29 OCTOBER 1870, Page 1

It seems that Prince Jerome also pressed an intriguing policy

upon his cousin's wife at Chislehurst, and relieved his mind by denouncing recent Ministers as idiots (cretins). The Empress, who for ten years has fought the Prince for the Regency, and who detests him, his ways, and his surroundings, was stung into reply- ing, " For the last eighteen years you have opposed the Empire. You and those about you have never ceased to undermine it ; and to-day, when the Emperor is fallen, you pursue him still. Had you been at Paris on the 4th September you might have been able to give us good advice, but you were absent, as you have so often happened to be, at the moment of danger ; of course to your great regret, as I do not doubt.' Upon this Prince Na- poleon tarried no longer. He took up his hat and left the room." Very clever and very spirited ; only when Hapsburgs quarrel they do it without reporters, and Hapsburgs set the fashion. Jerome is put down, but the Napoleonic legend requires that he should be kept up.