The New York Herald Newspaper, June 21, 1873, Page 3

7] KING OSCAR. The Herakt'and the Ruler of * Swederi ‘and Norway, Dne of Our Specials Inter- be views Him. A Deeply Interesting Conversation Faithfully Recorded. WIGH LIFE IN SWEDEN. Pen Picture.of a Swed- THE BALL AT: THE PALACE. & ‘Royal Supper and Dinner: JHE MAY FESTIVAL ON ASCENSION DAY. Stockholm in Merry, Sunny Humor. Bketch of the King, His His- tory and Character. The Sovercign as Sailor, Soldier, Musician, Historian and Poet. IS ESTIMATE OF NAPOLEON It. The Marriage of the English Prince and the Russian Princess. What the King Thinks of Farragut, General Grant and Others. WILL ULYSSES VISIT EUROPE? Why the King Cannot Come to America. The Crown Prince to Make , Us a Visit. THE EMIGRATION QUESTION. What the King Thinks of the Indian Troubles. The American Centennial---Free Masonry--- Education in Sweden---The Vienna Exhi- bition and American Journalism. Wis Majesty Thanks the New York Herald. Srocxnotm, May 22, 1873. I find, from the preliminary indications of this letter that crop out of my notebook, that your correspondent is about to ask the weaders of the Hzraup to come with him into sacred ground. We shall chata little about the aristocracy and high people, and then go into the sacred presence of the King and talk en hour or s0 with His Majesty. So I give your strenuous republican readers fair warning that nothing will be written in ghis communi- eatian sbout the rights of the people, or free- dom, or essentially commonplace themes. Those who read with such expectations may skip what is here written. HIGH LIFE IN SWEDEN. It may surprise you to know that this is the most aristocratic court of Europe. In no eapital sre the complaisances of rank more distinctly observed. Although the direct dynasty is new—only going back to 1818— there are many famous families, taking their ‘ mohjlity from Gustavus Vasa and Charles XII. 1 .am afraid to give you the exact number of @oblemes in the two kingdoms, but itis a populous, prolific class, largely supplemented by decorations and crosses of honor. With ®@ few exceptions it is not a wealthy aris- focracy, If rank were a commercial @ubstance, or could be made the basis of financial negotiations, I think Sweden would be the richest country in Europe. But ince all rank cannot have wealth, there is ebundance of rank without it, and this society 4s planted with noblemen, like oak trees in a stately English park. I never go into a shop for a necessary article of wear, or into a res- Saumat toread the papers, without a certain @olite.suxiety.of mind. How do I know but that this skipping gentleman, with his pale golden loeka, who fingers the gloves #0 affoc- fiesately as he takes them from the box, or Sustere dignitary who brings mo a file of New Youx Henarp ns though he were con- ferring an order of knighthood—how do I know bnt that these gentlemen aro really counge or barons in their own right, and that if affluent Fortune had showered money as Brvoroudly oa titles they would this say be ---WEW YURK HERALD, SATURDAY, JUNE 21, 1873—TRIPLE SHERT riding behind the King, Jaced and braided as he goes in procession: to the public gardens? A SWEDISH HOME, For you will observe that this is the Ascen- sion day. Stockholm, having Lutheran re- spect for saints and holy feasts, has closed her shop windows. And, blessed be God, the sun shines! In this peculiar land no festival excels the May. May brings life, sunshine, happiness to all classes. The pendulum of the day’s life has a long swing in Sweden. In midwinter the day begins at eleven in the morning and closes at three, In midsummer it begins about two in the morning and closes at eleven, if it closes at all, for when the sun sinks the sky is flushed with a clear white Polar light, I have seen midsummer nights when tho twilight mever ceased, and have sat under the spreading oaks of the Deer Park reading “by sunlight, and midnight at hand by the clock. To the Swede Winter means thé cloister; Summer, the fields. The short days and the lovg, cold weeks are exhausting, ‘and housekeeping art has exhausted every, device to fight the frosty air and Winter sunshine. Tom writing these lines in, o private «The hotels were filled with strangers, aad 1 was tumbled into this apartment by the hotel servant. You turn two or three alleys and ascend three pair of dark stairs before you find a resting place. I refer to itsBecause it isa famous old house, and was tesanted by noblemen in its day, and by no less a person than tho dentist to Bernadotte, and shows you the inside home-life of the Swede. All that is forbidding fades with the doorwayr, and there is exceeding comfort in the decorations and furniture. There are evidences of sin- vere scrubbing om the floors; the windows are double, ahd sealed up to exclude the air. Heavy curtains drape them ; heavy curtains of red supplémented by heavier ones of blue, so as to debar’ the Winter blasts