The Belgian people have been greatly moved by a scandal
within their Royal family. The Queen of the Belgians, an Archduchess of Austria, and a woman of singularly fine character, died on September 19th at a palace near Spa where she had resided for some years, and among the mourners was, of course, her daughter, the Princess Stephanie, once the widow of the Crown Prince of Austria, now the wife of Count Lonyay, a great Hungarian magnate. King Leopold objected to this marriage, though it was sanctioned by the Emperor of Austria, and ever since has refused to hold any communication with his daughter. So vindictive, indeed, is he that on his arrival at the palace where the remains of his wife lay, he refused to allow the Princess to stay in the room with her mother's corpse, and ordered her to quit the house. The Princess of course obeyed, but so shocked were the Belgians that they gave her an ovation at every station on her way to Brussels, and signified by every mark of respect that they considered her treatment utterly unjustifiable. They would have been right even if the Princess bad given just cause of offence to her family, but she had given none.
