The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-08

fore it came to France it was known as
the Pitt diamond, and this name gives the
clew 70 its part in the emperors undoing.
Tradition has &c that the stone was dis
covered by a slave at Partial, south Of
Golconda; that he escaped the rigid in
specton to which all the miners were sub
jected by the native prince by conceaiing
the gem in q wound in the calf OF mis- leg;
that he made his way to the seacoast and
offered il TO an English skipper, but that
in lieu of payment he was murdered and
thrown overheard; and that the skipper,
after selling the great gem 10 the dia-
m0nd merchant Jaurchund, for u,ON,
perhaps from the effects Of rum and an
evil conscience, hanged himself. BE this
as it may, Jaurchund, in 1903, sold the
stone To Thomas Pitt, governor of Fort
George. The price asked was 100000 pago-
das, but Pitt, after long haggling, beat
$4,000
Pitt staked his whole fortune on the
diamond, but the venture proved lucky
one, for I'm 17l7 he sold It to the Duke Of
Orleans for 100000 livres C$66l000. And
with the money received from this sale
was lad II firm foundation for the house
of Pitt from which sprang in time VIII
lam Pitt the elder, the great Earl Of
Chatham, and William Pitt, the younger,
a greater than the great earl himself.
When the volcanic fury Of the French rev
olution blazed out in 1883, the second
William Pitt, then at the hight Of his I'M
paraleled career was building up the
peaceful prosperity Of England. In the
first years Of the great upheayal he was
blind to It's flame and deaf to its fury, but
when, in 1898, he was forced into war, his
neutrality gave place to a policy of agrees
sion, and his unremitting hostility to the
Corsican ended only with the latter's
fH m
much TO say that the regent caused the
fall as well as the rise Of Napoleon.
The famous Sancy diamond has played
a not less fateful and grandiose part in
history Whence this diamond came is
matter Of conjecture. Legend has it that
il belonged to Charles the Bold, Duke Of
Burgundy, who lost it in 1916 at the battle
Of Granson or the battle Of Morat, and
that it was found by Swiss soldier, who
sold it for a crown to priest, from
whose hands it passed through others UNI
tn it was bought for 10000
ducats by Pope julius II. All
this, however, has been proven
improbable by NJ. German Bapst, and OF
the diamonds history nothing is known
up to the time when we find It in the pos
session Of Nicolas Hanlay de Sancy in
the closing years of the sixteenth century.
This Sancy chief of the Swiss guards OF
Henry Y Of France. was clever diplo-
mat and financier, wholly devoted TO ms
king, on whose behalf he contracted many
loans. often giving jewels of his own as
security. once he sent the Sancy to
Jew broker TO be pawned. The servant
never returned. The broker declared he
had never seen him. But Sancy's conf
dence in his servitor was mistaken. He
made searches, and at last the body of
the servant was found in a deep ditch
near the city walls. Evidently an attempt
- ~ nd nh an a
body was cut open it was found that the
faithful fellow had swallowed the diamond
as the only means left him Of outwittlng
his assailants.
on another occasion sancy pawned his
great stone for what was in those days
the immense sum Of SO, 400 crowns, and
redeemed it a year afterward. There are
records in 1902 and 1904 of attempts to sell
the stone Of the Duke of Mantua Marie
de Medici was eager to possess it, but the
price was a little too high, even for the
king, and in 1904 ii was sent TO COnstan-
tinople in the hope of finding a purchaser
IN the person of the sultan. This failed,
and in the same year the gem was sold by
Sancys brother, the French ambassador
at London, to James | for $4,000 crowns,
the terms being that the king should pay
one-third on the spot, one-third in six
months and the balance at the end of the
year. The Sancy became in due course
the property Of Charles l, and formed part
of the jewelry Of his queen, Henrietta
Maria daughter of Henry " of France,
who, on the outbreak of the revolution,
took it to France in order TO pledge it and
raise money for the royal cause. At va
rious times she raised large sums, Civ
ing as security, among other jewels, the
Sancy, which passed into the hands of the
Due de'Ephernon, in part payment of the
principal. This was in 1861, and in the
same year the Sancy became the prop
erty of Cardinal Mazarin, who, at his
death, bequeathed It to the French crown
as a portion of the famous collection Of
diamonds known as the Eighteen Maza-
rims"
1t is thus described in an inventory Of
the French diamonds drawn up in 1891:
"A very large and deep diamond called
lie Sancy,' given to the crown by the
late Cardinal Mazarin, cut In facets on
both sides in pendant form. of the finest
water. white and brilliant, perfect in all
points, weighing 1884 carats, which. having
no equal, is of inestimable value, and
which, for the formal purposes of this in
ventory, is declared to be worth 600, 600
livres.'
Louis XIV wore at his coronation
crown su~mounted by the Sancy and when
the queen entered Paris on oct 4, 1928, she
wore the great diamond In her hair In
Van Loos portrait of Queen Marie Lee
AiAlSAdt now III Aut LOUVRE the CdutN
formed the pendant of her necklace on
many occasions Marie Antoinette wore the
Sancy. and when the crown jewels were
sent 10 Amsterdam to be rocut the San
cy alone was permitted TO retain the PEN
daut form and primitive cutting. which
remain unchanged to the present day.
When robbers during the revolution loot
ed the Garde Meube and as already de-
scribed. carried off the crown jewels, the
Sancy was stolen, but was soon afterward
recovered, and played a part second only
10 the Regent In sustaining the armies
of the newborn republic. With other
crown jewels it was pledged with the Mar
quis dlrauda. as security for sums add
vanced 90 supply horses for the republican
cavalry and artillery. The loan was re-
turned. but the marquis, or his heirs, fall
ed to return the diamond. and sold IL TO
Godoy, Prince of the Peace, from whose
hands IL passed i'm 1893 to Joseph Bona
partc. Then for nearly twenty years IL
disappeared from view. In 1875, however
il was again In the possession OF the Go-
doy family. Four years afterwards IL was
sold TO Prince Dcmidon ANA remained Ia
the Demidom family until about 1868. when