The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-12-13

but MS preconceived anxiety OIL the score OF
payment was completely Justified. Twenty
dollars he earned by writing a novel entitled
"Mazarin's N~loces." which had been ordered
from Eugene do Mirecourt. q literary man Of
doubtful reputation. Rochofort prepared =
draft, which Mirecourt In his turn submitted
to his publishers as his own work. BY
and by he got $50 q month for search-
ing for documents concerning the Philip
pine Islands, for use In q series of articles to be
written by Paul Merruau for the Revue des Dcur
Mondcs. About the same time t185D he became
an auxiliary clerk in the Inventions ONCE at
the Hotel de vile. He was thus employed Mt
tho time of Louis Bonaparte's coup d'etat. He
tells us that when he was Mt Brussels, many
years a%fterward, Victor Hugo, whose speech In
the Chamber of Peers In favor of the abroga-
tion OF tho law Of exile had contributed to the
return of King Jerome to Paris, related that
Prince Napoleon had burst into his house
on the morning Of Dec. 9. 1851. in a tower
Ing rage. against his cousin. Prince Napo-
leon had been very intimate with Victor Hugo
and his friends. He accordingly gave free reign
to h is indignation, and declared that the miser,
able Louis was . disgrace to the family. "lf-
even." he added, "he belonged to the family.
tho dirty bastard. But We all know he doesn't.
The King of Holland took measures to disavow
the paternity. hope he will get himself shot.
1t would be q good riddance for everybody, and.
above all. for his family" Victor Hugo never
saw the Prince again. Several days aftor this
outburst, the hot.headed Napoleon entered the
Elysee. and his Republican Indignation was APP
peased at the cost to France Of 1000, 900 francs
q year until 1870.
It lie. perhaps, not surpr Using to find that M.
Rochefort has something unpleasant to say
about Marie Antoinette : and the Empress
Eugene. His grandmother. who witnessed the
former'p eyecution. uaed to Say that there was
only q small crowd around the scaffold. and
that the Queen. frightfully overcome, looked as
II she was bent double. She was almost lifted
on to the plank, where she fell without u move
ment. Rochcfort declares 1t to be indisputablo
that the sufferings of the Queen during the last
few months of her life were disproportionate to
the crimes attributed to her. He says: "Marin
Theresa's daughter. v!tinted By the abomin-
able example of her mother. the most shame
less woman of the times. came to Paris
filled with ideas of pleasure" He goes on to
assert that tho diamond necklace affair,
concerning which the court and the King HIM
self knew all the secrets, was simply the result
of Marie Antoinette's precocity In her passion
for pleasure Of every sort. My grandfather.
and afterward my father, were very intimate
with the Marquis d'Autichamp, a gentleman OF
unbounded bravery and OF absolute devotion to
the rcyalist cause. At the court of Louis XVI.
III WIS allt TX hhuubOIu
Although he was no longer a young man when
Marie Antoinette arrived in France. she soon
noticed him and he became one of her first
favorites. In spite of her love of change, he ro-
manned the adviser to whom she invari-
ably addressed herself when she was in
one Of the numerous scrapes into which
she slid so easily. 1t was of D'Auti-
champ that she sought advice when the
frightful necklace scandal burst. snd showed
the Queen of France In the character OF the
kept woman OF a cardinal What Rochefort
proceeds to relate is scarcely credible. but he
AYERS it to be absolutely true. "Dazzled by
the hare-brained prod!gality. tho superb pres
ence, and the high g~entlemanly breeding OF
young Rohan. who had visited Vienna sew
eral times before being appointed Ambassa-
dor there in 1772. Marie Antoinette. neglect
ed by her imperial mother. whose cupidity
went so far as to permit her daughter to
want for everything. allowed herself to be
betrayed by the audacious prince. who pre-
tended that he could not live under two millions
q year and that no woman could resist
him. So 1 repeat on the authority OF the
Marquis d'Autichamp that Louis XVI. simply
had-assuming he took it-what was left by che
man who. later on. was to become Grand AL
moner Of his court. 1t Ia. therefore. not sur
prising. when the husband refused to give
! 1000. 900 francs for the necklace she had set
her heart upon. that the wife should have APP
pealed to the other man." NJ. Rochefort pro-
fesses to be able to add OF his own knowledge
that the Princess Rohan de Rochefort, fancee
OF the Duo d Enghien. possessed n verv sugges-
tive correspondence. which had passed between
her uncle, Cardinal Rohan. and the Queen.
After the death. however. OF the man who. sub
seQucntly to the necklace incident, was only
known by tho nickname of Collier, |
and. after the arrest of the Due d'Enghien
at her residence. tho Princess threw the
packet OF letters into the Gre. lest they should
fall into the hands OF the authorities. 1t is we'll
known that at the time OF the necklace scandal
public opinion demanded a victim. Nine. de la
Motto and an obscure confederate were sacri-
feed. Rochetort insists that the innocence Of
the convicted woman, to whom an acquittal had !
been promised in return for her silence. was SO
notorious that the EmlgrGs always regarded her
MS a political victim. Her husband. the Count
de la Motto. In spite of having been sentenced
by default to hard labor for life for alleged COM
pliclty in the affair, continued to be received in
the best society, constituted by the court OF
tho exiled princes in London. Louis XVIII.
compensated him for the injustice he had suf-
fered by giving him q pension OF $4,000.
Rochefort points out that this would have
been a shocking favor had 1t been conferred
upon a man who. after robblnr the sister.in-law
'"e N''S "i ~ bio |
power to dishonor her. The authors conclud-
ing observation on this subject is that Marie
Antoinette's ferocious egotism. and the heart
lessness with which she abandoned her best
friends, ended in alternating everybody. Even
those whom she had successfully received into
the most intimate friendship recoiled from her.
1t was with terror that they watched her push
the King and the kingdom to the brink OF tho
preci2ice. Thus 1t happened that when the
knell sounded. the Queen only found Count Fer
sen, the latest of her favorites. to protect her.
He was the man who contributed to prepare the
flight to VArennes.
IEI.
With regard to the Empress Eugenie. who is
here spoken OF as Mme. Bonaparte. We are told
that Rochefort used to see her while she wns
still Mile. de MontIjo, riding In the Bols de
Boulogne. I'm the course of my morning
walks" he writes. II nearly always saw an