Herald of the times, and Rhode Islander. [volume] (Newport, R.I.) 1846-1849, 1848-12-21
thursday MORNING, DECEMBER o. 1913.
Maria Louisa.
By REV, J. y. ABBOTT.

A darker day never enveloped in il.
gloom the Austrian mon archy than wher
the beleaguesing hosts of Napoleon en-
compassed Vienna, and from their encir
cling batteries were showering shots and
shells upon the doomed city. The armie,
OF Austria, in repeated conflicts, had beer
mown down and scattered by the resist
less conqueror. As the eaL les Of Napo,
leon glittered upon the hills which over.
looked the city, the royal family, with
the hot haste which terror inspires, had
fled far off into the wilds Of Hungary
1t is midnight. They sky is streaked
with the fiery projectiles, which, like me.
teors of death, are descending into tn,
thronged and dismal metropolis. Flame.
are bursting forth in every part of the
city. All hearts are frozen with terror
There is no place Of refuge. Red hot
balls crush their way through the dwell.
lings Of brick and stone. Shells expIooe
in the cradle Of the infant. and, upheav-
ing the most massive dwellings, bury
their mangled inmates beneath the ruins.
The clamors Of two hundred thousand
combatants fill the midnight air and min
gle with the thunders of one of the most
awful bombardments earth has ever wiz
messed.
In one Of the chambers Of the royal
palace, there lies a maiden, sixteen years
of age, the daughter Of king. Her
father and her mother, in the consterna-
,ion Of their fight, were compelled 10
leave behind them their sick child. Her
cheeks are flushed with fever, and again
'paled with terror at the uproar Of the as
saut. The glare of bursting shells, and
the flames Of the spreading connagration,
.potentously cleaned through the windows
upon the eye Of the sufferer. She in
vain buries her head beneath the bed
clothes TO shut out the horrid cries Of the
assailants and the shrieks Of the wound
ed.
In the midst Of this most dreadful
scene the gates of the city are suddenly
thrown open. and small party emerged,
snd with flag OF truce pass through the
embattlng hosts ill they approach the
presence Of Napoleon. They Inform him
Of the situation and peril Of the princess
He instantly ordered every gun to be
changed which might endanger her per-
son. The flag of truce again retires
within the walls, and the awful lombard
ment continues. For ten long hours
this terrific storm Of iron descends upon
the city, till three thousand shells have
filled the city with ruin and blood. But
Maria Louisa remains upon her bed un-
harmed, though other parts Of her fathers
palace were blown from their foundations.
Little did she imagine in the consterna-
tion of that dreadful night, that it was her
future husband who was thus raining
down destruction upon her fathers capi-
tai. And little did the pebian congueref
imagine as he compasslcnately changed
the direction of his guns, that this maiden
was to be the Queen Of France, and that
by this bombardment he was winning
and wooing for his bride a daughter Of
the CAESARS.
A daughter Of the CAESARS! What a
influence there is in ancestral
own--Napoleon even, the creator Of
his crown, the fabricator of his own glory,
was dazzled by its glare. Maria Louisa
was hneal descendant Of one Of the
proudest monarchs Of Rome. The blood
which circulated through her veins had
passed to her from the CAESARS, and through
the heroic heart Of Maria Theresa She
had been Graded and nurtured amid
scenes Of moral subllmity and regal mag
which one would think would
give an impress of grandeur even to the
meanest soul. Surely, then, her spirit
must be animated with all that is lofty
ana enobling IN human character. Alay
{ was not so I! She was nothing more
than a mild, amiable, pretty girl, uttcrs,
incapable of chershing an idea OF mag
nanmity or ofheroism. She was endowed
by nature only with those qualities which
were most common place and earthly,
and was eminently unqualified to act
noble part in the lofty drama through
which she was destined to move.
Napoleon, despairlng Of offspring from
Josephine, and consumed with the most
intense desire TO have an heir who should
inherit his glory and perpetuate his name,
resolved to sever the ties which bound
himHo Josephine, the wife ofhis youth,
and TO obtain more youthful bride from
Ihe subservient monarchies around him.
He hoped thus 10 secure an heir ia whose
person should be allied all that was glori-
BUS in his own achievements, aud all
hat is illustrious in exalted descent. The
population Of Josephine, strong as we're
he political motives which led to it, is
he darkest stain upon the character Of
Napoleon. And like all wrong doing.
however seemingly prosperous for a time
I promoted final disaster and woe. A
,Ique originating in this marriage, alien
,ted Alexander of ofRussia from The French
Emperor, aud hence the campaign of
Moscow, aud the Imprisonment of Napo-
con. Every court In Europe was emu
Gus Of the honor Of such an alliance
The Bourbons in their exile, would glad
y furnish princess Of the royal blood
Is bride for the conqucror. The Rus
ian court profers any OF It's high born
naidens to the exceptance of the master
pirit. at whose frown all Europe rembles
And the Austrian monarchy, the proud
at Of all earthly dynasties, eagerly seeks
alliance with the soldier Of fortune, who