quite often, and 
 had taken up government land in several parts 
 of this State, and often stopped near Green Bay 
 which was the place where the land office was 
 located. He was familiar with the region where 
 Eleazer Williams lived and had dined with the 
 Prince de Joinville during his trip in the north- 
 
 296 
 
PRIXCE OR CREOLE 
 
 west, though of course he had no suspicion of 
 the Princes object in coming- to America. I often 
 discoursed the magazine article I have referred 
 to with him, and when we heard that Mr. 
 Williams was to be in Washington and Alexan- 
 dria, we were a good deal excited at the prospect 
 of seeing him. When he arrived he was invited 
 to preach in St. Paul's church. It was an even- 
 ing service, and the church was crowded with an 
 audience, drawn either by interest and no doubt 
 curoisity to see the man who was the hero of such 
 a romantic and thrilling story. He was intro- 
 duced by the rector simph' as the Rev. Mr. 
 Eleazer Williams of Wisconsin. The audience 
 were of course divided in their ideas about him, 
 some scoffed at the story of his royal descent and 
 expected to see him an Indian, while others like 
 myself believed him to be a Bourbon. When he 
 rose in the pulpit in full view of the congrega- 
 tion every doubt as to the Indian blood was re- 
 moved. In his appearance he had not as far as 
 we could see, a single Indian characteristic. He 
 looked at that time between fifty and sixty years 
 old. He was grsij, and I think partially bald, 
 with fine ej'-es, and as I now remember, his face 
 rather aquiline features, and some people who 
 were familiar with the old Bourbon portrait saw 
 in him a strong resemblance to them. I do not 
 remember much about his accent in speaking, but 
 he gave us a plain and rather dull sermon, in 
 
 297 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 which if I remember rightly, he made no reference 
 to his personal history. After the services were 
 over he returned to Washing-ton. In the many 
 chang-es in my life the story passed from my 
 mind, and I never heard it again until I came to 
 Menasha some twenty years ago. Then my 
 husband met a man well known here, whose 
 name was Thomas Jourdain, who was a brother- 
 in-law of Mr. Williams, and heard the story from 
 him. I have always believed in its truth, and it 
 is not stranger than other true stories connected 
 with royalty. Perhaps at some future day this 
 search may be recalled as other historic mysteries 
 have been. Yours very truly, 
 
 Sally McCarty Pleasants. 
 
 II 
 
 PRINCE DE JOINVILLE RIDES A LUMBER WAGON TO 
 WILLIAMS HOME. 
 
 The following narrative was kindly procured 
 for this work by Francis Lawton Dunham (Mrs. 
 J. S. Dunham) of DePere, Wisconsin, who "had 
 a long and interesting conversation with Mrs. 
 Sharpe, taking notes as she related the various 
 events, and reading them over to her afterward. 
 She was interested and willing to have her recol- 
 lection published." Complete narative of Mrs. 
 Harriet Stewart Sharpe as given to Mrs. Francis 
 Lawton Dunham, of DePere, Dec. 5, 1904: 
 
 298 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 "My father Robert D. Stewart came to De Pere 
 in 1836, and built the first house on the west side 
 of the Pox River which was built by a white man. 
 The original house was near the river, but was 
 destroyed and my brother Joseph built his house 
 on the same land, but nearer the road. It was 
 about one mile from the present bridge in DePere, 
 and six miles from Port Howard or Green Bay. 
 I remember perfectly the visit of the Prince de 
 Joinville at our house, but cannot remember 
 exactly what year it was, (Oct. 1841). I always 
 said that "We had had the honor of entertain- 
 ing the Prince de Joinville." He was a young 
 man of fine and courtly manner, so elegantly 
 dressed and so extremely polite. I do not 
 remember how he got to our house, but think some 
 one must have brought him up from Green Bay. 
 He came from the Astor house on the east side of 
 the river, for there was a road on that side for 
 teams, and only a trail on .the west side. It is 
 very likely that Dan Whitney may have brought 
 him up to the ferry, as 3'ou say that his niece told 
 you when you were a young girl (1859) that "he 
 had a beautiful watch given him by the Prince de 
 Joinville for taking him up to see Eleazer 
 Williams." But no one came across the river but 
 the Prince and no one went wp to see Eleazer 
 Williams but my father and the Prince. They 
 probably came up as far as the ferry and called 
 for us to come over and get him, for my father 
 
