New-York tribune., 1920-07-12

II vas this argument that won the dav
Wltn Napoleon, especially 10 the with
drawal Of his troops from Rome might
well nave called down upon his head j
EapaA Dull OF accommodation, with
IatAi results in rural France. Eug&nie's
.innusnce ~ was cast also on tie side Of
the Mexican adventure,
In internal politics she strenuously
supporsed the Duke de Morny in his
vWRPosi1on 70 all liberal concessions.
nen ne died, who had made Napoleon
and been the backbone Of his regime
throughout, she went over to the other
Slae, under the influence now Of Count
alewski, and as warmly advocated the
granting of these parliamentary de-
mands. After 1866, when thn rise Of
Prussia demonstrated that the prestiQe
ana influence of the empire were a hol-
low sham, and that Napoleon had been
trlcked, the internal situation went
from bad to worse. The Empress, who
taa nao expected gratitude for what had
peen conceded, saw only increasing
hostility. The year 1869 saw the throne
IN danger and desperate remedies In
demand
Opening of Suez Canal
Eugenie's last public appearance in
all the pomp and glory Of her exalted
station took place on November ~.
1850 on the occasion of the official
opening Of the Suez Canal, toward
whose realization by her distant rela-
tive, De Lesseps, she had contributed
the 1uli weight Of her influence. It was
to her that precedence was given at ali
rthe functions of the event; it was she
who' on the deck of the imperial yacht
Aigle, led the procession Of ships down
the long ditch of limpid water. It was
on its bank that she gave her slender
hand to kiss to Francis Joseph Of Aus
tria, whom she was to meet again many
years later, broken, crushed old
woman.
The desperate strait of The Third
Empire at home caused war with Prus-
STA to assume the guise of the desper-
throne. Eugenie's course in this crisis
has been hotly debated. Her latest
biographey maintains that she was OBJ
posed to the war. but the evidence that
she-helped to bring it on is overwhelm-
ing. 1t matters no longer; and it mat
ters no longer whether she did or did
not say, "This is my war!" Later dis
closures have proved that it was not
her war, but the war Of Count Otto
von Bismarck. The state Of Napoleon's
health was withheld from her as we'll
as from him by his physicians. Later,
at Chislehurst, he declared that if he
had been informed the war would not
have been begun. He started for the
front, and Eugenie became Regent of
France for the second time, the first
one having been during the war with
Italy, in 1859.
The Prince Imperial received his
melodramatic "baptism Of fire" at Saar-
brucken, and Paris celebrated. Then
came Metz. 1t was the Empress who
stopped MacMahon's soundly strategic
retreat on Paris and ordered him to
make a fanking movement toward the
Belgian frontier. Napoleon went with
him to Sedan. On September he was
prisoner in German hands. The end
had come. The French Republic was
proclaimed on September A.
EugenIe's Flight
At 1880 o'clock in the afternoon of
that day Eugenie fled from Paris The
story of the fight is we'll known. Two
foreigners, Prince Metternich and Count
Nigra, the Italian Ambassador, con-
veyed her, in a closed carriage, from
the Tuileries to the house Of the Ameri-
can dentist, DR.. Thomas Evans, who
took her to Deauville, whence she
crossed to England in an English yacht
All three may be said to nave risked
their lives in rendering her this service,
for the feeling sof the Partisan mob