Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1879-12-11

4 and told hIFn taAk aS ula akkentAM1s 10
ward her daughter we're begEnning @
excite comment, she bad the inl#ntion
OF leaving France. This was & st.
Cloud, where the mother and daughser
we're both staying. The Prince asked
Nine. de Montiic 10 tarry one day more,
for be might then have somethIng 10
say TO her. and he employed thosa iNen-
ty-four hours in acqaainting lHs minis-
ters with his intentions.
The news fell upon them ike 3shell.
Nothing Of this kind had been ppre-
hended by any one. and both Goaat De
Morny. M. de Pei ignJF ard ,ar.i
Ney rMfnrssly snpls : T.
10 contract such : mesalliancW But
Louis Napoleon was inexofable. The
communication was made TO the Cabi-
net on the 18th Of November. On the
2nd Of December the Prince was pro-
claimed Emperor; on the 23rd Of jan
uary the coming marrisge was officially
notified to the French people, and on
the 30th OF January it was sOlemnized
at Notre Dame. The Countess was an
extraordinarily beautiful woman in her
prime, and as late a. 1864 United
States minister at the Court Of Spain
wrote of her: although she is far ad-
vanced in the sixties, by closer scru-
tiny one can easily discern that she was
as handsome, If not handsomer, than
both Eugene and her second daughter,
the late Duchess Of Alba, the pictures
Of whom represent her as exceedingly
charming and beautiful.
The old Duchess was taller. She
goes usually somewhat bent down, but
to-day she appeared in her full dignity,
grand and erect; and how she did dis
play her triumphant JOY To perceive
just here in Madrid at the royal court,
in the midst oil these old grandees, her
daughter resplendent in imperial glory
and majesty, was, Of course, to her a
source of unbounded satisfaction.
saw how, led BY the Nuncio, she took
her seat at the royal table, how, forget
ful Of everything around her, she was
absorbed in looking at her daughter,
who was sitting between the King and
the infant Sebastian. Mechanically her
left hand seized the bread which laid
on her plate. and put it yet before soup
was served, and without breaking II,
into her mouth, and. TO my great de-
light, nibbled continually at il. am
sure she did moi know either what she
was eating or drinking. When, after
supper, ] stepped up to her, saluted,
and told her how enviable a position
was hers at this high and aristocraiic
Court ot Spain she sesxed both. my
hands and pressed them with a warmth
and frightened features as ! never
would have expected of lady who,
IRON the daughter ofa Scotch merchant,
rose 10 the aristocratic rank OF "a COM
tess, who gave one of her daughters to
an Emperor-not as his mIstTess-but
as his legal, rightIul wife, and who had
married her second to one of the first
and most powerful grandees oithe coun-
try.
The Countess dowager shared the
honors and trlumphs Of Eugene, as IN
other days she had shielded her from
obtrusiye and offensive attentions. Sub
sequently, when the empire fell and
dishonor seemed to be the only portion
left. the ancient spirit revived, and with
maternal instinct she extended the hand
OF motherhood to her exiied daughter.
After brief illness the distinguished
lady has succumbed to fate, and to-day
the mobiles and grandees ofSpain extend
10 her bereaved daughter their cOnsola-
ton and sympathetic attentions.