Year: 1878

j 1 MMEN MAWMCs


Correspondence OF the n. Y. wogld.l
PARIS, Jan. 14.-It is well know
! that, although the recently decease
General Montauban, Comote de Pa
leo, was Bonapartist, he was nc
. on good terms with the Empress


or rather the Empress was not OF


good terms with him. 1t used /
be supposed that the Empress Dor


him some ill-will on account of hi
share in the event of 1870 attendin,
the overthrow of the imperial dy
nasty, and that they considered hin


to have been wanting in energy, !


not in devotion, when he held al


most supremecOmmand i'm the inter


val between the first disasters of tn,


war and Sedan. Another cause


was, however, assigned by PalikaC


himself, who has given a curious


account of the misunderstanding
! in his book, entitled "a Minister O


War of Four and Twenty Days
! The Empress, he seems TO think.
4 disliked him because he made her 4


present-a curious reason; and he
tells of q pearl necklace Of Eugene
only less remarkable in some of it,
] details than that of the pearl neck.
! lace Of Marie AntOinettee. When
/ he returned from the China expedi-
] ti0n there was great talk of a present


he was bringing home from the
spOils of the Summer Palace, ii
was a necklacer Of black pearls (so
! the ruluOr N worth some millions
I a..


ing of the sort. The Empress had
I shared the error of her credulOus
subjects, and she never forgave the
innocent author of her disappoint-


ment. But it would be as well to


hear the story in the Generals own


words:


/ can attribute to but one cause
the little benevOlence which Her


Majesty the Empress has ever mani


tested to me and my family. The


cause was quite involuntary on my
part, and the annoyance of the SOW
erign ought never to have been laid
at my door. When I was named
commander of the China expedition


the Empress received me and the


officers of my staff at the Tuileries


and was good enough to show all


the interest which she took in the


success of this distant war. Her


Majesty added that she would not


confine herself to mere wishes in


our favor, but that she would make
the provision for the outfit Of the
ambulances, and this was done.


Wishing to show Her Majesty some


marks of gratitude / brought her
back chaplet which l obtained i'm
the following way: On the occupa-
ton of the Summer Palace a COM


mission, composed of three Eng
lish officers Of high rank and three


French, was named for the division


of the prizes. Among the latter
were many mandarins' collar which


were distributed to the army as be-
ing objects of no great value. The
commission was so good as to give
me three of the collars for my wife
and two daughters, and / had them


made into chaplet by Mr.. Monty,


Bishop of Pekin, to whom / had
just restored the Cathedral for Cath
olic worship. / begged Monseigneur
to give his first benediction to this
chaplet, naming the high parsonage
to whom / meant to give it, and
asking him at the time to certify
the origin and the fact that it had
been the object Of the first benedic-
ton given in the church of Pekin.
/ could not for a moment believe
that its want of intrinsic value
would abate anything of its real
worth in the eyes of sovereign
whose piety was so well
known. The simple present, how
ever, was soon rumOred to be
worth q million on account of the
''fine pearls" of which it was COM
posed. There was not a pearl i'm it;
it was made of small balls of green
jade, each no larger than cherry.
1t nevertheless went on increasing
in value according to popular re-
port, and soon it was worth 1,000,-
600 francs. The pearls, it was said,
were of extraordinary rarity-they
were black ones! From l,000,000
the price ran up to 1900, 900, and it
was next whispered that the pearls
were alive? / must here confess my
ignorance / did not know, l do
not know to this day, what was
meant by the ''living pearls" of
which everybody now began to
talk. Yet these extraordinary re-
port were eagerly devoured in the
capital of a population that is accus-
toned to boast itself the most in
telligent in the universe. On my
return from China went to Vichy,
where the Emperor authorized me
to present the chaplet to Her
Majesty, then at Fontainebleau.
/ accordingly went to Fontaine-
bleau, and there, in the presence
of the Count Walewski and the
Countess Walewski, offered this
religious sOiUeniF of the Chinese ex-
petition in homage to the Empress.


! have always thought that the
fuss made about this simple matter
not altogether without the conni-
vance of my enemies-had given
great annoyance to Her Majesty,
and that, without being altogether
conscious of it, her mind reverted
with pain to an act which on my
part at least was but the expression
of a sentiment of gratitude.


This may have been the origin Of
the Empress mistrust of the Count,
but more recent and more serious
events, of which the writer seems
to have taken no account, tended
to strengthen the feeling. The
Bonapartists have always thought
that he did not do enough in the
supreme hour of the dynasty. "The
General Count de PalikaO, Minister
of War;" says the writer of 1.-The
Empress and the Fourth of Septem-
ber," was always within the Cham
ber when he should have been with
Out-nOt seated, but ON horseback (;
not with q pen, but with a sword i'm
his hand" In fact, they are clearly
of opinion that if he had ventured
one more coup Pet0t to check the
growing discomfort of the capital,
the dynasty might have been saved.
If the Empress had received her
present more graclously, perhaps,
the attempt might nave been made.
The precise connection Of cause and
effect between the imperial tiff and
the loss of a throne may be added
to the already swollen list Of the
minor problems of history. The
Empress seems to have inspired
every feeling but enthusiastic devO-
ton in those by which she was STR
rounded. Perhaps no one else ever
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