 299 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 kept the ferry at that time. The river was not 
 wide then, before the dam was built, and a good 
 hard shove would send a canoe clear across the 
 river, or the passenger could paddle himself 
 across. We often did this if my father and broth- 
 ers were in the woods. We had a large scow 
 ferry to carry teams across. The Prince, came 
 to our house for the purpose of getting my father 
 to take him up to see Eleazer Williams. We 
 always called him "Priest Williams;" and they 
 rode up to his house in our heavy wagon at once. 
 It was a rough log house, comparatively new 
 then, about six miles to the south of our place; 
 where he lived with his wife, Mary Jourdain, and 
 son John who was a little fellow then. They 
 stayed there for several hours, for I remember 
 that our dinner was very late between three and 
 four o'clock in the afternoon, owing to their hav- 
 ing stayed up there so long. At the dinner table 
 the Prince seemed to feel very badly, he was 
 very much depressed and showed it very much, 
 and could not talk of anything else bi^t Priest 
 Williams. He asked so many questions about 
 him, and seemed so anxious to know everything 
 my father could tell him. It seemed to affect him 
 so much to know that Priest Williams, was living 
 in such straightened circumstances, in such a 
 rough log house, with literally no comforts of life 
 at all. Their house was so poorly furnished, no 
 chairs even, only stools with three legs, that 
 
 300 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 the}' had made themselves. No carpets, no rugs 
 and only bunk beds. I cannot remember what 
 he said, only I kno>,v he talked a great deal about 
 it. They were all the time talking" about Priest 
 Williams and the Prince seemed to feel so much, 
 his lack of everything- which makes life at alJ 
 desirable. After dinner was over my father took 
 him in the rough wagon, the only one we had, to 
 Green Ba}^ and I always thought it must have 
 seemed strange to him to ride in such a wagon, 
 he was so finely dressed and so elegant looking. 
 Crossing the ferr}' in the scow they went down to 
 Green Ba}' on the east side of the river, and my 
 father left him at the Astor House, and came 
 home alone. He seemed to be so thankful to my 
 father for having taken him up to see Priest 
 Williams. 
 
 Ialwa3-s thought the Prince de Joinville thought 
 or knew that Eleazer Williams was the Dauphin, 
 from the wa}' he talked at our house, and his 
 feeling so depressed over him. It does not seem 
 as though he could of felt that way over a total 
 stranger. 
 
 Eleazer Williams alwaj's rode a small black 
 Indian pony, and alwaj'S carried saddle bags at 
 the back of his saddle. He invariably stopped 
 at our house in passing, to get a drink of water, 
 for we had a fine spring in the cellar. He would 
 rein in his horse and call out, "I want some of 
 your white ale, "" and we children would run down 
 
 301 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 cellar, and bring him some cool fresh water from 
 the spring. We alwaj^s liked him. I thought he 
 was a nice man, and he always seemed to be a 
 good man. He was a missionarj^ and we always 
 supposed he brought out the Oneida Indians to 
 the Reservation here. 
 
 He did not dress very well for he was very 
 poor; but I remember one day he stopped at our 
 house, and was so richly dressed in handsome 
 clothes, and he told us that "the Prince de Join- 
 ville had sent him a box of very nice things."' 
 He seemed so pleased, and looked so finely. We 
 thought the Prince must have sent him the 
 clothes he had on, but he did not say so; nor did 
 we like to ask the question. My father always 
 said he thought it was strange for the Prince to 
 be so deeply interested in Priest Williams, 
 because he himself, or we, had never thought of 
 his being of so much importance. 
 
