The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1874-01-15
The Necklace that S>raugles: a 4ueeIl.

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not one of them rtle--intiustrlOu,ly circu
lated against Marie Antoinette, nose did
her such irreparable injury. and none is
surrounded with SO much mystery aS the
famous affair OF ''lhp Diamond Necklace"
| We propose to tell this strange, almost IN
credible story as briefly and clearly Il,
! possible
The real heroine of the diamond neck
| lace is not the Queen Of France. but Jean
NJ dc st Rcmey de Nalois. better known
as the Counties, de I-amotrp. Though tlac-
ING her descent to the royal house of Va
| lois, her father was a peasant in the PROV
ncP of Champagne, and she herself was
born under matched roof and in most ab-
| iect poverty As she emerged from child
hood her beauty and brightness attracted
the notice of some influential persons, who
rescued her from unpleasant surroundings
and placed her where She could obtain an
education and enjoy the comforts of 2
home. If we may trust memoirs-Which
however, as general thing are not to be
| trusted III all-she was on the point once
OF adopting convent lite But religion
was not her forte, and a>certaining that
fact AT Il very early age. She launched cat
upon the world to seek her fortune in mar
| happy NJ de Lamotte was OF gentle birth,
but had little on no money and was Il pri-
yale gcndarmc of the Guard when She e>-
poused him. The exceedingly limited
means OF the Young couple were soon cN-
hausted and the Countess, as we shall call
her, left the rural districts and came up to
Paris. where her husband asthen station
ed Her object was to establish her claims
Nalois. and then to inducc the Government
to grant her pension worthy Of the last
| survivor of a race which had once ruled
| France. Louis, Princes Cardinal of Rohan,
was Grand Amoner OF the kingdom An
ambitious, intriguing preatc, with some
ability and no discretion, he had, many
| years previous to the time Of which we are
writing, forfeited the favor of the Court,
and WAS specially obnoxious to Marie An
toinettc He still retained his office but
was TO all intcnts and purposes indisgraec,
and had tried every means At his command
to rcnState himself in the good opinion of
the soyerrgns. Repeated failures had
made him desperate and Just at fhe mo-
mclt when his disappointment and desprr-
alton had reached their highest pitch the
Countess de l-amotte crossed hispath. How
a woman of her standing in society made
the acquaintance of SO exalted i parsonage
as De Rohan has never been satisfactorily
explained; but We suspect that her beauty
and the Cardinals propensity tor @allantry
furnish the true key to the mystery BE
| this as ii may it is evident that She became
| sufficiently intimate with him to form 4
| very accurate estimate of his moral and
intellectual caliber, and that She saw in
the humiliated cOurtier an instrument
which, if skilltully handled, might work
| to her immense advantage Accordingly
she began her bold game by convincing
the Cardinal that she was on terms of close
| friendship with the Queen, and that the
latter was in the habit of conliding to her
| many important Secrets-among the rest
that She, the Queen, was at heart warmly
attached to De Rohan, and only waited 4
suitable opportunity to win the consent Of
| the King and restore the Grand Almonerto
his proper position at Court. 10 convince
her dupe beyond a possibility of doubt the
Countess on different occasions produced
letters ostensibly written by the Queen re-
peating her sentiments of esteem for the
Cardinal and bidding him TO be of good
courage, and, above all, TO be patient.
| These letters are the pivot upon which the
whole intrigue turned, and they were I'M
questionably forged, either by VI. De La
motto or friend of his and paramour of
his wife, scoundrel named Nillettre. The
Cardinal swallowed the bait, hook and all,
and never seems to have suspected the
trick being played upon him until the
final den0uenlent The fish fairly caught,
then the Countess proceeded to use him.
1t must be remembered that she never had
even been presented to the Queen.
In l774 Louis NN. ordered his court Jew
elers, Messrs Bmhmer & Bassauge, to
procure for his mistress, Madame Du Bar
rv, magnificent diamond necklace richer
and rarer than anything at that time to be
found in Europe. Before Jewels Of the re-
quisite size and purity could be collected,
the King died, Du Barry was driven into
exile, and Bohmer & Bassauge We're left
with an exceedingly unstable article on
their hands The necklace when completed
was valued at l 500, 900 francs-or about
1920 900. Bnhmcr, the managing partner
of the firm, besought Louis XVI. to pur
chase it, but he refused He then endeay
orcd to fascinate the Queen with the gilt
tering toy, hoping that if her fancy was
caught she would find way to persuade
the King. But Marie Antoinette had less
taste for diamonds than persons other class
usually have, seldom wearing them, except
when compelled to by the demands Of
State occasions, and consequently she met
the opportunities Of the jeweler with an
emphatic negative. He renewed his peti-
tion again and again, declaring at last
that unless he could sell the necklace he
should be forced into bankruptcy and
would commit suicide Disguised at the
impertinence and folly of the man, who
appeared to have lost his senses, the Queen
finally told him never to mention the sub
lect to her again on any preteXt, and or
dered him to quit the palace at once. Thi.
ultimatum was delivered probably some
time in the early part ofl7S4, A few months
later-it is impossible to verify the dates
with accuracy-lIer Majesty, naturally
curious to know what had become Of the
necklace, commissioned one of her attend
ants to inquire. BThmer answered the in
quiry by stating that the Sultan Of fTurkey
had bought it rs a present for his favorite
concubinc. This did not appear at all i'm
probable and the Queen, after expressing
her qualification at Bdhmers successful
solution of his difficulties, dismissed the
matter from her mind altogether.
Meanwhile the necklace was in Nersall-
les, not in Constantinople. The Countess
de Lamotte had heard Of the splendid
gems which nobody would buy, and pre-
pared plan which might produce pul-
chaser. Through the forged letters already
mentioned she had drawn from De Rohan
10000 livres in the name of the Queen
and this heavy loan, instead of opening
the eyes of the deluded man, had appa-
rently convinced him more firmly than even
} that the royal lady who had condescendep
to borrow money of him to such an extent
could not much longer deny him public
reward for his liberality. He was ready
to receive the soup de grace and the