The Ladies’ Magazine.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXVII, Issue 2443, 6 March 1909, Page 12 (Supplement)

The Ladies’ Magazine.

FAMOUS AFFINITIES OF HISTORY.

THE STORY OF THE EMPRESS MARIE LOUISE AND COUNT NEIPPEIIG.

(By Lyndon Orr, in “Munsey’s Magazine.”)

There is one famous woman whom history condemns, while at the same time it partly hides the facts which . ' might mitigate the harshness of the ■ judgment that it passed upon her. This woman is Marie Louise, Empress of France, Consort of the great Napoleon, and Archduchess of Imperial Austria. When the most brilliant figure in all history, after Ins overthrow in 1814, was in tawdry exile on the petty island, of Elba, the • Empress was already about to become a mother; and the father of her unborn child was not Napoleon, but another man. This is almost all that .b usually °f ? lcr , was unfaithful to Napoleon, that she abandoned him in the hour of his defeat, and that she gave herself with readiness to ono inferior in rank, ye with whom she lived for years, and. - to whom she bore what ,a French writer has styled “a brood of bastards. v Naturally enough, the Austrian aim German historians do not have much to say of Mario Lbuise, because m her own disgrace she also brought disgrace upon the proudest reigning familv in Europe. Naturally, also, French writers, even those who are hostile to Napoleon, do not care to dwell upon the story; since France itself was humiliated when its greatest genius and most splendid soldier was deceived by his Austrian wife. Therefore, there arc still many who know little beyond the bare fact that the Empress Marie Louise threw away her' pride as n princess, her reputation as a wife, and her honor as a woman. Her figure seems to crouch in a sort of murky byway, and those who pass over the highway of history ignore it with averted eyes. Is there, however, nothing to he said that will at least extenuate what this woman did? Was there not some reason, some deep-seated cause, why she should act so utterly at variance with the traditions of her house and tile repute in which she had been held? In reality, the story of Napoleon and Marie Louise and of the Count von Neipperg is one which, when you search it- to the very core, leads you straight to the sex-problem of a very curious nature. NAPOLEON’S SECOND MARRIAGE In 1809, Napoleon, then at the plenitude of his power, shook himself free from the. clinging grasp ol Josephine and procured the annulment of his marriage to her. No sooner had the marriage been annulled than his titanic ambition leaped, as it always did, to a tremendous pinnacle. He would wed. He would have child ren. But he would wed no petty princess. This man, who in his early youth had felt honored by a marriage with the almost deciassee widow of a Creole planter, now stretched out his hand that he might take to himself a wdman not merely royal but imperial. At first he sought the sister of the Czar of Russia; but Alexander entertained a profound distrust of the French Emperor, and managed to evade the tentative demand, ahci.e was, however, a reigning family far more ancient than the Romanoffs a family which had held the imperial dignity" for nearly six centuries-—the oldest and the noblest blood in Europe. This was the Austrian house of Ha.psburg. Its head, the Emperor Francis, had thirteen children, oi whom the eldest, the Archduchess Marie Louise, was then in her nineteenth year. SACRIFICED TO SAVE AUSTRIA. The subtle diplomats of Vienna immediately saw their chance. Prince Metternich, with the caution of one who enters the cage of a man-eating • tmor, suggested that the Austrian Archduchess would be a fitting bride for the French conqueror. The notion soothed the wounded vanity ol Napoleon. From that moment, events 'moved swiftly; and before long it was understood that there was to be a new Empress in France, and that she was to be none other than the daughter of the man who had been Napoleon’s most persistent foe upon the Continent. The girl was to be given —sacrificed, if you like —to appease an imperial adventurer. After such a marriage, -Austria would be safe from spoliation. The reigning dynasty would remain firmly seated upon its historic throne. But how-about the girl herself? She had always heard Napoleon spoken of as a sort of ogre —a man of low ancestry, a brutal and faithless enemy of her people, She know that this hold, rough-spoken soldier. less than a year before, had added insult to the injury which-he had inflicted on her father, tin public proclamations he had called the Emperor Francis a coward and a .liar. Up to the latter part of the year, Napoleon was to her imagination' a blood-stained, and yet all-powerful monster, outside the pale of human liking and respect. What must have been her thoughts when her father first told her, with averted face, that she was to become tho bride of such a being? Marie Louise had been brought up, *s all German girls of rank were then brought up, in quiet simplicity and utter innocence. In person, she was a tall blonde, with a wealth of light brown hair tumbling about a face which might bo called attractive because it was so youthful and so gentle, but in which only poets and courtiers could see beauty. Her complexion was rosy, with that peculiar tinge . which means that in the course of time it will become red and mottled. Her blue eyes were clear and childish. Her figure -was good, though already too full- for a -girl who was younger than her years. When she learned that she -was to be given to the French Emperor, her girlish soul experienced a shudder; bjit her father told ‘her how vital was thisunion to her country and to him. Events moved with .a rush, for Napoleon was not- the man to dally. Josephine had retired to her residence at Malmaison, and Paris was already astir with preparations for the new Empress. Immediately everything was done to

