"The Belgian nation has lost its King!"The son of an illustrious sovereign, whose memory will remain for ever as a venerated symbol of constitutional monarchy, Leopold II, after a reign of forty-five years, hasdied in harness, having, up to his last hour, devoted the best of his life and strength to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country."On December 17, 1865, before the reunited Chambers, the King pronounced these memorable words, which since then have often been recalled:"'If I do not promise Belgium either a great reign like that of the King who founded her independence, or to be a noble King like him whom we now lament, I promise at least that I will prove myself a King whose whole life will be devoted to the service of Belgium.'"We know with what powerful energy he has kept and even exceeded this solemn promise."The creation of the African State which to-day forms the Belgian Colony of the Congo was the personal work of the King, and constitutes a unique achievement in the annals of history."Posterity will say that his was a great reign, and that he was a great King."The country now mourning his loss must worthily honour one who has died leaving such a splendid record behind him."The country places all its hopes in the loyal co-operation, already so happily manifested, of the Prince who has been called to preside over the destiny of Belgium."He will be inspired by the illustrious examples of those who became, by the help of Providence, the benefactors of the Belgian people."The Council of Ministers:F. Schollaert,Minister of the Interior and of Agriculture.Leon de Lantsheere,Minister of Justice.J. Davignon,Minister of Foreign Affairs.J. Liebaert,Minister of Finance.Bon Descamps,Minister of Science and Art.Arm. Hubert,Minister of Industry and Labour.M. Delbeke,Minister of Public Works.G. Hellepute,Minister of Railways, Posts and Telegraphs.J. Hellepute,Minister of War.J. Renkin,Colonial Minister."
"The Belgian nation has lost its King!
"The son of an illustrious sovereign, whose memory will remain for ever as a venerated symbol of constitutional monarchy, Leopold II, after a reign of forty-five years, hasdied in harness, having, up to his last hour, devoted the best of his life and strength to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country.
"On December 17, 1865, before the reunited Chambers, the King pronounced these memorable words, which since then have often been recalled:
"'If I do not promise Belgium either a great reign like that of the King who founded her independence, or to be a noble King like him whom we now lament, I promise at least that I will prove myself a King whose whole life will be devoted to the service of Belgium.'
"We know with what powerful energy he has kept and even exceeded this solemn promise.
"The creation of the African State which to-day forms the Belgian Colony of the Congo was the personal work of the King, and constitutes a unique achievement in the annals of history.
"Posterity will say that his was a great reign, and that he was a great King.
"The country now mourning his loss must worthily honour one who has died leaving such a splendid record behind him.
"The country places all its hopes in the loyal co-operation, already so happily manifested, of the Prince who has been called to preside over the destiny of Belgium.
"He will be inspired by the illustrious examples of those who became, by the help of Providence, the benefactors of the Belgian people.
"The Council of Ministers:
F. Schollaert,Minister of the Interior and of Agriculture.Leon de Lantsheere,Minister of Justice.J. Davignon,Minister of Foreign Affairs.J. Liebaert,Minister of Finance.Bon Descamps,Minister of Science and Art.Arm. Hubert,Minister of Industry and Labour.M. Delbeke,Minister of Public Works.G. Hellepute,Minister of Railways, Posts and Telegraphs.J. Hellepute,Minister of War.J. Renkin,Colonial Minister."
Of the signatories of this moving proclamation some are dead, others are still living.
To those who are no more, and to those who are still alive, I say:
"You have written and attested that the creation of the African State was thepersonalwork of the King. In hisperson, then, you have recognizedthe man,the head of the family—andtherefore the family itself; otherwise the wordpersonalis without meaning.... And, as a matter of fact, it has suddenly lost its meaning. The King, now an entity without terrestrial chains, has enriched Belgium to the exclusion of his children, who are declared non-existent.
"And how, with or without you, has he been honoured?
"In continuing the endowment of Niederfullbach and other creations of this gifted benefactor?
"Ah! In no way whatever!
"You have liquidated, realized, destroyed and abandoned all that he conceived and ordered. I do not wish to describe in detail all that has passed, and I have no desire to touch on the sadness connected with the secrets of Niederfullbach and other works of the King, from the day when they ceased to be under his direction. I will take my stand on the ground of the sin against morality which most concerns me.
"Eleven years have passed since the death of the 'Great King.' Where is the monument erected to his memory?
"The people of Ostend, who owe to him the prosperity and beauty of their town, have not even dared to show an example of their gratitude. They are afraid of vexing the ungrateful people of Brussels, who prefer silence."
His wishes with respect to the Congo and his heirs are in three documents, which I append below:
First:
(I) An explanatory letter of the King, dated June 3, 1906, in testamentary form.
(Attached to exhibit No. 36 in the collection published by the Belgian Government.)
