The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-03-13
SUBSCRIPTIONS I:
Payable Invariably in AdUance
SOVEREIGN OF THE CONGO.
PecuIiRrlties of King Leopold, OF Bel
gium-His Various Accomplishment.
New York Sun

PecuIiarIties of King Leopold, of Bel
gium-H Various Accomplishment.
New York SUM-
Every day the king either rides or
drives to Brussels, accompanied by one
or two adjutants. In the palace Of the
capital he gives his audiences. The
salon set apart for these ceremonies is on
the ground floor, opening on the gardens,
and is reached by another drawing
room, where the officer on duty
is in attendance. The king is most
accessible, and easily grants an
interview. He is affable, and enters
freely into conversation, apparently in
terested and eager for information. The
walls of the audience chamber are
literally crowded with paintings, some
Of great value and merit, both ancient
and modern. Leopold ii is at once
connoisseur and an amateur, and has
acquired some priceless picture by
Van Dyck, Rubens, HObbema, and
other artists. The magnificent ceiling
represents Day driving away Night, by
Jean Francois Millet. Near this salon
is the Cabinet de Travail, to which he
retires Immediately after the visitors
have departed. He resumes work till
it is time to return to Laeken for dinner.
When he entertains civilian guests, the
king appears in black evening suit,
with the order of the Golden Fleece
otherwise always in uniform. After
dinner he reads the evening papers,
dips into new books and publications,
and retires early.
His tastes, idiosyncrasies and antipa-
thies are strong and decided. As al
ready said, he does not care for wine,
he is not fond of music, dislikes hunt
ing and shooting, and hates tobacco,
while his brother is an inveterate smoker
and sportsman. He does not even swim,
although at Ostend during the bathing
season he spent an hour in the sea. He
is fond of walking and riding, but his
horses are trained for him, while the
queen trains her own. He has never
worn gloves even in uniform, and re-
fused to wear the hat, which his father
used to think the proper headgear at the
opening Of parliament, prOnouncing the
speech from the throne bareheaded.
His dominant passion is architecture,
and his favorite taste laying out grounds
and planting At his own expense he
gave to the parish of St. GILES a SPLEEN
did public park and another to the
township of Laeken. In the Bots de la
Cambre, the Bots de Boulogne of Brus-
sells, he purchased for 700, 900 francs a
piece of land which he converted into
square so as to preserve for the holiday
makers the magnificent panorama of
Ixelles- Etterbeek. In the Ardennes he
rebuilt the castle and created Tierson.
at Ostend he erected a palace called a
chalet, made Of wood, a marvel of COM
fort and elegance, planned and con-
structed entirely at LoweStoft in Eng
land, brought over in sections, and put
together at his favorite seaside resort.
He takes a lively interest in all in
ventions. His hot houses and winter
gardens are heated by the most APP
proved sytem. He has repeatedly
visited the model dwelling houses of
London, in order to found similar &C
commodation for the working classes in
Belgium He speaks English, French.
and German alike fiuently, as well as
Flemish. He is courteous, amiable, and
of a most equable disposition. If
slightly skeptical, he is neither bitter
nor severe, and seems to have taken as
a motto the words of Napoleon at st.
Helena, ITO understand all is to forgive
ALL He is perSeYering to obstinacy,
and pursues an aim with unhagging zeal
and energy. His reign will be marked
by two great and noble efforts. He
has virtually abolished capital pun
ishment, as he has consistently
refused to sign death warrant,
and he has founded on his private
fortune prize of 1, 900 pounds sterling
for works of intelligence" 1t must,
however, be confessed that, save on one
occasion, the prize has never been
awarded by the jury, who found none
of the numerous yearly candidates
worthy of obtaining it.
The king has no councillors. A few
old and trusted advisers of his fathers
can hardly be so called, although he
confers with them on momentous occa-
sions. He is himself a firstrate diplo-
matist, and has repeatedly had oppor-
tunities of using this acquired or natu-
raj gift, and with consummate, yet I'M
ostentatious skill contrives to avoid the
influence of conflicting parties at home,
and domineering preston abroad To
this self contained and subtle power he
owes in a great measure the success of
the long-eherished scheme resulting in
the sovereignty of the Congo.