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Show o CONVERSION OF QUEEN NATALIE Had it not been for the tragedy at Belgrade, which has aroused a good deal of sympathy in behalf of ex- Queen Natalie of Servia, the mother of the ill-fated King Alexander, she would have been expelled before this from French territory. Since her conversion to Roman Catholicism and her Interview with Leo XIII at Rome she has, like so many converts, allowed her zeal in behalf of her new creed to get the better of her discretion, and not content con-tent with devoting herself to the religious re-ligious observances of the church which she has joined, has been taking a conspicuous part in the political campaign waged against the present French government by the royalists in connection with the measures which it has been enforcing during the last few months against the religious ordersthat or-dersthat is to say, against.those orders or-ders which for one reason or another had failed to secure permission from the state to remain as corporate bodies bod-ies on French soil. The friends and champions of the religious orders, especially the royalists royal-ists and the so-called nationalists, are waging a vigorous campaign against the government, and attacking it in the most savage fashion. In these attacks at-tacks Queen Natalie is taking a lead- ing-part, ever sharing in popular demonstrations dem-onstrations both in and out of doors against the state. Now, as I" have often shown in these letters, while the French government gov-ernment has no means of redress in the matter against any of its own citizens cit-izens in such maters, it can easily and without the slightest trouble expel ex-pel from French territory any foreigner for-eigner who renders himself in the least degree objectionable. Natalie already has been warned by the police commissary of her district at Paris that unless she moderates her zeal she. will be compelled to go, but without effect, as she imagines that her expulsion by the French government govern-ment on account of her activity in championing the cause of the religious orders will be regarded by the Roman Catholic church, and in particular by the Vatican, as partaking of the nature na-ture of martrydem. There is no doubt, however, that the French government will not put up with her conduct much longer, and there is no foreign embassy at Paris which would espouse her cause or intervene in-tervene in her behalf. For by her conversion con-version from the orthodox rite to the Roman Catholic church she has entirely en-tirely estranged herself from Russia, a country to which she belongs by birth, and for the sake of whose in terests sne laDorea so unceasingly while still at Belgrade. The Servian legation would certainly certain-ly do nothing for her, as she is banished ban-ished from Servian territory, deprived of her civic rights, and, through her husband, the late King Milan's, solemn sol-emn renunciation of his ServiaE nationality na-tionality in return for a large payment of money, has lost all the rights to Servian citizenship which she acquired ac-quired by marriage. In one word, she is today without any countr or nationality. na-tionality. With regard to the murder of her son one cannot help feeling sorry for her., for she was devoted to him, and sacrificed nearly everything for his sake, including her seat on the throne only becoming estranged from him when he assailed her in public proclamation proc-lamation and in private letters with the most insulting reproaches on account ac-count of her opposition to his marriage mar-riage with her dismissed and disgraced dis-graced lady in waiting. Let me add that if Queen Natalie is expelled from France it will not be her first experience of this kind. For not only has she been expelled from Servia, but likewise from Germany and from Austria, in the two latter instances in-stances while her husband was still on the throne, and at his request. Marquise de Fontenoy in Chicago Tribune. |
