The Oregon daily journal., December 21, 1909, Page 16, Image 16

THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL, FORTLAND. TUESDAY EVENING. DECEMBER 21. 1903.
13
HOW LEOPOLD LIVED AND DILD
Tsrapadfa of King 'HrandAllird IloljflBm and Congo IlnttalfU Called for IntrrrenUon tj Grrat BrlU
In mud ITnlUHl glatea -raid Lobby Maintained In Washington. i A'
Th dealh of Klnir lipoid It ' Bal
Klum marks tlio rli of. on tf Ilia
mt picturesque rare era la tii history
ut Kuitppn royalty. in this wonirto
tmnwh tha cruel traits, tha lov of
oleaaures. and tnsan etrava-
li.mcea of U rulers of ancient Kom
wera (niblne4 wltn in anrawa oui
ii.ts tactics of tha modern Tlnanclar.
For mora than a aoora of years tha
world has tittered at hi amour wmcu
hav shocked tha court clrola of Ku-
rop and dlsgracsd ilia family, won
his barbarous and innuman ir"w
of tha natlvas of tha Com Fra aUta,
in ard.r to aatlsfy hta mad luat for
aoH has proved a blot oo clylltsatlon.
Iopold waa tha aon of Kin Leopold
I and rrlnoa Louisa, and randion of
lulo rtilllppa, , cJtiaou kin of tha
French.
. - Orual to Wife. ' ,
If iraa bora In 1BJ5, and at tha age
of 11 mi created Puka of Brabant. In
1851. when ha waa but II years or a.
ha married Maria Henrietta of ANStria,
itauchter of Emperor Joseph. But tha
match waa an unhappy on. Hla wife
- of religious turn of mind, while
the young prinoe waa Tory fond of tha
plrasures of Ufa. . The , lndltittles
whlrh be heaped upon this woman, fol-
lowtn hie accession to the throne. In
1866, broke her heart, and Indirectly
canned her death In September, tldft.
The roreJ eounle ihad one aon. Leo
pold, vho died at tha aire of 19,. and!
three daughters, : Princess Stephanie,
Princess Louise, and Princess Clemen
tine, '
Tha first two mentioned of the dang-h-
trrs Inherited something of thlr fath
er's nature, and their ascapados have
been (matters of publio . knowledge for
a deoado. , .
. Married Const . lonyay,
Princess Stephanie, who married
Count. Lonyay folowing the tragic death
of bar first husband. Crown Prince Ru
dolph of Austria, was disowned by her
rather and driven from trie palace.
Louise, Ma second daughter, who had
bpen shamefully treated by her hus
band. Prince Philip of Saxe-Coburg, ran
away with a Hungarian officer, and
waa later incarcerated In a lunatic asy
lum. She is now keln out a miser
able existence la Paris. .
Princess Clementine, the youngest,
was Jier father's favorite. ' She is an
extremely pious girl and was her moth
er's constant companion. . When Leo
pold, after Queen Maria's deattv mar
ried the Baroness do Yaufrhan. his mor
ganatic wife, and established ber In a
' magnificent residence opposite tha roy
al palace. It proved too much for the
princess. ' She left home and went to
live with friends, at 8pa v-
Leopold's earlier, days, however, were
comparatively tame,, but his cold-blooded
selfishness and peglect of bis. wife
fo disgusted his father,- Leopold I,- that
on his death .-in 1866, . ha divided the
greater part of his vast estate between
Ms younger son-Pnllijj. Count of Flan-
Jpre, and his daughter Charlotte,-Empress
of Mexico an!: wife ofthe IHr
fitted Maximilian. V '4''.' 'r.-
The accession to the throne of Leo
pold II was the signal tor the realisa
tion of his avaricious ambitions and
sensual pleasures. ' . ":. . !
" . .'..:.'',-' Merriest Monarch. ' : 1 .' - '
Ills political sagacity and recognized
business ability soon ' placed Belgium
far ahead of any other . nation of , its
size, financially. 'But the question of
"lata, did not by any means monopolist
ins attention, ana nis ; rreqtfent esca
pades in - Paris and London soon won
for him the title of Europe's merriest
monarch. He was " the acknowledged
friend of blacklegs and gamblers, and
his female companions,, or whom there
were many, were well known figures In
the Parisian cafes. Several of them at
tained world-wide notoriety owing to
their association with this pleasure-loving
monarch, who' lavished money upon
them and covered them with expensive
Jewels.
Ona of the first of these was Clara
Ward, then Princess Chlmay, and an
American girl. Leopold became amitten
with her in Paris and Invited her to his 1
Talac. But Quaes Maria waa at that
Urn vigorous enough to protest, and
she drove tha kings companion irom
tha door.