"I undertook, more than twenty years ago, the work of the Congo in the interests of civilization and for the benefit of Belgium. It was in the realization of this double aim that I annexed the Congo to my country in 1889."Cognizant with all the ideas which governed the foundation of the independent State, and which inspired the Act of Berlin, I am anxious to specify, in the interests of the nation, the wishes expressed in my will."The title of Belgium to the possession of the Congo is due to my double initiative, namely the rights which I acquired in Africa, and the uses which I have made of these rights in favour of my country."This situation imposed on me the obligation of ensuring, in accordance with my initial and dominant idea, that my legacy should prove useful in the future to civilization and to Belgium."In consequence thereof I wish to make the following points clear—points which are in perfect harmony with my immutable wish to assure to my beloved country the fruits of the work which I have pursued for long years in the continent of Africa, with the general consent of most of my subjects:"Upon taking possession of the sovereignty of the Congo, with all the benefits, rights and advantages attached thereto, my legatee will assume, as is only just and necessary, theobligation of respecting all the engagements of the State assigned to third parties, and likewise to respect all acts which I have established touching the privileges of the natives for donations for land, for the endowment of philanthropic or religious works, for the foundation of the domain of the Crown, for the establishment of the natural domain, as well as the obligation not to lessen by any measure the rights of the revenues of these various institutions without giving at the same time an equivalent compensation. I consider the observation of these rules as essential to assure to the sovereignty of the Congo the resources and the power indispensable for the accomplishment of the task."In voluntarily surrendering the Congo and the benefits derived therefrom in favour of Belgium, I must, without adding to the national obligation, strive to ensure to Belgium the perpetuity of the benefits which I bequeath her."I wish to state definitely that the legacy of the Congo to Belgium should always be maintained by her in its integrity. In consequence, the territory bequeathed will be inalienable under the same conditions as Belgian territory."I do not hesitate to specify this inalienability, for I know how great is the value of the Congo, and I have, in consequence, the conviction that this possession will never cost the Belgian nation any lasting sacrifice."(Signed)Leopold."Brussels, June 3, 1906."
"I undertook, more than twenty years ago, the work of the Congo in the interests of civilization and for the benefit of Belgium. It was in the realization of this double aim that I annexed the Congo to my country in 1889.
"Cognizant with all the ideas which governed the foundation of the independent State, and which inspired the Act of Berlin, I am anxious to specify, in the interests of the nation, the wishes expressed in my will.
"The title of Belgium to the possession of the Congo is due to my double initiative, namely the rights which I acquired in Africa, and the uses which I have made of these rights in favour of my country.
"This situation imposed on me the obligation of ensuring, in accordance with my initial and dominant idea, that my legacy should prove useful in the future to civilization and to Belgium.
"In consequence thereof I wish to make the following points clear—points which are in perfect harmony with my immutable wish to assure to my beloved country the fruits of the work which I have pursued for long years in the continent of Africa, with the general consent of most of my subjects:
"Upon taking possession of the sovereignty of the Congo, with all the benefits, rights and advantages attached thereto, my legatee will assume, as is only just and necessary, theobligation of respecting all the engagements of the State assigned to third parties, and likewise to respect all acts which I have established touching the privileges of the natives for donations for land, for the endowment of philanthropic or religious works, for the foundation of the domain of the Crown, for the establishment of the natural domain, as well as the obligation not to lessen by any measure the rights of the revenues of these various institutions without giving at the same time an equivalent compensation. I consider the observation of these rules as essential to assure to the sovereignty of the Congo the resources and the power indispensable for the accomplishment of the task.
"In voluntarily surrendering the Congo and the benefits derived therefrom in favour of Belgium, I must, without adding to the national obligation, strive to ensure to Belgium the perpetuity of the benefits which I bequeath her.
"I wish to state definitely that the legacy of the Congo to Belgium should always be maintained by her in its integrity. In consequence, the territory bequeathed will be inalienable under the same conditions as Belgian territory.
"I do not hesitate to specify this inalienability, for I know how great is the value of the Congo, and I have, in consequence, the conviction that this possession will never cost the Belgian nation any lasting sacrifice.
"(Signed)Leopold.
"Brussels, June 3, 1906."
Having read this, no really right-minded person can deny that the King speaks of the Congo as private property which he surrenders voluntarily to Belgium, which he was quite at liberty to do, and which Belgium was equally at liberty to accept as a Royal gift.
But there is no right without duty.
I ask whether it was right of the Belgian Government to ruin me, an exile and a prisoner, calumniated and mistrusted; to deny me my Belgian nationality, and to sequestrate the little money left me in Belgium?
This, I have said before, was, I believe, the fatal result of a general measure, misinterpreted perhaps by an inexpert official.
But let it go!!
I only ask whether the Belgian Government can assert to-day that it has fulfilled the conditions imposed on it by its benefactor, and especially "the obligation to respect the integrity of the revenues of the various institutions" established by the King in favour of the Congo.
I await an answer. I now come to the question of the Will.
Will of the King.(Document No. 42.)"This is my will."I inherited from my parents fifteen millions. These fifteen millions I have scrupulously kept intact, in spite of many vicissitudes."I possess nothing else."After my death these fifteen millions become the property of my heirs and must be made over to them by the executor of my will, to be divided between them."I die in the Catholic religion, to which I belong; I wish no post-mortem to be made; I wish to be buried without pomp in the early morning."Except my nephew Albert and the members of my household, no person is to follow my remains."May God protect Belgium, and may He in His goodness be merciful to me."(Sgd.)Leopold."Brussels, November 20, 1907."
Will of the King.(Document No. 42.)
"This is my will.
"I inherited from my parents fifteen millions. These fifteen millions I have scrupulously kept intact, in spite of many vicissitudes.
"I possess nothing else.
"After my death these fifteen millions become the property of my heirs and must be made over to them by the executor of my will, to be divided between them.
"I die in the Catholic religion, to which I belong; I wish no post-mortem to be made; I wish to be buried without pomp in the early morning.
"Except my nephew Albert and the members of my household, no person is to follow my remains.
"May God protect Belgium, and may He in His goodness be merciful to me.
"(Sgd.)Leopold.
"Brussels, November 20, 1907."
A great deal has been written about this Will. The statement "I possess nothing" except the declared fifteen millions caused the ink to flow.
The statement itself was proved untrue on the death ofthe King, since in the abundance of wealth of all sorts which was found, the Belgian Government was obliged to specify as "litigious" certain shares and moneys which it could not take over, and which it left to my sisters and to myself. These shares and moneys have nearly doubled the fortune bequeathed us by our father.
