New Ulm review., 1922-09-20
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HISTORY, partic icularly that portion,
- which deals with the intrigp yes
and plots that hone combed the courts
OF Europe l during the Eighteenth cen.
tnry, is filed with the accounts Of a
number y Of unusual personag ges it
IS doubtful If any Of these are quite
as remarkable as the ones connected
with y III the career Of the ,CheYalier.
d lE1on, whose. exploits We're directly
responsible for much Of the glory which
surrounds the name Of Louis XIV.
Born at Tonnere, France, in 1728,
Charles Genevieve Louis Auguste An
-dree Mmothee d'Eon de Beaumont de-
veloped talent early In life for
imp mpersonating members Of either sex,
with facility which appears to have
been little less than marvellous. In
fact, the mystery which surrounds the
true sex Of this adventure -or adven-,
tulress--bec l II S comes more startling with
the examination Of each exploit. Ac-5
cording to contemporary historians,
dE1on was able to appear either as q
man or as a woman, with an ease
which rendered penetration Of his dis
guise impossible, and his ability in
this line gained for him (the mascu-
line line pronoun being used adyisedly) q
position at the head of the secret
agents employed by Louis, and it was.
not long before he became the most
accomplished spy who ever delyed into
the secrets of court or diYined the
intention of a ruler.
Part Of the time he would be the,
SChevalier d'Eon, dashing, debonair and
fearless. Then the cheYalier would
allow it to be known that he was
going somewhere on visit, and a.
beautiful woman-versed in all the
arts which make men open their hearts
and their lips, forgetful of the, seal of
secrecy which, they would never lift
to their, closest male friend would
appear, and another report would soon
be on its way to the private sanctum
of the king. s ,..s s.5s j.
No one suspected that the dashingi
chevalier and the .firtatious coquette
were one and the same though when
the exposure was finally made, even
his enemies had the grace to say that
dEon had fought over half of Europe
and firted over the other half" In
Paris, in London, in Rome and in
Genoa, the cheva1ier added success
after success to his long list Of vic
tories, prying into secrets and ferret
ing out the truth when the greatest
spies of five, kingdoms had utterly
failed. i
But it was while at the court Of the.
Empress Elizabeth Of Russia, in the
feminine role, b that the cheyalier
achieved his croWping triumph. Eu-s.
rope was then son the verge of the
Seven Years war, and Louis desired
an alliance with Russia One after an;
other the veterans of the diplomatic
service returned to Paris, stoop-s
shouldered and beaten. The imperial
palace, they said, was closed to them.
The. empress would have none on Of their
advice. She WAS adamant in her de-
:cision to stand aloof in the struggle
which was approaching.
.s AS a last resort, d'Eon was dis
patched to- Moscow, and before many
weeks had passed, it began to be ru-s
mored about the Russian capital that
her majesty had new maid of honor
who appeared to have a strange hold
over the queen. The girl, as charming
as she was pretty, was careful not to-
play her cards too rapidly. but she,
lost no opportunity to shift the con- n
versatien tosa discussion Of diplomacy;
and at first to suggest and then to,
prove the wisdom of an alliance be-
tween France, Russia and Austria
against Frederick the Great. Little by.
little the decision Of the queen began
to crumble, and, some two weeks after
the new maid Of honor disap ppeared
from the palace which was about s II the
same time that d'Eon was making his
report to Louis 1T became known that
the alliance would be rat1ned at an
early date, thus completely altering
the map Of Europe. NJ
This, however, was destined to be-
the chevalier's last success. He was
growing DID, and lines were appearing,
in his face which it was difficult to-
hide by the application Of cosmetics
Following an almost total collapse of
his plans at the Court Of st. James, in,
4 London, d'Eon retired from public life,
and, during the 33 years which elapsed
before his death, he dressed coNntinl--a9 q a /
sually as "a woman, using the name
!; "lIme. 'Eon.' z This would appear to l
lend weight to the belief that he be- be-
longed to the feminine sex, but beyond ond
the fact that he was one Of the world s.
,super-spies, nothing definite has ever
been discovered about the ambi-sex:-- <
strous cheyalier. 33 ..;l,