The Birmingham age-herald., 1911-07-21

From the Louisville Courier-Journai.
 ]" HERE have been few queens In
 Christendom very nearly as happy
 A as dwellers in white-washed cot tages. Victoria. described by Tennysoh as broad based upon her peoples Will and compassed by the inviolate sea, su1- fered the sorrows that occur In all hu- man lives that span four-score years' but her life was not without consoia- tions that offset the cares Of ruiership' When she died, after having borne the heavy burden of crown for more thaii three-score years, out-reigning 'ano outliving all previous British sover- eigns. she was survived by six of the nine children that were born to her, and surrounded by 31 grandchildren and @ great-grand- children. It was otherwise with her contemporary, Maria Pla' or Portugal who died at Turin the other day, an exiled queen dowager, whose iie had been shadowed by series or trag- edies and embittered by constant grief. Maria Pia was born the daughter or the heir apparent to the throne of Sar- . to war as the commander of brigade in a clash with Austria during her baby hood. After the battle of Novara, king Charles Albert abdicated in favor Of his son, who had fairly won his spurs. Ike Galantuomo"-the honest king-w@ the title of distinction conferred by his sub jects upon Victor Emmanuel H., and his reign was begun auspiciousy by the re- organization of his country's finances, the secularization of church property, and the stimulation of trade and commerce and the preparation of his country for an effort to assert its independence and to unite Italy.
 That Sardinia might gain significance in European politics Victor Emmanuel sent troops to the Crimea in 1885 to fight with France and England against Russia. In the congress of Paris the following year Sardinia took part, and France and Eng land supported her demand that Austria deal more leniently with Italian provinces she then occupied. Emmanuefs famous premier, Count Cavour, negotiated an al liance with Napoleon III at Plombieres and secured France as an ally against Austria when that country invaded Pied mont in 1859 After the victory of Mag penta the rout of the Austrians at Milan and the treaty of villafranca, by which Napoleon III put an end to the hope of a united Italy, sent Cavour, heartbroken, into voluntary exile in Switzerland and enraged a considerable portion of the Italians-Tuscany, Modena, Parma and the papal states-declared for Victor Elm manuel as their King. Garibaldi con quered and annexed Sicily. and Victor Emmanuel, now in possessfon of the pen l insula with the exception of Rome and Venetia, was decreed by the senate King of Italy. Without the aid of the genius
 of the great Cavour, Victor Emmanuel
 continued in Italy the good work he had
 undertaken originally in Sardinia and con tinued to hope for and plans for the free
 dom of Italy from foreign occupation Venetia, and as result of the Franco
 Prussian war resulted in the cession oi
 Veneia, and as result of the Franco
 Prussian war, which necessi1ated the
 withdrawal of the French troops, Victor
 Emmanuel entered Rome and made |
 the capital of Italy. The development ol
 Italy and the promotion of good relations
 with Austria and Germany were his am
 bitons. He died beloved as an honest ant
 manly ruler and man of genius in mil
 itary and civil affairs.
 It was just after her father had become
 King of Italy that Maria Pia's marriag'
 to King Luis of Portugal was arranged
 Like numerous other Braganzass Lui
 was a pleasure-loving monarch and fajthless husband with penchant fo
 ballet girls and the gaming table. Tn atmosphere of the. Portugal court wa
 very different from that of the court Q | "Re Galantuomo." in which Maria Pi' had been reared. Her son, Dom Carlos a thorough Braganza. and man Of grea . avoirdupois and little ability. ascended tn throne in 1889 after the death of hi
 father, to be an equally notorious rak and a much more indifferent king.
 The year after Ddm Carlos ascended tn [ throne of Portugal Maria. Pia's brother King Humbert of Italy. "Humpert tn { Good. soldier, philanthroplst'