Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1871-08-18

deavoring to prevail ON the Pope to COLI
sent to the loss of those provinces, it WAS
surmised that the husband and wife haG
quarreled about the Roman question. But
the re were, beiides, shrewder newsmong.
ers who asserted that jealousy was at the
bottom of the Imperial disagreement;
that the Empress had taken umbrage at
some indiscretion of her lord the Empe-
ror and bad vowed not to go back, unleS,
the cause Of Offense was removed.
Whatever mystery might yet have hung
upon that now almost forgotten episode in
q welded life which has been otherwist
singularly free from domestic clouds, has
been upvei ed by the sentence pronounced
by the French court of Cessation in favor
of III. Devienne. the late first President of
the Court of Paris. L. seems now certaiL
that the Emperor had really, sometim
before thai short breach of his domestic
peace, succumb bed to the destinations OF a
young lady whose beauty was the theme
OF mUcl co aver sation in the Paris world,
and that the displeasure Of the Empress
was caused by the reports which reached
her of the degree Of intimacy existing be-
tween this lady aad the Emperor, and of
the consequences the connection had eu-
tailed, which could hardly fail to lead to
scandalous exposure. The happiness Of
the wife and the safety of TIE husband re-
CURED something more than the removal
of the rival. It was necessary to obtain
from her "a retraction of the assertions
upon which she founded her claims. and
upon the strength of which she thre atened
to bring the Emperor before a court OF
law. The Empress, generously giving up
all idea CT p divorce, and cOnsenting to @
reconciliation with her erring husband,
exerted herself to extort from her rival a
declaration to the efect that she had de-
ceived the Emperor, and that their inter
course had no such results IS she had Led
him to believe
We 90 not think that, out Ct France at
least, people will greatly concern them-
selves above the part played by the Cbiei
President OF the Imperial Court il this
delicate transaction. All the interest con:
centra:es ls9lf on one Doint, and that is
the wholesome fear the Emperor Napoleon
entertai ned as TO the consequences OF his
indscretion. He was at that time at the
height Of bis popularity, for his Lombard
cam pain had won him the applause even
of his enemies, while the anue XatiOn Of
Saxony and Nice had reconciled to him
the advCcateS OF "A more strictly national
policy. But lawsuit such as his cuIpab e
attachment 50 nearly involved him in was
more than even IN all his might he would
have ventured to face. His wife, though
placab!e TO the fault, would have been lu-
exO1able to lis exposure, aud peace could
hard y have b .en mad unless a means had
been found 20 hush up the scandal. The
Enperor's Irosp+cs for himself and his
dynasty woaId have lost much Of til. If
brightness, aud the nation which had con
doned he coup d etdte and accepted per
sonal rule would have murmule i at do
mestlc irregularities to which generally So
ciety shows only too much indulgence,
but which the high rank of the Oif-nd. r
would not have allowed it to ignore. Ia
our age, when We place kings and princes
above US, we expect them to be the btst
among US ana if they actually are not
what we WDuld have them, We ms st, at
least, en- their set ming to be so.