But one of Leopold's favorite axioms
was "variety Is tha splca of life," and
tia was soon madly in love with Cloo
de 3U erode, a famous danseuse. He even
went so far aa. la present her with a
string- of the queen's pearls, which
caused her tnajaty to grieve so deeply
that she attempted suicide. A servant.
who chanced to enter tha royal apart
ment at an unexpected moment, took
tha h alter from tha queen's hands and
prevented her from hanging herself.
. . Queen's Heart Broken. .
But after that episode, the Queen was
never herself. Her spirit was broken.
and ana became melancholy.
The klnf prolonged pleasure,, trips
were at times the causo of grave eon
earn among tha rovemment offlelala.
In one Instance, when his majesty had
been abaent for soma time,' and tha
Brussels cabinet waa beginning to de
spair of aver seeing him again, a dis
patch appeared In a newspaper te tha
effect that "bang Leopold and his tore
daughters" had arrived In a Mediterra
nean port aboard the royal yacht, where
tney were . received oy the authorities
with all tha honor due their rank,
. The real daughters,' however, hap
pened to be at tha Palace Laeken at
tha time, and they were forced to re
main Indoors until tha return of their
father. , The women masquerading
aboard tha yacht as tha king's daugh
ters, ware three Parisian ballet girls.
These scandalous escapades ware 'the
cause of constant sorrow on the part
of tha pious queen, and resulted in
numerous estrangements. She finally
died on September It, 1903,' following
an attack of syncope. At tha tlms
of her death King Leopold wvs In
France, and-had to be sent ' for. .
Although getting on Jn ream ! the
monarch still .retained his larva for
pleasure ' and this was no . doubt due
to nis' regular habits. He waa . very
fond or ' outdoor exercise . and drank
very JItUe.
Soon after his wife's , death he be
came entangled In another lova affair.
wnicn baa . been most severely criti
cised of his many amours.
- Baroness yang-han. -
The woman in the case was Caroline
Lacrolx, ; whose parents were janitors
a jraris. ene was r Known. as the
Baroness Vauehan. and so Infatuated
did tha king become with her that he
established her la a beautiful home,
called tha Vllla Flora. directly oppo
site his palace at Laeken and compelled
the 'state to legalize their marriage.
This, woman exercised a greater con
trol o.ver ' the fickle king than any of
her predecessors, and she was treated
with far, more consideration than any I
merooet or tne royal family. She bore
him two sons, end tha question as to
whether the oldest of these would be
'Leopold's! successor Instead of his
nephew, count of Flanders, has - been
the cause fpr grave concern.
The : priceless gifts, which 'Leopold
showered on .this woman, and tha mag-
nuicance or her surroundings, f have
been severely criticised by the Belgium
press, and it . has been rumored many
times that the king would, be forced to
abdicate, if , he persisted In his mad
Infatuation. - Protests from several of
bis ministers proved of no avail" hut
only resulted In mora extravagancev So
great" waath- power oT this "woman
that sha had ; her brother created a
baron by the king. .' -:v
4.'J: ?'v"; IJmlted Sdaoatloa .; .r'--"-.-.;.
She is now about 11 years old. plump
but v graceful, with : a beautiful com
plexion and skin, and has quantities
of chestnut hair. ': In character, it is
said, she is haughty, sharp, irritable
and fantastic. Her choice of words is
small for she has had no education to
speak of. She is exigent, however,
about being treated with respect, and
anyone in his majesty's entourage who
failed in ' this, felt his displeasure. -But
Leopold's: escapades with tha
denixens of the . Parisian cafes, and
tha savaral members of his family fell
Into tnslfenlfieanoa when cotnparet with
tha horrible atrocities committed
his Instigation In the Congo 1-Veo State.
The former revealed' hm as a sensuous,
selfish person without an atom of self
respect . or decency,, but the latter
atainped hire st tha most Inhuman and
barbarous ruler of modern times.
Left comparatively poor, aa a result
of the wealth of his father, and real
ising tha limitations of a constitutional
government, he conceived the idea of
establishing an empire in central Af
rica, where his word would be law.
At the ' conferenre of tha wcrldw
powers held in Berlin in ISM tha char
ter of . the Congo Free State was Is-
sued and Leopold was made emperor
with the understanding that he would
abolish slavery and cannibalism, defend
the rights and property of the natives
and open the heart of central Africa
to tha commerce of the world.
Takes ITatives tands.
With hla keen insight Into commer
cial affairs he soon realised - the enor
mous wealth that would . result - from
tha development of tha rubber and
Ivory trade of his new domain. . H Im
mediately issued a proclamation, which
took tha land out of ths hands of the
natlvas and placed It in his own. In
order ta increase hla revenues ha then
established tha famous concessionaire
system. This consisted of a number
of companies all of which the king was
Interested In, being granted tha sola
right to "purchase" the rubber, ivory,
and . other producta from the natives.