Let no one say: "The fortune was considerable." As a statement it is true. But it must not be forgotten that everything is comparative, and that if I explain a point of succession which is unique in history it is not because I am avaricious. It is because I must insist, as a question of principle, to defend what I consider right, and to enlighten the public on a hitherto entangled and obscure discussion.
The second Will, reproduced below, merely states precisely the intention of the first:
The Other Will of the King.(Document No. 49.)"I have inherited from my mother and my father fifteen millions."I leave those to be divided amongst my children."Owing to my position and the confidence of various people, large sums have at certain times passed through my hands without belonging to me."I do not possess more than the fifteen millions mentioned above."(Sgd.)Leopold."Laeken, October 18, 1908."
The Other Will of the King.(Document No. 49.)
"I have inherited from my mother and my father fifteen millions.
"I leave those to be divided amongst my children.
"Owing to my position and the confidence of various people, large sums have at certain times passed through my hands without belonging to me.
"I do not possess more than the fifteen millions mentioned above.
"(Sgd.)Leopold.
"Laeken, October 18, 1908."
In this document the King said no more about having "scrupulously" saved the fifteen millions. A great deal has been written about this, because elsewhere the King often declared in his most formal manner that not onlyhad he used his own fortune, but also that of my aunt, the Empress Charlotte, in the Congo enterprise.
He might have lost all. If this had been the case, would Belgium have indemnified his children at his death? Certainly not! Fortunately Belgium has been the gainer.
Is it logical that the King's children should be objects of indifference to him?
To finish with the question of the fifteen millions, one fact remains which I cannot pass over, and which will suffice to invalidate the characteristic declaration of the King, if the discovery had not already been made at his death.
About this well-known fact everyone will guess beforehand what I could say....
It is not wise to enlarge on this subject. Age is excusable in its errors, and the disposal of sixty millions will find many willing helpers.
But, truly, whom does one deceive, and by whom is one deceived? Virtuous airs are strangely a matter of circumstance with certain people who lend themselves to an astonishing favouritism, to the detriment of the natural heirs of the King.
However, let us forget this. Let us only remember the material point, which was that the Kingwishedto disinherit his daughters.
Was it right and moral of Belgium to associate herself with this inhuman error and this illegality?
Ought she not to have assumed another line of conduct on behalf of myself and my sisters?
I ask it of the King as if he were alive and in the entire possession of his faculties; I ask this of the King who is now enlightened by death.
I ask it of my brave compatriots.
I ask it of the jurists of the entire world.
I ask it of history.
Let us put aside the millions of future generations and the hundreds of millions of the past.
I have renounced expectations and the promises of fairy tales more easily than most people. I would have liked to have made many people happy, to have helped beautiful works, to have created useful institutions. God knows all my dreams. He has decided that they should not be fulfilled, and I am resigned.
I have only wished to defend a principle and to obtain for myself a minimum of the possibilities of a free and honourable existence in accordance with my rank.
Was my action then unjustifiable?
What do certain documents—which it is easy to consult—establish, but which I cannot reproduce here without giving to these pages a different character from that I wish to give?
These documents prove that thepersonalfortune of the King had attained a minimum of twenty millions at the time of his last illness.
On the decease of the Sovereign this fortune, or the greater portion of it, had disappeared. My sisters and I had a round figure of twelve millions.
But what of the rest?
It has been said to us, and to me especially:
"What? You are complaining? By the terms of your father's will you should only have five millions. You have twelve millions, and you are not satisfied. You argue, you accuse, you incriminate! You are always at war with someone."
I am not at war with any particular person in this affair. I have simply upheld the right, and I believe it to be my duty.
The Government, the judge and the party opponents have told me, in fine-sounding sentences, that I was wrong.
Would they agree to submit their judgments to the final verdict of a tribunal composed of jurists from countries friendly to Belgium?
I renounce in advance the benefit of their decision if it should be in my favour.
Would they agree to accept an inquiry into the subject of thereal and personalfortune of the King at the time of his death and what has become of it?
I know beforehand. These indiscreet questions will only meet with profound silence.
What consoles me in my misfortunes is the knowledge that the men in the confidence of the King have become wonderfully enriched. If my father could only leave fifteen millions I am confident that they, at any rate, will be able to leave much more. I am very pleased to think that this is so, as I find it only natural that merit, valour, conscientiousness and fidelity should be recompensed on earth.
I only regret one thing, which is common to human nature. Money, alas! does not tend to improve it. Instead it seems to harden the hearts of those who possess it.
How can the King's faithful servants and those of my family be at ease in palaces, where everything breathes comfort and luxury, when I am reduced to living as I am now obliged to live, practically from hand to mouth, uncertain to-day where to look to-morrow for sustenance, although within the grasp of two fortunes: one already mine by right of inheritance, and the other which I have every anticipation of inheriting?
People may say that instead of complaining I could continue to defend my rights, and it avails nothing to abuse the injustice of men. I do not ignore the fact that I have only to attack the Société des Sites, and the French property which the King has given to Belgium, for French justice, which is worthy of the name of justice, to condemn a fictitious society, whose so-called existence is not unwelcome to a Parisian lawyer and the servants of my family who have lent their name as circumstances required.
Law is law for everyone in France, and when the Société des Sites was founded in Paris, it was done with the most flagrant disregard of French legality.
I do not forget that the German law would equally condemn what transpired between Belgium and the administrators of Niederfullbach, if I were to attack these persons before the Justice of Germany, as I could easily do. The two Germans who are included in the list of administrators have sensed danger so strongly, owing totheir properties and positions being in Germany, that, in face of possible dangerous retaliations, they have sheltered themselves behind the Belgium State by the "arrangement" which they have accepted, and which has robbed my sisters and myself of considerable sums.
