MARIE ANTOINETTE’S LOVE OF JEWELLERY.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 11, 12 March 1892, Page 260

MARIE ANTOINETTE’S LOVE OF JEWELLERY.

«ARIE ANTOINETTE, a bride, young and beautiful, was naturally very fond of dress. Cardinal Rohan, a profligate, luxurious dignitary of the church, by enormous extravagance had become inextricably involved in debt. He had lost favour at court, and loitered around the salons at Versailles, watching for an opportunity to regain it. At the same time there was at Versailles a very and beautiful fascinating, though thoroughly unprincipled woman, the Countess Lanrotte. The jewellery of the Queen was quite ample. She had brought from Vienna a large number of pearls and diamonds. As Queen of Erance she inherited all the crown jewels of the kingdom. In addition to these her royal husband, Louis XVI., had presented her with a set of rubies and diamonds and a pair of bracelets, which cost £B,OOO. Still the Queen’s thirst for gems was not satiated. Boehmer, the crown jeweller, had collected six pear-formed diamonds of prodigious size. He offered them, set as earrings, to the Queen for £16,000. The Queen could not resist the temptation, though, as a matter of special economy, she removed two of the gems and replaced them by two of her own, engaging to pay for the jewels, thus arranged, £12,500, in equal installments, for five years, from her private purse. Boehmer now busied himself in collecting the most magnificent necklace of diamonds in the world. Wherever he conld hear of a large and beautiful gem, he negotiated for it. At length the magnificent string of the costliest diamonds to be purchased in Europe was complete. The glittering bauble, which became famous as ‘ The Diamond Necklace,’ was exhibited to the Queen, and offered to her for £50,000. The king, a man of no common sense, and at that time exceedingly attached to his wife, was anxious that she should possess the ornament, and yet the treasury was so bankrupt that he could not put his hands upon the money. The risings of the storms of the French Revolution were also then beginning to be felt, and the whole nation was clamouiing against the extravagance of the court. The Queen, having far more vigour of mind than her husband, felt that the purchase would expose her to measureless censure, and reluctantly declined the offer, stating, for public effect : * We have more need of ships than of diamonds.' Boehmer was in consternation. He was ruined if he could not find a purchaser, and none but those possessing regal wealth could be expected to indulge in such a luxury.

The queen was interested in the unfortunate man’s troubles, and, through Madame Cam pan, inquired what disposition he had made of the necklace. He said that the grand sultan of Constantinople had purchased it for the favourite sultana. The queen expressed much gratification that Boehmer had been extricated from his troubles. Soon after this, Marie Antoinette’s infant son was baptized. The king purchased of Boehmer, as a baptismal present for the child, a diamond epaulette and buckles. As the crown jeweller delivered them to the queen, he slipped into her hands a petition, containing the following sentence : * I am happy to see your majesty in possession of the finest diamonds in Europe ; and I entreat your majesty not to forget me.’ ‘ What does the man mean’’ said the queen, as she read this note. *He must be insane.’ A few days after, Boehmer called upon Madame Campan, and anxiously inquired if she had no commission for him from the queen, adding : * To whom must I apply for an answer to the letter I presented her ’’ *To no one,’ Madame Campan replied ; ‘ Her Majesty could not comprehend its meaning.’ * That is impossible,’ said the man trembling; ‘ the Queen knows that she owes me £50,000 for the necklace.’ ‘ Man, you are crazy,’ said Madame Campan ; * did you not tell me yourself that you had sold it at Constantinople.’ ‘ The Queen requested me,’ he replied, * to state that to all who inquired upon the subject, as she did not wish to have it known that she had made the purchase. Cardinal Rohan took the necklace in her name. I have all the promissory notes signed by the Queen. ’ * It is a detestable plot,’ said Madame Campan. The poor man, delirious with fright, hastened to the cardinal. Rohan seemed much embarassed, and was disposed to say nothing. He then hastened to the Queen, who was at the Little Trianon. She was very much alarmed, and told the story to the King. He immediately sent for the cardinal. Rohan said, trembling in every nerve, that the Countess Lamotte had brought him a letter from the Queen, requesting him to purchase the diamonds for her, and that he had done so, supposing that he was being of service to the Queen. ‘ How could you suppose,’ said the Queen, ‘ that I should have selected you for such a purpose, or that I could have employed such a character as the Countess Lamotte ?’ * I see that I have been duped,’ he said, and drew from his pocket a letter directed to the Countess Lamotte, and signed in the name of the Queen. Still there were circumstances which exposed the cardinal very strongly to the suspicion of having been an accomplice in the fraud. He was arrested, and his trial, through various interruptions, continued more than a year. The enemies of the queen took the ground that he was innocent, and that the queen, with the infamous Lamotte as her accomplice, had duped him. All France was agitated with the contest. The cardinal appeared at his trial in the utmost pomp of ecclesiastical robes, and was treated with the most marked respect. He was finally acquitted by a majority of three votes. This was regarded as a virtual declaration that the queen was guilty. A friend who called upon the queen immediately after the decision found her weeping bitterly. The Countess Lamotte was brought to trial. It was popularly understood that the Queen was tried in her person. The dissipated beauty appeared before her judges in the most costly robes. It was clearly proved that she had received the necklace, and that she had sold the separate diamonds here and there for large sums of money. The populace were taught to believe that the Queen was her accomplice in this infamous deed, sharing with her the money. The Countess was found guilty, and was doomed, with horrid barbarity, to be whipped on the bare back in the court-yard of the prison, to have the letter ‘ V ’ branded on each shoulder with a hot iron, and to be imprisoned for life. As the terrible sentence was pronounced rage and despair overwhelmed the wretched woman, and a scene of horror ensued unimaginable. She threw herself upon the floor with piercing screams. The executioner seized her and dragged her, struggling and shrieking, into the courtyard, her garments were torn from her back, and the lash cuts its way mercilessly into the quivering nerves. The hot irons simmered upon her recoiling flesh. Then, mangled and half dead, she was conveyed to the prison hospital. After nine months of captivity she was permitted to escape, and she died in England. No one now doubts that Marie Antoinette was entirely innocent. Whether the cardinal was an accomplice is a question which can never be decided. But the occurrence threw reproach upon the unhappy Queen, which hastened the over-throw of the throne of the Burbons and conducted her to the guillotine.