as well as destroy the resolute and persigtent Summer sun. You seg the preparations for fighting the long Wintér evenings. In each room there is a stove—not an ordinary stove, doomed to the woodshed in Summer and doing only half duty in the cold days, but a stove that reaches to the ceiling, and might be a model for a new kind of cannon or locomo- tive, and is duly burnished in brass and covered with some gliatening enamelled stone. I count twenty-six'separate candles ready for service. Eighteen swing from chandeliers, the others are stowed in crevices and on shelves, In‘addition there are three lamps, in atrimmed condition, filled with oil. The floors lack carpets ;, but are not carpets, like fences, evidences of a suspicious and im- perfect civilization? . I do not know even the name of my landlord: We sought speech the morning of my coming; but as he was limited to Swedish th his modeS of talk we mercly smiled on eich other. Ihave not seen him since, I have a fancy that he is a noble- man in a depressed condition, and spends his time reading the court news. He certainly taxes his mind to comfort me. Now and then @ mysterious message appears on my table, written in French, ina large, school-boy hand, asking if I am in need, and begging me to rap twice on the door if I come home after ten, and urging me to have a little supper of bread and milk. The other day I was informed the French Minister had called, and would return again. And much I marvelled at the assiduous courtesy of a gentleman with whom Thad no acquaintance, But it was not the French Minister, only a mild, middle-aged citizen, with two crosses on his lappel, craving my autograph, under the delusion that I was an eminent American. He spoke French and was supposed to be the Minister. Occasion- ally the written forms of intercourse do not suffice, and an apparition comes in timidly with a prepared sentence of inquiry, which she speaks with wandering eyes, like a child re- citing a lesson only half remembered. And a child it is—my apparition—with a coy, soft beauty ; that frank, marvellous expression of innocence that hovers over the fresh, unfold- ing virgin face, and that must, one thinks, have been the inspiration which taught our rude ancestors the first lessons of the gentle- man. But if I venture further speech with the child her language has no other resources, and she only reddens like the rose and steals away. NOBLEMEN IX ALL EMPLOYMENTS. So this high life in Sweden, “as spread around me in the chamber, is a comfortable life. There are few pictures, but they are good. You miss the great statesmen and war- riors. One bust looks down from the library— Swede, whom I call Swedenborg, although I have no idea who he is. A statuctte of a cloaked person reading I name Henry Ward Beecher. These are all the household gods, but it would be difficult to find a pleasanter home in all home requirements. And yet groceries and liquor are sold in the basement, and a sign on the door indicates that other tradesmen dwell within the walls, and the character of doorway and step would offend the well-bred American. But high life in Sweden, like sensible European life generally, does not decorate the doorways at the expense of the cabinet and bedchamber. And so in other essentials, As I have told you, the number of noblemen here would surprise you. All that remains is their rank, An official of station said the other evening at the royal ball, ‘Here I am, very high. in this Kingdom, and yet here are clerks in my department who live on small salaries and rank me in every way. They serve me—here I follow them. It is because they are noble- men.” My friend was not complaining—he was simply illustrating to a stranger some of the customs of the country. THE ROYAL BALL. Speaking of this royal ball, it was really famous in its way and a splendid sight to see. I mean to tell you all about it; what they had for suppor and dinner and how they danced. For I am a historian of the school who would tather know what Hannibal preferred for breakfast and how Charlemagne dined than to hear about their battles and speeches. Our ball was the crowning event of the feasting, and the manner in which we were bidden was as follows: — g {rhe K ‘ovat Arm al ae ae Stamped. ra Le Premier Sargenat ae la Cour, ‘a Vhonneur de Prévenir. Mr, John Russe! in youn; qui il est invité au bal ches tes Aa gegen eur i Hoye yal feat a Ma, Les dames seront ct on robe de cour blanche avec train. Les hoztmes seront en grand uniforme. En cas Wempechement on est pric 3 de renvoyer cette carte. 