I also know that the Royal Gift of 1901 is open to an attack in Belgium, based on the material error committed over the question of the disposable share of the King's property. But, really, it is too painful for me to think about this and to go into these details. I only give certain of them in order to show that I have resisted, and I shall still resist, assuring myself that if I have not found justice in Belgium I shall find it elsewhere.
To speak with perfect frankness, I have suffered cruelly, and I still suffer on account of the strife in which I have been involved.
When I occasionally re-read the pleadings of the talented lawyers who defended or attacked me over the question of the King's inheritance, a sort of faintness overcomes me. Before so many words, in the face of so many reasons for and against, I feel that all things except equity can be expected of mankind.
It is positively stupefying for me to realize that three of my lawyers are Ministers, or are on the point of becoming Ministers, as I write these pages. I have only to take up their "pleadings" to hear the voice of their conscience proclaiming the justice of my cause, and accusing the State in which they are embodied to-day of collusion and fraud—in one word, of unqualified actions.
Do they not remember what they said, wrote and published? I listen in vain for some words from them.... Nothing ... never a word. I am dead, so far as they are concerned.
I am unhappy. They know it, and they keep silence.
Never a thought, a memory for one who confided in them. They are in power—and I am in misery; they are living in their own country—I am an exile. They areMen, and I am aWoman. Oh, pettiness of the human soul!
I think again of all that has been said and written against me in the land of my birth for which I was sacrificed. What errors, what exaggerations, what passions, what ignorance concerning my real self! Nevertheless, taken as individuals, those who attack me and defame me are really good and brave men at heart. But they rend one's soul. Do they not understand what they do?
Has Belgium no conscience? She ranks so high to-day in the opinion of the world, that it seems impossible for her to expose herself to the diminution of her moral glory which will inevitably follow when History goes into the vexed question of the King's Inheritance, and its results in my own case. Can she rightly and peacefully enjoy that which has been unjustly obtained, or more or less greedily seized by her? History will find, as I find, certain ineffaceable words in the address to the Sénat by M. de Lantsheere, Minister of State, touching the Royal Gift of 1901, which all that was best in the Belgian soul then found inacceptable.
I reproduce these words for the contemplation and consideration of all honest men.
M. de Lantsheere spoke as follows in the Belgian Sénat on December 3, 1901, to contest the acceptance by the Chambre des Représentants of the King's Gift, and all that had privately enriched the King:
"I intend to remain faithful to a principle which King Leopold I always upheld and from which he never departed, one which I also upheld twenty-six years ago with M. Malou, M. Beernaert, and M. Delcour, Members of the Cabinet of which I had the honour to be a member—which MM. Hubert Dolez, d'Anethan and Notcomb, chief of those preceding me, who, like others after me, have equally upheld. This principle, which it has been reserved for the law to abandon for the first time, can be summed up in few words.The common law is an indispensable support of the Royal Patrimony.The present project offends Justice.... Two of the Royal princesses are married. From these marriages children have been born. Therefore families have been founded. These children have married in their turn, and have founded new families. These families may very reasonably have expected that nothing detrimental could happen to the hereditary rights which the Code declares unalienable from the descendants.... If, owing to some aberration of which you will give the first example ... you do not respect the laws by which families are founded, ...one universal voice will be heard in Belgium which will curse the dominions which have enriched the nation at the expense of the King's children...."Do you not think that it will look very disgraceful for Royalty to be exposed to the suspicion of wishing (under the cloak of liberality towards a country) to reserve the means, if not of disinheriting its descendants, at least of depriving them of that to which they are legally and morally entitled? I venture to believe that those persons will serve the interests of the State much more faithfully who insist that she must remain firm in her acceptance of the rights of Common Law, than those persons who uphold the acceptance of the disastrousgift of an unlimited authority. I wish to ignore the possibility of any of these ulterior motives having entered the mind of His Majesty; you must ignore them if they have not already occurred to you; but I know that man's will is variable and certain laws are made in order to prevent possible injustice."If at the time of the King's death a point had been made of encroaching on the disposable funds, you would not have had the courage to lay the hand upon this patrimony. Why, then, do you forge weapons which, when the moment is ripe, you will blush to use?"Therefore, Sirs, the uselessness of the project again reveals itself, as well as its equally odious and dangerous character ... it is a juridical monstrosity.... It must never be said that in the Kingdom of Belgium any poor girl possesses more legal rights in her father's inheritance than the King's daughters now possess in the inheritance of their father."...
"I intend to remain faithful to a principle which King Leopold I always upheld and from which he never departed, one which I also upheld twenty-six years ago with M. Malou, M. Beernaert, and M. Delcour, Members of the Cabinet of which I had the honour to be a member—which MM. Hubert Dolez, d'Anethan and Notcomb, chief of those preceding me, who, like others after me, have equally upheld. This principle, which it has been reserved for the law to abandon for the first time, can be summed up in few words.The common law is an indispensable support of the Royal Patrimony.The present project offends Justice.... Two of the Royal princesses are married. From these marriages children have been born. Therefore families have been founded. These children have married in their turn, and have founded new families. These families may very reasonably have expected that nothing detrimental could happen to the hereditary rights which the Code declares unalienable from the descendants.... If, owing to some aberration of which you will give the first example ... you do not respect the laws by which families are founded, ...one universal voice will be heard in Belgium which will curse the dominions which have enriched the nation at the expense of the King's children....
