The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-02-23
THE PRINCESS LOUISE.
Why She Was Averse to Returning
to Her Canadian Home.

Geo. w. Smalley, in his London letter
to the Tribune, writes as follows: A good
deal has been said privately Of late about
the alleged reluctance of the Princess
Louise to return to Canada. So long as
talk of that sort was private only, l pre-
ferred not to repeat it. Nothing could
be less gracious than to represent a
young wife as unwilling to rejoin her
husband, and this is the construction
which might easily be put upon her hesi-
tation.
But the matter has been made public
by newspaper comment, so it only re-
mains to say-at the risk of irritating
our Canadian friends-that it is true the
Princess did not wish to go back, but not
true that domestic reasons have anything
to do with her aversion to the journey.
What the Princess dislikes is, to put it
bluntly, the society Of Ottawa; or rather,
the want of society. She is passionately
attached to- England, and to London
above all. She cares for literature, for
art, for music, for conversation.
She is herself one of the cleverest
women in England, and one of the most
cultivated. She haunts studios and con-
certs, and drawing-rooms where good
talk is to be had, to which she contrib
utes her full share. Here she led full
and beautiful life. What is there in Of
tawa to compare with it? Ii the estima-
bic people of that excellent capital will
but think of it for moment, they have
no reason to be angry because young
and brilliant woman prefers life in one
of the most brilliant cities of the world
to life in the chief city of was going
to say a wilderness; and wilderness it is
if you look only for those refnements
and ornaments of existence which to
women are more dear than more sub.
stantial merits.
There are stories floating about of pas
sionate entreaties by the Princess fo1
liberty to remain in England, and stern
refusals by ner mother. To the Queen,
life has not perhaps much poetry left in
it. She sees that the place Of the Prin-
cess is with her husband, and she is a
woman capable of suppressing personal
feelings relentlessly, and enforcing politi-
cal duties upon her children in the most
austere spirit of the sovereign. If the
reports that make their way over here
from Canada are to be credited, such
loyalty as there is among the Canadians
clings about the person of the Princess
Louise rather than about her husband,
the Governor General and Viceroy.
I hear Of men and women following
the Princess in the streets and watching
for her at the corners only to touch the
hem of her robe. Is that true? l know,
at any rate, that one eminent Radical of
the Dominion, who has no love to spare
for loyalty in any shape, said that they
could deal easily enough with the Vice
roy, but that the Princess wasa power.
The eminent Radical did not wish her to
be power. He would be better pleased
if she had her will and lived here in
London. half guessed that he was him.
self not insensible to the charm and au.
thority which the Princess-because she
is Princess and because she is woman
-wields over the simple folk of the ST.
Lawrence provinces. But he believes
that every year of her stay tightens the
bond between the colony and the Crown
And he does not wish to see it tightened
but loosened. If the Princess knew tnst
such feelings prevailed among her moth
er's Canadian subjects, it might almost
reconcile her to what she now looks on
as banishment. For she is, after
all, if her friends testimony may be
taken, woman capable of loving some
thing on larger scale than pictures and
music; awoman with much Of the royal
nature ana love Ct reigning which comes
to her rightfully by birth; with unusual
force of character and courage for great
enterprises. If she once conceived the
notion Of playing a great part in Amer
lea, it is possible enough she might
change what now seems the inevitable
course of events in the Dominion Of
Canada, and keep it Imperial long afte,
the time when it now promises to become
] Republican.