The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1870-04-01
THE EMPRESS EuuENfE
A Glimpse Of the Imperial Household
Why the Empress Became q
Politician.

hoi PeIeouaI history anu
traits of character very vividly be.
fore tho reader, but throws much
light on the situation in Franco. We
quote few paragraphs:
Well, the face always disappointed
mo at least. 1t seems to me cold, ar.
tidcial, narrow, insinccrc. 1t wants
noblencss. 1t does not impress me
rs being the 1i.ce of a frivolous woman,
a coqnette, court butterfly; but
rather that Of one who is always play
ing part which sometimes wcarics.
If L were to form my own impressions
OF the Empress of tho French merely
from her face, l should set her down
as a keen, polite woman, with brains
enough to be crafty, not enough to be
great. should set her down as q
woman who needs and loves tho slim
ulus Of incessant excitement. lust rs
much as certain class of actresses
does. Indeed, think 1 have seen in
the face of more than one actress lust
such an habituai expression, off the
stage, as one may SEQ in the counte-
nance of the French Empress. Ifear
that sweet and gracious smile, which
is said to be so captivating to those
those for whose immcdite, and special
homage it is to put one, changes into
! sudden blankness or WEAKNESS when
its momentary business has been done.
Sam Slick tells us of a lady whose
smile dropped from her face the mo-
mcnt the gazer's eyes were with
drawn, "like a petticoat when the
strings break" and if I might apply
this irrevercnt comparison to tho
smile of an Empress, would say that
I think [ have noted just such q
change in the expression of the beau
tiful Eugene.
X X X
About the time Of her sudden and
mysterious escapade to London, the
Empress began TO emerge little
from the character of mere woman
Of fashion, and to become known and
felt as q politician. People say that
some at least Of the influence and
control which she began to obtain
over her husband was owing to
her knowledge of his many infdeli-
ties and his reluctance to provoke her
into open quarrel. Unless Eugene
was wholly free from tho jealousy
which is supposed to lie in the heart
of every other woman, she must have
suffered cruelty in this way for many
years. In her own court circles, at
her own side, were ladies whom uni
versal report designated as successive
noitresses en- titre of the Emperor Ma
polcan. Stories, too, of his indulgence
in low and gross amours were told
everywhere, and, true or false (chari-
ty itself could not well doubt that
some of them were true), must have
reached the Empress ears. She suf-
tered severely, and she took to poll
tics-perhaps as q harrcsscd man
sometimes takes to drinking. Her
political influence was, in it's day,
simply disastrous. She was already
on the wrong side, and she was al
ways impetuous, uureasoning, and
pertinacious, as cynical people say is
the way Of women. Reaction, ul-
tramontanism, lliberalism, found o
patroness and leader in her. She
fought for tho continued occupation
Of Rome; she battled against the con-
tinued occupation of Rome; she bat
tied against the unity Of Italy; she
recommended and urged the MEXICAN
expedition. Louis Napoleon is per-
sonally a good natured, easy going
sort OF man, averse to domestic dis
putes, fully conscious, no doubt of his
frequent liability to domestic censure. :.
What wonder if European politics
sometimes had to suffrr heavily for
the tolerated presence of this or that
too notorious lady in the inner circles
of tho French court Z? "Who is the
Countess de -" once asked of
q Partisan friend who was attached to
the Imperial household. Twas speak
ing of lady whose beauty and whose
audaoities Of dress were then much
talked of in the French capital. "The
latest favorite," was the reply. II
shouldn't wonder if her presence at
court cost another ten years of the
occupation of Rome"
~ y y 4 -
Taken on the whole, tho Empress
Eugene is better than her fortunes
and her surroundings might have
made her. She is, think. a woman
much more deserving Of respect than
Josephine Beauhernais, whose missfor.
tunes, Joined with the quiet pathetic
dignity Of 9" her retirement and
her latter years, ,havs made { the
world forget the levities, friyolities
and foliies, Of her, earlier life, sht
has shown o quicker and better ap