New-York tribune., 1870-12-13

The world little knows the trouble of being
an Emperor. Some curious disclosures indeed
have recently thrown light upon the miseries
of the TuilcIies skeletons have been dragged
out of gilded closets, and secrets which must
have been good deal worse to carry than the
burdens of the state have been discovered in
those private cabinets 10 which the gaping
multitude believed that Majesty retired for
enjoyment and rcpOsc. The privilege of hav-
ing princcly relatives must have been dearly
bought with the corresponding privilege OF
paving their debts. Even the blessing ot an
Empress so beautiful, and 80 well beloved as
Eugene, brought its compensating scourge in
the worry of covering up connections hardly
consistent with domestic peace or imperial
responsibility. Nor was there much enjoyment
apparently in the society of ladies of pleasure.
They were certainly very costly and inconven-
lent, and they seem not to have been particu-
larly gay. What with pensions, allowances,
and supposititious infants, the august amuse-
ments must have been the cause of more
anxious days and sleepless nights than the
| composition of new cabinet or the manufac-
ture of popular majority. 1t was not mere
round of dining, hunting, and royal ceremony,
| ties mt Compi6gne, this life of the modern
Cesar. Black care sat always at the Emperor's
side, or mounted behind his saddle, or got
upon his pillow. Imperial recreations were
nothing but fresh occasions of peTpleXity. The
gayeties Of the court cost rs much trouble -
the plan of battle.
When Jones gives n dinner party or asks
the Smiths and the Robinsons to spend IA week
at his house in the country, he wishes he were
a royal persOn-Or would if he thought of it
so that he might be spared all the trouble Of
the entertainment without failing in his duties
to society. 1t must be delightful to beckon
the Gold Stick or the Lord Steward, or what
ever the proper functiOnary is called, and Or
dering a splendid reception for the royal Smith,
to be bothered no more with details, and take
the pleasures as they come. There is some
comfort in feast when you have only to say,
"IIO! varlct Jet there bc dinner of twenty
"covers at o'clock sharp; and see that the
soup be hot, or thy head shall pay for it ~
Even a hop, or tca-party, might be regarded
with cOmpOsure if one were always sure about
the people who ought TO be left out, and had
no misgiyings as to the prOpriety of including
the Browns and the Popkinscs among ones Wis
iting acquaintance. But it seems that even
these anxiotics were not spared the ilustriOus
couple who have recently moved out of the
Tuleries; and with this discovery our last
illusions of royalty are dspclled.
Among the documents in the latest install
ment Of the imperial correspondence il a
note, supposed to be from the pen of NapO-
leon, Concerning the Etiquette TO be observed
with regard to Queen Victoria 1t was
penned in 1856, when the Queen and Prince
Albert were about visiting France and how
they were to be treated and entertained seems
to have been IA very serious, not TO say an az
OnZng question. Should the Emperor meet
them at the port of dcbaIkation or await
them at St. Cloud? Historical precedents were
obscure, and the honor Of France perhaps de-
pended upon drawing the line strictly between
dignity and rudencSs. When Victoria and
Albert passed through Rhcnish Prussia on
their way to Coboure they were layishly enter
tanned by the King, but when Napoleon and
Eugene went to England they were met at
Dover only by Prince Albert, who was moth
ing but a Royal IIighncss. Moreover, on this
occasion the Queen did not come to the cap
ital at all, although, adds the imperial com
mentatOr on etiquette, the presence of
"Our Empress. whose Iank, if not
sovereign, is very superior TO Prince
Albert's, might have induced her 10 add
somewhat to the poiteness of the ceremonial
adopted on this point'-a criticism which
Queen Victoria Of she takes THE TRBuNE)
will doubtless read with the livelicst satisfac-
ton. The only example before 1856 OF an En-
elsh sovereign visiting France is that of
Henry VIII, when he met Francis !. at the
Field Of the Cloth of Gold. "This case, how
" ever" His Majesty jndiciously remarks, "can
" afford no useful information under present
" circumstances" We should think 30, indeed;
for each Of the rival sovereigns Mt that IA
nous meeting was principally concerned with
precautions against being made prisoner by
the other, and their chief entertainment was
exhibiting their proficiency In fighting and