 I do not know how long the Prince staj^ed at 
 Green Bay. He said to us before he left our house 
 that he thought he would come back >to Green 
 Bay next summer, and would come up and see us 
 again, at that time. Just think, the only per- 
 sons now living in DePere, that have ever seen 
 Eleazer Williams are Mr. Perry Call, my husband 
 and mj^self, and the only time Mr. Sharpe ever 
 saw him, he — Eleazer Williams, was put in his 
 room to sleep at the old "DePere House." He 
 was sour and seemed to feel cross and grumbled 
 
 302 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 a great deal, about the poor room and beds. No 
 chairs in the room, and he could not find any 
 basin to wash in." 
 
 "Truthfully recorded by Francis Lawton Dun- 
 ham." DePere, Wis., Dec. 5, 1904. 
 
 Ill 
 
 DAN WHITNEY RECEIVES A WATCH FROM THE 
 PRINCE. 
 
 "DePere, Wis., Dec. 5, 1904. 
 "Dear Mr. Lawson: — 
 
 "When I was about fourteen years old, I lived 
 at Mrs. Daniel M. Whitney's house in Green Bay, 
 while attending- school there, and a member of 
 her family told me that at that time, 'Dan 
 Whitney (Jr.) had that beautiful watch, which 
 the Prince de Joinville gave him, for taking- him 
 up to Eleazer Williams, when he was here in 
 1841.' " Sgd. Francis Lawton Dunham. 
 
 IV 
 
 HON. THEODORE CONKEY HEARD THE PRINCE 
 enquire for WILLIAMS. 
 
 Appleton, Dec. 22, 1904. 
 Mr. Lawson: 
 
 Sir — I am in receipt of your letter asking for 
 something I may tell you of the now famous 
 Eleazer Williams. You may think it a meagre 
 bit, but such as it is I give it gladly. 
 
 303 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 In the summer of 1841 my husband (Theodore 
 Conkey) a young man of twenty- two years 
 boarded the lake steamer at Buffalo bound for 
 the far away west. He found on board a rollick- 
 ing party of French gentlemen out, it might seem 
 "on a lark," a pleasure trip to the great unknown 
 wilderness. They were the Prince de Joinville 
 and party. Many questions were asked by the 
 Prince about the strange wild country, the seem- 
 ingly interminable forest and the wonderful great 
 water way; and did the captain or any gentleman 
 aboard know of one Eleazer Williams; an edu- 
 cated man, in fact a priest who they understood 
 was an authority on Indian affairs being himself 
 a native «>f some eastern tribe. When the steamer 
 drew alongside the wooden pier at Mackinac, 
 there grip in hand, stood the reverend gentleman, 
 himself, in waiting. He came leisurely aboard, 
 was presented by the Captain to the Prince de 
 Joinville, and received seemingly as a friend, 
 which continued all the way to Green Bay, where 
 the party accompanied by Mr. Williams'stopped 
 at the Astor House. 
 
 After the Reverend Mr. Hanson's book 
 appeared, my husband told me about that trip, 
 which perhaps made me more willing to accept 
 the plausibility of the story. It seemed to fit. 
 After that I saw Mr. Williams occasionally in 
 passing. Once on the Aquilla I think crossing 
 Winnebago, he came aboard. My friend, as well 
 
 304 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 as myself, was impressed very favorably with his 
 personality, and yet we thought he really did 
 wonderfully resemble the pictures we had seen of 
 the French Bourbons. We were charmed with 
 his suave courteous and dignified bearing and 
 willing to concede that if not a King he looked 
 it. Allow me to assure you that a host of your 
 friends with myself await your book with pleas- 
 ant anticipations. Cynthia F. Conkey. 
 
 THE PRINCES GIFT OF A GOLD SNUFF BOX. 
 
 The following extract is from a long, old letter 
 in possession of Mrs. Fred B. Warren of Green 
 Bay, and is all that refers to Rev. Williams, and 
 implies some former conversation or correspon- 
 dence on the subject. The letter is dated 
 "Ceresco [now Ripon] Fond du Lac County, W. 
 T. Dec. 20, 1845," and addressed to, "S. D, 
 Williams, Le Roy, Ohio." 
 