"Do you not think that it will look very disgraceful for Royalty to be exposed to the suspicion of wishing (under the cloak of liberality towards a country) to reserve the means, if not of disinheriting its descendants, at least of depriving them of that to which they are legally and morally entitled? I venture to believe that those persons will serve the interests of the State much more faithfully who insist that she must remain firm in her acceptance of the rights of Common Law, than those persons who uphold the acceptance of the disastrousgift of an unlimited authority. I wish to ignore the possibility of any of these ulterior motives having entered the mind of His Majesty; you must ignore them if they have not already occurred to you; but I know that man's will is variable and certain laws are made in order to prevent possible injustice.
"If at the time of the King's death a point had been made of encroaching on the disposable funds, you would not have had the courage to lay the hand upon this patrimony. Why, then, do you forge weapons which, when the moment is ripe, you will blush to use?
"Therefore, Sirs, the uselessness of the project again reveals itself, as well as its equally odious and dangerous character ... it is a juridical monstrosity.... It must never be said that in the Kingdom of Belgium any poor girl possesses more legal rights in her father's inheritance than the King's daughters now possess in the inheritance of their father."...
I was at Vienna when war was declared, and until actual hostilities commenced I could hardly believe such a thing was possible. The idea that the Emperor Francis Joseph, already with one foot in the grave, contemplated appearing as a combatant, after invariably suffering defeat, seemed sheer madness to me. It is true that a camarilla, acting under orders from Berlin, used the weakly old man as a tool. But that Berlin really wished to embark on a war which could not fail to cause a universal conflagration was incredible. It was worse than madness—it was a crime.
But the desire to kill carried away those in power at Berlin. I had a presentiment of a mysterious fatality which had laid its spell on Berlin and Vienna.
I wondered what would become of me. And each possible solution became more and more difficult. If, according to the views of my Belgian countrymen, I am unfortunate enough not to have regained my nationality in spite of the good sense and approval of the King my father, and once more denied the rights of justice and humanity, an action against which I protest most strongly, I was regarded from the first day of the war as an "enemysubject" by the Court of Vienna, which was doubtless pleased to be able to hurt me in some new way.
I was asked to leave the Dual Monarchy as soon as possible. The Chief of the Police came in person to notify me of this decision. This distinguished functionary was in many respects courteous, but the order was extremely precise and formal.
I left for Belgium. But certain events detained me at Munich. The German Army barred the road, and my devoted country was soon to know the horrors of which the first responsibility rests with Prussia.
Until August 25, 1916, I was able to live in the capital of Bavaria, as a Belgian princess, without having to experience many of the inconveniences to which my position exposed me. The Bavarian Government was certainly indulgent. I was even allowed to retain a French maid who had been long in my service. The count—that devoted knight, whose proximity in my sad life had brought me consolation and unfailing support—was also allowed to be a member of my entourage.
But the German victories convinced my pitiless enemies that I should soon be at their mercy. They at once arranged their new plan of campaign!
I am proud to write this—proud to admit that the sufferings of Belgium were my own. She was oppressed. I was also the victim of oppression. She had lost all. I had also lost everything.
From day to day my resources became straitened, and the atmosphere, at first compassionate, became hostile. Itried to efface myself as much as possible, and to submit myself patiently to the exigencies of my delicate situation. It was well known with whom my heart was in sympathy! Worries and harshness soon assailed me.
My son-in-law, Duke Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, did not ignore—and with good reason—the difficulties I had to overcome. He lost no time in letting it be known that he considered I ought to agree to be placed under his guardianship, and forced to receive my last morsel of bread at his hands.
I do not wish to enlarge on the actions of this gentleman. If I were to publish the documents and the legal papers which I have kept, I should only add to the remorse and confusion which I should like to think have overcome my unhappy daughter. But, in duty to myself, I must relate a little of what transpired. Nothing else will suffice to show the drama which has enveloped me since the day when I represented the possible loss of a fortune to my family.
Duke Gunther of Schleswig-Holstein, from the very moment when Germany thought herself mistress of Belgium, occupied himself in ascertaining what might accrue to me from the inheritance of my father. Rather more than four and a half millions had been deposited in the bank, assigned for the benefit of my creditors, by arbitration of the tribunal which had been formed on the eve of hostilities.
This sum of money was the object of the touching solicitude of my son-in-law. I leave it to others to relatehis efforts to obtain possession of it and divert it into a different channel from the one for which it was intended.
Nevertheless, these four and a half millions were only a drop in the ocean compared with the promise of the past. My dear country can therefore rejoice, and I rejoice with her, that, by the victory of the Entente, she has escaped a revision of the lawsuit touching the Royal inheritance, one which would have been in direct opposition to the Divine and human right, at least as soon as the decree had been issued.
What crime would not then have been committed in my name in favour of the final triumph of German arms if, threatened with the pangs of starvation, I had signed certain renunciations which were extorted from me at Munich, and had thereby lost my personality and abandoned my rights to my children in consideration of a miserable pittance?
They now saw themselves likely to be compensated in some measure for all that had previously prevented them from acquiring the King's inheritance. They had also the certainty of possessing the thirty millions which represent my share of the fortune of Her Majesty the Empress Charlotte, when my unfortunate aunt succumbs beneath the burden of her advanced age.
My children—from the hour when they became aware of the frightful state of destitution to which I was reduced during the war—have only pursued one end:without troubling to see me or to approach me directly, they haveendeavoured by the mediation of paid agents to force me to sign a renunciation of my expectations.
THE DUCHESS GUNTHER OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEINTHE DUCHESS GUNTHER OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
THE DUCHESS GUNTHER OF SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN
In direct defiance of the law I was ordered to sign my name to a document by which I relinquished my future inheritance from the Empress to my children. At last, worn out with sufferings, I was on the point of consenting for a consideration of an annual payment of a sum ofsix thousand marks, in exchange for which I was to be reduced to isolation and slavery, and to be further plundered of all that might belong to me.
