Part 3 (1/2)
For the next two years Harden-Hickey lived in New York, but so quietly that, except that he lived quietly, it is difficult to find out anything concerning hihted Paris with his daily feuilletons, with his duels, with his forty-tsuits, who had been the master of revels in the Latin Quarter, in New York lived al a book on Buddhis Sun_, but I cannot recall ever having read his name in the newspapers of that day, and I heard of hi an exhibition of his water-colors at the Aain as the author of a book I found in a store in Twenty-second Street, just east of Broadway, then the ho Corewsome compilation and had just appeared in print It was called ”Euthanasia, or the Ethics of Suicide” This book was an apology or plea for self-destruction In it the baron laid down those occasions when he considered suicide pardonable, and when obligatory To support his arguments and to show that suicide was a noble act, he quoted Plato, Cicero, Shakespeare, and even ave a list of poisons, and the a To sho one can depart from life with the least pain, he illustrated the text with most unpleasant pictures, drawn by himself
The book showed how far Harden-Hickey had strayed froe at Namur, and of the Church that had made him ”noble”
All of these two years had not been spent only in New York
Harden-Hickey made excursions to California, to Mexico, and to Texas, and in each of these places bought cattle ranches and mines The money to pay for these investments came from his father-in-law But not directly Whenever he wanted money he asked his wife, or De la Boissiere, as a friend also of Flagler, to obtain it for him
His attitude toward his father-in-law is difficult to explain It is not apparent that Flagler ever did anything which could justly offend him; indeed, he always seems to have spoken of his son-in-laith tolerance, and often with awe, as one would speak of a clever, ard child But Harden-Hickey chose to regard Flagler as his enemy, as a sordid s and aspirations of a genius and a gentle between his wife's father and hi his daughter for her ler opposed the union Consequently, Harden-Hickey ler without ”settlements,” and for the first few years supported her without aid from her father But his wife had been accusto beyond the means of the soldier of fortune, and soon his income, and then even his capital, was exhausted From her mother the baroness inherited a fortune This was in the hands of her father as executor When his own one, Harden-Hickey endeavored to have theto his wife placed to her credit, or to his To this, it is said, Flagler, on the ground that Harden-Hickey was not a ed that he was, and that if it remained in his hands the money would be better invested and better expended It was the refusal of Flagler to intrust Harden-Hickey with the care of his wife's money that caused the breach between thee Harden-Hickey as you would a conte whom he was thrown, his ideas were entirely out of joint He should have lived in the days of ”The Three Musketeers” People who looked upon hi for his own hand entirely misunderstood him He was absolutely honest, and as absolutely without a sense of hurocers' bills, to depend for protection upon a police And one day, in order to s real, and to escape from his father-in-law's unromantic world of Standard Oil and Florida hotels, in a procla James the First of the Principality of Trinidad
The proclamation failed to create a world crisis Several of the powers recognized his principality and his title; but, as a rule, people laughed, wondered, and forgot That the daughter of John Flagler was to rule the new principality gave it a ”news interest,” and for a few Sundays in the supplements she was hailed as the ”Adoler himself was interviewed, he showed an open mind
”My son-in-law is a very determined man,” he said; ”he will carry out any scheme in which he is interested Had he consulted lad to have aided him with money or advice My son-in-law is an extremely well-read, refined, well-bredin my house he spent nearly all the ti an Indian book on Buddhis else than what she is--an Airl But my son-in-law means to carry on this Trinidad scheme, and--he will”
From his father-in-law, at least, Harden-Hickey could not complain that he had met with lack of sympathy
The rest of America was amused; and after less than nine days, indifferent But Harden-Hickey, though unobtrusively, none the less earnestly continued to play the part of king His friend De la Boissiere he appointed his Minister of Foreign Affairs, and established in a Chancellery at 217 West Thirty-sixth Street, New York, and from there was issued a sort of circular, or prospectus, written by the king, and signed by ”Le Grand Chancelier, Secretaire d'Etat pour les Affaires Etrangeres, M le Comte de la Boissiere”
The document, written in French, announced that the new state would be governed by a military dictatorshi+p, that the royal standard was a yellow triangle on a red ground, and that the arms of the principality were ”d'Or chape de Gueules” It pointed out naively that those who first settled on the island would be naturally the oldest inhabitants, and hence would form the aristocracy But only those who at home enjoyed social position and some private fortune would be admitted into this select circle
For itself the state reserved a uano, of the turtles, and of the buried treasure And both to discover the treasure and to encourage settlers to dig and so cultivate the soil, a percentage of the treasure was pro ten 200 bonds was entitled to a free passage to the island, and after a year, should he so desire it, a return trip The hard as to be perfor beautifully, and, according to the prospectus, to enjoy _”vie d'un genre tout nouveau, et la recherche de sensations nouvelles”_
To reward his subjects for prominence in literature, the arts, and the sciences, his Majesty established an order of chivalry The official docu this order reads:
”We, James, Prince of Trinidad, have resolved to commemorate our accession to the throne of Trinidad by the institution of an Order of Chivalry, destined to reward literature, industry, science, and the human virtues, and by these presents have established and do institute, with cross and crown, the Order of the Insignia of the Cross of Trinidad, of which we and our heirs and successors shall be the sovereigns
”Given in our Chancellery the Eighth of the ht hundred and ninety-three, and of our reign, the First Year
”JAMES”
There were four grades: Chevalier, Commander, Grand Officer, and Grand Cross; and the name of each member of the order was inscribed in ”The Book of Gold” A pension of one thousand francs was given to a Chevalier, of two thousand francs to a Commander, and of three thousand francs to a Grand Officer Those of the grade of Grand Cross were content with a plaque of eight diamond-studded rays, with, in the centre, set in red enamel, the arms of Trinidad The ribbon was red and yellow
A rule of the order read: ”The costume shall be identical with that of the Chamberlains of the Court of Trinidad, save the buttons, which shall bear the i James commissioned a firn it was similar to the one which surraph of the insignia Also, the king issued a set of postage-stamps on which was a picture of the island They were of various colors and deno stamp-collectors enjoyed a certain sale
To-day, as I found when I tried to procure one to use in this book, they are worth many times their face value
For soressed favorably In San Francisco, King Jaed four hundred coolies and fitted out a schooner which he sent to Trinidad, where it ular trips between his principality and Brazil; an agent was established on the island, and the construction of docks, wharves, and houses was begun, while at the chancellery in West Thirty-sixth Street, the Minister of Foreign Affairs was ready to furnish would-be settlers with infor sky, a sudden and unexpected bloas struck at the independence of the little kingdom It was a blow from which it never recovered