New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1897-08-15
, Marie Amelie Is

unenviaby famed Queen Pia is frghtfully ex-
! travagant and invariably short Of cash. being
compelled to make frequent appeals to the purse
Of her son. the King. and Of her brother, hins
Humbert Of Italy Indeed It is not so long ago
that several OF her servants, on being charged
| In the Lisbon courts with the theft OF some OF
her brio brac and jewery. were able to plead
as an excuse that their wages had remained un-
paid for more than two years. Finally, it is i'm
possible to deny that Queen Pia, in spite or her
being a grandmother. is Eighty in the extreme.
while Queen Marie Amee is exceedingly domes-
tic and imbued with a strong sense OF propriety.
| There are many people at Lisbon ana eise"heie
who to this day convinced that it was the
younger of these two royal ladies who instigated
the arrest at night and summary deportation
| from the kingdom Of the popular Italian tenor
| Bassn, who was being rendered conspicuous III
| the extreme by the tokens Of admiration anu
even infatuaton lavished upon him by the reo-
haired Queen Pa.
Had the two Queens shown the good sense 10
pull together instead Of apart. and cornpheu
their forces to strengthen the throne Of their son
and husband the crown might not to-day be so
dangerously falling to the ground. Indeed,
their quarres, which have done so much to bring
discrcdit upon the Court of Lisbon, are all the
more to be deplored as they are each in her own
particular way eXcelent WOIileH QueeH Ia, ioA
instance wears upon her breast a medal for the
rescue Of two children from drowning by plung-
ling fully dressed into gale-swept sea, while
Queen Marie AInee deserves immense credit Tor
her institution Of hospitals and dispensaries at
Lisbon, and especially for starting the treatment
by an.itoxin of diphtheria that terrible scourge
of Portugal, she being the first to submit herself
to incubation with the serum in order to prove
to the poorer classes Of the population that the
remedy was attended by no danger. She Is,
moreover, the only lady Of royal birth who has
the right to add the letters NJ d. to her name,
having passed all her examinations and taken
her degree as a full-nedged doctor of medicine.
CARLOSS PERSONAL BRAVERY.
King Carlos, too, is a magnificent swimmer
and, like his mother, has rescued fellow-creat-
ure from drowning; while on another occasion.
when out driving on the outskirts OF Lisbon, ne
jumped out of his carriage, felled with his stick
to the ground and then collared sngle-handed
a burly highwayman. who endeavoring to
rob and knife a wayfarer. Moreover. until few
years ago. the King was renowned for his Prov
ess as "torrero," and any one who has had the
opportunity Of seeing him tackling an angry bull
In the "corridas" which he was wont formerly to
organize for the entertainment Of his friends
and for the members Of his court at Lisbon, will
acquit him Of any charges Of cowardice that
may be brought against him; that is to say, cow
ardice Of physical character, since 1t is impos-
sibe to deny that he has lacked courage in deal
ing with the political situation.
Only on one point have the two Queens been
united namely, in the animosity which they
have each Of them displayed toward that Ameri-
can girl hailing from Boston who may be said
for time to have shared the throne Of Portugal,
although she did not bear any sovereign title,
but merely that Of Countess Queen Maria de Ia
Gloria whose accession to the throne led to the
MigIelst and Legitimist civil wars in Portugal,
died when her children still young, and
pending the minority Of her sons, her husband,
King Ferdinand. prince Of the house Of Sake
Coburg- Gotha and a cousin therefore, of Queen
Victoria exercised morarchical sway Regent
Almost Immediately on becoming a wdower, he
married a Boston actress named Elise Hensler,
whom he created Countess of Edlc and who
now survives him. She is a remarkably clever
woman, and her royal husband ,urng the period
OF her marriage was so blindly devoted to her
that he may be said almost to have ruled Por-
tugal through m.
Stepmother to the late King, and step grand
mother to the present ruler. she still remains a
conspicuous figure in Portuguese life while the
vast wealth and great landed possessions be-
oueathed to he by Ferdinand render her factor
in politics sufficiently powerful to be able to
hold n own against the two Queens Their
quarrels with her constitute yet another dis
turbing element Of the Portuguese court, and
one is tempted a believe that if the loss of his
throne will relieve him from further participa-
ton in the merry war raging at Lisbon between
II. toll,