Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-08-14
A ROYAL TRAGEDY.

Carlotta, daughter of the late King
Leopold of Belgium, and sister of the
present king, cousin Of Queen Victoria,
and connected with most of the royal
houses of Europe, when only II years
old married the Arch-Duke Maximilian
brother of the emperor of Austria. Bril-
liant in intellect, beautiful in person.
highly accomplished, ambitious and
energetic, she was fitted both by ma
ture and education to fill the highest
station royalty could offer. Maxi
milan having been appointed governor
of the Lombard-Venetian kingdom, the
princely pair passed, at Mirimar castle,
an ideal abode near Trieste, the first
happy years Of their marriage.
A serpent then entered their Eden in
the form of emissaries from Napoleon
LII, Sacked by a Mexican delegation,
offering Macmillan an imperial throne
in Mexico. He at first declined the
perllous honor; at length moved by
Carlotta's persuasions and by an assur-
ance that he was the free choice of a
USODlG,
yielded reluctantly, for he was neither
a Warlike nor an ambitious man. June
II, 1864, day of fatal augury for both,
the royal pair entered the Mexican
capital and we're received with accla-
nations by the populace.
A large army led by Jaurez the de-
posed president of Mexico, continued
its revolt against the new empire which
the United States refused to recognize.
Napoleon III, ere long, broke his SOL
emn pledge to Macmillan by with
drawing the French army of protection,
and things went on from bad to worse,
until the tragedy ended in the capture
OF Macmillan and his execution in
May, 1867, at command of the trium-
plant Jaurez. Car1otta was at that
time absent in Europe whittier she had
gone to plead for assistance from Ma
poleon III and the pope. Her pleadings
went on for weeks after the short-lived
empire had ceased to exist, and Max
lm1l1an had been shot at the decree of
Mexican court-marsnal.
When little by little the fatal tidings
were made known to her Carlotta' s
mind gave away. For SO years she
has lived under guardianship in her
palace OF Lacken near Brussels, in the
midst of royal state-for she has a
large fortune in her own right. She
still imagines herself empress of Mex
lco and always longingly awaits the
return OF Macmillan, who she fancies
IS absent at the head of an army to
queL revolt against his authority.
Every month she holds her mimic
court, and acts the part of a reigning
sovereign by receivingdistingu in
dlV1duals, who are personated by mem
bers of her own household. To these
she gives costly presents provided
from the pictures and other ornaments
OF her palace, which after the grand
-leVee is over, are carefully restored to
their places, and will do duty for the
next occasion.
For two years Carlotta plaved her
role as empress in the historic palace
OF Chepultepec. During this time she
was her husbands chief adviser. Both
had an ambition not only to build up a
great empire in the Western world. but
to rule wisely and we'll, and prove a
blessing to their people Carlotta dur
ing her brief stay in Mexico became
the head and soul Of many private and
public charities. Her charming person
al1ty, her gracious demeanor and genu-
Inc kindness of heart, endeared her
both to high and low When heaven
IN mercy threw a cloud over her rea-
son, thus hiding from her full knowl-
edge of the calamities that had befallen
her, she was only 26 years of age
For 80 years she has lived in this men
tai twilight-in the world and yet not
of the world.
II Macmillan were living today he
would be heir to the throne of Austro-
Hungary.