The Birmingham age-herald., 1902-11-02
LETTER FROM GAY PARIS.
BY PIERR E RosIER.
King Leopold Has Lost Popularity Since the Death of Queen Marie Henrietta.

Paris. November 1.-Republicans as we all are,we love to talk of kings and queens notwithstanding. Gossip is busy with the tales told of the late queen of the Bel gians Marie Henriette and King Leo pold Of course King Leopold is local figure here. His business enterprises and his love affairs have made him food for the chorus girls as well as the brokers. The message he sent from Paris to Brus- sells has been much criticised. It was not for king on an occasion so solemn to go into details. That should have been left to his secretary. The tres douloure- usement afflige is, given the situation as un~French as 1t can be. But 1t Is not given to every one, even to kings to suc- ceed in many directions. Leopold is a highly successful company promoter ana financial schooner. His artful dodges In transacting international affairs are end less It Is to be feared that the chief work of his life has left no place for mo- ble faculties and fine sensibilities. Congo india-rubber, ivory tusks, cocoanut oil, Manchuria mining syndicates, short turns to be taken on Liverpool, Havre,
 
 the sentiments that infuse poetry into human life; and too such a degree, too, that he could not picture to himself the horror with which the civilized world heard heard of his turning out of the house a disowned daughter who stole into 1t to weep beside her mothers remains. Even supposing Gas his organ in Brus- sells insinuates) that he has a pile Of charges irrespective of the Lonyay mar ria ocroft to hri, r,a presence of the queens corpse call for a treve de Dieu? He might have sent word that as he could not see her, he would be glad if she sent him word when she left the death chamber. which he wished to visit. Aservant of the late queen, or her sister, mighthave been instructed to tell her conf1dentially that he had broken with her forever, wished not to meet her CT see her at the funeral and had ordered that no honors were to be paid to her as a Belgian princess. He acted not merely as a harsh, unforgiving father, but in T manner unworthy of a gentleman.
 The late queen of the Belgians appeared for the last time in public here at. gala soiree given at the Theatre de la Monnaie, in honor of the homecoming of the Princess Elizabeth of Bavaria bride Of Prince Albert. Her slvery hair and
 
 thsn her years. She cried as she looked at herself in a glass. and contrasted her lonliness the neglect In which she lived with the jubilant circumstances of her entrance into Belgium. "I. too, was young and worshipped by the people, she said. but there was black presa ge that chilled me. She alluded to her treasurer having. at Aix-la-Chapelle. gambled away SO00O francs of hers. that had been entrusted to her. It was all the ready money she had. The gentle man, knowing he could not replace it.. committed suicide. The loss rendered her for some time hard up. Avarice had grown on her father-in-law, Leopold l., who, besides, had urgent and heavy calls on his purse that he hardly cared to avow. He was in 10 nasts to m9ke good his daughter-in-law's loss.
 The Queen of the Belgians had three grandchildren-the Archduchess Eliza- beth. now Princess Windisch-Gratz, the Duchess Dorothea of Augustenburg, and a Prince of Coburg. She asked to see hone uf them in her long and lonely