The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-09-15

In June, 1906, Napoleon gave the
court ieweler, NJ. Foucier, an order
for diamond necklace. Ii was to be
as costly as it possibly could be, and
the tradesman was to spare neither
money nor labor in procuring for it
diamonds of the greatest rarity and
beauty, but it was stipulated that the
article should be in the hands of the
emperor within month. In consid-
erably less time, thanks to a secret pur-
chase of magnificent diamonds M.
Foucier had just made from the king
of Prussia, completed by the jeweler
on the following day, the necklace, one
of the most magnificent in the world,
was made, and valued at eight hundred
thousand francs.
On that day, when the crown of Hol-
land was presented with all due forms
of state and ceremony to the Emperor
Napoleon by the Dutch ambassador at
st. Cloud in the Sale du Trone and
conferred upon the emperor's brother,
Louis Napoleon, Hortense, his wife,
had private interview with the
French emperor, who said:
My brother and yourself will be
the rulers of a people full of excellent
IuallliOS, IL JOu SONtIu WISELY
they will become so strongly attached
to your throne and persons that the Or
ange family will never again reign in
Holland. But these people have dom
inant weakness; they despise poverty
and have inordinate passion for wealth
If some over-rich burgomaster's wife or
daughter should outshine you in the
vulgar display of her husbands or
70
and be ridiculed. Ridicule in politics
is dangerous: you must, if possible,
avoid it. / have here little present
for you which will be useful in that di-
recton-wear it for this and for my
sake.''
AS the emperor spoke he smilingly
clasped about the shapely neck of Queen
Hortense the brilliant necklace for
which M. Foucier had so luckily OBJ
tanned diamonds of such rare beauty
and costlness.
AT all state occasions, when holding
court at Amsterdam, Queen Hortense
never failed to wear the emperor's gift
and the awe and admiration it inspired
by strengthening the loyalty of her new
subjects amply demonstrated the keen
perception and worldly wisdom of the
great Corsican adventurer, her impe-
rial brother-inlaw. When the Dutch
people saw her beauty and magnificence
they were enthusiastically proud to call
her queen. When they knew her, love
blended with pride, and in the days
Of Napoleon's adversely, when the
French were no longer in Holland, she
gracefully abandoned her throne, the
people she was leaving were full of pity
and regret, and cried, in sadness,
Good -good-bye-Holland will
never know better"
Soon after Waterloo had been won
and lost, Napoleon, driven from Elysee,
had sought refuge at Malmaison, the
last abode of poor, abandoned, Jo-
sephene and there, forsaken and alone,
brOoded over his shattered fortunes
During his exile to Elba there sprang
pin the emperOr's mind strong preiu
dice against Queen Hortense, created
for political purposes by her enemies
They had consequently become es-
tranged, and the Dutch queen, after
her abdication, retired into the privacy
of domestic life, devoting herself to
the education and training of her chill
dren and the society of her beloved
mother, but always sadly remembering
and deeply regretting the unjust and
baseless ideas which separated her from
the heart of her brother-in-law.
On the day on which Napoleon signed
his second abdication, while sitting in
mournful contemplation, he heard the
door of his apartment open, and, look
ing up, perceived in the gloom of the
deepening twilight woman's figure.
I" 1t is nine years ago this very day
since you gave me this,' said she, and
placed before him case containing the
diamond necklace. have ceased to
be a queen, and shall never wear it
again. 1t is useless to me, but it may
be useful to you. | beseech, sire, that
you will take it back
No, Hortense, nop'
Harkl some one is coming" she
cried, starting up and removing her
necklace from the case. - Not a mo-
ment must be lost-take it--take it
quickly, beg of you"
AS the footsteps entered the room
she drew aside and retreated into the
shadow, the burning gems flashing and
cleaning beside the emperor's sheathed
sword upon the table, until, as if care
less, he covered them with his hat and
sal beside them to receive his visitors
That night the precious necklace of
royal Prussian diamonds was safely
concealed in silken girdle, which, on
the following day, and for some weeks
afterward, was also worn under the inn
perial waistcoat.
Six weeks after, when Napoleon, as a
prisoner of war, was transferred from
his Brittanic majesty's ship Beero-
phon to the Northumberland the bag
gage OF the emperor and that of those
illustrious men who had obtained per-
mission to share his exile was duly
searched, ostensibly for concealed
arms, really for anything that might