New-York tribune., 1902-03-15

NINE. DE LAMBALLE. BY Georges Berth.
12mo, PIP. 337 Godfrey A. S. Weiners.
Amorg all the victims of the Terror there
none whose fate was more terrible than
that of Marie Therese Louise Of Savoie- Carig-
nan. Princesse de Lambane. High minded, pure
of heart. most loyal and gentle lady. there is
little TO be reckored against her in comparison
with other women of the ancien regime
She was a dainty and graceful little creature
in her eighteenth year. good, sweet and low
able maiden, when she came from Turin to
France in 1867 to marry the handsome Prince
de Lamballe, the son of the kind old Due de
Penthievre. The boy of nineteen straightway
fell in love with the girl-and remained in love
perhaps three weeks. beftted with the
mingled blood of the magnificent King Louis
and the Montespan in his veins. His faithlessness
to his devoted young wife ended only with his
early death from dissipation. With the old duke.
his father. his widow spent the larger part of
her life thereafter. being in all respects a low
ing and cherished daughter. Neither the old
the fair woman cared for gayety;
their tastes simple, and the occupations of
country life fully satisfied them. It would have
been well for the princess had she discour-
aged the growing affection of Marie Antonette
and refused, for the sake of her quiet life, the
appointment superintendent Of the royal
househod-an office which had for some years
Deen IN aDeydnce. Ine large salary attaCneQ 10
il and the favors which she asked from the
king and queen for those dear TO her We're the
head and front Of her offending in the eyes of
the public-yet these ought to have passed into
nothingness before the shameless greed of
Nine de Polignac who presently became her
successful rival in the friendship of the queen.
In those last years the princess suffered from
a nervous ailment and spent much time at
various watering places. This, well as
Nine de Polignac's influence tended to make
her relations with the queen less close. But
when the darkest days came it was her rival
who fed to safety away from the falling house.
and it was the Piedmontese princess who hurried
back to the Jaws of the tiger" in Paris TO
help and comfort her friend When on the
famous Goth of June the mob baited Marie
Antoinette in the council hall of the Tuileries
with every kind of ingenious insult. the pale
invalid princess leaned steadfastly behind the
queens chair, supporting her through all those
dreadful hours. When the royal family
taken to the Temple the princess looked her
last upon her friend Her own imprisonment in
La Force was a short one as all know. At
the end of the mock trial in the small room
crowded with filthy, drunken creatures. with
the means of the dying sounding from the court
yard, the princess ordered to swear hatred
toward the queen, the king and the royal family.
Her resolute refusal ended the scene, and the
presidents order to take her to the Abbaye
her death sentence:
At that moment some men with haggard eyes
and bare arms red with blood rushed toward
the poor creature and dragged the princesse
away. Scarcely had she crossed the threshold
when she received, they say, on the back of her
head a blow from sabre. She covered
with blood. her hair was loosened; hands con-
tinued to push her; she staggered over corpses
with which she was forced to come into con-
tact; she could scarcely stand At last she fell
back exhausted. She Immediately raised;
two men seized her by the arms and compelled
her to move on
Enough; those who to read of the murder
of innocent and tender woman, perpetrated
with such bestial horrors would not enter
into the imaginations of saVages, must turn
NJ. Bertin book. He quotes several ac-
counts Of the tragedy, and all are heartrending.
He quotes also the curious document penned by
a municipal officer in the service of the Temple
the functionary who persuaded the murderers
to give up their intention of showing to the
imprisoned queen the princesss desecrated head.
pallid under its blood soaked frame of glorious
golden hair, and the naked mangled trunk dragged
through the mud of the street. Il made heroes
of Them, he says. Il told them that the spoils
they brought were the property of all.
Should you deprive the city of the pleasure Of
sharing your triumph? Night will soon be here;
hasten therefore to leave this place, which is
too narrow for your glory. At the Palais Royal
in the Garden of the Tuileres where many
times has been trampled under foot the sover-
eighty of the people, you should place this
trophy everlasting monument Of the victory
you have Won" This absurd harangue," as its
author calls it, at least answered its purpose
and Marie Antoinette was saved from one un-
forgetabe misery
Why was the princess sacrificed so soon and
with such ferocity? The accusation that she
as plotting TO release the king and queen was
a makeshift of which proof not even at
teinpled. II her services to the royal household
ana the favors bestowed upon her by the queen
hau cost the nation much money, there were
olhers at court who had received as much or
more ana who had not her helpful and benevo-
lent nature and habits The theory that Robe
spierfe mad persuaded her to advocate TO the |
KING ms appointment tutor to the Dauphin |
ana at the failure OF his scheme had organized |