THE EMPEROR'S PRIVATE BAGGAGE.

Westport Times, Volume V, Issue 826, 17 June 1871, Page 3

THE EMPEROR'S PRIVATE BAGGAGE.

(From the Pall Mall Gazette.")

Napoleon knew —at any rate he had a very confident expectation that he would never see Paris again. He had heen urged into war by the Court, who constantly frightened him with the bugbear of the growth of the Republican party, which had shown itself so formidable at the time of the plebiscite. That Napoleon was quite prepared for a disaster is obvious, not only from what he was told, but from the preparation and the arrangements he made. From the mouths of those who saw him I heard that in the month of July he caressed his son more than he had done in the whole of the child's life. He is believed to have taken him to the army of the Rhine from a dread of being separated from him in any great disaster. It was only when the command was no longer in the Emperor's hands that he gave up (so his friends declared) the idea of carrying the child with himself under actual fire. This is not the only proof, however, of the Emperor's opinions as to the result of the campaign he was then entering upon. When the Tuileries had been invaded after the pro-' clamation of the Republic the absence of many things known to have been there formerly showed what measures had been taken. The so-called jewels of the Crown had all been deposited in the Bank of France, but not a single piece of jewelry belonging personally to the Empress was to be seen. The Empress was supposed to have taken all away, but then the silver plate and all disappeared. The magnificent gold and silver table service presented to the Emperor by the Sultan, the Czar Alexander, and the Viceroy of Egypt were all gone. The splendid cradle of the Prince Imperial presented by the town of Lyons was also not to be found. The magnificent collection of treasures of art which Napoleon had accumulated at the Palace of St. Cloud and Compiegne were also not to be seen. All these had been removed long ago. From the very day when war had been declared the railway stations of the Nord, of Strasburg, and of Orleans (for Spain), were crammed with gigantic boxes bearing away to various destinations the " personal " property of the Imperial family, and one cannot help asking one's self how it is that nothing of this has found its way to public notice.

%t is reported that Mrs Telverton has becoine a farmer in Missouri. We hope her husbandry will be successful (his time.

A GIGANTIC PAWN SHOP. The Paris correspondent of the " Times" writes regarding the Mont dp Piete as follows : —During the no one was allowed to borrow more than 50f on any article, no matter what its value might be. In spite of this, the pressure for money was so great that the store-rooms of the Mont de Piete became encumbered with articles, which 150,000 persons of all classes brought and pledged. I made a most interesting inspection of these immense storehouses of private property a few days ago, and walked through labyrinths of stored jewelry, each little box colored and numbered according to its year, all the even numbers indicating one year, and the odd numbers another. Here were no fewer than 100,000 watches and 25,000 clocks. There were diamond necklaces and bracelets of fabulous value, which had lain for many years, and which were pledged anew every year, that had glittered, nevertheless, on the arms and necks of their owners at every Imperial ball and on every State occasion, when they were hired from the Imperial pawnbroker for the night. • Here, too, were evidences of the more real distress to which persons of rank had been reduced—one piece of lace after the other, the last cashmere shawl, or a pocket handkerchief embroidered with a coronet, of such fine material that it was still possible to raise 3f, the lowest figure allowed, upon it; gentlemen's goldheaded canes, seven ordinary riding whips, and no fewer than 2000 opera glasses. Here was an umbrella, the pawn tickets of which had been renewed every year since 1812, and a silk dress, the owner of which for the last 28 years had been unable to redeem it, but had regularly raised the portion of her annual income which it represented. Here were unwritten romances staring at one from the eyes of pawned pictures, and dreadful family secrets locked up in jewel boxes. This quarter of the establishment was what might be called the Faubourg St Germain of the Mont de Piete. When we went into the Belleville quarter the objects were very different. No fewer than 2300 poor wretches had pawned their mattresses, and starving seamstresses had pawned 1500 pairs of scissors. Spades, shovels, teapots, without end. How many necessaries to existence were stored away in these cruel galleries! How different the story they told from those of the fashionable deposits below! Not much of the romantic or the mysterious here; very little left to the imagination—the gaunt secret frowning on us from every loaded shelf—starvation !