The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1870-08-13
THE "BRuNsH1cK D1AMoNDs.''.
An Interesting Sketch of their Origin
and HIstory.Srhe Career of tl,eir Pro-
aikate Owners. -, -, -,
TO THE EDITOR oF:THE'HEWS.

! = -
The writer of an article in yesterdays NEWS,
entitled "The Imperial Baby. desires some
enlightenment with regard to the famous
Brunswick diamonds,r which are reported itc
have been sent to London, together with the
Empress Engenie's wardrobe. 1 can furnish
the information required. =,
In the year 1880, Charles, the then reigning
Duke of Brunswick, eldest son of Duke Frede-
1 rick William, who led 1.-The Black Brunswick
ers' at Quatre-Bras, was expelled from his
hereditary dominions on account Of his crimes
and misrule.
The two principal traits Of the character o.
this prince were proaigacy Che was a very
handsome many and avarice. Although the
inheritor of much wealth from his mother, a
princess of Baden, he hal, during reign OF
seven years, extorted several millions of tha-
lers from his subjects, which he took with him.
together with famous onyx vase, and other
articles of 'svertu, worth, perhaps, halfa
million, which he stole from the museum OF
his capital a few days before his flight.
remember when 'sthe Bruns&ickers" set his
palace on fire. It was q very interesting
scene. Bureaus full of louis dors, which the
duke had to leave behind for want of trans
portation, were found In the palace and plum
dered. Several poor "Brunswickers" got sud-
denly rich in that way. The mob had
rolled numerous casks of choice wines
out of the cellars Of the burning palace
into the street, where they drank the Dukes
Chateau Margaux and Chateau d'Yquem from
fre-buckets; the magnificent grand piano, q
masterpiece of art, inlaid with gold and
mother-ofpearl, on which this modern Heloga-
balus had been in the habit OF accompanying
the singing of his prima-donns, was thrown
from a balcony into the palace court below,
(the sound Of the dying instrument still rings
in my ears) numerous splendid paintings,
which adorned the palace-wa1ls, were >cut to
pieces by the enraged people, because, as
they said, they were the portraits of his mis-
tresses; some others were saved, among which
portrait of Nell Gwynne, by Sir Peter Lely,
which adorned the Dukes bedchamber,
and has since come into my possession.
The expelled Duke Charles, after some vain
attempts to recover his lost dominions. went to
Paris with his ill-gotten wealth, where he has
lived ever since in q private capacity (for
owing to his degraded character he was never
admitted to COURT until about two years ago.
when he died. While in Paris, the ex-Duke
is said to have occupied himself almost exclu-
sively with stock-jobbing. with the redlscovery
of the most subtle posons, such as the famous
Italian Aqua Tofana, Of Lucretla Borgia men,
ory, (he had commenced his career Of crime,
when young man, with poisoning first his
cats and dogs, then his Moors, and lastly his
old tutor, Count Oberg.) and with collecting
diamonds, for which he had an irrepressible
mania. He is said to have left a whole trunk
full of them, and these are the "famous Bruns-
wick diamonds" which have puzzled the
writer of the Imperial Baby article.
Whoever has been in Paris during the last
thirty years, and has visited the Italian opera,
may have observed in one of the boxes haud-
some, strangely-dressed, painted figure, cover
ed with blaze of diamonds-that was the eS-
Duke Charles of Brunswick, son of the hero OF
Quatre-Bras.
Who has inherited his wealth cannot tell;
certainly not his brother WillamS the reigning
Duke OF Brunswick, and the last of his illustri-
Gus race. Duke Charles was, believe, united
in morganatic marriage to some Countess;
perhaps she is now the fortunate owner of the
famous BRUNSWICK diamonds" At any rate,
they have been sent away from Paris to avoid
being captured by the Brunswiokers, no longer
black, when the latter get there.
Yours truly, A. SAcHTLEBEN.
Charleston, August Il.