New-York tribune., 1920-07-12

Is
Former Empress E,
This photograph is from a portrai,
Eugene was in IL
Spanish woman's care of her two
daughters, who yet could not fail to
adopt some of the easy-going manners
OF their cosmopolitan environment
Eugene was known as "good sort"
a companionahle girl, whose free ways
covered no harm. The serious tales
which of necessity were told of her had
no more foundation in fact than had
the ISLANDERS against her private char
acter during the days of her glory.
They were sufficiently we'll known, how
ever, to furnish Napoleons cousin,
Jerome Bonaparte, with one of his most
serious objections to the marriage.
Prince Jerome had known Eugene
since the time when, as young school
girl of the. Pension du Sacre Cmur, at
Sundays and half holidays at the Passy
home of his old friend, the Comtesse
de Labordo. 1t was there that he be-
came acquainted also with the mystery
concerning her birth, and with the awk-
ward questions regarding her parentage
and legitimacy. This, however, only
contributed to interest him in her be-
half Subsequently he met her again
at Madrid. She had grown into a beau
| tiful woman, and he fell in love with
her. But when the question of mar,
riage was broached he professed him
self to be unable to consider it on the
ground of her origin. This served to
embitter her against the prince, whom
she had evidently expected to wed, and
when later on she found that he was
opposing her matrimonial alliance with
, the Emperor, and was urging that if
there was any union at all it should be
merely one of a morganatic character,
! she developed the most intense hatred
toward him, which followed him to the
end of his days. He, on his part, grew
to dislike her. He was very fond, in
his way, of his cousin, Napoleon III,
and devoted to the interests of France.
He considered her injurious to both
one and the other. Curiously enough,
when the question of Jerome's mar
riage to Eugenie had been discussed at
Madrid it had been Napoleon, then
| President of the republic, who had OBJ
jected to it, and for the very same rea-'
sons! How a girl whose very legiti-
macy was so much in doubt that it
necessitated the doctoring Of innumera-
Bile official records, and who had been
the subject of so much unfriendly dis
cussion, should have succeeded in rails
ing herself to the position of Empress
of the French forms chapter in his
tory before which the rise of Maintenon
pales into insignificance.
First Meeting with Napoleon.
At every step one encounters some
mystery in Eugenie's career,
When did she first rect Napoleon? :?
In Paris, it is generally said But
there are stories, and they are suffi-
GENTLY Well authenticated to deserve
notice. that their first meeting took
place in 1847 or 1848 in London, whittier
Eugene had accompanied her mother
in the course of Nine. de Montijo's light,
fitting career. 1t has been added that
1t was there he made his first proposal
OF marriage, but that the prudent
Eugenie refused the discredited pre-
tender. who was SO poor at that time
that he served for q while in the
humble capacity of special constable.
Napoleon hastened back to France
when the Revolution broke out in
1848, and in December Of that years he
was elected President of the republic.
Mile. de Montijo was among the guests
at the Presidents hunting parties at
Compiegne, where he began to pay her
marked attention, but now, with his
/ foot on the first rung of the ladder,
without thought Of marriage. The coup
detat took place on December 2, 1851;
Napoleon III was Emperor of the
French.
! Now began his vain hunt for bride
among the daughters of the roya-
houses of Europe. Everywhere he met
with firm refusals. At last, discour-
/ aged, he decided upon daughter of
the old Polish house of Czartoryski,
then hesitated, his infatuation for Eu-
genie gaining the upper hand. She had
of another kind. Her answer, "The
way to my boudoir lies through the
/ Church." has become famous. Singled
out by the Emperor's attention on every
! public occasion, she found herself now
in an pncomfortably delicate position.
She was at the parting of the ways,
/ where all must be gained or every
thing be lost. She won.
/ The marriage was openly discussed
as certainty by January, 1858, when
the Austrian Ambassador, Count Hub
ner, first heard of it as certainty in
the salon of Princess Lieven. Napoleon
| announced it publicly on JanuAry 20.
Mathilde Bonaparte, who did not ap-
/ prove of her, Napoleon preferred the
'cachuca' to the 'mazurka,'" refer
ence to the national dances Of Spain
and Poland. "The Emperor has only to
show his bride,'' said his half-brother,
/ de Morny, "and Paris will award her
the golden apple
! Eug&nie's Beauty.
/ 1he future Empress's beauty was un-
| doubted. On this point we have better
| evidence than the ephemeral homage of
| courtiers, for innumerable pictures and
| busts Of her were made by artists and
sculptors, suchsas Winterhalter, Oder,
Nine. Herbelin. Eugene Lami. Carpeaux,
/ Meissoniar and others. and many Of
her biographers have given US PEN
| pictures Of her in the heyday of her
| loveliness.
! The civil marriage Of Napoleon III,
| Emperor Of the French, with Doiia
| EuEenia- Maria de Gusman de Montijo
| took place on the evening Of January
| 90. at the Tuileries, in the Sale des
Marechaux.
On the following day. Sunday, Janu-
ary 40, the religious ceremony was cele-
| brated iii the Cathedral Of Notre Dame
~