The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-08-21
THE CAREER OF EUGENE
WOMAN OF STRONG IMPULSE WHO
RULED WITH IRON HAND.
The Emperor and His COunselors
Only at Her VIII.
Chicago Inter ocean.

Chicago Inter Ocean.
With the news of the dangerous illness
of Eugenie, widow of Napoleon III. and
former Empress of France. comes revival
of interest in one of the st-talked-about
women of modern times Eugene, while
of Spanish birth, is of Scotch-Irish descent
Her father, the Count De Montijo, was a
Spanish grandee. but her mother was a
Kirkpatrick The family history on the
paternal side is well known, but until re-
Gently her maternal ancestry has been
somewhat obscure, though among those who
have known her well there has long been
a conviction, amounting almost to GER
tainty that she was of Scotch extraction.
Tradition has long declared that the Kirk
patricks are descended from the giant Finn
MacCaul, King of Fenians, who flourished
about A. d. 200. Whether that tradition be
true or not, the Kirkpatricks were known
to have been settled in Nithsdale and Gallo
way as early as the ninth century, though
the Jacobite troubles in 1890 drove one of
them back to Erin, where they now flourish
in generous abundance Toward the close Of
the fifteenth century the Kirkpatricks d.
vided into two branches, owing to the fam
ily's devotion to the house of Stuart, for
younger son so distinguished himself in
fighting the English at the battle of Bruins
wark hill, in 1884. that James III of Scot
land gave him the lands of Kirknnichael. in
Dumfriesshire. 1t was similar devotion to
the house Of Stuart, centuries afterward,
when it was veering toward fatal disaster,
that brought about a second division in the
growing house of Kirkpatrick The then
head of the family, Thomas of Closeburn,
was, in 1856, rewarded for his loyalty to
+ Axy Ioin
kinsman, Robert, the Kirkmichael repre-
sentative of the family. lost his head on ac-
count Of indulging in the same generous
enthusiasm in the cause of Prince Charlie.
The older brother. George, having the fore
sight to see what his doom would be if he
remained in Scotland, one day in 1880 took
an open boat at Galloway and with it made
his escape to Ireland, landing at the famous
Giants Causeway. The descendants of
George, now settled at Coolmine and Drum
conora, IN the County of Dublin, are far
the most numerous branch of the family.
Another member of the family, and, for
the purposes of this sketch, the most in
teresttng one was William, the grandson of
the beheaded Robert, who also fled from
going to Ireland took refuge in Spain, and
settled at Malaga, where he established
himself as a fruit and wine merchant. This
was toward the close of the eighteenth
century, and from that time his branch of
the family was lost to English eyes. Will
liam married daughter of Baron De
Grivegnec, and by her had three daughters.
These girls We're. sent to Paris to be edu-
Gated, but were detained beyond the period
of their school life bv the war then nend-
ing between England and France, finally
returning to Spain in 1914. In the meantime,
however, they had visited England, where
they created a big sensation by being the
first women to appear there in the new
French fashion Of high bonnets. One of the
girls married the Count Cabarras, another
married her cousin, and so remained a plain
kirkpatrick, while the third became the
Montijo, one of the biggest of all the big
grandees of Spain.
EUGENIE'S FAMILY.
The Count De Montijo was what is called
"a tremendous swell" His title ran back
to 1892, and dukes galore were able to trace
their origin to the great house OF Guzman.
in order, however, to get the Kings consent
10 marry this daughter of the Kirkpatricks
he had to hunt up the Kirkpatrick pedi-
gree, and when this was shown to the King
the latter said: LET the good man marry
the daughter of Fingal," and so the merry
marriage bells were rung. BY his beautiful
countess he had two daughters. One (born
1S25) became Duchess of Alba the other,
Marie Eugene de Guzman ct Porto-C arrero,
was born at Granada, in 1929, and on the
death of her father when she was ten
years of age, became Countess de Teba
and Marquise De Moya In 1858 she reached
a height so exalted that she could hardly
nave dreamed of 1t in the most ambitious
nights or her imagination, for she became
the wife of Napoleon III and Empress of
France From that point on her history has
peen thrilling record of events in which all
the world has been interested, and now she
nndS herself on British soil for very much
the same reason that drove forth from it
her ancestor century and more ago. The
marriage returned tit for tat. AS one of
the Spanish Kirkpatricks put it; France in
yaded Spain. and ruined the Kirkpatrick;
his daughter invaded France and captured
ITS emperor. And, while it was the Hano-
verian line in England that exiled her an
cestors, 1t is now the head of that house
Queen Victoria, who has been the warmest
friend of the Empress exiled from France.
The life of the ex-Empress is rich in
plquant anecdote and stirring incident,
many OF which are well, even if sometimes
Drutally, told by the author Of IAN Eng
Eshman in Paris" With the advent of
Louis Napoleon at Compiegne, the imperial
residence, spirit of change came over the
place. Hortense's son would probably have
made better poet than Emperor. His
whole life was a miscarried poem, mscar-
RED by the inexorable demand of European
politics. He dreamed of being LEmpereur-
Soleil, as Louis XIV had been LIE Roi-Soleil
Visions of a nineteenth century La Valliere
or Montespan, hanging fondly on his arm,
and dlspelling the harasSing cares of state
by sweet smiles, while treading the cool
outrageous glades of the magnificent park,
haunted his brain. He would have gone as
far as Louis lie Bien-Aime, and built another
nest for another Pompadour He did not
mean to make Maintenon out of a Veuve
Scarron, and, least Of all, an Empress out
of a Atademoiselle Eugene de Montijo. But
Mile. de Montije on the other hand, was
determined not &c. be q Nine. de Maintenon,
let alone Vs.here or Pompadour. At
any rate, so she said, and the man most
interested in putting her assertion to the
test was too infatuated to do so. Mile de
MOntjo was a Spaniard, or at least half
a one, and that half contained as much SUI
perstition as would have fitted out score
of her countrywomen of unmixed blood.
One day in Granada, while she was sitting
at her window, gypsy, whose hand she
had crossed with silver, is said to have told
her that she should be Queen. The young
girl probably attached but little Importance
to the words at the time, but, it is said,
from the moment Louis Napoleon breathed
his first proteStationS of love to her the
prophecy required in all its early yividness,
and she made up her mind that the right
should set the seal upon its fulfillment
OBJECTED TO THE MARRIAGE
According to the daughter, the mother OBJ
jected to her union with Louis Napoleon
from a sincere regard as she put it, for her
would-be son-in-law, and from an all-ab-
sorbing love for her own darling. The So
cial gulf between the two was too wide to
be ever bridged etc. And, though it will
break my heart to have to obey her, have
no alternative" added the loving daughter
TO the imperial supplicant for her hand.
Hope came to the Emperor in the words
she added: There remains but one hope,
write to my mother" and Louis Napoleon