THE CHINA MAIL, OCTOBER 5, 1939.
TO-DAY'S STRANGE STORY OF REAL PEOPLE
MARIE ANTOINETTE'S DIAMOND NECKLACE
BY VINCENT, TOWNE
THE Cardinal de Rohan, Grand
Almoner of France, lived in mor- bid dread of Queen Marle Antoinette's disfavour. His troubles had begun when that hapless Queen mercilessly snubbed him at court and he was willing to pay any price for restora- tion to her favour. His plight was one which naturally opened up a fer- tile field for blackmailers and that class of adventurers, who take advan- tage of persons in trouble.
Cagliostro, the celebrated magician, in return for a substantial fee, assured the Cardinal that he had used his mystic powers to regain the Queen's
good will. Another agent employed
by de Rohan to obtain her Majesty's forgiveness was the Countess de la Motte, a cousin of the King. Coming to him with the claim that she could effect a reconciliation, the Countess had obtained various sums of money from him for that purpose.
The former King, the dissolute Louis XV., had ordered for his mis- tress, the Countess Du Barry, a dia- mond necklace valued at a third of a million dollars, but had died before it had been finished by the jewellers. It had changed hands several times and fell into the possession of a Paris firm of jewellers, who about the time of the Cardinal's employment of the Coun- tess de la Motte were attempting to ell it to the Queen: But Marie An-
SHE PRESENTED HIM WITH A ROŠE
for
"You may hope that the past is the usual liberties that
claims to be needed | forgotten." toinette rejected it, stating that it was But in spite of all this evidence that effect. ugly and not to her taste. While the the Countess had in truth brought for jewellers were nursing their disap-him the Queen's favour with the gen- pointment the Countess de la Motte erous funds that he had given to her, entered their establishment and in- de Rohan's troubles now began to formed them that Marie Antoinette in multiply. He anxiously awaited the reality wanted the diamond necklace Queen's
wearing the very badly and hesitated to take it necklace, but noted with alarm that openly because she feared that the she never adorned herself with it. Nor purchase would further embitter the did she relax from her cold demeanor common people, who were already toward him at court; nor were his for-
tunes advanced in any way. railing against her extravagance.
appearance,
Worst The Countess, according to her own of all, the promised quarterly remit- story, had been appointed as the tances for the diamond necklace were forthcoming from her Majesty. Queen's secret agent to negotiate the not purchase and, leaving the jeweller's Entering the palace chapel one morn- and shop, she went straight-way to Car-ing clothed in his full regalia dinal de Rohan, telling him the same prepared to say High Mass, Rohan was story and assuring him that his favour apprehended by the King. It appear- with the Queen would surely be res-ed that the jewellers, tired of waiting tored if he would covertly arrange to for their money, had commenced to order the necklace for her, it being dun the Queen directly, and that she agreed that Marie Antoinette should had referred the bill to the King, pro-
and
remit for it in four quarterly pay-testing her ignorance of the charge. ments. The Cardinal jumped at the The Cardinal made a clean breast of opportunity and in his presence the the. whole matter to the King, jewellers delivered the necklace to Marle Antoinette, hearing the confes- the Countess, who turned it over to a slon, flew into a rage, branding the man who, the Cardinal was given to Cardinal as a scoundrel. Poor de Ro- understand, was a secret messenger han, realising that he had been duped from the Queen.
by some one, offered to pay for the but The Cardinal was soon afterward necklace out of his own pocket, shown by the Couritess a number of the Queen demanded his arrest,, and letters alleged to be from the Queen the King signed the warrant.
His trial before Parliament lasted and greatly complimenting him. Short-
ly afterward the 'Countess delighted for nine months and stirred all France. him greatly by stating that the Queen The revelations of court intrigue and desired to meet him secretly in a grove extravagance which it brought forth on a certain night. The Cardinal pro- hastened the Reign of Terror. Those 'ceeded to the place mentioned and who heard the evidence could never there met a heavily cloaked figure, agree as to whether the Countess de la who presented him with a rose and Motte was really the Queen's secret whispered:
agent or merely an impostor; whether the letters complimenting de Rohan were really from the Queen or skillful forgeries; whether the man to whom the diamond necklace was given was acting for the Countess or the Queen, and whether it was Marie Antoinette or some one impersonating her who received the Cardinal in the grove at night.
It's a blow to young blades when they realize the road to súcçers a steep climb.
According to the Queen's witnesses: she was impersonated in the grove by' a certain: Mile, d'Oliva,
...
The trial ended in the aequittal of de Rohan and the public whipping of the Countess de la Motte; who was also branded and sent to prison for a | brief' term, but the fact that she was allowed unusual luxuries In prison and that d'Oliva was allowed to go scot free caused many to think that these two women were scapegoats,
The truth as to the diamond pepk- Ince will ever remain one of the jin- fathomable riddles of the court, pf
France.
The feature film 'Marie Antoinette" in which Norma Shearer starred with Tyrone Power touched on this incid Tent with whose historical facts it took
Hollywood dramatic
COST OF EVACUATION
Page 15 I.P.R. DELEGATES
Seven
Chungking, To-day.
Chinese delegates to the Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations are soon leaving for Canada, where the Conference will be held at Victoria, B.C.
They are Mr. Kan Chich-hou, for- mer, Vice-Minister of Foreign. Affairs, Mr. P. C. Chen, of the Central Bank of China, Dr. S. R. Chow, "of the National Wuhan University, Mr. Chlen Sheng-jui, of the National University of Peiping, Dr. Wen Yuan-ning, editor-in-chief of the "Tien Hain Monthly," Mr. Tal Po-liu and Mr. Llu Yu-wan.
Dr. W. W. Yen, former Chinese Ambassador to the Soviet Union, who will head the Chinese delegation, has already left for Canada.
Chinese delegates now in America include Dr. Lin. Yu-tang, author of Dr. "My Country and My People," P. C. Chang, of Nankai University, Mr. Li Kuo-chin, of the Hua Chang Trading Company, and Chỉ Chao-ting, assistant editor of the "Americasia" magazine. Central News.
RHEUMATISM MADE HIM A WRECK
A Different Man After 6 Months of Kruschen
Here is the true story of a man who underwent drastic treatment for rheu- matism, and was left weak and ill at the end of it. He regained his health -not by painful, inconvenient me- thods, but by the simple, easy way of taking Kruschen Salts:-
"The manager of a shop I dealt with was in bed, for twelve weeks with rheumatism. When he returned to the shop he looked terribly ill. I natur- ally asked what treatment he had had. He replied: 'Everything-they baked LONDON, TO-DAY.
me, electrified me, and. I think, bolled THE MINISTER OF HEALTH SAID |me, and here you see the wreck for YESTERDAY THAT THE INITIAL yourself." Then I said: 'Have you tried COST OF
Kruschen Salts?' He tried it, and in THE EVACUATION
six months he was a different man, SCHEME IN ENGLAND, SCOTLAND and thanked me every time I went AND WALES WOULD BE ABOUT into the shop." £2,000,000. THE WEEKLY EXPEN- DITURE ON BILLETING WAS ABOUT £450,000.
The Minister of Transport said regular cheap tickets would be stored next week on the main way lines.. Relaxation of the
way lighting restrictions was
consideration.-Reuter.
MANSION POLISH
(Mrs.) J.L.T. Rheumatism is commonly caused by deposits of needle-pointed, filnt-hard, that uric acid crystals, which lodge in the muscles and joints. Kruschen breaks rail-up these deposits of torturing crystals lution, which is promptly removed
re-
rail-
and converts them into a harmless so-
the natural channel--the
under through
kidneys.
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