I will say nothing here to the Duke of Holstein, this soldier financier; but to my daughter Dora, the fruit of my body, whom I have fed at my breast, and whom I have brought up, I say this:
"You may possess all the outward appearances of respectability. You may enjoy the benefits of a fortune of which I know the source, you may experience neither shame nor remorse, you may even dare to pray. But God can never be deceived. No wickedness, no guilty complicity, no action contrary to Nature will escape His justice. Sooner or later He will judge all men according to their works."
Before I conclude my account of the machinations of these human vultures who attempted to assail my liberty and my rights, when once I had been unfortunate enough to ask help from my children, I must not forget to mention that later, when I regained the captaincy of my soul, I appealed to Justice at Munich. The courts there declared the renunciations extracted from me in mymisery and frenzy when I was starving and homeless to be invalid.
During the war I have often actually not known where I should sleep, or of what my next meal would consist.
I write this frankly, without a particle of false shame—firm in the approval of my own conscience.
I have never willingly injured anyone. I have suffered in silence. I am speaking to-day in my own defence, bringing as evidence a family drama which touches contemporary history. I speak with candour, but I am not actuated by feelings of hatred. Wickedness has diminished. But my personal sufferings have in nowise lessened. I was born a king's daughter, I shall die a king's daughter. I have certainly pleaded for assistance, but more on behalf of my attendants than for myself. I could not bear to see these devoted creatures, my comfort and support in my misery, weep and grow pale during these dark days.
The count had been obliged to leave Munich. On the morning of August 25, 1916, his room was suddenly invaded by the police. He was put in prison, then taken to Hungary, and afterwards interned near Budapest. He was by birth a Croatian and therefore regarded as a subject of the Entente, even before the defeat which united Croatia and Servia. Human justice is really only a word!
On the same day Olga, my principal attendant, an Austrian who had always shown me an invaluable and long-standing devotion, was also arrested. She was afterwards released. But I understood the significance of this—theorder had come from the highest authority to alienate everyone who cared for me. I will describe what followed.
My French maid, whose care of me was so disinterested, was interned. If my faithful Olga had not come out of prison, and if I had not had the means to keep her, I should have been completely isolated.
But, shortly after this, I really did not know how to supply my daily needs. My last jewels had been sold. I was now as poor as the poor souls who implored my charity.
What should I decide to do, what should I attempt? If I appealed to my daughter I knew that I should be up against the Duke of Holstein. He was absolutely pitiless. All this happened in July, 1917.
Providence now threw in my way an honourable man, a Swiss professor, who was terribly distressed at my fate.
He generously offered to help me to reach Silesia, where my daughter was in residence at one of her castles. This castle is not far from Breslau. I therefore left Munich, with Olga, in the hope of seeing my child and obtaining from her some temporary shelter.
But when I reached my journey's end I tried in vain to be received, listened to, and assisted by Dora.
I was therefore stranded in a little village in the Silesian mountains, where my last few marks soon disappeared.
The count had tried to send me the wherewithal toexist. Without any warning, the German postal authorities retained the money and returned his letters.
The little inn where I had taken refuge was kept by kindly folk who were, however, unable to let me stop unless I could pay. I saw myself faced with the most extreme misery. The innkeeper seemed frightened of me. He told me that he had been ordered to render an account of my doings to the police, and that I was kept well under observation, although I might not be aware that this was the case.
He was mistaken. I and Olga had both noticed that our slightest movements were watched. Even in our walks in the open country we continually met some peasant or some pedestrian who appeared not to notice us, but who actually spied on us more or less unsuccessfully.
I felt the influence of an implacable force that wished to immure me in some new gaol, madhouse or prison, or which would perhaps even make me contemplate self-destruction.
In this extremity Heaven once again came to my rescue.
On the very day which I thought would be the last I should be allowed to stay at the inn, I sat down, miserably, on a bench in front of the house. I asked myself in despair what was to become of me. Suddenly a carriage appeared—a rare sight in that unfrequented region. The coachman signalled to me, and I saw, sitting in the carriage, a large, important-looking person who seemed looking for something or somebody.
He was looking for me!
I was soon acquainted with the fact that this gentleman had come from Budapest on behalf of the count, and wished to speak to me.
At these words I felt myself lifted out of the abyss of despair. But my trials were not over.
The count's confidential agent had been charged with the mission of helping me to leave Germany. In order to do this, it would be necessary to cross Austria into Hungary, where I could rely upon active sympathy being shown me.
Things and people had already changed in the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy!
But, what possibilities such a journey presented! First, I had no official papers. The revelation of my name and title would alone suffice to impede my progress; I should be instantly detained.
But although, thanks to the count's messenger, my bill at the inn was settled, I had only very limited means at my disposal. Austria, it is true, was not far away. We could go there across the mountains by way of Bohemia, but the envoy declared that, owing to his shortness of breath and his troublesome legs, he could not possibly follow me over the goat tracks which we should most assuredly have to pass. He decided that our best plan was to make for Dresden, and from there to choose the easiest route.
When evening fell our host metaphorically closed his eyes to my departure. He waited until the next day to notify my disappearance to the authorities.
By the time he did so I was in Saxony. But here again it was too dangerous to go near Lindenhof in a kingdom where my misfortunes had been the subject of so much publicity. At last we remembered a little village close to the frontier, on the side nearest Munich, where the regime was less rigorous than in the vicinity of Dresden, and we arrived there without anything untoward happening.
