LIGUE OF PATRIOTES SWORD.

The Ligue des Patriots was founded in 1882 as a far-right nationalist movement in Paris, calling for revenge against Germany for the Franco-Prussian War. The Ligue incited public discord in response to the 1891 visit of the German Empress to Victoria and incited anti-Semitic sometimes violent protests in the Dreyfus Affair. The Ligue attempted a political coup d’etat at the funeral of President Felix Faure. The Ligue continued its campaigns for right-wing conservatism including fighting secularism through WWI and the post-war years. This sword is marked Ligue des Patriots on one side of the blade and Fall River Mass, on the other. The forte is marked le Syndicat Canadien-Francais Worcester Mass. The scabbard is marked L O P /F R Mass. One record on the internet describes such a sword, quite probably this very one, though no image is available, and claims that French-Canadian musician, Calixa Lavallée (d.1891), composer of the Canadian National Anthem, O Canada, was president of a group of French-Canadian emigrants, the League of Patriots of Fall River, Massachusetts who promoted annexation of Canada to the U.S. We found no further information to support this. The sword is datable to the late 19th century based on construction. Other than that and the information above, it is shrouded in mystery……