dazzle the imagination of the -girl. She had dressed always in the simplicity of tho schoolroom. Her only ornaments had been a few colored stones which she sometimes wore as a necklace or a bracelet. Now tlio resources of all France were drawn upon. Precious laces foamed about her. Cascades of diamonds flashed before her eyes. The costliest and most exquisite, creations of the Parisian shops were spread around her to make up a trousseau fit for the princess who was soon to become the bride oi the man who had mastered Continental Europe. ... , , All was excitement. Vienna had never been so gay. Money was lavished under the direction of Queen Caroline of' Naples, Napoleou’s Pistei, and Berthier, Napoleon’s famous marshal. There were- illuminations aim balls. The young girl fo-utill herself tlio centre of the worlds interest; and the excitement made her dizzy. She could not but be flattered, and yet there were many hours when her hear! misgave her. Afore than once she v> as found in tears.

THE BRIDE’S JOURNEY TO FRANCE.

She set out for. France accompanied by a- long train of carriages filled with noblemen aud noblewomen, with ladies in waiting and scores of attendant menials. The young bride—tin-, wife of a man whom she had never seen —was alriiost dead with excitement and fatigue. At a station in the outskirts of Vienna she scribbled a few lilies to -her father, which are a commentary upon -her state of mind: “I think of you always, and I always shall. God has given me power to endure his final shock, and in Him alone I have put all my trust. He will help me and .give me courage, and I shall find support in doing my duty toward you, since it is all for you that I have sacrificed myself.” There is something piteous in this little note. It is the note of a. frightened girl going to encounter she knew not what, and clinging almost- frantically to the one thought —that whatever might befall her, she was doing as her father wished. One need not recount the long and tedious journey of many days over wretched roads, in carriages than jolted and lurched and swayed, bhe was surrounded by unfamiliar faces, and was compelled to meet .at every town tliG chief men of the place, all of whom paid her -honor, but stared at her with irrepressible curiosity. Day after day she went on and on. Each, morning a courier on a foaming horse presented her with a gieat cluster of fresh flowers and a low lines scrawled by the unknown husband who was to meet her at her journey’s end. . : There lay the point upon which her wandering thoughts were focussed the journey’s end ! The man whose strange, mysterious power had forced her from her schoolroom, had driven her through a nightmare of strange happenings, and who was waning fm her somewhere to take her to himse.f to master her as he had mastered generals and armies! ' AY hat was marriage? AY hat did it mean ? AA'liat experience still lay before her? These were the questions which-she must have asked herself throughout that long, exhausting journey. AY hen she thought- of the past, 'she was homesick. When. she thought of the immediate future she was fearful with a shuddering fear.

At last she reached the frontier of France, and her carriage passed into a sort of triple structure, the. first pavilion of which was Austrian, while the middle pavilion was neutral, and tho farther one was French. Here she was received by those who were afterward to surround her —the representatives of the Napoleonic Court. They were not all plebeians and cl ren of the Revolution, ex-stable-boys, ex-laundresses. By this time Napoleon had gathered around himself some of the noblest-families of Fiance, who had rallied to’ the Empire. The assemblage was a brilliant one. There were Montmorencys and Beaumonts and Auden aides in abundance. But to Marie Louise, as to her Austrian attendants, they were all alike. They were French, they were strangers, and she shrank from them. Yet here her Austrians must leave her. All who had accompanied her thus far were now turned back. Napoleon had been insistent on this point. Even her governess, who had been with her since her childhood, was not allowed to cross tho French frontier. So fixed was Napoleon’s purpose to have nothing Austrian about her, that even her pet dog, to which she clung as a girl would cling, was taken from her. Thereafter she was surrounded only by French faces,, by French guards, and was greeted only by salvos of French artillery. NAPOLEON’S FEVERISH IM- . PATIENCE.

