FREDERICK THE GREAT'S SWORD.

Otago Witness, Issue 2674, 14 June 1905, Page 71

FREDERICK THE GREAT'S SWORD.

If the Ani'iti violin, once craned by, Frederick the Great, and now in ohe possession of the Ciown Prince, was neglected, the sword of the Great Frederick was prized as. something sacred. It was kept, where his he- rids had hung it, over his bureau in his own rooms at Sans Souci'. And there jSapoleon saw it when, after the battle of Jena, he pleased his ardent scul by using the very bed of the greatl captain whom he so passionately admired^ He took the weapon, from the wall, handling it as devotees touch the relics ot the* saints. It rested beside his pillow that night. One can dimly guess at the thoughts that must have crowded that restless brain during the night watches. Frederick's bed! and Frederick's sword! — both his now; as Schonbrunn and Maria Theresa's crown, had been his; as the Kremlin and the ivory sceptre of Ivan were to be his : a shadowy possession, to break and fade from Ms fingers even as did the fabled fairy gold 1 of the legends of his Corsican childhool. He carried the sword to Paris as a trophy! of his victory ; and it was placed, with, the picturesque ceremony and circumstance so dear to French hearts, in the Chapel of the Invalides. Events followed one another K.pidly in the first years of the nineteenth) century. Paris changed its masters more than once ; Boui-bonists. Imperialists, Revolutionists — each had had their day ; and now, in 1814, the allied sovereigns with their foreign hordes were on the point of enteiing the city. Marshal Serurier, Governor of the Invalides, called together his men, pathetics remnant and residuum of the military glories of France. Every one of them hadl fought and bled in the battles of their country ; and now the worst had happened, and France lay, helpless and defeated, at Iho mercy of * the foreign invaders. "We can at least save the flags from profanation." the old marshal said, pointing ta 1417 stands of colours, the trophies of a hundred glorious field's. "The flags must be burnt ! "

The holocaust was hurriedly accomplished in the- dead of night in the courtyard of the old Hotel dcs Invalides, where Turenne had given the word of command', and where the Little Corporal had' so often, reviewed the veterans who worshipped him 1 . One after another the sacred bits of silk— > faded, bloodstained, torn as they were — - were consisted to the flames.

The soldiers wept tears of rage as they stood around ; and one or two snatched at the standards, rescuing a few to keep hidden away until happier days should dawn. Then Serurier bethought him of Frederick's sword. Even the flames could not keep that safe from the invader's clutches. It) had been entrusted to the Hotel dcs Invalides — the hotel should 1 preserve it still ! St the blade pawn into four parts, ani a portion built into each of the four inner walls beside the dome. The masons worked with a will. When Alexandei of Russia/, Plucher, Wellington, and the rest camo

clattering over the pavement there were no traces of standards or of sword. Ar-d the old Bourbon building keeps its trust unto this day.

They have brought the body of the Emperor from the island where, thousands of miles away, he died ; and all about his tomb they have mounted stands of colours Among the flags, one can see two Turkish flags taken, from the Mamelukes under the shadow of the Pyramids, two Prussian flags taken at Jena, and a British flag taken from a Scottish regiment in Spain. These were preserved from the fire on that sad night in June.

Very quietly the great soldier sleeps ; very still hang all about him those tattered silken folds. Only a few among the multitudes who come to gaze on Napoleon's grave remember that in the masonry above Lis head are embedded the pieces of the sword of his great prototype and hero, Frederick of Prussia, the man who loved but one ihing better than war, and that was his violin.