Page 16 - Amo Amass A-muse is some of the fruit of a lifetimes love of Freemasonry - the Lodge of Nine Muses No. 235

16 Amo Amass A-Muse - Lodge of the Nine Muses

He greatly admired Napoleon who had brought law and order out of the carnage of
the revolution. When Napoleon visited Liege, he welcomed him. This greatly pleased the
First Consul because he was anxious to associate his government with the old aristocracy.
Napoleon is supposed to have said on this occasion, “You Belgians do not like the French,
nor the Austrians, nor the English, nor the Dutch. You like yourselves too much and apathy
and egotism are your main characteristics.”
A taste for good things was born in Arconati and he did much. to provide public
buildings with antiques, such as tapestries, paintings of the Masters, Greek statues and other
works of art. Whilst in Italy, he heard, quite incorrectly, that some of his treasures had been
sold. He immediately wrote to the Press about it.
He visited Turkey for a time, and from his rambles amongst the Mahomedans, he
acquired a taste for oriental splendour. He began to dress in silken robes, on his head a
turban picked out with beautifully cut diamonds and wearing yellow Turkish slippers
upon his feet. In this garb, lie received the surprised local officials. Napoleon made him
the Mayor of Brussels and he ceremonially entered upon his duties dressed in an elaborate
Turkish costume, riding in a coach drawn by six horses. His postillions were made to
blacken their faces to look like negroes. The public applauded and he became most popular.
The citizens were wont to assemble to watch him go by. Perhaps he obtained the idea from
our Lord Mayor’s Show! Only the theatres complained. One manager respectfully asked
the Marquis whether he would be good enough to advertise the dates of his promenades
to enable him to cancel his performance for that day!
In his admiration for Napoleon, he attempted to persuade the City to erect a Pyramid
on the Mons Road, 100 metres high, crowned with his effigy. The materials were to be
obtained by destroying Amiens Cathedral. Yet he replaced a statue of the Virgin Mary
on the Hotel de Ville which had been pulled down by the Directorate. In the park at
Gaasbeek, he erected a triumphal arch to the glory of his idol.
On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo, a detachment of the British 23rd Light Dragoons
were ordered to take up position at Gaasbeek. The British Captain in command presented
himself at the Castle with some of his officers to obtain quarters. There, he encountered a
barricade bristling with guns, pointed at them. Arconati had mobilised three old retainers
and half a dozen peasants and prepared them for an energetic resistance. In good English
he asked them why they were encroaching on his property and warned them that