The Washington herald., 1912-11-01

|COUR GOSSlO q
10 OLD
Ths Gar has grAe3ously hssA pIeAsed
to appoint hi Imperial hlghnsas ~
Grand DUKE llichaalcwitoh 70 ~
coIoneiency Of Tie Forty-ptnth 0fsstsch)
Infantry REGIMENT which tsso0. ,hsncs-
forth shall b known by III nafns." !
rad this unexpected pronunciamsnto IN
the Wiedomosky'' and thereby hangs &uits
q tale. for In these few lines = contained
the closing chapter Of . very romantic
tit-bit OF the modern history OF the
EcmanofIs.
The story begins some twenty years
ago. ct the close Of the year Of gracs.
1881. Grand Duke Michael Nichaelo-
witch. an uncle to the German crown
OF age. was aid-de.camp to his cousin.
Car Alexander III. . captain In the
general stan Of the army. commander
OF company Of shaTpshootsrs Of the
Imperial Guard. and Of Battery -Four OF
the Artillery OF the Guard. and chief Of
the (BrestscA) Forty-ninth Infantry. He
lost his heart to the beautiful Miss Ig-
natien. q maid Of honor at the st. Peters
burg court. sAd promptly was sent out OF
the country because he declared himself
determined to wed her despite her In
ferior social rank and the veto OF his
family.
Accompanied by one Of his brothers
and an adjutant he settled at Wiesbaden.
the famous German resort. There he met
the Countess Sophie Won Merenberg. .
famous beauty and the daughter Of
Prince Nikolaus Won Nassau and his
spouse. Natalie Alexandrevna
Won Dubelt, q divorces. Her father was
Pusch1kin. the great Russian patriot and
poet. and Prince Nikolaus was younger
brother Of the late Duke Adolf Of Nassau
who later became Grand Duke OF LuxA
emburg, whose daughter Amalie now
rules over that quaint little country.
Grand Duke Michael was 20 smitten
that soon he forgot his infatuation for
Miss Ignatien. and on February %. 1881.
at San Reno. he married the Countess
Merenbers. To get rid Of his adjutant.
whose province It was to watch over him
and prevent any escapades. the grand
duke sent him with . personal letter to
the Gar. In which he formally declared
his intention to disavow Miss Ignatief.
When the Car read the letter he found
not only this avowal. but also the an
Of his cousins marriage to
the countess. who. according to the
RomanoR house regulations. also was
considered az not Of equal rank (''Une-
benbuertig'D.
OF course the Gar was mad through
and through. and he made the grand
duke smart for his Decentralization" He
lost all his public ofilces and dignities
IzA U,,s ~
not care much He spent his winters
with his interesting wife and their three
children. two daughters and son. at
Cannes. and the summers in England.
where the mother and her daughters
soon became leaders in the ultra high
set Of London. and greatly admired. The
Grand Duke OF Luxembourg created his
niece a Countess Torby. the title to de-
scend to her progeny as we'll The two
Torby were the school and
play fellows Of the German Crown Prin-
cess Cecilie in her girlhood years at the
Villa Wenden in Cannes.
1t is an old saying that time heals all
stance Nicholas II. who ascended the
throne upon the violent death OF
his father. Alexander. at first was ire
concilable. This determination he carried
out TO such an extent that in 1896. while
Wiesbaden and driving with En-
peror Wilhelm through the festive and
profusely decorated Wilhelmstrasse, he
ignored the respectful salutation OF
Prince Nikolaus OF Nassau. ostentatious-
ly turning his back on a parsonage every
bit as royal and OF more ancient lineage
than the Romanors.
p,,t Nt.ho1ao
was persuaded to reinvest Grand Duke
Michael. who long has been a favorite
at the Court Of England. with his for
mer decorations and orders and to grant
him the right to wear the Russian uni
form. which permits him to return TO
his native country. Since then the
grand duke gradually has been rein
stated in all his former honors and dig
mites.
With the excepting of the Grand Duke
Nicholas Konstantinovitch. who lives As
member Of the Romanoff family who
occupies no leading position in the Rus
sian army.
The centennial of the foundation of the
Spanish Cortes. which has been OBJ
served at Madrid with singularly i'm.
pressive ceremonies. deserves the atten-
ton Of Latin America as the commem-
oration Of one of the finest achieve
nents in Spanish history and Of an act
which, despite its partial annulment
some years later. had a telling effect
upon the progress Of events on two con-
tinents.
The quiet heroism OF the Cortes of
radix was superb at the time when
Spain seemed hopelessly crushed be-
meath the heel Of Napoleon. her people.
apparently realizing that their redemp-
lion, II 1t was to bSssecured at all. must
come through political emergence from
iepotism, gathered in one OF the few
places In which they were still frea to
meet and adopted a constitution which
served as an inspiration and an exam
pie to other nations in both Europe and
America
1t was the irony Of fate that the
c6mpassed in q measure its
,wn defeat. For. while in making the
the Cortes Of Cadix gave
. great impulse to the patriotism of
resistance and revolt against the op-
preston OF France, and thus contributed
essentially to the restoration Of a native
spanish dynasty and OF Spanish inde-
,endence, the restored Spanish King
vas unhappily one Of the worst Of the
3ourbons. and under his rule the con-
'titution practically was annulled. Had