Year: 1870

private anar, and nothing remained but the choice
OF the person. She who has become the object or
my preference is OF high BIRTH French by heart oy
education, by the memory OF the blood shed by her
father in the cause OF the Empire, she has, as
spaniard, the advantage OF having no family IN
France upon whom it would be necessary 10 bestow
honors and dlgnties. Endowed with brilliant quail
ties Of mind she will be the ornament OF the throne
OF which in the hour OF danger her courage will be
a Support Catholic and pious she will join me In
the prayers that address to Heaven for the happ-
ness Of France; gracious and good, she win, as
firmly hope revive in the position the virtues
OF the Empress Josephine. In placing
domestic happiness and the qualities Of the heart
above dynastic prejudices and the calculations Of
ambition shall not, l am sure, be less strong by


The civil marriage was celebrated on the Doth
Of January, 1858, at the Tuileries and the reli-
gious ceremonial was solemnized the next day
at Notre Dame, with all the pomp suited to the
proud station to which the Countess de Teba
was now elevated. The Municipal Commission
of Paris voted the sum of 600,00 francs for
diamond necklace to be presented to her Majesty,
but Eugenie refused the gift, with the request
that the same might be employed for the benefit
of the poor, and the money was appropriated to
the foundation of an establishment for the profess
sional education of poor young girls Obedient to
the regulations of etiquette of the court, the
Empress took up her residence in the Palace of
the Tuileries, in the midst of the ladies and
dignitaries of different titles who compose her
household. But she as we'll as the Emperor
passed a great part of the year at the chateau
of Saint Cloud Biarritz has also been with her
a favorite place of resort, whence she has fire.
quently made excursions into Spain. The
Empress has also accompanied the Emperor on
many of his journeys throughout France and
was with him when he visited Queen Victoria at
Windsor, in April 1855.


On the 10th of March, 1856, the Empress gave
;rtl+ N &c b1-t tha of
Prince Imperial Paris was thrown into the
widest excitement by the event, and INDUCED
in the most enthusiastic reioicings over the birth
of that blessed biby" who now accompanies
his father to the front, there to 'learh in the
midst of the army how to serve his country"


But the Empress has not led an altogether
monotonous career as mistress of the Imperial
hSnsehold and leader of court fashions. Once
before she was called temporarily to the head of
the State This was during the Italian war of
independence, when the Emperor, on leaving
Paris for the field, appointed her Regent, on
May 8, 1859, position which she continued to
hold until the Emperors return at the close Of
the conflict


When the time for the grand inauguration of
the Suez Canal was approaching, last year, the
Empress started on a journey to the East to be
present on that occasion. But news of the
serious illness of the Emperor recalled her when
she had gone no further than Corsica, and she
was compelled to return to the capital. The
opening Of the canal however, was postponed
from time TO time, and when at last the event
transpired, the Empress had had time to start
again upon her journey, reaching Port Said on
November 16, 1859, after having been the re-
cipient, at Athens and Constantinople, of dis
tinguished honors from the King of Greece and
| the Sultan of Turkey.


Eugenie is endowed with many admirable and
attractive traits of character, which, aside from
her exalted position, have rendered her great
favorite with people of all degrees. During the
| prevalence of the cholera in Paris, in October,
1865, she visited the hospitals in company with
the Emperor and by this brave and generous
act elected the applause of the whole world.
| Her education has been of very
thorough and varied character, being much
superior to that generally bestowed upon
Spanish women, even upon those in the highest
ranks of life. But she is eminently conserva-
tive in her temperament, and her influence
upon the Emperor at all times has been re
garded as adverse to the cause of liberty anC
| progress. She has been throughout warn
supporter of the Holy See, and to this fact, ant
the great weight she has carried with the EN-
peror, has been imputed, in great measure, thu
apparently retrograde policy which Napoleon ha


followed in his dealings with Italy and Rome