The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1892-07-17

emperor - scandal oOuDtiesS Witnout
foundation. One story they especially
liked to tell. Before his engagement was
formally announced the emperor dismissed
beautiful woman who had been
attached to him for years, and who was
known as Mrs. Howard, OF Baltimore.
But this favorite, though she probably
had never aspired to a crown, was unwill-
ing to relinquish the establishment. and,
meeting her reputed rival in the Bots de
Boulogne, assaulted her with the violent
language that jealous ladies are said some
times to use. The Spaniard was not reti-
cent in reply, and the foreign newspapers
reported that finally parasols were used as
posed, and the antagonists were separated
before the beauty Of either received
Disagreement. There is no mention
of this circumstance in any court history
of the time, but it was whispered with
bated breath in the salons of the dncien
regime; aloud it might have caused trial
TOR tesc 8t0jeste.
For while the new sovereigns were
kept at arms distance by the older royal
ties, just as parvenues are at first held off
in society; but in the end success succeeds
in palaces as everywhere else. In 1883 the
emperor and empress were allowed to
make visit to the British queen, and re-
ceived. of course, all the honors of royalty;
the queen embraced the empress and drove
with her through the streets OF London,
the prince consort and the emperor on the
front seat. The Order of the Garter was
bestowed on his majesty, and Victoria her
self buckled the insignia on the imperial
knee. Soon afterward the visit was re-
turned. and the Guelphs became the guests
of the Bonapartes The successful adven-
turers exercised all their charms of wit
and behavior, and quite conquered the
unsusceptible SAKE Coburg stock. A friend
ship sprang up which survived the fall OF
dynastles and the loss of crowns.
This was the epoch OF Eugenie's greatest
triumphs. Raphael's Madonnas were
taken from the Louvre to adorn her
boudoir. and her crown jewels were more
splendid than the famous necklace of
Louis XVI.'s Inflated queen. Every SOW
ereign in Europe acknowledged her rs an
equal, and women of exalted rank and an
cient nobility were anxious to be seen at
her court.
But the empress was not only the ar
bitress of fashion and mistress of lotteries,
she dabbled in political intrigues and had
influence with ministries and cabals. She
helped her consorU to maintain his posi-
ton and played her part right royalty.
She visited hospitals in plague times: she
cared for the soldiers OF the Italian and
Crimean wars; she was regent when the
emperor went to the field of Solferino, and
accompanied him in his tours through
France, undoubtedly adding to his popu-
larity. She represented him at the open
ing of the Suez canal, travelling in more
than oriental splendOr to the Levant,
where she was welcomed by the sultan
and the khedive, who in all their harems
had no fairer treasure, and must have
wondered at the Western potentate who
trusted such an houri so far from home,
without solitary eunuch on guard. The
presents they made her, the necklaces she
received from the successors of Mahomet
and the Ptolemies, the illuminated cities
and barges recalled the progress of Cleo
patra. while the inimitable tact of the
modern princess made every word and act
worthy of her unfamiliar role.
In 1867 the great exposition was opened
at Paris, and the kings of the earth went
to pay tribute of recognition to Napoleon
III. and admiration to his parvenue con-
sort. The emperor of Austria was there
and the car, and the kings of Sweden and
Belgium; but more wonderful still in the
light Of subsequent events-the king of
Prussia and his heir. with Bismarck, their
ambassador, were welcomed to Paris by
him who was to be their prisoner when
they entered there again; while their
gracious hostess of that day was destined
to be beseged by their armies and de-
throned by their victories.
Before this Napoleon had reached out
his army to the new world and attempted
to establish Hapsburg on the throne Of
Mexico. In this design the empress was
very earnest to aid him. She espoused
the cause of Macmillan and the hapless
Carlotta more than ardently. and when
misfortune came and the American en-
press crossed the Atlantic to urge Napo-
leon to aid her husband Eugene was still
her friend. She obtained an interview for
Cariotta of the emperor, and added her
own entreaties to those of her sister in
grandeur, and if she had known tin
misfortune. But reasons of state were
more imperious even than imperial wishes,
and the two women failed, as the two
emperors themselves had failed in their
great design.
Then came Sadowa. and as a result the
Franco German war. Here again Eugene
interfered. She was strong for a march
to the Rhine. Count Pahlen. famous
Russian. familiar with the secret history
of every court in Europe. told the writer
he had been with the empress when the
troops marched out of Paris, and had seen
her strike her breast, while she proudly
exclaimed, "Cest ma guerre.'' ''This is my
war" fit was indeed her war, or her in
fiuence that brought it on, it cost her
everything she had in the world, her hus-
band, son and throne.
The emperor set out with presentiments
and anxieties, i'll in body and mind; TAX
ing his boy with him for the famous "bap-
tism of fire." and leaving the empress
regent at the Tuilerics. The first ter
rlble campaign ended ct Sedan, and at
once the Paris population rose. Those
days had come which recalled Marie An
toinette and Louis Philippe and Charles
X. The empress had always entertained
fear of the fate that befell her beautiful
predecessor in 1872, and now after eighty
years the parallel seemed at hand The
mob invaded the palace, and abdication
was not long delayed. Flight was the
only alternative, but flight was already
dangerous. Many friends were false,
others were timid; she knew not whom to
trust. and finally was saved by foreigners
an Italian ambassador and an American
| dentist
But fate had still another shock in
store for her. The young man. full of
promise, bright, brave, courteous, was
grateful for the reception his family had
| found in England. He volunteered in a
| petty African war and fell needlessly in
| skirmish with savages In the whole world
| that did not feel for this mother so sadly
| stricken; thrust down from throne,
| where she had queened i: so royalty driven
| into exile, deprived first of husband and
| consort. and now of her only child. the
| son of her advancing years, the solace of
| her solitude, the hope of her return to
| power.
At first she was Frustrated by the blow,
| but recovered in time to receive fhe princes
| body. The queen visited her in her
bereavement, and put her arms around
| the weeping woman: for in such grief
each forgot her crown, it was as women
and mothers, not as queens reigning or
| exiled, that they wept together.
As soon as she was able the empress set
| out for Africa to visit the spot where her
had foil ON. md in al no S.,ftl d