In the meantime, what was Napoleon doing at Paris? For a time he amused himself with planning, down to the very last details, the demon strations_ that were to be given in honor of his bride. He organised them as minutely as he had over organised a conquering army. He showed himself ,as wonderful in these petty things as he had in those great strategic combinations which had baffled the ablest generals of Europe. At last, as the time approached, Jv entered a swift travelling-carriage and hastened to Compiegne, about fifty miles from Paris, where it had been arranged that he should meet his consort, and whence -he was to escort her to the capital, so that they might lamarried in the great gallery of the Louvre. At Compiegne the chancellerio had been set apart for Napoleon’s convenience, while the chateau had been assigned to Marie Louise and her attendants. When Napoleon’s carriage dashed into tho place, drawn by horses that had travelled at a gallop, the Emperor could not restrain himself. It was raining torrents, and ii j edit was coining on ; yet. none the less, he shouted for fresh horses and pushed on to Soissons, where the new Empress was to stop and dine. When he reached" thero and she had not arrived, new relays of horses were de-. mantled, and he hurried off once more into the dark. At the little village of Courcelles he met the courier who was riding in advance of the Express's cortege.

‘‘She will be hero in -a few mo-ments!”-cried Napoleon, and he leaped from his carriage into the liighw ay. Tho rain descended harder than ever, and ho took refuge in tlie arched doorway of tho village his boots already bemired, his greatcoat reeking with the downpour from the lie a vens. As he crouched before the church, ho .heard the sound of carriages; and before long- there came toiling through the mud tho one in which was seated the girl for whom he had so long been waiting. It was stopped at an order given by an ©Ulcer. AVithin it, half fainting with fatigue and fear, Marie Louise-sat in the dark, alone. , .

THE EMPEROR MEETS HIS BRIDE.

Here, if ever, was the chance for Napoleon to win his bride. Could lie have restrained himself, could n e have shown the delicate consideration which was demanded of hini, could he have remembered at least that lie was an Emperor, and t-liat the girl timid and shuddering —was a princess, her future story might have been different But long ago he had ceased to think or anything except his own desnos. He approached the carnage An obsequious chamberlain drew aside the leathern covering and door, exclaiming, as he did so . The li'mneror *” And then there leaped in the rain-soaked, mud-bespattered being whose excesses had always been as unbridled as lids genius. The door was closed, the leathern curtain again drawn, and the horses set at a gallop for Soissons. AVit-hm, the shrinking bride was at the mercy of pure animal passion. At Soissons Napoleon allowed no halt, but tho carriage plunged on, still in the rain, to .Compiegne. there all the arrangements made with so much care tlirust aside, iho ugh the actual marriage -had not yet taken place, Napoleon claimed all the rights which afterwards were given in tlio ceremonial at Paris; He took the girl to the chancellerie, and not to the chateau. In an anteroom, dinner was served -with haste to the impenakpair and Queen Caroline of Naples, Napoleon’s sister. Then the latter was dismissed with little ceremony, the lights were extinguished, and tins daughter of a line of emperors was left-'to the tender mercies of one who always had -about him something oi bhe common soklior —the man who lives for loot and lust. These facts, repellent- as they are, must be remembered when wo call to mind what happened in the next five years. The horror of that night cou.d not be obliterated by splendid ceremo nies, by studious attention, or by all the pomp and gaiety of the court. Napoleon was then forty-one —practically the same ago as his new wile s father, the Austrian Emperor; A fane Louise was barely nineteen, and younger than her years. Her master must- have seemed to her the brutal ogre whom her uncles had described. MARIE LOUISE’S LIFE IN PARIS

Installed in tho Tuileries, she tang.. herself compliance. But though she gave compliance, and though her freshness seemed enchanting to Napoleon, there was something concealed within her thoughts to which he could not penetrate. We may fairly draw the inference that Marie Louise, though she -adapted herself to her surroundings, was never really happy. Napoleon became infatuated with her. ITe surrounded her with every possible mark of honor. He abandoned public business to walk or drive with her. But the memory of his own brutality musi have vaguely haunted him throughout it all. He was jealous of her as liehad never been jealous of the fiokie •Josephine. Constant has recorded that the greatest precautions were taken to prevent any person whatsoever, and especially any man, from approaching the Empress save in the presence of witnesses. Napoleon himself underwent a complete change of habits and demeanour. Where he had been rough and coarse, he became attentive and refined. His shabby uniforms were all discarded, and he spent hours in trying on new costumes. He even attempted to learn to waltz, but this ho gave up in despair. Whereas, before, he ate hastily and at irregular intervals, he now sat at dinner with unusual patience, and the court took on a character which it had never had. Never before had ho sacrificed either his .public or his private pleasure for any woman. Even in the first ardour of his marriage with Josephine, when he used to pour out his heart to her in letters from Italian battlefields, he did so only after he had made the disposition of his troops and had planned his movements for the following day. Now, however, be was not merely devoted, but -uvorious; and in 1811, after the birth of the little King of Rome, he ceased to be the earlier Napoleon al-' together. He had founded a dynasty. He was the head of a reigning house. The principles of the Revolution wore forgotten, and lie ruled, as he thought, like other monarelis, by the -grace of God. .

