BOOK IX. It is this, sire,' the lady now answered haughtily, the blood mantling her cheek: I have been insulted to-night, and I will not expose myself to a second insult.' To-morrow,' said the Emperor, in a low, kind voice, 'nobody will dare to insult you again.' Returned home, Madame de Montijo and her daughter, their Spanish blood thoroughly roused, made hasty preparations to leave Paris for Italy. On the morrow morning, however, the mother received a letter from the Emperor, in which he formally asked the hand of Mademoiselle Eugénie de Montijo in marriage; and the ladies within a few days removed from their apartments to the Élysée, which was assigned to the Emperor's betrothed. Within a month Mademoiselle de Montijo sat on the throne at the Tuileries beside Napoleon III. CHAPTER VIII. THE MARRIAGE. 6 THE announcement of the Emperor's engagement to Mademoiselle de Montijo in the Moniteur'1 was the first official intimation of it to the public. It had an excellent effect in allaying the unquiet feeling which had been raised by the rumour that Prince Napoleon was the Emperor's adopted heir-a rumour which sent the Funds down. If heart-burnings and quarrels had existed within the circle of the Imperial family while the Emperor was paying marked attentions to Mademoiselle de Montijo, they ceased when the marriage was finally arranged; and the Princess Mathilde announced herself as ready to bear the bride's train in Notre Dame. The wedding preparations were carried forward with spirit. The papers were filled with details of the splendour that was preparing. The state coaches of the First Empire were re-burnished, and drawn from the Trianon at Versailles to Paris; the Crown diamonds were con 1 'Un événement heureux,destiné à consolider le gouvernement de sa Majesté impériale et à assurer l'avenir de la dynastie, est sur le point de s'accomplir. L'Empereur épouse mademoiselle de Montijo, comtesse de Téba. Ce mariage doit être annoncé officiellement aux grands corps de l'État samedi prochain, 22. La célébration aura lieu le samedi sui vant, 29. Mademoiselle de Montijo, СНАР. IX. BOOK veyed from the Ministry of Finance (where they had lain since February 1848) to the keeping of the Minister of State, who prepared them to deck the Imperial bride; hundreds of needles were busy over the trousseau, the rich and rare items of which gave plentiful material to chroniqueurs; the chamberlains of the palace became absorbed in the details of the civil and religious ceremonies of January 29 and 30; and the Court upholsterers worked night and day to complete the private apartments of the bride in the Flora Pavilion of the Tuileries. 6 The Emperor was radiant. His marriage was not only the satisfaction of his own inclinations; it was already generally accepted, at home and abroad, as an act of courageous independence that would fortify his throne and strengthen his foreign relations. The foreign press, with hardly an exception, applauded it. The Times held it to be a wise and dignified alliance in harmony with the Emperor's principles and position, and drew a portrait of the future Empress which more than justified her brilliant destiny. It is impossible,' said the leading journal, to have remarked her personal attractions, the distinction of her carriage, and the vivacity of her character (and many of us have had opportunities for observation in the course of her visits to England) without feeling more than an ordinary interest in her extraordinary destiny. Down to this time she has owed little to France save the refinements of her education, although she knows better the character of the nation over which she is called to reign than any princess who could have been fetched from a German principality. She combines, by her birth, the energy of the Spanish and Scotch races; and, if the opinion we hold of her be correct, she is, as Napoleon says, made not only to adorn the throne, but to defend it in the hour of danger.' The grace and gentleness with which the Imperial VIII. bride met the great change in her state when, on her CHAP. becoming affianced to the Emperor, she was removed to the Élysée, and surrounded with Imperial pomp and circumstance, disarmed every kind of opposition, and brought all the dignitaries of the Empire to her feet. The Emperor watched the rapid progress which his betrothed made in the hearts of his countrymen with a joy that moved him out of his habitual calm. When the Municipal Council of the Seine voted 600,000 francs to purchase a diamond necklace for the Imperial bride, and she declined the diamonds, but accepted the money for the poor,1 this most womanly act was received throughout France as one that proved the worthiness of the future Empress. The people now heartily sanctioned the step to which the Emperor's heart and reason had moved him. 'I am touched,' Mademoiselle de Montijo wrote to the Prefect of the Seine on the eve of her marriage, by the generous decision of the Municipal Council, who thus manifest their sympathetic adhesion to the union which the Emperor is about to contract. It is painful to me, nevertheless, to think that the first public act connected with my name at the moment of my marriage should be a heavy burden for the city of Paris. Permit me, then, to decline your gift, flattering as it is to me. You will make me happier by devoting to charity the sum you had fixed for the purchase of the necklace which the Municipal Council desired to offer me. I do not wish my marriage to be the occasion of any new burden for the country to which I belong henceforth. My only ambition is to share with the Emperor the love and esteem of the French people.' The Emperor placed a pocket-book containing 250,000 francs in the bride's corbeille de mariage. She orphan asylum for girls in the Rue Cassette. The money was devoted to the foundation and maintenance of an IX. BOOK opened it, and distributed 100,000 francs among the maternal societies, devoting the rest to the foundation of additional beds in the Hospice des Incurables. Graced with these acts of charity, the Imperial bride appeared for the first time to the people of Paris on the evening of January 29, 1852. A crowd extended from the Élysée to the gates of the Tuileries as the bridal party, in two Court carriages, preceded by the Grand Master of the Ceremonies, passed along, and her Excellency the Countess de Teba was saluted with hearty cheers all the way. At the Tuileries she was received on the threshold of her future home by the Grand Chamberlain and the rest of the Court dignitaries, who conducted her to the first salon, where she was met by Prince Napoleon and the Princess Mathilde, who introduced her to the drawingroom, in which the Emperor, with his uncle King Jerome, and surrounded by a glittering throng of cardinals, marshals, admirals, ministers, and great officers of state, stood to receive her. Hence, at nine in the evening, Napoleon led his bride to the Hall of Marshals, crowded with a distinguished company, and conducted her to a place beside himself on the throne. The civil ceremony, performed by M. Fould as Minister of State, then proceeded; the contract being borne upon a table to the throne, while the President of the Council of State handed the pen successively to the bridegroom and bride, and then to the princes and princesses present, for their signatures. The pageant was a gorgeous one.1 The bride wore the priceless dress of Alençon point which had been the subject of conversation all over Paris for many days, clasped with the diamond and sapphire belt of the Empress Marie Louise; and she looked the imperial beauty of a poet's vision. The Emperor over his 1 See Appendix VIII. |