The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1902-05-04

"a NLE
BRUSSELS, April 20-Statement by King
Leopold: 1T was eminently fitting for the
most modern OF kings 10 escape the revo-
utiOnists in the very latest OF vehicles.
If my court marshal had sent a coach and
pair to the station the rioters would have
thrown themselves on the horses and wag-
on. dragged me out and possibly would
have torn me 10 pieces. Ny great uncle"
(Charles y OF Franco said he, preferred
a post chaise TO the executioner's cart;
as for me. give me an automobile
Statement by the Queen: blindness.
revolution, bloOdshed. loss OF power-ele-
ments OF retributiOn all for the treatment
of our child, for indecency Haunted in the
public eye. for poor Charlotte and the
Congo atrocities"
The above comes from a %courtier who
heartily sympathizes with the royal family
In their present affection, and nothing could
be more characteristic of both King and
Queen.
Leopold. fond Of intrigue and diplomacy,
a chartered Hbertine. with autocratic lean
ings and selfish 10 the verge of cynicism.
regards the revolt shaking his kingdom
from the egotisticaI standpoint only. He
escaped violence. once more the army will
be able TO save his crown. therefore. 'let
us be gay and after us-the deluge.'
The Queen, the most womanly Of wom-
en-, may lack in political insight am sure
she is not Of the stuff that made Elizabeth
and Catherine and Louise famous for all
time-but think Of h she has gone
through Her only son. dead in the flower
of his youth for following in his fathers
footsteps: her oldest daughter, Louise of
Coburg. disgraced as a common thief and
adulteress, behind the bars of a madhouse
for the same reason; her favorite son-in-
law a suicide. her beloved nephew killed i'm
a brawl; her second daughter, Stephanie,
IN the shadow Of the divorce court; her
youngest. Clementine. pining away with
consumption and determined to take the
veil TO atone. If possible, for a beloved par
ents wickedness.
And. in addition 10 the sorrows affecting
her flesh and blood. is the humiliation.
Her own pride suffered for years and years
at her husbands hands. Not once. a hun
dred times, did she have To bow down to a
silly scarlet woman that Leopold brought
to her table. How often did she read of
cher travels abroad in the Kings COM
pany while at home. locked in her apart
ments for fear of having IL become known
that not herself. but some abandoned
creature received the donors reserved for
queens.
Marie Henrietta, 1 am told by officers of
the Brussels court. sees in the popular up
rising and in the latest personal afhicdon
of King Leopold, approaching blindness.
the judgment Of God for horrible stains,
meanness. crime and shame.
LEOPOLD'S CHARACTERISTICS.
In Leopold's character the most contra
dictory sentiments fight for supremacy. At
the age of sixty-eight his heart is as in
nammable as that Of a boy of twenty.
Abstemious and wildly extravagant at the
same time. he is careful of his health in
many ways and courts death in a hundred
others. His love for art stamps him an
icealist Of high order, yet it is only a few
years since his prime minister dragged
him from the company OF the lowest Of the
low in a small foreign town. Leopold's
habits are regularity themselves unless they
happen 10 be as irregular as Don Juan's.
He is an early riser-if he goes to bed at
all-and never keeps business of state wait
ing even If he must decide for or against
most momentous government acts in the
gaudy budolr OF a cheap ballet dancer.
What a scandal there would be If the
Kings DEGREES and letters TO ministers
were actually dated from the places where
he indites them" said one Of Leopold's
Paris intimates to me the other day.
Like Catherine of Russia, Leopold vowed
at the beginning of his reign that a death
warrant should never leave his Cabinet, but
as Catherine killed 100000 in war. so Leo
pold. despite his profound opposition to the
death penalty, never fails to distribute am
munition whenever the question of mans
right to the franchise comes up. So it was
in 1856. so It Is to-day.
Above all. Leopold is a snowy King. Hav-
II -.
politics far beyond her size and Importance
as a state. he set TO work identifying Brus-
sells by great parks. gardens and splendid
palaces. AS one OF the few Catholic Kings.
he might be a pillar OF the Church of Rome
II he did't keep the Pope busy smoothing
out scandals of his making.
When King Leopold took up with Clara
Ward. then Princess Chimay, his Queen
was stin vigorous enough TO protest. Marie
Henriette sent the Detroit girl from her
palace door. red with shame and wrath. but
her triumph was Of short duration. The
very next on the list OF royal favorites,
Cleo de Merode. forced a suicides halter
into the poor Queens hands; II was at the
price Of death that Leopold tied a string
of his wife's pearls around Cleo's fair white
neck. A tire woman, happening 10 enter
HtA AAaJtet3 > apartments at an uuWOuleu
hour, saved Marie Henriette's life and the
kingdom a scandal that might have upset
the throne. but the Queen has never been
herself again. A very religious person, she
continually blames herself for this act OF
attempted self-destruction, and both her
body and mind never fully recovered from
the shock.
A RUNAWAY KING.
The late Klng OF Wurtemburg used 10 run
away 10 Paris 10 sell titles and deeora-
lions whenever his private exchequer ran
dry. Leopold. too. Is very frequently not
lat home" when the official papers record
his daily doings IN Brussels or some other
part OF Belgium. lie has a habit OF taking
French leave from his ministers and hiding
I'm some secluded spot where he is unknown
10 al except his boon companions. Thus
he leads his household officers and govern
ment officials many "a merry chase up hill
and down dale. sometimes reporting for
work from places nobody would ever ex-
pect King 20 visit. Sun. as before said.