St. Cloud Democrat. [volume] (Saint Cloud, Stearns County, Minn.) 1858-1866, 1864-02-25

age transmitted to him by the Governor Of
Strasburgk. Icenclosed letter from the
minister, NJ. de Bretenil, which was couch
ed nearly in the following terms: %',i4 p
Il have laid before tho King the written
copy Of the deposition which you forward.
ed to me, and have received his Majesty 8
commands respecting it. 1t is the Kings
desire that the individual who made the
disclosure shall keep the sum Of moLey
that has been presented 10 him, and his
majesty adds sum Of equal amount on
condition chat inyiolable secresy be bbsery-
ed, respecting all that has passed. o.
'.Nov," pursued Napoleon, 'l will give
you the key to this adventure, wkich'is of
nature not SO rare as may be SUPPOSED in
the history of our courts. ~ ,..- -.
"The Duke Of Wurtemburg contracte ed a
second marriage about 4ine years after the
death Of his first WI: W.T.: = He Ras united dur
ing my second campaign in. Italy, to Char
lotte Augusta Matilda. Princess Royal of
England ,sant.eldelt daughter Of George
III. lie was At thnt time onlyPrince Roy
al OF Wurtemburg, and he succeeded his
father on tHs'1elh December, 1897. Wur-
| tembHrg had inade common cause with the
Geen,apic, empire against France; but the
! Prince. en- his succession to the Ducal
throne, has:enel to conclude peace with US.
lie wrote to me, and his letters were couch
ed in friendly terms, answered, him in
| the same tone, and We maintained pretty
regular correspondence until my departure
! for Egypt. After that time''--- 4,-u.. .
Here Napoleon suddenly stopped sh ,rt.
as if fearful Of saying too much respecting
his then existing relations with the Duke
Of wurtembur2. After o pause of few
moments he thus resumed his narrative. !
..'The Duke Of Wurtemburg.ls first wife,
! who was 6 beautiful aud accomplished wo
man, was accused Of regarding with too IA
vorable an eye young page in the service
OF the Duke This page. emboldened by the
kindness which the Princess extended 20
him, took the liberty of quitting the Ducal
states without ,he permission of his iilustr;
Gus master. TN arriving at the frontier,
he alighted at IN inn. ,rwhera he ordered
supper. On sitting down, 10 the table he
saw inscribed on one of the Dresden china
plates the words, Return or tremble!! He
] did return! Al the first meal to which lie
sat down in the palace, beautiful glass,
of rock crystal, was PRESENTED him, and on
words, Depart or trtn.Dl1 J., lie would have
been wise had he obeyed this second man
date as readily as he didthe first :, but love
.Rumtr" aGdg Chat nc Prince Royal re-
hofara him several letters, tho pnr,,snl al
(which proved beyond the possibility al
doubt the e4isteHte of criminal intimacy
bttween the wife Of one party and the son
Of the other. Pronounce sentence on the
cdlprit,' said the Prince. The father, with
out utterias a word, is said to have raked
out the ashes from under the CRATE, and
! taking the poker, ,.traeedsin:4he dust" thranss
letters, tile hrst of which was T, and the
last D, Tod, the German for Death.)
"a council was Immediately summoned.
It was attended by the principal members
of the cabinet, and several of the Princes
relatives. They were requested to exam
inc with the utmost attention, the letters
above mentioned. All concurred in declar-
Ing that the ,'root of criminality was but
too, evident. lone voice was raised to pro-
? pose nm arrangement. by virtue of which a
divorce might be obtained. A near rela-
tive Of the unfortunate Princess opposed
that suggestion, and firmly mainta aimed that
ishment could avenge the injured honor Of
the Prince. This opinion was adopted. ~.
'The council broke up, and the iudivid-
ual who had ventured to raise the voice Of
mercy in behalf Of the wretched Princess
fastened TO- warn her Of her impending
danger. lie even offered to secure her es-
cape from Wurtemburg that very night on
condition of her promising never more TO
see the page who had been the partner OF
her, guilt" It was proposed to conduct her
to Scotland, where castle in the High
lands would be assigned ias heb plAtc' oi
residence Will it be believed that the in.
fatuated princess refused 10 abandon her
paramour? She so often positively reject
ed the condition on which the safety Of her
life depended, that Count c., who has|
declared his READINESS II bt6teet her, AtAn
doned her to her fate, observing. II believed
that was rendering my assistance to pen.
itent woman, and not a hartened sinner.
r. ''The o:''ceEtd' III the palace; his
chamber was at the suppermost part of the
+, building the door opened into long cor:
rldor, beneath which there was O simila,
corridor or passage, at every story, dowt
to the ground floor of the palace. It was
! known that the page every night passed
J. along this corridor to a private staircase
by. which he descended to theapastments 81
tho Princess. a most singular plan wa.
devised for his distinctions. In each o.
, these corridors, descending from story t<
story, a few, .b4axdss we're removed from til,
flooring, which were afterwards neatly fit.
i ted in their place, but left, unfastencd, *
: ds to form succession of trap. doors:
The unfortunate page. having no idea o
tho gulf that was ready to open beneath
his. feet, was at the usual hour hurryinf
from his own apartments to those of til,
Princess. & f1e Had nl6t advanced riore't Thai
a few yards from his own door when tn,
. flooring gave way under his feet. H,
{ struggled to save himself, but in vain : h,
Mas dashed from one fearful height to tn,
f flooring Of the last col riLor, immediatel,
above the Princess CHAMBER. The ceiling
. of this apartment had, Of course, been lef
, untouched; but the removal Of the floor
!, ing above it rendered, il, t,sufRcicntly fragile
II Immediately yielded beneath the weigh
/ Of the falling body; and in another mo
mcnt the lifeless and mutilated remains 0
!, the page lay Al the feet ef # II the princess !
..The sudden horror rendered her TO
sothe time insensible !; her attendants, alarm
ed by the dreadful crash, rushed in, an,
| the apartment was soon filled by person
from the most distant part Of the palace
Most of Them were lost in conjectures re
specting the csuse of the tragicsl event
but there were Z few to whom that caus
) Was apticiently we'll kuown: These latte
i attributed i q tHsr decated state, Of th
building. and under pretence Of pretsntin
: thy ffecuffents' 'of the accident, the corri
!, doris were fastsnednp, untilthe hoors wer