Who is She?

Manawatu Herald, Volume III, Issue III, 23 December 1890, Page 3

Who is She?

« The Editor of the Review of Reviews, noting the down-foil of General Bonlanger says: — Tho story of the influence nf 'Women upon the i fate of men is as old as tho siege of i Troy. The leading case is, of course, that of Cleopatra and Anthony — i Ambracia'a gulf behold, whore once was lost A. world for women — lovely, bavin- ' less thing ! But I do not remember any corresponding period in human history where po many careers have been ' sacrificed through women as within the last ten years. "My 3on " said the sage of Israel, " give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that which destroyetli kings." I have sometimes thought of writing a paper on the consequences which have followed the neglect of this counsel in our time by the sovereigns and statesmen of Eui'ope. Tho beauty of the Princess Dolgorouki, which dazzled the eyes of the Tsar Liberator, darkened with shame and gloom the closing years of bis reign, Skobcleff, the hero of the Russian nation, the Bayard, sans pew, although, ' alas, very far from sans reproche, escaped death, on the fire-fringed slopes of Plevna only to perish in the midst of the nameless women among whom he wasted his strength. Gambetta, another great historic figure — as great in debate as Skoberletf was great in war — died from a pistol shot fired by his mistress. Count Rudolph, of Austria, sacrificed his liie and the Empire of the Hapsburgs for lawless passion. Don Carlos, it is said, would have been at this moment on the throne of Spain if his armies had not been halted for an orgy on the morrow of victory. The Servian throne would never have been vacant had Milan been faithful to his beautiful but unfortunate Queen In our own land wo see the miserable fate of one who wa3 once believed to he the heir to the premiership of tho Empire ; whoso vain efforts to escape from the conKequeii' es of coveting his neighbour's wife are as painfulas the writhing of an earthworm severed by tho spade of the gardener. Th it is th« most signal instance ; but it does not stand nl >no. either in the past, the presenl or, it is to bo feared, the future And here, too, among th 3 crowd o tho fallen, is Gonpwl Houl iiiger, whe also, if his critics speak tr 10, ha: lost by a woman the chance which i woman hud given him." To this Hat has now to be adde< the name of Parnell.