GENERAL BOULANGER AND THE FORTUNE-TELLER

Ashburton Guardian, Volume VII, Issue 1691, 20 October 1887, Page 3

GENERAL BOULANGER AND THE FORTUNE-TELLER

I * i The "Daily Telegraph" reports es ; follows :— lt is stated by a Parisian conJ temporary that, before the overthrow of the Goblet Ministry, General Boulanger, i asked a oerfebrated cheirosophist, Madame ' Reiral, to toll his fortune, the lady being i ignorant of hia namo and condition, fche i examined his hand, told him that he was i a Boldier who had served his country on the battlefield, and would do ao again, and procaeded with her vaticination m the following significant words : " You are m an unhoped for situation, but will not not keep it. A fall awaits you, and soon. Do not, however, despair. Later on you will obtain even a higher position. The lines on your hand Indicate that you will almost reach a throne." Madame Reival was afterwards told that her "euVjeot" bad been General Boulanger ; whereupon she observed, " I am glad that I did not tell him all. It Ib written m hia haud tbat he will die a violent death." A few days after, at a private house and In the presence of the oelebrated Dr Charcot, a young woman, regarded aa a hypnotic "medium," was cast Into a magnetic tranco, and questioned by General Boulanger. She, also, foretold his approaching fall j bnt worse remained behind. " I foresee," added the sleeping seer, "m the near future a great commotion and upsetting of things. A war will break out between the French and Garmaus before the 28th of next March ; but no one else will take p&rt mii The war will laßt more than eight montLs There will be terrible successes and reverses. In tbe end the French, led by General Boulanger, will triumph. But they will not be able to go beyond the Bbine, where peace will be signed. Then, on the other side of the Rhine, I see revolutions, shattered crowns, and thrones overthrown. On this side the vlotoriom General will be proclaimed chief. Be will be the highest of all." It is alleged that General Boulanger, who shares the Great Napoleon'B superstitious credulity as far as fortune telling is concerned, was profoundly impressed hy these predictions. They were certainly favorable to the realisation of his wildest ambitions ; and their only disagreeable feature, the prognostication that he will die by violence, oould not be considered altogether unsatisfactory, from a soldier's point of view, inasmuch as it held out to him the honorable protpaot of making a decorous end m the service of his country One item m ihe magnetlo damtel's prophecy, may be accepted as correct m all human probability. It is that which announces with unqualified posltlveneee that the French araiy will not Cross the Rhine. Few experienced military men m France regard the passage of that riv» r by victorious Republican legions aa likely to occur m the coarse of another FranooGerman war ; fewer still iv this country; In Germany, none. We do not donbt tho accuracy of the foreoast m this particular respect. The rest of it may or may not be verified by facts. Tlmi alone can tell. Meanwhile it Berves the purpose for which it wbb possibly devised a -d pronounced — that is to advertise General Boulanger.