The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-12-20

eminent. A careful perusal Of The con-
Monaco, and the firm of Monte Garlic
will show conclusively that he has the
power and the right to terminate the
lease at any time. He should therefore
bear the full moral responsibility of all
the lniquities practiced at Monte Carlo.
The princes present wife, the wild
owed Duchesse de Richelieu, q daughter
of the Partisan Hebrew banker Heine,
did not bear the very best of reputar
tions previous to her marriage. She
has been the heroine of several sensa.
to have lived with the prince of Mona
leo, but also to have borne him two chill
dren previous to her being united to
him in the legal bonds of matrimony.
Her character, indeed, was SO no
torious that the princes father,
the late Charles Ill, of Monaco, would
not hear of the match, which he pro-
nounced as in every way unworthy
even for his son, and it was not until
several weeks after his death that the
wedding at length took place. AL
string of titles and is received with the
honors due to crowned head at Ger.
tain of the courts of Europe, yet the
bod that runs in his veins is of very
plebeian character, as his grand
mother, 1Marie Louise Gilbert, was
the daughter of a small shopkeeper at
Paris. while his grandfather was an
actor at the Ambigu theater in the
French metropolis. His existence as
reigning sovereign tends to bring roy.
atty into contempt and ridicule, while
his life as an individual is Of charac
ter almost as ignoble as that of Prince
Constantine Radziwill, whose vices are
of the most indescribable character.
The prince of Monacos career has been
one long succession of shameful scan,
dals, which have been kept out of the
press mainly through the efforts Of his
paymasters, the Monte Carlo firm, who
consider it to their interests to endeavo1
by all means in their power to maintain
the remnants Of his reputation and OF
his prestige as much as possible uninl.
paired. Few people are aware of the
fact that when, by his shameful iminor
allties, practiced even under his very
roof, he drove his first wife, Lady Mary
Hamilton, to seek refuge abroad with
her child, he attempted to subject hel
to the same treatment suffered by
Queen Nathalie, of Servia, few years
ago at Wiesbaden. That is to say, a
commissary Of the italian police, accom-.
panied by several constables in uni,
form, called at the hotel at Milan
where she was staying and demanded
in the name of the Italian government
that the princess should surrender to
them her son; threatening to use
force unless she did so. Just as
they were in the very moment Of
putting their menaces into execution
the door suddenly opened, and
Grand Duchess Katherine of Russia,
who had been attracted to the spot by
the noise, darted into the room, seized
the little prince in her arms and re
treated with him to her own apart
ment, daring the commissary of police
to modest her in any way. Aware OF
the rank of the grand duchess and also
of the trouble certain to ensue if Sc
near relative of the car were to meet
with any official discourtesy in Italy.
the police Withdrew, and on the follow
ing day the grand duchess, accompa-
little prince, crossed the frontier into
Switzerland without any further at
tempt being made to seize the child.
The latter remained with his mother
until her marriage was finally annulled
by the pope, since which time he has
spent part of each year with his father
and part with his mother, who is now
the wife of the Hungarian magnate,
Count Tassilo Festecics
From this it will be seen that the
four men who own and run the gam
bling tables at Monte Carlo are entire
ly unworthy of any consideration, re.
spect or confidence. Indeed, there are
many other things that might be told
of each one of them, but which will not
bear repetition in print. American
visitors to the south of France this
winter who enter the doors of the
Monte Carlo gambling establishment
will do well to bear in mind the char
acter of the owners of the place in
whose hands they place themselves.
Possibly, however, they may avoid this
beautiful spot when they remember
that although the population of
Monaco does not exceed 1000 all told,
yet that there have been during the last
seven years no less than 4,212 duly
authenticated cases of suicide in the
principality.