2 COLON AE LOLOHT DOEED DE OO TELE NILE ISDE DELON NEE LOR) WAITING FOR THE KING. Althongb, as you observe, bidden to come in “grand uniform,’’ your correspondent, is, perhaps, the only American now abroad who has not at least the rank of colone}, and he con- fined himself to te plain American costume— that ingenious raiment which makes our best society resemble an assembly of undertakers. It was nine before we came to the Palace. The stairs were lined with soldiery, and a stream of eminent people was trickling along in’ all uniforms, mainly the modest gold- braided costume of the court. Wo passed from one chamber to another, bowing to the Grand Marshal at the door, who stood, sur- rounded by aids, to await the coming of the King. The long gallery was crammed with people, densely packed thin lane .- between for the royal family. Here were the officers of the army, the members of the Diet and the miscellaneous persons. Near the door were three or four hundred ladies of various ages, spectacied dowagers scattering powder and young maidens scattering smiles and blushes, and all in white. We entered another smaller chamber, where were the select nobility, not so many as in the long gallery, but also crowded densely, and a narrow !ane for the royal family. Still on, and we came to the supreme chamber, where was the highest gathering, the diplomatists and special am- bassadors, among which your correspondent took his station, as became on ambassador of @ great mnewspapor not careless of his dignity. There we stood—Metter- nich, Blumenthal, Menebrea and all the rest of us. Our own Minister, with his earnest, kind face, dressed like your corre- spondent, in the undertaker costume, and not in the best, either of us envying the over- whelming radiance of the precious beings around us. So we stood in due silence and dignity, very warm, very much crowded and much indebted toa court servant, with an incredible feather in his hat, who passed gob- lets of water over our heads to all who were weary and uthirst, THE ARRIVAL OF THE ROYAL FAMILY. You will see that eight was the hour for the ball, but it was after nine when the distant drums told us the royal family were coming. And they came, slowly pressing their way through the dense crowd until they reached our room, the King in the uniform of a general, the Queen with a long velvet trail, which an able-bodied man carried over his arm. There were the four princes—a winning nest of princelings fair to see and with fresh boy faces; and the attending splendors in the way of noble men and women formed the retinue. When the King reached our com- pany we all fell back and formed a cir- cle. It was hard work, but the circle was formed—some of the noble dames dis- posed to resent the crushing of their costumes. The King slowly paced around one arc of the circle, saying 9 few words to each guest, speak- ing to the ambassadors mainly. The Queen did the same as she paced around the other arc. What the King said to this writer was he would be glad to see him before we left Sweden. This in the most natural and friendliest way. Her Majesty merely bowed to him and entered into conversation with General Blumenthal in the German tongue. And the famous old warrior’s eyes glistened as he heard his native language ; for, as I hear, and can well believe, he isa man who loves not French men or French parts of speech. ‘THE ROYAL QUADRILLE. These courtesies exchanged the music broke into a dance. The King took the wife of the French Ambassador—the Queen Prince Metternich—and began the Lancers. Cheer- fully they danced, and in good time, so it seemed, the music varied by snatches of the “Grande Duchesse.”’ There was scarcely room for @ satisfactory demonstration, but their Majesties and the other members of the set were amiable about it and did not mind being hustled now and then, and nothing could ex- coed the Queen’s kindness of smile when the valiant old Blumenthal would tread upon her velvet trail with his spurred boots, The first set was composed mainly of the ambassadors and their retinue. One who danced next the Queen—but in the opposite side of the figure— was a youth not without note. A tall, whole- some, burly young man in the blue cavalry uniform of the Swedish army, of the rank of lieutenapt, and dancing like one who enjoyed in o yow a Tel ee, it, This was the young Prince Murat, an officer in the Royal Guards. Prince Murat, Louis Napoleon I think he is called, not being of the quality now welcome in French armies, learns his trade under the Swedish flag. By his father, descended from the great Murat who was King of Naples and directly from the same Bonapartes who were’ Emperors of France, his grand- mother the great Napoleon's sister, his god- fathor the Chiselhurst Napoleon, did it not seem o strange evidence of the irony of his- tory that he should be an appendage to a court over which the grandson of Bernadotte was chief? Who is he that would build up or tear<lown, and what are they who in their pride would be kings and sublime masters of the world? Napoleonism is no longer an imperial power, and here was a descendant of the Napoleons dancing attendance at a court whose King came from Bernadotte and Josephine, A ROYAL DINNER AND SUPPER, But this ie not the time for historical reflec- tions, for the dance is over and we all press our way in to supper, after forming in line, that the King and Queen and high ambassa- dors may go on before. Of the supper, what shall I say, except to rescue the menu from oblivion and tell Mr. Delmonico and other friends what the King’s cook serves at a royal entertainment? NOOO COE TONED EEE TE OODLE EEDEDE DODEIE NE DPIEDE O09) MENU. Mayonnaise de saumon, Filet de veau, I¢gumes. Jambon a ta geice, Supreme de pouiets aux champignone, | Aspie de homards garni d’huitres, Pilau aux tratfes, » Paté de foie gras, Dindonneaux rotis. 