The present difficulty was not so much in crossing Germany. It chiefly consisted in solving the question of the possibility of my being able to stay in some retired spot without my identity being discovered and notified, and afterwards to cross the frontier without a passport and gain safety at Budapest.
This Odyssey alone would make a volume. It terminated in a Bavarian village where I breathed freely once more. A good woman extended the kindest hospitality towards me and my faithful Olga.
The count's messenger still continued to watch over my welfare, and found accommodation for himself in the vicinity.
From my window I could see the church steeple of the Austrian village through which I must pass in order to reach Salzburg, Vienna and Hungary. I was now on the borders of the Promised Land. A little wood separated me from it, at the extremity of which flowed a brook well known to the contrabandists, since it separated Bavaria from Austria, and served them by night as a means of transit.
I dared not risk it! It would be necessary for me to cross a bridge constantly guarded by a sentry. But once over the bridge I should have left Germany behind me!
When I happened to be near Munich, I had regained possession of two favourite dogs. My love of dogs is well known. I did not wish to be separated from these, and I had an intuition that they would be of use to me in my flight. I thought tenderly of the clever Kiki, now a prisoner at Bad-Elster. His successors, like himself, would surely bring me luck! One was a big sheep-dog, the other a little griffon.
At first I hesitated to go near the bridge for fear lest I should be recognized. Then I reflected that it would seem suspicious to a sentry on duty if I always remained some distance away. My best method would be not to hide from the sentries, but to walk constantly with my dogs in their proximity. The soldiers (the same ones were always on duty) would soon get accustomed to seeing me, and in their eyes I should only represent an inoffensive inhabitant of the village.
The count's envoy begged me to hasten my departure. I refused. He advised a nocturnal flight. I did not agree with him. I said: "I shall go when I see fit, at my own time, when Ifeelthat the propitious moment has arrived."
It is curious, but it is nevertheless true, that I always experience a weird kind of intuition under difficulties. It is exactly as if some inner voice advised me what course to pursue. And whenever I have obeyed this intuition I have always been right.
One morning I awakened under the domination of my unseen guide.
"You must leave at noon to-day."
I sent at once to the count's messenger. Thanks to his official papers he was able to cross the frontier with Olga without any difficulty. They therefore went on in advance. I arranged to meet them at the foot of the belfry in the Austrian village—so near and yet so far.
If the sentry stopped me and questioned me, I should be a prisoner!...
Towards noon I strolled along by the side of the brook, my big dog jumping round me, the tiny griffon in my arms. The autumnal sun was quite fierce, and the sentry was standing in the shade a little distance from the bridge. I sauntered across the bridge, as if it were a matter of course. The soldier took no notice. I walked away unconcernedly, but my heart was beating furiously! I was in Austria at last! Upon reaching the village I rejoined my "suite." A carriage was waiting. I drove to Salzburg, and put up at a small hotel where I knew I should be in temporary security.
I waited three days for the arrival of my Viennese counsel, M. Stimmer, who had been secretly advised of my return to Austria, and of my wish to proceed to Budapest under his protection.
M. Stimmer responded to my appeal. He waived all the legal difficulties which might arise from the situation. The voice of humanity spoke more strongly than the voice of obedience to the order which had banished me fromAustria, and given me over to the power of Germany, where I should inevitably have succumbed to misery and persecution.
But in Hungary I should stand a chance of knowing happier days. M. Stimmer decided to accompany me thither.
I had reached the limit of my endurance when my wanderings came to an end at Budapest, and I found myself in a comfortable first-class hotel. The authorities saw nothing compromising in my presence. At my urgent request the count was allowed to leave the small town where he was interned, and remain near me for several days in order to discuss my affairs.
Unfortunately the war was hopelessly prolonged. Life gradually became more and more difficult. Austria and Hungary were no longer the victims of illusion. Enlightened by the knowledge of defeat, they cursed Berlin as the author of their misfortunes. Budapest was in a state of ferment.
All at once everything collapsed. The wind of Bolshevism swept furiously over the Dual Monarchy. I now became familiar with the commissaries and soldiers of the Revolution. I experienced visits of inspection, perquisitions, interrogations. But suddenly my misfortunes disarmed even the savage leaders of Hungarian Communism. I have already mentioned how one of these men remarked when he saw to what poverty I was reduced: "Here is a king's daughter who is poorer than I am."
If I were to live for centuries, I should still experiencein thought those poignant emotions which I underwent during the time of torment which overthrew thrones and threw crowns to the four winds of heaven. Past ages have never witnessed such an upheaval.
On the banks of the Danube, between the east and the west, the downfall of Prussian power and the prestige of Monarchy was felt perhaps more keenly than elsewhere.
I often wondered whether I was actually alive in the world I had formerly known, or if I was not the victim of a long-drawn-out nightmare.
Our troubles, our worries, our own individuality are as naught in the whirlpool of human passions. I felt myself carried away with everything which surrounded me into the unknown country of a New Era.
And now that I have said all that I think is indispensable, perhaps my readers will make excuses for me if I have expressed myself badly in narrating the story of my sufferings.
They will, perhaps, also make excuses for my having broken the silence which I have hitherto maintained.
There has been endless discussion concerning me and my affairs. I have not wished it, I have not inspired it. It has arisen solely through force of circumstances.
We are powerless against circumstances. Our lives seem to be influenced more by others than by ourselves, and the fatality which often orders our actions and our days is not our choice.
A moment's folly can wreck a whole life. This has been my personal experience. But I think that at first I was the person deceived, because I was not old enough to judge rightly and to see clearly.
Can I grow old without obeying the duty to defend the truth, which has been so outraged by my enemies? Can I go down to the grave, misunderstood and slandered?
My life represents a succession of fatalities of which I was powerless to avert the finaldénouement.
