Year: 1878

and the Empress Perhaps Her


Throne.


A correspondent of the New York
World, writing from Paris to that
journal, says;


1t is well known that, although
the recently deceased General Mon
tauban, Comte de Palikao, was a
Bonapartist, he was not on good
terms with the empress, or rather
the empress was not on good terms
with him. 1t used to be supposed
that the empress bore him some i'll
will on account of his share ia the
event Of 1870 attending the over
throw of the imperial dynasty, and
that she considered him to have
been wanting in energy, if not in
devotion, when he held almost su-
preme command in the interval be.
tween the first disasters of the war
and Sedan. Another cause was,
however, assigned by Palikao him
self, who has given a curious ac-
count Of the misunderstanding in
his book entitled GA Minister of
War of -Four and Twenty Days"
The empress, he seemed to think,
disliked him because he made her a
present. curious reason; and he
tells story Of pearl necklace of
Eugene only less remarkable in
some of its details than that Of the
pearl necklace of Marie Antoinette.
When he returned from the China
expedition there was great talk Of
a present he was bringing home for
the empress from the.spoils Of the
Summer Palace. 1t was a necklace
of black pearls $50 the rumor ran)
worth some millions of francs. 1t
turned out to be nothing Of the
sort. The empress had shared the
error Of her credulous subjects, and
she never forgaye the innocent au-
thor of her disappointment. But it
would be as well to tell the story in
the generals own words: i,


90 can attribute to but one cause
the little beneyolenoe which her
majesty the empress has ever mani
tested to me and my family. This
cause was quite involuntary on my
part, and the annoyance Of the SOW
ereign ought never to have been
laid at my door. When l 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 confne herself to mere wishes
in our favor, bat that she would
make due provision for the outfit Of
the ambulanCes, and this was done.
x = Wishing to show her
majesty some marks of gratitude |
brought her back chaplet which l
obtained in the following way: On
the occupation of the Summer
Palace commission, composed Of
three English officers Of high rank,
and three French, were named for
the division Of The prizes. Among
the latter were many mandarin's
collars which were distributed to
the army as being objects of no
great value. The commission was
SO good as Co give me three of these
collars for my wife and two daugh-
ters, and | had them made into a
chaplet by Mgr. Monty, Bishop Of
Pekin, to whom had just restored
the cathedral foE Catholic worship.
l begged MonseigneuF to give his
| first benediction to this ehaplet,
naming the high parsonage to whom
l meant to give it, and asking him
at the time to certify its origin and
the fact that it had been the object
of the first benediction given in the
Church of Pekin, | could not be,
lieve that its want of intrinsic value
would abate anything Of its real
worth in the eyes of a sovereign
whose piety was SO well known.
The simple present, however, wat
soon rumored to be worth million
on account of the "fine pearls " O


which it was composed. There wal
not a pearl in it; it was made o.


small balls Of green Jade, each nc