3 Petites timboles aux gibiers. Bécasres. ; Agperge. Géiée au vin de champagne. Pudding de rhum, Compotes. Fruits. Bonbons, ALLE LITO EOREDEFOLELE IEEE DRE EECLOLOLE DEDEDE OED This was the supper, and, while giving it to you, let mo also in a true historical spirit print the bill of fare of the dinner—the select royal dinner—given to the ambassadors before Salade. acorarccse seas nerceres nnrone®) the ball: — DI OCOL NNO NELELE DE DE COLE EOE DE DOLE LEE DEIEN, DINER, POTAGES. Consomm¢é @ la Royale. | Sherry. Port. Potage 0 la tortue. Punch dla Romaine, HORS-D’ Croquettes de voiaille, aux truifes, Saumon au bleu, Ravizotte. i Quartiére de Chevreuil OKUVRE. Chatean de Berche- velie, RBLEVE. sauce} Chateau Guiraud. ala Jardiniere, j Biere, champagne, ENTRI Dindonneaux Ala Péri- fagicanx ei res Margaux. @artich: rromeras garni a ss Madere, | ; ROTS. Bécasses roties, Johanniaberger. Sonadoee gras de Chateau La Rose. Asperges en branches. Pudding & la Girote. Gélée ‘xg vin de cham- beurre Chaiean Lafitte. Madere. Champagne. pagn' jrromare, Bhi Port wine. ; biscuits, Spsss. common fruits, exeres, Ruster. Nougats et Meneseber. GRowmais ec bomtons | Menescver. ad Wore ayiwn, THE DANCE. Tf curious critics despise this kind of history and censure you for permitting your corre- spondents to garnish their letters with bills of fare, let me say that there is nothing more essential to fame and happiness than a good dinner, and I am anxious that all Hera readers should dine as well as His Majesty. And, since this letter is of a select character and given to the very highest people, how can I better write it than to tell you how they dine? So you see what we had for the supper as well as the dinner that came before. Thero was a little more incident than is usual at these events. The royal party sat down and the remainder stood up, doing as well as we could with the abounding tables. This over, the hour then being midnight, the King and party bowed themselves away in stately, slow fashion, your ambassador following after, and paddling home on foot in the rain, over the graceful bridge and under the dripping bronze statue of Gustavus Adolphus and his horse. THE DREARY, INCESSANT RAIN! In the rain! Have I told you about the rain? There has scarcely been an end of it. How it rained when the King was crowned— when the homage was done, when the balls were given! And then we were to have May Day. This festival should have been on the Ast; but the rain dispelled the hope. Then it was set down for the 12th; but the storm came in all its fury. Then Sunday, the 18th, was designated, and it was hoped Jupiter Plu- vius would be merciful. On Sunday the King would go forth with all his court and celebrate May Day. Well, Sunday came, and your cor- ‘respondent went over to the public park to be among the merry people and help cheer the King. But with the afternoon the rain came, o thin shower, but still manifest rain. 80 we splashed around the Park and stumbled up the slippery hills and roads and climbed over the mossy rocks, and looked at the mammoth vase in porphyry, and wished it were @ mercantile possession to our bank credit, and contemplated the hronze bust of Bellman, wondering who he was, and learn- ing that he was “‘the genial improvisatore”’ in the guide book, whatever that may be; that he wrote rhymes, surely, and has been dead this many 4 year; and we swarmed with the crowd around the Punch and Judy show, and had our own amusement out of the puppets. But no King, and the long twilight hung over us until ten and we went home, and May Day was still uncelebrated and May month so far gone. MAY DAY AT Last, Well, we took it in good part; for the Swedes are a patient people. Some said, “True enough—this second Oscar will be un- lucky, @# thus far he has the most unlucky weather,” Bat wo took wo pert in thepe . 4 gloomy anticipations. When it was sgain ane nounced that the King would again go forth on Ascension Day and celebrate May no one cared. Four disappointments are depressing, and the skios were depressed themselves on Ascension Day. At noon we were sure rain would come, and we should have the King’s usual weather. But with the hour of six there was only a soft, thin fleecy cur- tain of clouds over the sun, ard at last there were hopes of royal weather. Your cor- respondent stood in a group that looked out on the palace. ‘‘There’s an outrider,”’ said one. “He is going for the Queen Dowager,” said another. ‘And the King_ will ride to-day,” said all in cheery mood at last. STOCKHOLM IN A BUNNY, MERRY MOOD. Upon this May festival every one who can procure a carriage goes to the Park in the gayest Summer raiment. Then the court peo- ple come in state and ride along and accept the salutations. Those carriages-go on foot and stand on the grass and shout when the King passes, and drink Swedish punch and, it may be, pass under the influence of liquor. 