New-York tribune., 1907-10-18

SOMEWHAT MIXED DUCAL LINEAGE
To the inquiry received from a reader as to
whether there is any truth in the story that the
Due de Morny has ;he blood Of the great Prince
Taleyrand in his veins. only reply that II has
long been matter of common belief and gossip,
and that IL mentioned in many Of the memoirs
dealing with the close of the eighteenth century
and the beginning of the nineteenth. The an
eestry Of the De Mornys is, indeed. of the most
extraordinary character. II may be said TO have
originated with King Louis XIV and of his
hours Of the Pare Cerfs, who bore him a
daughter Of the name Of Adelaide FilIeuI. Adelaide
FMeul, wonderfully beautiful woman. whose
morals seem TO have been only little better than
those Of her mother. married Count de Flahaut
scion Of one of the old houses Of the nobility, but
It is generally understood that the son which she
bore him. and who afterward known as Count
Charles de F1auhaut, not his offspring but
that OF the Able de Perigord. afterward known in
history as Prince Talleyrand. This accounts for
the affection which Talleyrand, in spite of his an
paling selhshness and egotism always manifested
for De Flauhaut. Charles de F1ahaut entered the
army at the age Of fifteen. and his promotion was
wonderfully rapid. He a general at the age
Of twenty-seven, and at twenty-nine an aide-de-
camp of Emperor Napoleon l. Napoleon selected
him 10 escort his father and mother-in-law, the
Emperor and Empress Of Austria, TO Dresden. and
his return from Elba dispatched De Flahaut TO
Vienna for the purpose Of rersuading Empress
Marie Louise 10 rejoin him at Paris.
Charles de Flahaut whose mother had married
seconde noces ". de SouZa, Portuguese Envoy
al Paris, was the hero of many a feminine ro-
nance, the celebrated of all being that. OF
course, with Hortense de Beauharnais daughter
q Empress Josephine. and Queen of Holland by
virtue Of her marriage with Louis Bonaparte.
There is secret made Of this romance for the
pages OF the Almanach de Gotha officially de-
scribe the late Due de Morny the offspring of
Queen Hortense and OF the Comte de Flahaut.
famous as the handsomest man In the army. The
Child thus born TO Queen Hortense and the
Comte dc Flahaut had his birth registered in
Paris the of Monsieur Demorny. landed
proprietor OF San Domingo, and of his lawful
Wife and was Inscribed with the Christian name
of Augustus. Monsieur Demorny disappeared i'm
mediately afterward and never heard Of again,
and the child adopted by the Comte de Fla
hauts mother, Mime. de Souza; that is say, by
It's grandmother. and brought up by her
aoung Demorny. whose subsequently
divided 10 give the latter portion thereof
an arstocratc prefix. spent his youth in the en-
'ourage Of his grandfather, old Prince Talleyrand.
and under the care OF his father. the Comte de
Flahaut who lived until the spring of 1870, thus
surviving his by several years. Under the
circumstances Il was only natural that young DE
Morny should have the entree OF all the best
Ions in Paris, and he was on terms OF considerable
Intimacy with the late Duke of Orleans the Due
dAumale. the Duo de Nemours. and in fact. with
the whole family of King Louis Philippe. lie re-
Trained however from following them into exile.
remained on in Paris. and when his half brother,
Prince Louis Napoleon, became President of the
French Republic he naturally attached himself
10 his train.
lie Morny was the principal leader In that coup
oetat which placed Napoleon the throne and
the Emperor rewarded him by lsvishing all kinds
u honors on him. creating him first count and
'nen duke. appointing him ambassador 10 the
e0Iohaton Of Car Alexander II, where he his
russian wife. Princess Troubetzkoi, and later on
secured his nomination president of the Corps
Legisia'if It Was while holding that office that
ne died in his stately Official residence, the Palais
bourbon His eldest son, the present Due de
Aorny. Is married 10 Of the daughters II
5uznlan Blanco long President OF the Republic
" venezuela. The duke has a younger brother Of
me name Of Count Sergius dc Morny, while his
SSter is the eccentric Marduise dc Belboeuf whose
appearance last year on the stage OF one of the
small theatres in Paris In a particularly unsavory
play led 10 most extraordinary demonstration
against her