I have already said, and I repeat, I do not hold myself guiltless of errors, faults and wrongdoings. But one must, in justice, seek their primary cause in my disastrous marriage.
My parents—particularly the Queen—saw nothing wrong in giving me to the Prince of Coburg when I was hardly more than a child.
The King saw in this marriage the possibility of certain influences and a political union which would be useful to himself and to Belgium.
The Queen was overjoyed at the thought that I was to make my home in Austria and Hungary, whence she had herself come, and where I should remember her, and at the same time further my country's glory and the King's ambitions.
I have been sacrificed for the good of Belgium, and Belgium now includes Belgians who reproach me for the gift of my youth and happiness essentially destined for their benefit! Belgians to-day regard me as a German, a Hungarian—a foreigner—and worse even than that! Alas for human gratitude!
Be that as it may, am I guilty of having voluntarily abandoned my country or of ceasing to love it?
The whole of my being protests against this vile accusation.
Of what then am I guilty? Of having left my husband and my children?
I lived for twenty years at the most corrupt Court of Europe. I never yielded to its temptations or its follies.I gave birth to a son and a daughter, I suckled them at my breast, and I reposed all my hopes of a mother in my children. My son's fate and how he left me is common knowledge. It is also well known how my daughter, influenced by her husband and her environment, has treated me.
Of what was I actually guilty? It is true that finding myself at the end of my courage, and suffocating in the atmosphere of a home which for me was detestable, I was about to succumb....
I was rescued at this crisis, and I dedicated my life to my deliverer. And, in consequence, my saviour was branded as a forger, and by dint of monetary persecutions and fines it was sought to annihilate him.
Both of us have escaped from the murderers who desired our destruction.
Am I guilty of having struggled, of having remained faithful to fidelity, and of having resisted the efforts to overthrow me?
The judgments of error and hatred matter little to me. I have remained the woman that I promised my sainted mother I would become—the idealist, who has lived on the heights.
Am I guilty in the real meaning of morality and freedom? Many women who consider themselves in a position to cast the first stone at me have far more with which to reproach themselves!
What remains to be said?
This.... I believed, I believed in common with thegreatest legal minds, that in the ordinary course of events I should inherit a fortune from my father. My inheritance was considerably encumbered and reduced owing to fraudulent schemes and wrongful judgments, which have been universally condemned.
Am I guilty for having been deceived and plundered?
Again it is said that my family was not united. Is this my fault?
I always loved my flesh and blood more than myself. Have I been found wanting in affection and respect towards my parents? Was I not to my sisters the adoring eldest sister who loved and cherished them?
Am I guilty of the errors of the King and the Queen, the latter convinced by my persecutors of the gravity of my "illness," the former irritated—not by my independence, but by the scandal that it created?
Am I guilty of the selfishness of my sisters—one the victim of narrow-mindedness, the other the victim of political schemes?
I freely admit this: I have certainly rebelled against disloyalty and restraint. But for what motives? For what ends?
My real crime has consisted in my effort to get my own property, in waiting for a fortune which I have not handled.
The world only admires the victorious, no matter by what means they achieve victory.
I have been a victim ever since my girlish feet were led into devious paths; I have always suffered defeat.
When the battle was over I did not ask pardon of untruth, injury, theft, or persecution.
I might have been alone, I might have fallen under the burden of infamy and violence. But I would not yield because I was not fighting for myself alone.
God has visibly sustained me, by animating my heart with feelings of esteem and gratitude for a chivalrous soul whom I have never heard utter a word of complaint, no matter how atrocious the intrigues and the cruelties which encompassed him.
A base world has judged his devotion and my constancy from the lowest standpoint.
Let such a world now realize that beings exist who are far above the sordid instincts to which humanity abandons itself, beings who, in a common aspiration to a lofty ideal, rise superior to all earthly weaknesses. The last lines of this short sketch of a life, the details of which would fill many volumes, must be a recognition of my gratitude towards Count Geza Mattachich.
I have not said a great deal about him, because he will think that even a little is too much. This silent man only appreciates silence.
"Silence alone is strong, all the rest is weakness." Thus wrote Alfred de Vigny, and this line is the motto of the strong.
But you know, Count, that unlike you I cannot force myself to be silent. I wish to invoke the vision of the hour when you first spoke those words which penetrated my conscience and cleansed and illumined it. Fromthat hour, this light has been my guide. I have sought in suffering the road towards spiritual beauty. But you preceded me thither, and in the dark depths of the madhouse I looked towards your prison cell, and in so doing I escaped the horrors of insanity.
We have had to submit to the assaults of covetousness and hypocrisy.
We have struggled in the mire; we have been separated in wild lands. The world has only seen the splashes of mud and the tattered banner of our combat. It has ignored the cause, and its malevolence has never pardoned us for emerging from the fight as victims.
All this was very bitter at the time, but I never regret! My sufferings are dear to me because you, Count, have shared them, after having tried so ardently to spare me.
There is always a certain joy in bearing unmerited afflictions in the spirit of sacrifice.
This spirit of sacrifice is peculiarly your own. I never possessed it. But you have endowed me with it. No gift has ever been so precious to my soul, and I shall be grateful to you on this side of the tomb and beyond it!
I, who alone know you as you really are, and know the adoration that has given you a reason for living, I thank you, Count, in the twilight of my days for the nobility which you have always shown in this adoration. Shall I ever know, will you ever know, the meaning of rest otherwise than the last rest which is the lot of mankind?
Will earthly justice ever render unto us the hoped-for reparations?
Will it be possible for us to remain outlawed from the truth, and crushed by the abuse of power and human wickedness?
Let it be as God wills!