0, a8 we look upon the main highway, carriage after carriage passes, and one who knows points out the most noble men and women in the kingdom. Why should [ repent the names? I am sure you would never print them, Swedish titles of nobility not being known in America. But they roll along in continuous procession— clouds of lace and Jiuen and crape-like decora- tions ; radiant trimmings in blue and red; bright faces smiling oyt—the fair, blonde beauties of Scandinavia, Here we stand in 8 mass, a dense line five or six feet deep, and whisper and gossip as each chariot hur- ries on. And now comes a cavalry troop in light blue. These are the body guards. Then all hats go off as another group rides slowly after. This is the King—he in the centre in general’s uniform—bowing right and left to the windows crammed with faces and those who stand on the paved road. This is the Prince Royal, the slender stripling with a pleasant face, he who rides after. The re- mainder are generals and attendants—in all about twenty. We notice Count Rosen in the suite—noticeable here as one of the first of who cannot obtain the nobles—and his wife, the present Countess, o Miss Moore, formerly a Philadelphia belle, and now among the lenders of this splendid high ciety. There is a break in the procession— ® group of outriders pass, and there comes an open carriage, drawn by six horses, a stout man in many colors driving, and in an ex- 80- alted state of responsibility. Off go the hats ' again, and some of us actually cheer. There are two women in this carringe—the Queen- Reigning, Sophia, wife to the King, and the Queen Dowager, his mother, wife to the first Oscar, who died fourteen years ago, and mother of the second, who rides ahead. We note that the Queen Dowager has a gray head and an open, kind face, written over with lines of grief. Poor lady ! high Queen as she has been, of all her children but two remain, and sorrows have rolled heavily over her mother’s heart! Also, as worthy of note, this woman is the daughter of the famous Prince Eugene, niece to the more famous Hortense, granddaughter of Josephine, and so first cousin to Napoleon III. Her memory goes back to Napoleon times, she is nearly seventy. Her daughter-in-law, the Queen, is a princess the Nassau House—the little Nassau duchy that Bismarck annexed and made part of Prussia after Sadowa. She has an expres- sive, amiable, motherly face. passes both Queens bow incessantly to the multitude. And so they drive to the public pleasure ground, and after two hours among the people return home, Your correspondent accepted the King’s invitation to call and see him, and the next day was so honored. Noon was the hour for the farewell audience of the Ambassadors, and the Herarp ambassador attended at eleven. After a brief waiting he was shown into the royal presence by the Count Rosen, Lord-in-Waiting to the King. OSCAR 1, AND HIS CHARACTER, This King is named Oscar Frederick, and he is the third son of Oscar I., who was the son of Bernadotte. He was born Januaty 21, 1829, and became King September 18, 1872. When he was born he was called Duke of Ostragothnia, The four estates of the then existing Diet stood as godfather, and they offered to endow him with the rich domain ot Waelstena. But Bernadotte, who was King, declined. He was a richer man than subse- quently, when he was compelled by party spirit to pay the debt of the Foreign Depart- ment. The lad was set apart for a seafaring life, his eldest brother, Gustavus, nothing for the sea. The choice was a happy one, as his body, naturally frail, became inured to all weathers and gained strength. He was a naval.cadet for six years, then a lieutenant. His sea course was interrupted to enable him to study at the Upsala University. After becoming bachelor of arts he returned to the sea and rose to the rank of rear admiral. Some changes in the navy in 1856 led to his retirement. He married, accepted a rank in the army and commanded several camps of instruction. He assisted his father, the King Oscar I, as an intimate secretary, and thus acquired skill in the transaction of business. He had also an exuberant literary faculty and wrote many books, He has chemvioned the Scandina- as of As the carriage caring $$$ $$$ rrr rnns vion idea of the union of the three kingdoms, and it was largely to his influence that the exhibition in Stockholm in 1866 was made to inelude Denmark and Finland as