This step, ' it is claimed, has' been re
sponsible for all the inhuman cruelties
practised In that', section of the dark
continent, and Uts Idea was conceived
by one of his fair Parisian companions,
In order that her royal lover could sup
ply her with more Jewels. It won for
her the appellation of the "Queen of
Congo." . i .
In order . to obtain quicker results,
Leoepold called a conference . In Brus
sels in 1889 and secured permission to
raise an army of 18,000 under the pre
text of putting down the Aiab slave
trade. , The army was recruited from
tha most ferocious tribes of Africa,
many of them being cannibals.
The natives were then compelled to
bring in a certain amount of rubber
and, Ivory every ; day and when they
failed, they were beaten and tortured
and very , often murdered. A favorite
system of torture was the cutting off
of the hands of boys and girls who
failed to do the work prescribed.
Millions Killed.
In this way the revenues lnereased
at an astonishing rate- and were esti
mated as high as 110,000,000 a year.
But at what a horrible cost. ; The pop
ulation was decreased from 26,000,000 to
16,000,000, the missing 10,000,000 having
been burned or tortured to death or
otherwise exterminated. T ;V
A well organised 1 press bureau with
headquarters in the principal cities of
the world kept these facts a secret for
many years, and the only inkling of the
horrible crimes that were being perpe
trated leaked . out from time to time
through some missionaries. '., j i
These tales read like the stories of
Nero's persecution of the Christians and
were almost too horrible to be credited.
One told of the case of a young native
girl, whe was flogged almost to dneth
The .welts' an her , body were then
smeared with honey and she was left
to tha mercy of tha ants and other In
sects, which swarmed aver her body,
while tha intense heat of tha tropical
sun added o ber torture. t .
Another described the slaughter of the
population of an entire village for fall
ing to comply with tha demands of the
lielglitn officials.
The men and woman were slaughtered
Ilka sheep and the btsthera feasted on
the remalna of their victims. Then-t"
prove that ha had accomplished hla work
the ehUf cut off tha right hands of the
victims and took them to headquarters
These gruesome tales finally reached
civilisation and at tha beginning of the
present oentury a movement was start
ed to bring this notorious 'monarch's
reign to an end.. Since then blood curd
ling tales of ths horrible conditions In
Congo have been written by travelers.
Journalists and missionaries and. finally
publio opinion became so Inflamed that
movement waa made to appoint an
International commission. v -
" 'Appoints Owa Commission.
The wily Leopold objected to this and
appointed a commission to hla own lik
ing, Tha members of this body reached
Congo In October, 1904, and made a five
months' tour of tha Interior. Their re-
port, however, was not lsii.-.) until a
year later. As the facts wire 'no
vlous and were given stnli wide pub
I lilt)', the rnitimUalon was rointw lied, to
a Porte In extent, to deeurlbo the exist
ing conditions.
The civilised world waa horrified at
the bare facts and vigorous efforts were
made to have resolutions' passed by tin
emigres' of the United States and th
KnliHh parliament, i ailing for a fur
ther Inquiry,
This atnp revealed another scandal,
for It developed that the crafty mon
arch had a welt pild lobby In -Washington
who were doing their utmost ti
prevent congressional action. The rep
resentative of this tubby was recently
a visitor In Portland.
It waa also learned that Leopold had
granted valuable concessions to a num
ber of American capitalists In the rub
ber territory of tha Congo. . ,
Through the efforts of tha Congo Its
form association, however, Leopold's
rule Waa finally brought to an end in
August, 1S08, and the Congo waa an
nexed as a Belgian colony.
According to present reports the Im
provement under the new regime has
not been as greut as was expected, but
It Is vastly better thin that of "Leopold,
who used It solely, to obtain money at
tha cost of millions of human lives. '
Leopold's rule of his own state, how
ever, ifcas been rather creditable, al
lliuiiK this waa no doul.t dike to the
fit that rttilgluiii la a constitutional
monarchy. He has beautified the city
of Iinisnrls and made llnltlum a finan
cial power. . '
Beautiful Homes.
Possessing a llhly artlH temper
ament, hla 1-ealdencea at Laeken, Spa,
Hrtissels and Vlllef ranche are works of
art. He si-nt 3u.tioo.00O frame In re-
hutldlug ami embellishing his palace at
Lueken, which was Vlinost - burned to
ths ground lu 18D0. This palate la the
nvst luxurious royal residence on the
continent and the plans of its present
form were drawn up by the king hlai-
self. . .