As for Marie Louise, she played her part extremely well. ...Somewhat haughty and unapproachable to others, she nevertheless studied Napoleon’s every wish. She seemed even to be loving; but one can scarcely doubt that her obedience sprang ultimately from fear, and that her devotion was the devotion of a dog which has been beaten into subjection.

Her vanity was flattered in many ways, and most of all by her 'appointment as Regent of the Empire during Napoleon’s absence in tho disastrous Russian campaign which began in 1812. It was in June of-ihat year that tho French Emperor held court at Dresden, where he played, -as was said, to “a parterre of kings.” This was the climax of his magnificence, lor tilere were .gathered all the sovereigns and princes who were his allies, and who furnished the levies that swelled his Grand Army to six hundred thousand men. Here Mario Louise, like her husband, felt to tho full tho intoxication of supreme/ power. By a sinister coincidence,, it was hero that she first met the other man, then unnoticed and littlo heeded, who was to cast upon her a fascination which in the end proved ft resistible,

THE COUNT VON NEIPPERG

This man was Adam Albrecht, Count ron Neipperg. ’ There is something mysterious about his early years, and .something baleful about his silent wartaro with Napoleon. As a very young ■ :oldier, ho had been an Austrian .officer in 1793. His command served in Belgium; and there, in a skirmish, lie was overpowered by the -French in superior numbers, but resisted desperately. . In-the. melee, a sabro slashed him across the right side of his face, and he was made a prisoner. The wound deprived his -of his right eye, so that for tlio rest of his life he was compelled to wear a black bandage to conceal the mutilation. From that moment ho conceived an undying -hatred of the Trench, -solving against them in the Tyrol a-ncl in Italy. He always claimed that hau the Archduke Charles followed his advice, the Austrians would have foiced Napoleon’s army to capitulate at Marengo, thus bringing early eclipse to the rising star, of Bonaparte. However this may be, Napoleon s success enraged Neipperg, and; made bis hatred almost the hatred of a fiend. (Hitherto he had detested tlie French as a nation. Afterwards ho concentrated his malignity upon tlio person of Napoleon. In every way he tried to cross the path of that great soldier, and, though Neipperg was comparatively an unknown man, Ins indomitable purpose and his continued intrigues at last attracted the no i <- of the Emperor, for in 1808 Napoleon wrote this significant sentence: ‘The Count von Neipperg is opeim -known to have been the enemy oi the J Little did the great - conquer or dream how deadly was the blow Abie this Austrian count was destined finally to deal him I ~ Neipperg, though his title was not a high one,. belonged to tlie old nobility of Austria. He had ■ hi' bvavery in war and as a duellist, and he was a diplomat as well as a soldier. Despite his mutilation, lie was-a handsome and accomplished ' courtiei, a man of wide experience, and one who bore himself in a manner which suggested the spirit of romance. According to Masson, ho was an Austrian Don Juan, and had won the heart* of mauy women. At thirty, he had formed -a connection with an Italian woman named Teresa lola, vliom " had carried away from her husband. She had borne him five children; and in 1813 he had married her, in order that these children might he made legitimate. In his own sphere, the activity oi Neipperg was almost as remarka j> Napoleon’s in a greater one Apart from his exploits on the hold of ba tie, he had been attached to the Austrian Embassy in Paris, and, straiig - lv enough, had boon decorated by Napoleon himself with the golden eag a of tho Legion of Honor. Tour months later we find him Minister of Austria at the court of Sweden, where he helped to lay the train of intrigue which was to detach Bernadotte from Napoleon’s cause. In 1812, as has just been said, he was with Marie Louise for « short time at Dresden, hovoriu.r about her, already forming schemes. Two years after this, he oveitiirew Murat at Naples; and then hurried on posthaste to urge Prince Eugene to abandon Bonaparte. When the .great struggle of ISI-i neared its close, and Napoleon hghtiao- with his hack to the wall, was about to succumb to the united armies of Europe, it was evident that the Austrian Emperor would soon be abio to separate his daughter from lior husband. In fact, when Napoleon was sent to Elba, Marie Louise returned to Vienna. The cynical Austrian diplomats resolved that she should never again meet her Imperial husband. She was made Duchess of Parma, in Italy, and set out for her new possessions; aud the man with the black band across his sightless eye was chosen to be her escort and companion.

