The Paris correspondent of the Daily Telegraph records a fact
which, if it is correctly reported, goes a long way towards clearing up one of the problems of modern history. A letter to Louvois by Louis XIV., written in cipher, has been long in the archives of the Ministry of War, and has at length been deciphered. In it the King orders Louvoia to arrest General de Burlonde for having raised the siege of Conti without per- mission, to send him to Pignerol, and to conceal his features under a /imp or black-velvet mask. The order was executed, and the presumption is therefore violent that the "Man in the Iron Mask "—it was a black-velvet one with iron springs— was General de Burlonde. The story tallies with the known fact that the prisoner made repeated attempts to com- municate his name to soldiers, that he was treated with respect by his military jailors, and that Louis XV., who knew the truth of the whole affair, declared it to be a matter of no importance. The difficulty is to discover the King's motive for such a precaution ; but ho may have feared discontent among his great officers, or the soldiery. It must, however, be possible to discover from the lists in the War Office whether General de Burlonde was recorded as " missing " or " dead " about the right time.
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