The Lutheran Minister of Geneva, who had to preach the
funeral sermon on the Duke of Brunswick, got out of his trouble -very nicely. He never uttered a word either of praise or blame, but accepted the death as proof that no pedigree could arrest the universal destroyer. " If grandeur of origin could establish a distinction between man born of the same earth, of the same blood, for whom would it be possible to make this dis- tinction more than for this last scion of the elder branch of those Guelphs who have signalised their passage in history for the last thousand years and occupied many thrones in Europe ?" The single grace the Duke had which brought him within the range of human sympathies, his extraordinary lineage, was mentioned, without a single word in extenuation of his character. It appears, by the way, that the Duke really disinherited the Prince Imperial because of Sedan, which settled the question whether Napoleon would or would not keep his written promise, if he ever had the power, to reseat Duke Charles upon the throne of Brunswick. The Treaty was made when both were exiles.
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