Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1872-04-17
la BELLE TURQUE.
The Story OF the Princess Cecile.

The Story of the Princess Cecile.
From the London Society.
Of all the wandering claimants to
royalty, scions Of kings "retired from
business, F" sol disd1at regal pretenders,
false or real-whether like Perkin War
beck, OF the six Demetrises of Russia,
some more recent pseudo heirs of the
house of Stuart who figured in Austria
after the Quarterly drove them out Of
Scotland, "the Duke of Normandy" )"
in London, and SO forth, who had ap-
peared from time TO time, none have
had so marvellous a story to tell as the
Princess Cecile, " La belle Turque, "as
she was named, who announcing her
self, IN two volumes octave, to be a
daughter of the deposed sultan Ach-
met Ill, took the needless world of
Paris by surprise, about a hundred
years ago, and whose narrative has fire.
quently been classed with romances,
though it came forth as veritable his
tory.
The editor, who guaranteed its truth,
was man Of veracity and credit in his
day and he urged upon the public
that however extraordinary and roman
tic her adventures might appear, they
were, ne rtheless, strictly facts; and
in letter addressed to the editors of
the Journal de Paris, in 1857, he add
ed, that in that year, the lady was still
alive in the French capital, 'Eand, not
withstanding her advanced age, in the
enjoyment Of good health "
It is singular that her narrative,
whether false or true, as given by her
self and an Buissson, Litterane,
Hotel de Mesgringy, Rue des Poite-
wins, ''-as it would furnish ample ma
terials for The largest three volume
novel, escaped the eyes of Alexander
Dumas, or Viscount d d'Arlincourt, as is
full of adventures Of the most stirring
kind, and told briefly, runs thus:
The Introductory part of her story,
in which the names of persons of rank
are concealed, contains, necessarily, the
adventures of her governess, or nurse,
by whom she was first abducted from
her home and brought to France.
It would appear that about the year
100, a Mademoiselle Emilia (sec),
daughter of a surgeon in the French
seaport town OF Genes, was, with her
lover, young Genoese, named Sal
moni, in "a pleasure-boat upon the
Mediterranean, a little way from the
coast, when notwithstanding la ter
roass C5u nom de Louis XIV" they
were poUnced upon by some Turkish
c0rsalrs-a common enough evon in
those days, and not one unfrequent,
even after Lord ExmOTth demolished
Algiers.
This occurred in the dusk; and the
voice of Salmoni, who had been sing
ing, Is supposed to have first attracted
them. Being armed, the italian de-
Tended his love and his life with cour-
age, but fell severely wounded, and was
left for dead in the bottom of his boat,
which fioated away, the sport of the
waves, while Emilia was carried off, and
in consequence Of hergreat beauty, was
ultimately sold, at ConstantinOple IN
der the name of Fatima, for the service
and amusement Of Achmet III, who,
in consequence Of her accomplish
ments, made her species Of governor
to his children, instead of retaining
her among the odalisques in the ser
aglio. This must have been subsequent
to 1703, when Achmet began his trou-
blesome reign.
She was in this situation of trust,
when Salmoni, who had never forgot.
ten her, after a long and unsuccessful
scarf through many seaport towns in
the Levant-a veritable pilgrim of love
accidentally discovered, by casual
conversation with a Turkish seaman,
where she was, and how occupied for
IL, III u
crew.
Disguised as a Turk. and giving out
that she was the father of Fatima, the
trusted slave" Salmoni found means to
communicate with her through an
ichoglG2o, one of the slaves or pages at
tached to the seraglio. and they were
thus enabled to see each other and con-
verse, their hasty meetings being but
stolen moments of tenderness and iov.
Emilia was now in atteudance upon a
little daughter of Achmet Ii, born IN
ITO, and then six months old. Her
mother was the Sultana Ask, formerly
a Georgian Slave, and then one Of
the kadines or wives of the sultan, la
dies whose number rarely exceeds sew
en-. Emilia was high in favor with
both Achmet and this sultana, as she
had been particularly serviceable to the
latter at the birth of the child, through
some little skill he had acquired from
her fanher, the surgeon; thus the con-
fdence they reposed in her, and the
authority she possessed over all the
people in and about the seraglio, facil-
itated the execution of those plans for
an escape, suggested and urged by Sal
moni.
With view to this end, she desired
the b0StOn0bj, or head-gardener, to
make see-saw, which was in the gar
dens, so high that she-and her pupils,
probably-migbt see the whole city
from the lofty wall that girds this
place, where still the trees planted are
always green, that the inhabitants at
Galata and other places may not see
the ladies at their lonely prom
enades. Aided by this see-saw, she
dropped over the wall billet, to Sal
monl, desiring him to procure a ladder,
"a steel-yard" to fix to the masonry, to
make arrangements with ship captain,
and when all was prepared, to wait her
beneath the wall Of that terrible Serai
DournouS, WhIch no SIaYe-WOman had
ever yet leftalive.
Salmoni promptly obeyed her in
structions; he discovered a ship for
Levant, and by note tossed over the
wall, informed her Of the night, and
the very hour of their departure
She was in the very act Of reading
this note-probably not for the time
when the Sultan Achmet sndG,ul> en-
tered her apartment; a4d She had