 "I have seen Eleazer Williams, he lives on Fox 
 River, 10 miles above Green Bay, seems in good 
 circumstances for an Indian. He has had an 
 invitation to visit the King of France. He is 
 some related to him on his mother's side. He 
 has received a royal present, a gold snuff box. 
 Prince de Joinville visited him when on a tour 
 through this country a few years ago. The 
 Prince pronounced this country the finest in the 
 world." Sgd. "L. M. Parsons. " 
 
 305 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 VI. 
 
 GIFT FROM FKANCR, PAINTING OF LOUIS XVI. 
 
 "Sheboygan, Wis., July 14, 1904. 
 "Mr. Lawson: — 
 
 "In answer to your letter, I will say a photo- 
 graph of Louis XVI cannot be taken. It has 
 been tried but the picture is too dark. It is 
 painted on wood, and the wood has darkened 
 with age. This picture was sent to Mr. Williams 
 after the visit of the Prince De Joinville. It 
 arrived in Sheboygan after the boats had stopped 
 running, and as Mr. Williams was about to go 
 east he came to my fathers (Brown) hotel, and 
 opened the picture there. I was a child at the 
 time, but remember his delight on opening it. 
 When he went east he requested us not to give 
 up the picture except by written order from him, 
 which never came, and he never returned from 
 the east. " Respectfully, 
 
 Mrs. L. H. Jones. 
 
 VII. 
 
 RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LAST DAYS OF ELEAZER 
 WILLIAMS. 
 
 In 1902, the Inter Ocean, Chicago, in a paper 
 on the "Lost Dauphin," published an interview 
 with Hon. D. R. Cameron, which portion of the 
 paper is given below: 
 
 306 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 "Again has the mysterious case of Eleazer 
 Williams come to the front. D. R. Cameron, of 
 Cameron, Amberg & Co., has announced that he 
 was well acquainted with the queer old mission- 
 ary. Mr. Cameron believes that Williams was 
 the lost Dauphin of France. 
 
 "The Chicago merchant was one of the pall 
 bearers at the funeral of Williams. 
 
 "I remember distinctly the day the Rev. 
 Eleazer Williams was buried," said Mr. Cameron 
 in telling the story a few days ago. "It was a 
 bright, sunny day in August. Aurora lodge, No. 
 383, of the Masons, which took charge of the 
 funeral, had not been organized very long at the 
 time. A few days previous to Williams' death, 
 with several fellow members of the lodge, I 
 visited him at his chateau and he requested that 
 he be buried with Masonic rites. 
 
 "Every one in the village knew of the romance 
 woven about his name, but few believed that he 
 was a French Prince. He was generally liked 
 and had many friends. The Indians were more 
 congenial for him than were his white neighbors, 
 and it was among them that he did most of his 
 missionary work. 
 
 "He had many peculiarities which might have 
 traces of a childhood training amid other sur- 
 roundings. He never confided to me that he 
 believed himself of royal birth, and, indeed, sel- 
 dom talked on the subject with anyone. His 
 
 307 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 most treasured possession was a woman's dress 
 of costly material and elegant workmanship. I 
 admired it greatly, and every time I would visit 
 him he would take it out and show it to me. It w^as 
 such a gown as might have been worn by one of the 
 great dames in the time of the Bourbon monarchy. 
 
 "In 1851, with an old Indian woman as house- 
 keeper, he took up his residence at Hogansburg. 
 This house, where he lived and died, and the 
 modest marble slab in the cemetery is all that 
 remains to remind strangers of Lazarre. With a 
 steep Gothic roof and diamond shaped window 
 panes, it was built according to his design to 
 resemble an old French chateau. Friends inter- 
 ested in his story paid for the erection of the house. 
 
