THE EMPRESS CHARLOTTE.

West Coast Times, Issue 678, 26 November 1867, Page 4

THE EMPRESS CHARLOTTE.

The " Memorial Diplomatique" says :—: — "Notwithstanding the rapidity with, which the journey from Miramar to Brussels was made by the Empress Charlotte — it occupied only two days — the health of her Majesty has in no way suffered from it. Indeed, we receive from the Belgian capital the consolatory information that a slight iniprovemnt has taken place in her mental condition in consequence of quitting her state of isolation," Tbe " Independance" of Brussels says :— " We learn that the Empress Charlotte has passed a food night, and is as well as possible. [er Majesty appears pleased to find herself once more at home and in the midst of her family. She drove out yesterday afternoon with the Queen, round the Park of Tervueren, in a pony chaise." The Paris correspondent of tlvc "M orning Star" says :—": — " It is pleasing to bear that the poor Empress Charlotte, since her arrival at Brussels, is in much better spirits ; a slight improvement has even taken .place in her mental condition in consequence of her journey from Miramar to Belgium. Dr Bulkens, together with the Queen, had much difficulty in persuading her Majesty to leave Miramar ; but during tlie voyage she seemed q\iitc reconciled to her fate, and was moved to tears at the thought of seeing her brothers again and her native land, which ten years ago she quitted so full of hope and of illusions to follow her unfortunate husband. Dr. Bulkens, who is a pupil of G-hislain, the well known physician for mental diseases, still entertains the belief that he will be able to restore her reason. Already a salutary commotion has been produced on her brain, as Dr Bulkens predicted would be the case, by the very sight of those places where she spent her childhood. It is said that when she entered the Chateau de Lacken she for some moments remained silent, gazing witb. a haggard look at every room and out of every window, then suddenly bursting into a fit of tears. Recognising some of her ancient servants, she went up to them and kindly enquired after their families. She is subject to very violent fits of crying, generally followed by a state of discouragement and despondency, and it is moie especially during such, crisis that she cannot get reconciled to the absence of Maximilian. I am told that she knows lie is dead, but fancies he died from fever. The awful truth has not as yet been revealed to her." The "Pall Mall Gazette' 1 says :— " Since the Empress Charlotte has been trans- , ferred from Miramar to Brussels, the two medical men who up to that time had been attached to her person, and" charged with the treatment of her ca'-e, have been replaced by a Belgian physician celebrated for the cures he has effected of persons regarded as .hopelessly insane, and it is not impossible that in the ease of the distinguished patient confided to his care, new remedies may triumph over that mysterious illness which, sifter having destroyed the Empress Charlotte's reason, still menaces the remainder of her days. A writer in the " Figaro,", M. d'Auvergne, considers the present the proper moment for making known the opinions of wellinformed Mexicans on the subject of the Empress's illness, winch may be said, by depriving Maximilian of his ablest counsellor, to have precipitated v the fate of tbe unfortunate prince. M. d'Auvergne says (we quote him without assuming any responsibility for his statements) : — ' I have under my eyes several letters of different dates, written by persons in whose veracity I have tlie most entire confidence, by reason of their position and long experience in Mexico. Here are a few passages from this correspondence : — ' Do not doubt for one instant that this madness is the result of a crime, the contemplated commission of which, was known beforehand. The two enclosed extracts from South American newsEapers, which speak of the Empress aving been seized with attacks of insanity on board of the packet boat, when nothing of the kind had happened, w.ill be a revelation for yon. Even if symptoms of insanity had at this time manifested themselves, the circumstance could not have been known on this Continent when the Empress was still at sea.' Another letter says : — ' Her Majesty was warned by a ' notice found in her dress-ing-case at Vera Cruz that her life was menaced by the hand of a so-called friend. She, nevertheless, embarked without showing the slightest outward sign of distrust. She, however, avoided being alone with at least one member of her suite throughout the voyage. She took nothing beyond the ordinary repasts served on board the ship, and one day even refused a cup of chocolate which had been specially jnvpared for her. It is certain that she mistrusted the persons around her. either from some instinct of her own, or by reason of the caution she had received, and which some time later she unfortunatelyneglected.' ' The poisoning,' says another letter, 'was accomlished during the Empress's voyage to Rome. There is no trace of any previous attempt having been made, and if one had been made it must hayed proved abortive. A second dose was no doubt given the night before, or the morning of the audience at the Vatican. A few grains more and death would have been inevitable. I find in the statement published in the European newspapers all the symptoms of the poison of the Vaudoux.' "

" Birds of passage," says the " Nord," " have begun their annual migration southwards through Belgium a month earlier thi3 year than usual ; already long lines of storks have taken flight ; bustards have been killed in the neighborhood of Paris, and wild ducks have passed in such numbers that the eye cannot follow them. All this, as is known, presages a hard winter." For nearly ten of the twelve months of the year, and six of them the coldest, and consequently the hungriest, months of the dozen, the million of people in New York consume of oysters ten times more in value and twenty times more in bulk than of any other kind of fish or flesh. The value of the wholesale oyster trade of New York city is estimated at not less than 40,000,000d015. a-year. When we take into account also the hundreds of men and boys engaged in the retail or restaurant trade, we shall not be far out when wo state that the juicy bivalve gives employment to not less than 10,000 to 17,000 persons in the empire city alone. Now that the telegraph is extended, to Cuba it will not be long, it is expected, before ifc will reach the Isthmus of Panama, by which the Old World will be within two ilays of Central America, Lima within seven, Valparaiso within eighteen, and New Zealand within twenty-seven days. - The ' Figaro,' in mentioning somo particulars of Dr. Veron's long career, relates the following : — Count Mole one day met the celebrated actress Eachel at the doctor's : it was after her brilliant triumph in Phedre. " Madame," said the minister with that exquisite grace -which characterised him, " You have saved the French language !" Eachel made a low curtsey, and, turning towards the doctor, said : — "It is so much the more fortunate that I never Jearnt; \t"