Sunday Washington globe., 1901-12-29

history WulCn was lnG great scandal OF the
court Of Marie Autoinette, is the strange af-
fair Of the diamond necklace
The conspiracy of the diamond necklace
was got up by a woman named the Countess
de la Motto, who appeared upon the stage
of life more than I3o years ago, just when
Nine. de Pompadour died and when the star
of Nine, du Barry was gaining the ascen-
dant and when Louis XIV, their royal lover,
was growing too old to Withstand the bland
ishments of the latter siren, for whom the
diamond necklace was originally intended
Jeanne de Valois, who became the cele-
brated Countess de la Motto, the chief actor
in plot to pretend to buy for Marie An
toinette the diamond necklace was de-
scendant of an illegitimate son Of Henry
II. OF Valois, King of France, and Diana of
Poitiers
The commission to make the diamond
necklace, the execution of which was an
affair of time, was given by Louis XIV to
the crown jewellers. Every important city
Of Europe was ransacked for matchless
gems, for the Kings mistress must have
the best and the costliest. The price agreed
upon for these jewels was 2,ooo, 900 francs,
or 100000, but before the magnificent
bauble was finished King Louis XIV, the
well beloved, died Of smallpox deserted by
every living soul. The favorite for whom
this necklace had beeu ordered was
banished beyond the precincts of the court,
to ultimately meet her fate by the guillo-
tine in the reign of terror.
Le y0i est mort Yi1e le roll And 80
the grandson of the dead king, now Louis
XVI, ascends the throne of France with
his beautiful wife Marie Antonette Of
Austria to lay their heads finally on the
block. The crown jewellers were in de-
spair They had an elephant on their
hands. How could they foresee that their
royal customer, full of health in November,
I773, when he gave the order, would die of
smallpox within the following six months2
They tried every means in their power to
sell this necklace by sending engraved
copies of it to every court in Europe. but
no one wanted 1t.
Marie Autoinette owed these crown
jewellers 348, 900 francs for a pair Of diamond
earrings, of which amount she had paid on
account As, 600 francs, leaving due from her
at the date Of her supposed connection with
the affair 800, 600 francs Here was
chance for the crown jewelers. to dispose of
the necklace which had been morally hang
ing about their necks like a leaden weight
But France being then at war with England
the crown jewellers we're repulsed by Marie
Antoinette with the remark, ''Messieurs, we
have more need of men of war now than of
diamonds"
In the meantime Jeanne de Valois, after
undergoing trouble and vicissitudes,
married a Count de la Motto, and this
precious couple, living on a fifth floor in
Paris, with only the gains of the green
cloth or gaming table for precarious liv-
ing, turned their attention to this diamond
necklace and to Marie Antoiuette The
first thing to do was to ensnare the grand
almoner of France, the Cardinal Prince
Louis de Rohan, then a TALL portly, hand
some looking man, in his forty-eighth year,
bat weak and vain, any and every thing but
devout, and mad after a pretty woman
The Countess de la Motto was a frequent
visitor TO the cardinals palace, and their
relations may be guessed at. The snares
thus being set for the Cardinal de Rohan,
Jeanne looked about for some one to help
her in her designs upon Marie Antoinette,
whose persecution by the crown jewellers
had begun in I774 and did not end for about
ten years, when she peremptorily gave
them their final answer, and thus the
diamond necklace passed into Oblivion for
the time, ending in the failure of the
makers, until Jeanne de la Motto got the
Cardinal de Rohan in her tolls and the sub
ject was revived.
The cardinal had an inordiuate ambition
to be upon friendly terms with Marie Au-
toinette She did not actually shun him,
but rather avoided him, and he felt the cold
ness of the queen toward him. AT last he
received letters purporting to be from
Marie Antoinette in which the diamond
necklace was spoken of, and the silly man
passed out to Jeanne de la Motto from time
to time various sums of money wherewith
to purchase the necklace, she acting as agent
for the queen apparently, OF go between,
with royalty onsthe one hand and religion
on the other. And the cardinal finally paid
out to his lady love, Jeanne de La Motto, the
full value of the necklace which she OBJ
tanned from the crown jewellers and passed
over to her husband, who hurried with it
to London where he sold many Of the
stones, by which he and his wife escaped
starvation.
But it must be made clear to the cardinal
that Marie Antoinette had the necKlac-, so
Jeanne employed an acress, D'Ohvia, who
looked very much like the queen, to as
sumo her character on a dark night, when
there was little or no fear Of discovery.
The actress and the cardinal met, and some
words passed between them, according to a
previously agreed upon plan. The cardinal
could not understand how it was that Marie
Autoinette after this continued to avoid him
as before, but Jeanne had her excusesready,
which the cardinal readily believed, he
still hoping that one day the queen would
see fit to send for him and repay him Tor
this famous diamond necklace. But the
day never came. 1t was afterward proved
upon the trial Of the conspirators tha, the
Countess de la Mote had not onlJ 70 init
macy with Marie Antoinette, as -ne had
made the cardinal believe she had, but did
not even know her; that all the queens
supposed letters we're the work Of ready
adventurer, one Retaux de Villette, another
lover Of the countess. On the trial Marie
Antoinette denied in the strongest terms
having ever seen the Countess de la Motto
But the cardinal could not be made to be
lieve that he had been imposed upon anc
that the famous necklace he had paid foi