 "On Sundays he held services in this house, to 
 which those of the villagers who wished to wor- 
 ship with the Indians were welcomed. Occasion- 
 ally he went to Fort Covington to visit the 
 family of Richard Grange, whose widow is now 
 living in Fort Covington, N. Y. She was a great 
 friend of Lazarre 's, and in a letter written to 
 Mr. Cameron last week she said: 
 
 'Though it is years since I saw and talked with 
 
 Eleazer Williams I remember him distinctly, "she 
 
 says in her letter. "His story always appealed 
 
 to the vein of romance in my nature, and I firmly 
 
 believe that he was 'the lost Prince. ' I still 
 
 believe it, in spite of the fact that once when I 
 
 asked him if he was of royal birth he replied: 'I 
 
 do not know.' 
 
 308 
 
PRINCE OR CREOLE 
 
 When he came to Fort Covington to visit us he 
 often wore a long, dark blue military coat. When 
 he died he left a small library; and a white silk 
 court dress, which he declared had belonged to 
 his mother. During his life he always had 
 Indian servants about him and Indian friends 
 calling at his home. In his last illness I paid 
 him a visit in company with the physician who 
 attended him. The doctor said that his patient 
 did not show a trace of Indian blood in the color 
 of his skin, and I could see myself that his hair 
 was not the straight, black hair of the Indian." 
 
 A son of the above Martha Grange writes the 
 author. 
 
 "Fort Covington, N. Y., Feb. 10, 1905. 
 Mr. p. V. Lawson, Menasha, Wis. 
 
 "In my early childhood I frequently saw 
 Eleazer Williams as he made my fathers house 
 his home when visiting this village. He was 
 heavily built about 5 ft 3 or 4 inches in height, 
 fair skin, no appearance whatever of Indian blood. 
 A man of mild manners always well dressed." 
 Sgd. "R. A. Grange." 
 
 IX 
 
 Mary E. Seaver of Malone, N. Y., writes the 
 
 author that her husband who was the agent who 
 
 paid the St. Regis Indians their annuities for 
 
 many years, and her father, both knew Eleazer 
 
 Williams well and did not believe he w^as an 
 
 Indian. 
 
 309 
 
INDEX 
 
 Angouleme 12 
 
 Artois 21 
 
 Astor House 234-5 
 
 Barras 101-3 
 
 Bastille 25, 28- 
 
 Bailly 27, 30,58 
 
 Beauchesne 102 
 
 Bellenger 135 
 
 Bondual 245 
 
 Burke, Edmund 42 
 
 Caughnawaga 146 
 
 Campan 36, 134 
 
 Cameron D. R 306 
 
 Chauniont 154 
 
 China, brass and silver 281 
 
 Colton, Calvin 165 
 
 Collins, Dr 259 
 
 Colonne 16, 18 
 
 Clery 82 
 
 Conkey, Theodore 229, 303 
 
 Conciergerie 94 
 
 Desault, Dr 113 
 
 Dickenson 168 
 
 Eastman 141. 269 
 
 Elv 157. 161 
 
 Ellis 181 
 
 Farsen 59, 57 
 
 Ferrier, de 154-5 
 
 Figaro 106 
 
 Foulon 31 
 
 Genet, M 134 
 
 Gomin 105-6-7 
 
 Grange 308 
 
 Green Bay 235 
 
 Hawes, Dr 254 
 
 Hanson, Dr 254 
 
 Hale 173 
 
 Hobart 180 
 
 Jewett 170 
 
 Jenkins 165 
 
 Josephine 10, 103, 128 
 
 Joinville, Prince de, 216, 218, 224, 299 
 303, 305. 
 
 Jourdain' 209 
 
 Jourdain, Mary H 210, 276 
 
 Latimer 247 
 
 Lawrence, Amos 269 
 
 Librarj- 288 
 
 La Vendee 89 
 
 Lamball 11, 35, 42, 82, 84 
 
 Lasne 106, 112 
 
 Laurent 103-4-5-6 
 
 Lienard 104 
 
 La Fayette 28, 33, 34. 35, 38, 53. 58 
 
 Louis XVI 19, 29. 30, 34. 70, 87, 88, 
 306. 
 
