Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-12-17
KING LEOPOLD.
and the construction of centers Of trade
and lines of transportation.
Forced to Surrender

and the construction of centers Of trade
and lines Of transportation.
Forced to Surrender.
At last. however, the scandal became
too strident, the cry too fierce from Lon
don and Washington and other capitals.
Leopolds promises of reform met only
with scornful incredulity. Active inter
vention was threatened; there was a dam
ger that the Kongo protectorate might
be lost not only to the king, but to Bel
GUM Then Leopold showed that he
had an eye for his country's welfare as
we'll as his for own. Under an agree
ment between the Free State and the
Belgian government made in 1890, he
surrendered his Kongo sovereignty In
November, 1907
The Belgian parliament drove a hard
bargain with him. He had attempted to
hold the crown domain erected in 1901
and comprising about one-ninth Of the
entire Kongo territory. This the parlia-
ment compelled him to surrender. and
also to concede the reversion at his death
Of the properties in Belgium known as
the Foundation de Ia Couronne" and his
magnificent villa on the Riviera. The
deal was finally contaminated August 20.
1908, but England has not yet given as
sent to 1t. Neither have the Kongo
scandals ceased as yet, but this is q mat
ter with which Leopold no longer has any
concern
King Leopold's career of gallantry dates
back to the days of Cora Pearl. that ia
nous adventures whose adventures
amused Europe In the middle OF the last
century The women involved since then
range from ladies of his court to music
hall performers. One was Clara Ward,
Princess de Chimay. the American wom-
an whose elopement from Brussels with
a decade ago. She is said to have first
lost caste in Belgian society through the
kings fndiscreet attentions to her. Then
there was Mile. Cleo de Merode, the Par
isian danseuse, who wore her hair over
her ears and who made a brief visit to
New York in 1897. She thus describes
her first encounter with the king:
King Kept Her Dancing.
"One night at the Grand Opera in the
ballet Of 'LAfricaine' l was applauded
by tall man with a long white beard
had done nothing extraordinary.
had not danced half as well as others
'Unoriginal.' was my own comment to
Vasquez, our ballet master, when 1 re-
turned to the wings. Go back quick,
said Vasquez- Dance again. 1t is the
He stood in the aisle waving his ilandker-
chief. He kept me dancing for three
quarters of an hour. How angry Vas
quez was! The curtain couldn't be drop
scolded me for attracting SO much atten-
ton. but was it my fault?'
The acquaintance with the king boosted
Cleo at once into fame and fortune.
1t would be tires0me to enumerate one
half the women who shared the favor Of
this merry monarch. There were stories
of his lying hidden in a Swiss chalet for
weeks while his ministers were anxiously
seeking him to consult him on affairs Of
state. There is the story of a supper
party which he gave In Paris to ten
chorus girls of the Opera Comique. at the
close OF which each one was presented
with diamond necklace Of enormous
value. There are the stories of his visits
to London music halls where ladies of
the gay world conduct a beauty show in
the fOyers and where 1t is said he sup
piled unlimited champagne to all who at
tracted his attention. Mr.. Stead dragged
him into his Modern Minotaur'' expos
ures in the Pail Mall Gazette. Perhaps
LeOpold's fame touched its lowest point
when notorious woman. Mrs. Jeffries,
was arraigned in London police court
on a charge OF purveying young girls for
immoral purposes. The woman held a
defiant attitude in court, maintaining that
she was person OF responsibility.
We'll. who will vouch for your re-
spectabilty?" asked the magistrate.
"Why, the King of the Belgians.' she
impudently replied. and forthwith she
was hustled into a back room, where
the proceedings that led to her release
with a nominal fine were conducted in
strict secrecy.
But scandals of gallantry were not the
only ones that gathered about Leopold's
old age. His amazing capacity for spend
Ing money had entangled him in more
than one ugly affair. From the Belgian
people he derived an income of 100000
year. He inherited a fortune OF at
least Sc 100000 from his father, yet he
is accused OF having virtually embezzled
and dissipated the dowry of his wife
80 80 ciStar no mi q n
by CarIotta, widow of Macmillan, once
Emperor of Mexico, who has been under
restraint as insane ever since the tragedy
of Queretaro in the middle Cos. The
been $1OOOO,OOO. 1t was placed in Leo
pold's trusteeship, and despite efforts,
legal and diplomatic, no accounting OF II
has ever been obtained from him.
Married Life Unhappy.
The kings wife was Maria Henrietta.
an archduchess Of Austria. Their mar
ried life was most unhappy. He was a
husband to exasperate any wife. and
she appears to have been q woman with
a cold nature and a grabbed, sour temper
For many years they virtually lived
apart, and when she died she took a fling
out of the king in her will. Two clauses
of the instrument read:
MY little all, consisting Chiefly or
money given by my father, the Palatine,
nnd an inheritance from my mother
and grandmother Of Wurtemberg, must
be divided into four shares according to
the Belgian 1aw-one for each Of my
three daughters and the fourth remaining
at my disposition.
According to my marriage contract
/ should also have the right to dispose
of my dowry Of 100000 Austrian forms
(S1OO, OOO. I have not touched one CEN
time of either this money or the interest
accruing from 1t. / declare that all at
tempts to discover traces Of this dowry
remained without result
The kings three daughters-the one the
widow of Crown Prince Rudolph Of Aus
tria, the other the runaway Princess Lou
Use of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. and the
Princess Clementine-who remains un-
married at the age of forty-one-received
something on account Of the first Of these
legacies. They have never been able to
collect any part of the dowry. In 1906
Paauin, the Paris dressmaker and Har-
tog, a Paris jeweler, sued them for un-
paid bills. Thereupon they brought suit