The Portland daily press., 1896-06-10
THREE WIDOWED EXPRESSES.
Their Strangely Different Fates Excite
Comment From Nj. de Blowitz.

paris Dispatch N the London Times.
From Palermo comes very interesting
piece of news, really curious incident
of contemporary history. The Empress
Eugenie, arriving on her yacht, the
Thistle, at Palermo, received visit from
the Duo d. Aumale, who has been stay.
ing at his property of Lucco. The duke
| presented to her his granddaughter, the
Duo d'Orleans, and then invited her to
large luncheon party, at which, among
the guests the empress again met the
Duo d'Orleans. whose liveliness and air Of
resolution charmed her. Suoh an moi
dent really sets one dreaming.
In the first place, the Duo d'Aumale
was the most determined, and one may
cay the most aggressive, adversary both
of the family and of this policy of Napo-
leon III. and especially of Prince Jerome.
The polemic between the two latter
and the dukes singing pamphlet will
be remembered, as also the challenge
and the biting irony with which the
duke replied to the princes refusal OF
fight.
During the entire period of the second
empire the Punishment of the Duo
d'Aunale was vigorously maintained.
The two princes found themselves again
on French soil after the conclusion OF
peace in 1871, and they were banished
nearly at the same time by the third re-
public, the Due d Aumale to return after
The fall Of President Grevy and the gift
OF Chantilly to the French Academy.
Prince Napoleon to die in exile in Rome
close by that Vatican against which he
had pronounced so powerful an indiot-
ment ID the imperial senate.
To behold the widow of Napoleon Ill.
sitting at the table of the Dpc d Aumale
in company with the DUO d'Orleans,
the most important and ardent competi-
tor of the heir to the empire, Prince
Victor, is in itself an extremely singular
spectacle. indicating the Indifference of
the empress for the fate of the last Napo.
leon and her scant confidence in Ibis &C.
cession. But the scene becomes stranger
and moro dramatic still when one thinks
of the destiny of the widow of the third
Napoleon, of that life which has touched
the highest SUBMITS of human power of
the woman who, issuing from an ordi-
nary but restless existence, passed fifteen
years on one of the foremost thrones OF
the world, and then descended from chat
AAOhO ttAliSA a Niob5uiOuS Wal WulOu Su6
had called her own, who shared the exile
of her husband and son, who has seen
them both die, and who has remained
alone, buried, as it were, under the
weight of such Hellenic tragedy.
Our time. counts three expresses who
are widows. One, the mother of q reign.
ing emperor, finds at the court of her
son, as at that of her mother, the royal
splendor which she has always known.
Children and grandchildren, sisters and
brothers nieces and nephews, surround
her, welcome her arrival or speed her on
her way with tender adieus and she can
still wherever she goes, think herself at
tho summit of grandeur save for the
constant grief in hor heart at the loss of
her imperial spouse.
The second even while ] write, Is hav-
ing her share of grandeur and glory in
the acclamations of an immense people
surrounding her son, the preliminaries of
whose coronation the entire world is now
watching with Unsuitable curiosity. She,
too, has children STATED on the steps of q
throne, brilliant imperial family sur
rounding her with, love, respect and ven
GRAFTON, parents who wear the royal
crown, and brothers and sisters-all these
forming one of the most imposing and
enviable Of circles that can mitigate the
most cruel of bereavements.
But tho widow of Napoleon III. devoid
of any such consolation, is plunged In
the solitude OF irreparable grief and this
luncheon with the most ardent adversary
of the dynasty whose splendor and re-
sentiments she espoused seems to show n
desire to escape at any price from its
melancholy recollections. What is strik-
ing in all this is the vitality which per-
mits the victim Of such sorrows to take
part in the banquet of life and to force
smile after such cruel blows.