A Fallen Queen.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8051, 31 March 1905, Page 7

A Fallen Queen.

Empress Eugenie's Visit to ■ .'■...'■■'• Egypt. ..•■•.._■. . • Empress Eugenic, now an aged lady, whose hair is white, with years and sorrow, afl^r, an interval of 35 years in February last, left a French poiton a. trip to Egypt. She is travelling incog- . mto. In recording the fact the London -Daily Telegraph caLs-attention to the altered circumstances m which' the ex Empress of the French set out on-her' second trip.to Egypt, the.first having been undertaken in the closing months of the year 1869. What a changed world it is to-day for this fallen Queen, and what memories must me up before her eyes as she thinks of then and now. The contrast is so dramatic and so poignant that we may venture to recall events which may have slipped from the memory even of those who are old I enough to recall.their impressions of the year 1869.

On 17th November, 1569, the Suez Can^l wa3 opened with all the pomp and circumstance which Ismail Pasha the most recklessly lavish of all modern rulers, could deviae. And tho Empress of the French, the Empress Eugenic, wes the moßt augast personase in all that brilliant throng.which assembled on the banks of the Nile. Yes the Emperor ot Austria wai therein person, and the Crown Prirce ofPr.ussia—after, wards the ill-fated Frederick the Noble —and. the Prince of Holland. But these paesed almost enconsidored compared, .wish the presence of the Empress of the French, the Consort of Napoleon HI, then the arbiter—or believed to be the arbiter—of the" destinioa of Europe. Sedan lay in the future les3 than a year aheacl—but whn could forsea that? Only a few sharp, eaglo eyea at Berlin, who knew how destiny wa3 shapin* itself, for they were helping her in her tifk

The Emperor of the French waa the great figure in Europe in the autumn of 1569, when the Empress embarked for the 0 iant, traveling slowly in thn Imperial.yaoht l'Aigle, and calling at Venice and Constantinople on the way. It was highly appropriate for yet another reason that the Empress Eugenic should be the guest of honour in the laud of the Pharaohs., .For the caml was a Ffpnch undertaking ; tbe Engineer wa3 a Frenchman and the idol of France ;. aud Napoleon 111. h^d proclaimed his faith iv M. de Lesseps from start to finish, and had helped hiß projeoi by every means in his power. Tne e,mbitioua visionary was right where the practical English engineer Soephensou and the level-headed Palmarston were wildly wrong. Whafc Palmerston bad denounced ai " a bubble schame " became a reality, and instead of English speculators, as ha coufidontly toretold, bemoaning lost money, the British Exchequer has continued reason to bless Disrae.i's shrewdness m purchasing Ismail's shares. It wa* but right, therefore that the Empress? of the French should be the central personage during that amazing week when Ismail's borrowed, money was poured out like water la mad profusion. The Empress was then in early middle ace, with beauty scarcely touch-id by time, a queenly figure, possessed of every grace and charm. She was the niistre*s of the fetes of Compiegne of which all -Europe was talking ; she was the friend of Queen Victoria and of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria; of both she had been the hottrs-s during their stay in France, while at the Paris Exhibition of 1867 she had received the Emperors of Austoa and Russia, the King of Prussia and the Prince of Wales. In 1869 the HmpressJiu genie was the most brilliant lady in Europe, whose slightest will was law. At Constantinople the Sultan himself embarked on shipboard to greet her in the Bosphorus, and conduct her to his palace of Beyler Bay ; at Port Said it waa the French Imperial yacht that' all eyes strained to see. There were rumors at the last moment that she was not coming, that the Emperor had taken offence at something, that some Mich had occurred. From first to last people's thoughts were of Napoleon and Eugenic. Poor Ismail, who hoped to show the world that a new power had been born in Egypt, had built a palace for her coming on the shores of Lake Timsah— a real Aladdin's Palace, where for three days open tables were kept for 10,000 people, faaeted with the best and men tnac luxury could supply, and unrronnded by a great city of teats, where the Kbediv^'s guests were housed. Someone told h:m ihat the Empress was sure to detiire to viac the Pyramida— at once he ordered ft broad ro-»d to be made, 7 milea long, to be finished in six weeks. And finisned it was by the labour of IO.COO fol.heen working under the heavy lis-b. The Empress of the French must be able to travel smoothly. The Empress came and. saw and conquered anew, though her conquest was already secure. Her yacht arrived last, Dust in time-a studied effect, no doubt —and sailed slowly down the canal from Port tfaid, greeted with salvoes of caunoD. The procession of yachts was too slow to be very impressive, and the real triumph of the Empress took place in a scone more suited to her sex and to her charms—in the ballroom of the palace, whe<e the State ■ ball was held to celebrate the opening of the new route between East and West. Her Majesty was the Queen of the ball—she and France triumphed. With her own hands she decorated M. de LesFeps in the name of the Emperor with the G-r»nd Cordon of the Legion of Honor "I can see her still mmy mind's fye," Mr Edward Dicey has written in a recent book, "as, covered with diamonds, she moved like a goddess amidst the crowd, who stood up to give her passage to the dias, on which, surrounded by crowned heads and the heirs to Uoyal thrones, she took he- seat as, if I may use the phrase, tho patroness of cho b «ll: I oan still hear the strains of Par-

tant pour la Sjrie, which the bandd play< d in h6r honour as she embarked on the Imperial yaoht, or leaving the ball, and the salutes by which her departure was proclaimed " It was her cul

minating triumph—thereafter »U wa* bitterness and disaster. The heighc she climbed was dizzy; the fall was terrible. It is said that while the Kmpress Eugenic was in Egypt she wrote to the Emperor, urging him to inaugurate a more liberal regime, "j do not like surprises, she wrote, " and I aui p.-r----suaded that a coup d'etat cannot be made twice in one reign." Seven months later she said good bye to husband and son, as they left Paris for the frontier. A few more weeks and she was a fugitive hastily fleeing from Pans in a hackney 'coach, deserted by her friends and almost alone. It was the prelude to Chislehurst, Furnborougti the tragedy of Zululand—a succsssion of sorrows and shattered hopes. Sach were the circumstances in which

'the Empress of tba.'Franch tailed, id her imperial beauty and power, fof the n nc-, Now »»8 an .aged lady who, all unobserved", tak(?s passage like an ordinary traveller for Pore Said. It is » brave jjurnex, " ioe it challenges memoriea as sad 'as ever, oppressed1 a C^ueen dethroned. Times are ckanged,: indeed, and.the Empress with them,*nd ■BSj.pt, too—ahaoged beyond all recogmtion. save foi- the Pyramids and the Mile. ... ■'- . ■ ■