One of hla favorite hobbles was th
collection of rare plnnts from all over
the world, and the conservatories at
Laeken are ramous an over Europe, An
other was ths collection of Japanese
pagodaa, lie gathered tUcm of all
shapes and slses from the .miniature
creations of tha beautiful Japanese art
to tha great structure which stands In
tha park at Laeken. ,( , . .
' But whlla Leopold .Indulged In all
sorts Of wild extravagances to satisfy
his own' deal rex. he was extremely mis
erly In providing . even tne necessaries
of life for his family. . Ths queen waa
compelled to live on : . miserable pit
tance, her, royal spouse having seised
her fortune when they wtia initiritd, lie
took vr the relates of Mj cMlilrrit on
the death of the qurMi snj they were
iiiuipllod retort tf tho court to ob
tain v-en a part of their foitune.
Hut In Ms last days Uts despot
renpod the harvest he had so willingly
sown. Inserted by hl family, he wus
left to his Own sad nd bitter reflec
tions. He sold most of hi magnificent
estates and made niiny attempts to sell
his palatial yachts. Ilia-high life made,
him a victim of anut and it hu been
reported that his eyesight was gradual
ly falling. Th Scathing articles that
have appeared In the American and
me roimn
royal pur-
gea who used to tolerate nun to
Shun his society altogether. ; '
Thus perished fturope "merriest mon
arch." And nothing remains to mark
his reign except the ghastly monument
of skeletons and maimed human bulngs
In tha Congo Free State. -
! nave appeareq in ino sii
lKnill!li press a a result of
(Investigation caused tha few
soimgea who used to toleral
' .Work 8tnrt on Courthouse. s.
(HpecUI DUt'h te lit Joarnal.1
South Bond. Wash Poo. 21. The
Northwest Bridge company of Portland,
this week commenced construction on a
8100.000 courthouse for Pacific county.
The structure Is to be completed by the
first of October next. .
Can't look well, eat well or feel well
with impure "blood feeding "your Body,
Keep the blood pur .with Burdock Blood
bitters. Eat simply, take exercise, keep
clean and you will have long life.
Hives, eczema, itch or salt rheum sets
you crazy. Can't bear the touch of
f our clothing. Boon's Ointment cures
he most obstinate cases. Why suffer T
All druggists sell IC .
Don't use harsh chyslcs. The 'reac.
tlon weakens the bowels, leads to
chronic constipation. , Get Doan's Reg
ulets. i They operate easily, tone the
stomacn, cure constipation. ,;:
"My -child was burned terribly about
the face, neck and chest. - I applied Dr.
Thomas Eclectric Oil.- The pain ceased
and the child sank into a restful sleep.'
Mrs. Nancy M. Hanson. Hamburg,
N. T. . ' - ,
Your opportunity is lost for getting unequaled values in Ostrich
Plumes, Hats, Roses and Shapes if you overlook this great,
sale. Never in Portland have you been offered a : ;
.chance to secure a 'plume from six to t
thirty inches at far less . .
than cost ' . . :
MATS -$25
Values $7.25
jt 'tNj X
Ft
::.
SHAPES
G2.SO Values," 75c
$7 Plumes $1.50
t . t
1 .V..-
- vf i
303
Washington
Cor. Filth
Dipccl
from
Farm
to You
J" I- 1 , s .... O v ' t w
-S V'' -I a I
- , 'A- - TTMI A X
'AM Co;: " A
h,AlA:A -- & ----
tfzi j& y
is XX
SOS
Washington
Cor Filth
(Dili SioifscI
T7TT TI O
(MP- Hmh' rTl
VU11 . iliiVUllil
(0
A golden opportunity to outfit yourself and family for the holidays here at our "great Pre-Inventory ,
Overcoats, Long Coats, Furs, Hats, Shoes, Skirts, Waists, etc. PRICES ARE SLASHED. ,
TREMENDOUS VALUES GIVEN arid everything sold on our liberal credit terms.- You will find
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t&k ". Ste f Life9 ill lera9
r : . . l ..i Br . . v j i . a t rv.wj - f m m i s .kv - . w
: ijs.I M 1 !l I ryji - L '..a -J a' '.1 a . . ' t-- " ' - a i . . ' -.- i w
:-'Aff " p m ) ' vtV ' Make a small casn deposit and thereafter ' - ' . t
m 1 f ; Pay SIM a.WseEi m Am
rgfft". :0pen -
o
Hlff
v---"':'"''''
: will a
iillif
Wafclies," Diamonds, Jewelry
Sold on easy payments. Make
a' small cash deposit on any
Rinjj or Diamond in the stock
and pay .weekly or monthh at
your convenience. All transac
tions strictly confidential.