The Washington herald., 1913-03-09

Prince Victor Napoleon, who since MS
marriage to the royal millIonairess and
spinster, Princess Clementfne. daushter
of the late rake. known as kins Leopoiu
III OF the Belsians hears the frehch I'M
perial bee' humming in his greatly en-
larged head, has notified Pope Pius OF
the critical illness of the head OF the
Ronapartfst house eX-Empress Eugene.
The Vatican is very much interested
in that lady's temporal as well as spirit
ual welfare. and, no wonder. for she Is
immensely wealthy and a stanch sup
porter OF the Church of Rome.
Though all her troubles have been
brought upon her head by herself and
h,.r undvinr hate of the HohrnzollcTns;
though II was she. and she along. who
,aused her husband 10 lose his throne
and the "debacle" of France IN S'"'
yet the former Empress has done more
than sufficient penance by q long Ire
Of abject loneliness, an exile In strange
land by the grace Of her late friend,
Queen Victoria. hers IS Il sad lot. in
dittd. For fOrty-three years. go fdf. shc
has had ample time and occasion I"
mourn her uubrIdIed wilfulncss and her
fatal iutrigues. which deprived her "f
n crown Of her husband, Of her friends,
and Of ali that goes to make HE worth
living. especially a life among the great
est Of the great upon earth.
Her heart must be n sad waste IN her
fUrlurn state. She reminds me very
forcibly Of another woman Of past and
gone dynasty. Francisco di Rimini'
whose fate Dante so realistically de-
scrihes in tho Fifth Canto of his In
f"rn0 In never-to-be-forgottcn words
which. so TO say, makes the cold shy
err run down ones spine. refer 10
the answer Francisco gave to Dante ana
Tergil. both of whom encountered her
while she was undergoing her eTerlast-
tng punishment in hell Dante knew her
we'll while she was upon earth, ana
asking her how she managed 20 stand
her terrible condition he got this reply ,
"Se,zIn inaggi0r dOi0re che recordarst
del tempi felice nelIa Tnlseria" 'Th"re
is not greater pain than to reCGlIect
happy days while one Is in misery is ,
true,
Poor old Eugene. Her punishment far
more than fits her crime" &" make MS"
OF the frivolous expression @f the FOO
Bah IN the ''MIkad","
Tho political c0r<rol "f IN" Holy Land
under the changed conditions as III"
outcome Of the war with Turkey siIse
the failure Of tho peace conference, and
the renewal Of hostilties. is u subject Of
lean. OsservatOre says that recently
the runtlT and tho German kais"r have
conferred on the subject. Heretofore tae
Holy Se. could lean upon Fran" f"r
the safegriarding ~ tho interests ~ tho
hurch Of Rom. In Palestine, hVt with
RrIard as premier. e.. Nai!"an has been
placed IN u dilemma on tho other hand.
the Kaiser. though himself a Protestant.
is drslrous Of aiding tn" Pope. not mere
", ar tho Vatican asserts, Tor pnl!tlraI
reasons but from sirc"r" religious mo
ttvss. h"' aus h has greatly d'V"lop'f
Lutheran propaganda In J"rusalcm'
wh.r. next 10 III" Orthodox Greek
Church, as represented by Russia and
and hcr work, Gcrmauy is doing Il great
deal in rn'dicaI and social lines. vht."
tho Church 0r Rome. represented by tn"
Franciscan ETUtEtTs. has many shrincs
in outlying sections. deVotinC It's IahOrs
mainly to hospital and spiritual work.
With the Ottoman empire in her pres
ent weakened condition, government OF
Asiatic Turkey. especially OF the Holy
Land. will hcrom" prominent Issue
with the Christian nations OF Europe
Arabs nor SyrianS are not easily con-
troIlsd. hence the anxiety of the Nati-
can that an adequate administration be
established in Palestine. In this the
aged pontiT is seconded by the Kaiser.
number OF wealthy AncrIrans lave
contributed to the funds for the rebuild
ing OF St Pauvs at Rome. Ia lS-i.
when Plus VII rat upon the chair Of st
Peter. the beautiful edit'rc OF ST. PaUl's
WAS destroyed by fire. 1t stood outside
the city walls in what thrn was Coun-
Try sid.. \ shepherd discovered ~"
blaze and ran into the city To give tn"
alarm. OF course there wer" no tra!n"d
fircrncn In thos" days. and the fine
church. which lad been erected hy I'm
DcrOr Constantine. was almost srtlrc.E
Destroyed The Porc-s successors. Leo
MI and Gregory XNI. did an they
could TO speed IL" rebuilding. but 1t was
not until the rule OF Plus l that IL.
work was begun in earnest. crowned
heads of Europc. principally the Iiaps-