Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1883-06-05
LAST DAYS OF THE SAPOlEONlC
DYNASTY.


whole TO give the court too great n sense
of security. On the 18th the battles
around Metz began, and BaZaine's ar
mics. everywhere outnumbered and
| beaten, had TO retreat before the Ger
man hosts. But st. Private and Grave
lotte were reported to the Parisians rs
victorious, and it was said that Bazaine
had thrown himself into Metz in order
TO take up strong position. The
Empress believed all these fables. Was
| it a wonder that she should do SO when
at clubs like the Union and the Cercle
Imperial old generals would bark furi
| ously at you If you expressed any doubt
as to Marshal CaDrohert having driven
a whole regiment of Prussian cuirassiers
into the sandpi:s of Jaumont-sandpits
which had no existence. The truth is,
dc uble sets of kilograms used to be sent
from the seat of war. and those which
related events with some approach to
the truth (for none of them were wholly
truthful) were never communicated TO
the Empress. When the hoaxing dis
patch about the Jaumont sandpits was
put into her hands, the poor lady, be-
| lieving in a real victory, was SO over
joyed that she ran down from her apart
ments to the guardroom, right among
the soldiers, who were lying upon camp
beds or playing cards, and waved the
telegram, crying, "The Prussians are
hsaten!" She then suspended all her
own personal preparations for flight.
She said, il a revelation were attempted
in Paris, she would herself ride at the
head of the troops that quelled it. This
was her mood during several days, and
it explains how so few of her own chat
tells were removed from the palace. Her
wardrobe contained more than three
hundred dresses; her collection of fans,
of furs, of lace and linen, was probably
unique, for the pin money which she had
received III monthly payments ever ,ince |
her marriage amounted to e4s, 900 year,
and We may add that she never failed to |
spend this sum to the last franc. Eve |
rything that the Empress possessed, |
with the exception of her jewels and n |
few valuable missals, WAS left at the |
Tuilleries when she fled; and the Jewels |
would have been abandoned, too. had |
not Madame Carette, ono of her Males |
tvs ladies in waiting, prevailed on her, |
after much pleading, to have these trea- |
sures confded to banker.
The Empress led a curious life during |
her last days on the throne. She was |
up every morning at seven o'clock, at |
tired in a black cashmere dress, which |
she wore all day with plain white collar |
and cuffs. At half-past seven she heard |
mass said in the private chapel of the |
Tuilleries by Monseigneur Bauer, her |
aimoner. Immediately after this she |
took cup of chocolate with Madame |
Carette, who, by the by, was one of the |
most renowned court beauties and most |
charming companion, owing To her OK |
quisite cheerfulness. The Empress's |
private apartments were on the first |
floor of the Pavilion de Flore, overlook |
ing the garden and commanding elo-
rious view of the Seine and the Champs
Elysees as far as the Triumphal Arch. |
The room in which she generally sat was
a circular saloon, very gaily decorated |
with panels painted by Charles Chaplin, |
and illustrating the loves of violet and |
a rose. In this room, from eight o'clock |
in the morning until long after the nom- |
inal hour for dinner, which day after |
day was delayed, the Empress received |
an uninterrupted dow of visitors, and |
the confusion OF those wretched times |
was shown by the kind "a well as by the |
number Of persons who were allowed to |
penetrate into her presence.
ack-pated men bringing plans for |
new campaigns, inventors who had new |
sorts of shells to propose, wives of con-
victs who sought pardon for their hus- |
bands, aud, it is pitiful to add, men Of
every degree who wanted 70 coax or bully |
grants Of money, posts or decorations
out of Regent whom they knew TO have
more of womanly sweetness than of re-
gal strength-all these people were, by
some objectionable misinanagemen. on
the part of those who should Il I'VE pro-
tectea the Empress, allowed to plague
her all day long. An excuse that may
be offered for some of the men then IN
power Is that several of them were quite
new to the responsibilities OF Office. M.
Clement Duyernois, for instance a
young man of twenty nine, who hsd be-
come Minister of Commerce on the
strength of some dashing newspaper ar
ticles-wes regular Bohemian who used
always TO show an inch Of shirt between
his YES. and the waistband of his neither
garments From Observation-Disclosures he
would go ont With q patent leather boot
ON one foot and clump soisd shoe on
the other. This eccentric man of talent,
/ who displayed some administrative abil-
| isy in provisioning Paris for the siege,
used to give audience to quondam Bo-
hemian brethren.