Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-06-06
THREE WIDOWED EXPRESSES.
Their Strangely Different Fates En-
cite Comment From NJ. de Blowitz.

Paris Dispatch in the London Times.
From Palermo comes a very interesting
piece of news, a really curious incident of
contemporary history. The Empress Eu-
genie, arriving on her yacht, the Thistle,
at Palermo, received a visit from the Due
d'Aumale, who mas been staying at his
property of Lucco. The duke presented
to her his granddaughter, the DUO dor
leans, and then invited her to a large
luncheon party, at which, among the
guests, the empress again met the Due
d'Orleans, whose liveliness and air of reso-
luton charmed her. Such an incident real
ly sets enc dreaming.
In the first place, the Due d'Aumale was
the most determined. and one may say the
most aggressive, adversary both of the
ia nly and of the policy of Napoleon III,
iki especially of Prince Jerome. The
poIemic between tie two latter and the
dukes singing pamphlet will be remem-
bered. also the challenge and the biting
irony with which the duke replied TO the
princes refusal to fight.
During the entire period of the second
empire the Punishment Of the Due d'Au-
male was vigorously maintained. The two
princes found themselves again on French
soil after the conclusion OF peace in 1871,
and they We're banished nearly at the same
time by the third republic, the Due G'Au-
male to return after the fall of President
French Academy, Prince Napoleon to die
in exile in Rome close by that Vatican
against which he had pronounced so power
full an Indictment in the imperial senate
To behold the widow of Napoleon III sit
ting at the table of the Due d'Aumale in
company with the Due d'Orleans, the most
important and ardent competitor of the
heir to the empire, Prince Victor is In it
self an extremely singular spectacle, indi-
eating the Indifference of the empress for
the fate of the last Napoleon and her scant
confidence in his accession But the scene
becomes stranger and more dramatic still
when enc 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 en- ordinary but restless existence
passed fifteen years on one of the foremost
thrones of the world, and then descended
from that throne amid q disastrous war
which she had called her own, who shared
the exile of her husband and son. who has
seen them both de, and who has remained
alone, buried, as it were, under the weight
OF such tragic Hellenic tragedy.
Our time counts three expresses who are
widows. One, the mother of a reigning en-
reror, fnds 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 ter, welcome her
arrival. or speed her on her way with ten
der adieus, and she can still, wherever she
goes, think herself at the summit OF grand
eur save FOR the constant grief in her heart
at the loss of her imperial spouse
The second, even while ! write, is having
her snare Of grandeur and glory in the ac-
carnations of an immense people surround
ing her son, the prelm:naries of whose
coronation the entire world is now watch
ing with Unsuitable curiosity. She, too has
children seated on the steps of a throne a
brilliant imperial family surrounding her
with love, respect and veneration, parents
who wear the royal crown and brothers
and sisters-au these forming one of the
most imposing and eEviable of circles that
can mitigate the most cruel of bereave-
ments.
But the widow Of Napoleon III. devoid of
any such consultations. is plunged In the
solitude of irreparable grief, and this
luncheon with the most ardent adversary
of the dynasty whose spfendor and resent
ments she espoused seems to show a desire
to escape at any price from its melancholy
recollections. What is striking in all this
Is the vitality which permits the victim of
such sorrows to take part in the banquet
of life and to force a smile after such
cruel blows.