New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1879-05-14
OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.

0 Absalom, my son!'
-WH. L0n0feLl0tU. In Atlantic for MQTch.
St OUR EUROPEAN LETTER.
HYDE PARK IN APRIL. ENGLISH
AND AMERICAN LADIES ON HORSE
BACK. AN UNwR1TTEN PAGE OF
HISTORY. The LATE MADAME PAT
TERsoN BoNAPARTE. NAPOLEON
AND PIUs VII.
From our regular correspondent.
London, April II, 1879.
The season here has fairly begun,
and one by one the old familiar faces
are appearing in the park. The Row
is filing up fast. Nothing like the
great institution Of the Row have
we in America, or probably ever will
have, for we have no leisure class
sufficiently large and wealthy to fur.
nish the immaculate riders who glad
den the eyes of the British public.
Their get up-I refer to the riders
and not to the public-is irreproach-
able, and as for women, if woman
cannot look we'll in an English habit
and on an English horse there is no
hope for her. But with all this as
sistance, and though they are Grad
led on horseback, while our Yankee
women, with few exceptions, mount
perhaps but a dozen times year,
the fair sex, in my opinion, do not
ride so gracefully in England as in
America. And in the walk in the
Row, ifyou meeta beautiful, delicate
face and a perfect get up, joined with
a slight lissonie figure, you may safe.
ly bet your last shilling that their
possessor is an American. In the
far famed English complexion l am
much disappointed; if a healthy,
very healthy color constitutes beau
tiful complexion, the London women
possess it, but to me it singularly re.
sembles the roast beef of old Eng
land. One sees all ages on horse
back. Lean old men and fat old
women of seventy winters bob up
and down alongside of the little girl
of a few summers, and one might
almost say, of the baby of a few
months, for last season dame was
repeatedly seen on prancing steed
with a baby tucked under her arm,
while this year the babe having been
weaved or having gone to a happier
land, black-nosed pug has taken
it's place.
Mdme. Patterson, whose death in
America at a ripe old age is just re.
corded, was the innocent cause of
one of the sharpest tournaments
which took place between the First
Napoleon and Plus VII. The Pope
had gone to Paris, and, in spite of the
Reproduction of sincere Catholics and
the scruple of his own conscience,
had crowned the new Charlemagne
and covered with the prestige of
religion the murderer of the Dug d.
Eughien and the despoiler of the
Pontifical States. Plus VII. was
actuated partly by fear and partly by
the hope that Napoleon, whose pow:
er>was then unbounded, would pro-
tect the Holy See; and, in fact, he
obtained from the Emperor that
which his Majesty never intended to
fulfil. The Pope promised to avenge
himself for the humiliations he had
undergone in Paris and subsequent
receptions; and he had not to wait
long. Soon after his return to Rome
he received a request from Napoleon
to annul the marriage of his brother
Jerome with Miss Patterson. There
was no difficulty about the civil con-
trait being annulled; the Council of
State agreed to that; the religious
tie still existed, and this could only
be undone by the ecclesiastical au.
thority. Napoleon did not hesitate
to ask the Pope to dissolve the mar.
riage in question; he was perfectly
certain that Plus VII, after having
swallowed several camels, would not
strain at a gnat. The Court of Rome
had been too accommodating in other
matters to permit Of a doubt. Again,
Napoleon had joined to his demand
the opinion Of some of the most cele.
brated casuits of the day and of the
Pope's own theologian, showing, ac-
cording to ecclesiastical precedent,
the nullity Of the union in question.
Great, therefore, was the wrath of
Napoleon when he encountered an
invincible resistance on the part Of
the timid Plus, who wrote himself
to the Emperor letter which,
though couchedin affectionate terms.
and filled with assurances of friend.
ship, declared that certainly. accord.
ing to special decree of the Coun.
Gil OF Trent there was a canonical
clause for invalidating the marriage,
which had been concluded clandes.
timely, but, unfortunately, after the
most minute search, he had been un-
able to discover that the degree in
question had ever been published in
the city of Baltimore. He was
therefore grieved to say he could not
annul the marriage; for in acting
otherwise he would 'trender himself
guilty Of an abominable abuse be.
fore thestribunal of the Almighty. Z
Perhaps the occupation Of Ancona
by French troops was the real mo-
tive Of this reply. Napoleon took
no notice Of the Pope's letter until
after the Battle Of Austerlitz, when
he threatened to send senator to
govern Rome in his name, to send a
Protestant Ambassador to the Holy