 Lazare 171 
 
 Louis XVII 12, 13, 14, IS, 30, 32, 34, 
 41. 43. 57. 89. 
 
 Louis XV III 102-3 
 
 Louis Philippe 221 
 
 Marie Antoinette, 11, 12, 13, 21, 24, 
 29. 34, 42, 70, 84, 87, 89. 
 
 Madam Royal 11, 12 
 
 Marseillaise 71 
 
 Maillard 33 
 
 Masons 271, 272 
 
 Mc Cartj- 227, 243 
 
 Mirabeau 26 
 
 Morse 193 
 
 Nan 278 
 
 Napoleon 76 
 
 National Assembly 51 
 
 National Guard 27 
 
 Necker 15, 27 
 
 Notables, Assembly 17. 18 
 
 Orleans, Egalite, 21, 22, 23, 27, 3', 33. 
 35. 37. 40, 70, 87, 91. 
 
 Oneida 180 
 
 Onderdonk 215 
 
 Palais Royal 22 
 
 Pelletan, Dr 116 
 
 Penthievre 22 
 
 Polignac 13. 16. 21 
 
 Pleasants 244, 296 
 
 Revolution 26 
 
 Robespierre loi 
 
 States General 20, 24. 25 
 
 Simon the Cobbler 97 
 
 Smith 167 
 
 Sharpe 243, 298 
 
 Shook, Captain 231, 24s 
 
 Skenandoah 181 
 
 St. Regis 180, 270 
 
 Sumner, Geo 24s 
 
 > 
 
 Temple, Martha 171 
 
 Temple, the 79. 80, 81, 97 
 
 Tyson woman 90 
 
 Tuileries 15. 63, 66, 70, 72 
 
 Tourzel 37. 38, 82 
 
 Turgot 16 
 
 Tricolor 27 
 
 Varennoes 57 
 
 Versailles 31. 40 
 
 Washington 28 
 
 Williams Eleazer 137 
 
 Williams Marj' H 276 
 
 Williams John L 276. 279 
 
 Williams George 277, 280 
 
 Welch, Dr 172 
 
 Whitney 243, 268, 303 
 
ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 Historic works written hj Publius V. Lawson.L.L. B., sold 
 by Log-- Cabin Inn bookstore, Menasha, Wisconsin, or 
 can be ordered of any book bouse in the United States 
 
 Family Genealogy, 
 
 1903, cloth, containing- much of the biog-raphy and 
 g-enealog-y of the following- families: Baird. Blair. But- 
 ler, Cook. Childs. Clark, Cole. Crane, DeKruyft. Ed- 
 wards. Finney. Fleming^, Graves. Grandine, Haney, 
 Hitchcock. Kerwin. Lawson. Lowry. McAlpin. Peper, 
 Richardson. Rittenhouse. Southwood. Stolp. Williams 
 audWrig-ht. Price $3.50. 
 
 "Bravest of the Brave, Captain Charles de Langlade" 
 
 190-i. Banta Publishing- Company. Canterbury tint, red 
 silk cloth, g-old embossed title, i" illustrations. Price 
 $1.50. 300 pp. 12 Vo. It is a biography of de Langlade 
 the pioneer of Wisconsin. 
 
 "Prince or Creole, The Mystery of Louis XVII" 
 
 1905, price $1.50. Cloth. Complete history of the lost 
 prince. 
 
 History Monographs, Paper Cover 
 
 •'Oshkosh and his fellow warriors" . . . 20 pp. 50c 
 "The Mission of Saint Mark" . . . 18 pp. 50c 
 
 "Outagamie Village West Menasha" . . -i pp- 25c 
 "Complete Prehistoric History of Winnebago 
 
 County" 50 pp. $1.00 
 
 "Winnebago Nation" .... 10 pp. oOc 
 
 "Aboriginal Keramic Art" , . . . 32 pp. 50c 
 "Prehistoric Copper in America" . . 32 pp. 50c 
 
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