The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1878-04-06
A Congressional Romance.

| "A CONGRESSIONAL hOmances
The announcement in the House to-
day OF the death of Representative
Leonard, of Louisiana, at Havana. re-
calls the reports published touching the
purpose of his visit to Cuba. After his
departure from New York it was an
nounced that Judge Leonard was sent
to Cuba by the President to inquire into
the alleged kidnapping of colored
citizens of the United States, and their
conveyance to Cuba, where they were
sold into slavery. 1t was further al
legged that Judge Leonard was commits
stoned to visit New Orleans for the pur-
pose OF representing to Gov. Nichols
the views of the President with refer
ence to the prosecution of members of
the Louisiana Returning Board. These
stories were without the slightest foun-
dation in fact.
The visit of Judge Leonard to Havana
was purely personal and private, and
was of peculiarly interesting, delicate
and romantic character. Some time
ago, at the city of New Orleans, he met
ayoung lady, native of Cuba, who was
visiting this country with her parents,
and between whom and Judge Leonard
a warm attachment sprang up, which
ripened into love. A marriage engage
ment was the result, but the parents of
the young lady, in consequence of her
youth, opposed the match, and Judge
Leonard was not permitted to see the
object of his affections except in the
presence of the parents. When the
time arrived for the departure of the
Cuban and his family from New Or
leans, the young lady manifested some
reluctance to return home, but an ar
rangement was finally made by which
she and Judge Leonard were to be
permitted to hold free and unrestricted
correspondence through the mails.
After her departure Judge Leonard
wrote her several letters, to which no
answers were received, which nat
urally annoyed him very much, and
gave rise to suspicion that his letters
had been interrupted and the young
lady prevented from communicating
with him. After long interval, he
received brief letter from the lady,
which simply stated that she had
not heard from him since her return
to Cuba, and that she could not hear
from him. This brief letter bore evil
dence of having been hurriedly written,
and its broken and soiled condition led
Judge Leonard to suspect that it had
been carried some distance by a negro
to be secretly mailed. After writing
other letters, and waiting anxiously for
replies, he became convinced that the
parents of the lady were not acting in
| rnnH fntfh and ho loto 4 4
Cuba.
A week or two before his departure
he called on the President, and, inform
ing him of his trouble, requested the
President to write personal letter to
the Consul-General, requesting him to
ascertain, if possible, the situation and
whereabouts of the lady. The Presi-
dent did so, and in due time Judge
Leonard received a cable dispatch from
Havana which informed him that MA
ria had been sent to 4 plantation in the
country" This dispatch was not signed
by the COnsul-General, but bore the
name of Il party unknown to Judge
Leonard. This added to his perplexity,
and he determined to set out at once
for Cuba. He called on Senior Mantil-
la, the Spanish Minister at Washing
ton, and, making known to him his
trouble, obtained letter from that Of
fetal to the aptain-General of Cuba,
recommending him to do whatever was
proper to aid Judge Leonard in his del
lcate mission. The sympathies of Nine
Mantllla were also enlisted in behalf of
Judge Leonard, and that lady wrote
such letter as a lady would write in
such case, urging the Captain-Gen-
eral to do everything possible to unite
the lovers.
With these letters Judge Leonard
sailed for Havana, where he duly ar
rived. Nothing has been heard from
him directly until to-day, when a friend
in this city received letter written by
him from Havana on March Z, in which
he said he had seen the lady in the pres
ence of her parents. No details as to
the success of his mission were fur
nished, but from the general tone of
dependency pervading the letter his
friend believes he failed to obtain the
consent of the parents to his addresses
to their daughter. The announcement
OF his death was painful surprise.
Judge Leonard was thirty-two years
of age, and was born at Chester, Pa.
He graduated at Harvard in 1867, stud
led civil law in Germany, and received
the degree of Doctor of Laws from the
University at Heidelberg. He was
widower, and has two children now at
school in Germany.-W Washington Cor.