THE EMPRESS CHARLOTTE

Otago Witness, Issue 832, 8 November 1867, Page 5

THE EMPRESS CHARLOTTE

The Memorial Divloinatiqnui says :—: — "Notwithstanding the rapidity with which the journey from Miramar to Brussels was made bj theEmpressCharlotte— it'occupied only two days — the health of her Majesty has in no wise suffered from it. Indeed , we receive Irom the Belgian capital the consolatory information that a slight improvement has taken place in her mental condition in consequence of quitting her state of isolation. " The Independence of Brussels says :—": — " We learn that the Empress Charlotte has passed a good night, and is as well as is possible. Her Majesty appears pleased to find herself once more at home, and in the midst of • her family. She- drove 'out yesterday afternoon with theQiisenj round the park of Tervueren, in a ponyejjaisfe 1 .-" '•' " '

' The Paris correspondent' of ihe 'Motrt\ing Star says :—": — " Ib is pleasing to hear that the poor Empress Charlotte, since her arrival at Brussels,' is in much betterspirits ; a slight 1 improvement has event taken place in her mental condition in consequence of her journey from Miramaxto Belgium. Dr Bulkens, together with: the Queen, had much difficulty in persuading her Majesty to leave Miramar j but during the voyage she seemed quite reconciled to her fate, and was moved to tears at the thought of seeing her brothers

again and her native land, which teri years ago she quitted so full of hope and of illusions to follow her unfortunate, husband. Dr Bulkens, who is a pupil of Ghisl'ain, the well-known physician for mental diseases, still- entertains the belief that he will he able to restore her reason. Already a Salutary commotionhas been produced onher brain, as Dr. Bulkens predicted would be the case, by the very sight of those places where she spent her childhood. It is said; that when she entered the Chateau de Lacken she for some moments remained silent, gazing with a haggard look at every room and out of every window, then, suddenly bursting into a fit of tears. Recognising some of her ancient servants, who had known her when quite a little child, she went up to them and kindly enquired after their families. She is subject to very violent fits of crying, generally; followed by a state of discouragement and" despondency, and it is more especially during such crises that she cannot get reconciled to the absence of Maximilian. I am told that she knows he is dead, but fancies he died from fever. > The awful truth has not as yet been revealed to her." The Pall Mall Gazette says rr — ci Since the Empress Charlotte has been transferred from Miramar to Brussels, the two medical men who up to that time had been attached to her person, and charged with the treatment of her case, have been replaced by a Belgian physician celebrated for the cures he has effected of persons regarded os hopelessly insane, and it is | not impossible that in the case of the distinguished patient confided to his care, new remedies may triumph over that mysterious illness which, after having destroyed the Empress Charlotte's reason, still menaces the remainder of her days. A writer in the Figaro, M. d'Auvergne, considers the present the proper moment for making known the opinions of wellinformed Mexicans on the subject of the Empress's illness, which' may be said, by i depriving Maximilian of his ablest c«unI sellor, to have precipitated the fate of the unfortunate prince. M. d'Auvergne says, (we quote him without assuming any responsibility for his statements) :—: — ' I have nnder my eyes several letters of different dates, written by persons in whose veracity I have the most entire confidence, by reason of their position, and leng experience in Mexico. Here axe a few passages from this correspondence :—: — ' Do not doubt for one instant that this madness is the result of a crime, the contemplated commission of which was known beforehand. The two enclosed extracts from South American newspapers, which speak of the Empress having been seized with attacks of insanity on board of the packet boat, when nothing of the kind had happened, will be a revelation for you. Even if symptoms of insanity had at this time manifested themselves, the circumstance could not have been known on this Continent when the Empress was still at sea.' Another letter says : — ' Her Majesty was warned by a notice found in her dress-ing-case at Vera Cruz that her life was menaced by the hand of a so-called friend. She, nevertheless, embarked without showing the slightest outward sign of distrust. She, however, avoided being alone with at least one member of her suite throughout the voyage. She took nothing beyond the ordinary repasts, served onboard the ship, and one day even refused a cup of chocolate which had been specially prepared for her. It is certain that she mistrusted the persons around her, either from some instinct of her own, or by reason ' of the caution she had received, and which some time later she unfortunately neglected/ 'The poisoning,' says another letter, 'was accomplished during the Empress's voyage to Rome. There is no trace of any previous attempt having been made, and if one had been made it must have proved abortive. A second dose was no doubt given the night before, or the morning of the audience at the Vatican. A few grains more and death would have beeu inevitable. I find in the statement published in the European newspapeis all the I symptoms of the poison of the Vaudoux.'"

It is stated, in a telegram from Brisbane, that three white men had been recovered from the blacks by Captain Cadel's jKiity, and had been taken on boar-l the .Eagle. They had forgotten their language. t)i»e of them made the letter "L",arid the 'figures "18"' ( on';tlie) .ground. The news require* confirmation. ■.>•> •----■•" i • ■ ■ ' "