THE DOWNFALL OF MARIE LOUISE.

When Neipperg received his commission, lie was with. Teresa Pola at Milan. A strange smile flitted across his 'face;' and presently ho remarked, with cynical frankness: “Before six months I shall be her lover, and, later on, her husband.” Ho took up his post as chief escort of Mario Louise, and they journeyed slowly to Munich and Baden -and Geneva, loitering on the way. Amid the great events which were shaking Europe, this couple attracted slight attention. Napoleon, in Elba, longed for his wife and for his little son, the King of Rome. He sent countless messages land many couriers; but every message was intercepted and no courier reached his destination. Meanwhile, Mario Louise -was lingering agreeably in Switzerland. She was happy to have escaped from the whirlpool of politics and war. Amid the romantic scenery through which she passed, Neipperg was always by her side, attentive, devoted, trying in everything to please her. With him alio passed delightful evenings. Ho sang to her, in his rich baritone, songs of love. He seemed romantic with a touch of mystery, a gallant soldier whose soul was touched by sentiment. One would have said that Marie Louise, the daughter of an imperial line, would have been proof against tlio fascinations of a person so inferior to herself in rank, and who, beside the great Emperor, was less than nothing. Even 'granting that she had never really loved Napoleon,-she might still have preferred to maintain her dignity, to share his fate, and to go down in history as the Empress of tho greatest man whom modern times have known. , But Marie Louise was, after all, a woman, and slio followed the guidance of her heart. To her Napoleon was still tho man who had met her amid tho rain-storm at Courcelles, and had; from tlie first moment when lie touched her, violated all the instincts of a virgin. Later, he had in his way tried to make amends; but the horror of that first night had never wholly left her memory. In truth, she was a simple and somewhat sentimental German girl. Napoleon had unrolled before her tlie drama of sensuality, hut her heart had not- been given to him. She had been his Empress. In a sense, it might be more truo To say that she had been his mistress. But she had never been duly wooed and won and-made his.wife —an experience which 1 is tlio right of every woman. And so this Neipperg, with his deferential manners, his soothing voice, his magnetic touch, his 'ardor, and his devotion, appeased .that, craving which the master of a hundred legions could not satisfy. In Jess than the: six months of which Noipperg had spoken, tho psychological moment had arrived. In the dim

twilight she listened to his words, of love; and then, drawn by that iiresisfciblo power which masters pride and woman’s will, she sank into her lovei s arms, yielding to his caresses, and knowing that sho would be parted from him no more except by death. From that moment he was bound to her by the closest ties, and lived with her .at tho petty-court of 1 arma. His prediction oamo true to the very letter. Teresa Pola died, and then Napoleon died, and after this Mane Louise and Neipperg were united m a morganatic marriage, three children were born to them before his death in 1529. , It is interesting to note how much of an impression was made upon her bv tho final exile of lior imperial husband to St. 'Helena. When the news was brought her, she observed cas--1 “Thanks. By tho way, I should like to ride this morning to Markenstem. Do you think the weather is good enough to risk it?” - , Napoleon, on his side, passed through agonies of. doubt and longing when no letters came to him from Marie Louise. At last the truth was told him, and he received it with that high magnanimity, or it may be fatalism, which at times ho was capable of showing. Never in 'all his days of exile did lie say one word against her.. Possibly, in searching his own soul, ho found excuses such as wo may find. In his will he spoke of her with great affection, and shortly before Ins death ho said to his physician, Antommarchi: “I desire that you • preserve my heart in spirits of wine, and that you carry it to Parma to my dear Marie Louise. Please tell he r that I loved her tenderly, and that I have not ceased to love her.” . . The story of Marie Louise is pathetic, almost tragic. There is the taint of grossness about it; and yet, after all, there is a lesson in it—the lesson that true love cannot be forced or summoned at command, that it is destroyed before its birth by outrage, and that it goes out only when evoked by sympathy, by tenderness, and by devotion.