well as Sweden and Norway. He presided over the Scandinavian Congress for National Economy and represented this country in the London Exhibitions of 1862 and 1871, and the Paris Exhibition of 1867. He was busily engaged in the Vienna Exhibition wheu his brother's death called him to the throne. THE KING AS POET AND HISTORIAN. As Ihave said, the King is a literary man, He has this quality in common with his father and brother who preceded him. He has written a work on Charles XII. and his wars in three volumes, as well as a sketch of the character of that extraordinary monarch, which was read on his one hundred and fiftieth anniversary. He has writ, ten military books, and there is a pretty story about his poetic qualities worth remembering now. A poem was written op the memorable deeds of the Swedish navy and sent to the Royal Swedish Academy. The prize was awarded to it, and then it became known that the anonymous author was Prince Oscar. Since then he has translated and pub= lished the Chronicles of the Cid and Tasso, For some years he has been President of the Musical Academy, and is known as 4 come poser of music and performer. It is told cf him that when at Nice, time since, he risked his own life to save that of a woman and two children, and wears ip consequence the French medal for gallantry. His wife, the Princess Sophia, has borne him four children, and is held in high esteem for her genius and her virtues. Sailor, soldier, historian, musician, poet, prince and king— famous by his ancestry as well as his high station—this, as I gather it hore, is Oscar IL, King presence we stand. AN INTERVIEW WITH THE KING. Upon entering the inner cabinet His Majesty advanced, responded to the bow, and, taking your correspondent by the hand, said warmly, in cordial sailor fashion, that he felt honored in welcoming to the capital of his kingdom the representative of a journal as well known to him as the New York Hzratp. He pointed to a chair near the corner’of his desk and said, “Please sit down.’ The room was a simple office, arranged for work, and the table was filled with books and maps. The King took the opposite chair, and, leaning his head upon his hand, entered with your correspondent into rapid and friendly conversation. “We have had very bad weather here,” he said, “and Iam afraid you will not like our Sweden. It never showed to advantage. It is so unfortunate that it should be so now, with so many ambassadors and visitors from all parts of the world.” Your correspondent ssid he had been im Sweden before, and feferred to a visit he ‘had’ ” made to Ulrikedal in 1871, in June, when the weather was unusually pleasant. “Oh, well,” said the King, “you have been fortunate. You have seen Sweden at its best. You were probably here about the time of the first visit of your countryman, Mr. Do Chaillu, if I remember.” THE AFRICAN EXPLORER IN SWEDEN. Your correspondent said he visited Stock- holm at the same time as Mr. Du Chaillu. “Where is Mr. Du Chaillu now?” asked His Majesty. Your correspondent said he understood him to be in the northern part of Sweden, collect- ing material for a book; butas yet he had not seen him, “He is an interesting man," said the King. “I remember the first visit was during my brother's reign. He was at Ulriksdal then.” THE LATE KING. Your correspondent, referring to the pleas ure he had received in meeting the late King, spoke of the regret which his death had occa- sioned in America. “Yes,” said the King, ‘dt was very sad. There were four brothers of us at one time, and Ialone remain. The King, my brother, was much beloved. It seems so strange that he should have passed away so suddenly. Tam the only survivor of the four. But my mother still lives in very good health. You have not seen much of her during the festivi- ties. She is in mourning for my brother, wha died recently, the Duke -of Delarne, my younger brother; and then it is not long since we have been in mourning for the Em- peror Napoleon. “The Emperor,” said your correspondent, ‘was your cousin, was he not?" AN ESTIMATE OF NAPOLEON II. “No; he was my mother’s first cousin,’’ said the King. ‘He was the son of Hor- tense, the Queen of Holland, and my mother was daughter of Prince Eugene, the Duke of Leuchtenberg. Ah! the Emperor was 4 great lossin many ways. He was hardly judged in hia time ; but Iam sure history will do him jus- tice. Still (with » pause) we cannot always complain at that. The penalty of a royahand imperial station is too often misconcep- tion, and the best that the wisest kings can expect is the justice of history. By the way, as you know the value of what the journals print, tell me what you know of the rumor that the son of Queen Victoria, Prince Alfred, is about to marry a daughter of the Emperor of Russia.” some of Sweden and Norway, in whose THE MARRIAGE OF THE PRINCE OF ENGLAND, Your correspondent said that he had noted” the announcement ia the London press, and,