Page:Men of the Time, eleventh edition.djvu/403

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386

EUGENIE.

male branch of the House of Braganza, and distingoiBhed by the title of Marshal of the Empire^ he took the command of the Brazi- lian forces as thej were straining every nerre for a supreme effort in Paraguay^ and brought to a happy termination a campaign which^ were its particulars entrusted to the treatment of a great poet, might rank among the most epic exploits of our times. The struggle with Lopez, the Dictator of Para- guay, lasted for six years with varying success, and was closed by the death of Lopez on March 1, 1870, when General Camara, of the Brazilian cavalry, overtook the Dictator at Aquidubon, and, as he refused to surrender, he was cut down, sword in hand, at the head of a small body of troops, who manifested their attachment to their leader till the last. The Comte d*Eu afterwards made a triumphant entry into Rio de Janeiro with the ^lite of his victori- ous troops. He has had the direc- tion of affairs in Brazil during the frequent and protracted visits of the Emperor Pedro II. to Europe.

EUGENIE, bz-Empbebs of thb French. Euo^nie-Mabib db Guz- man, Countess of T^a, born May 5, 1826, is the daughter of Dofia Maria Manuela Kirl^trick, of Qlosebum, coimtess-dowager de Montijos, whose f atiier was English consul at Malaga at the period of her marriage with the Count de Montijos, an officer in the Spanish army, connected, more or less closely, with the houses of the duke de Frias, representative of the ancient admirsds of Castile, of the duke of Fyars, and others of the highest rank, including the descendants of the kings of Aragon. On the death of the count de Montijos, his widow was left with a fortune adequate to the maintenance of her position, and two daughters, one of whom married the Duke of Alba and Berwick, lineally descended from James II.

and Miss Churchill. For Eug6ni< the second, a still higher destin was reserved. In 1851, the Coimtee T^ba, accomx)anied by her mothei paid a lengthened visit to Parii and was distinguished at the variou entertainments given at the Tuilc ries by the dignity and elegance o her demeanour, and by grea,t pei sonal beauty, — of the aristocrat! English rather than the SpanisJ style. Her mental gifts were no less attractive ; for her educatioi partly conducted in England, wa very superior to that generall bestowed upon Spanish women, wh seldom quit their native oountrj Shortly after the opposition of th higher Northern Powers had pu an end to the idea of a unioi between the Emperor Napoleon II] and the Princess Carola Wasa o Sweden, he apprised the council o ministers of his intended marriagi with the daughter of the Countes Montijos ; a measure which excite< some disapproval among them, an< even led to their temporary with drawal from office. During the shor time which intervened between th< public announcement of the ap proaching event and its realization the Countess T^ba and her mothei took up their abode in the palace o the Elys^e. The marriage wai celebrated with much magnifioeno on Jan. 29, 1853, at Notre Dame The life of the Empress Eug^ni^ after her marriage was compara tively uneventful, being passec chiefly in the ordinary routine oj state etiquette; in visits to the various royal maisons de plaisance varied by an extended progresi through France in company with her husband j by an annual sojoun for the benefit of her health a1 Biarritz, in the Pyrenees, th< favourite summer resort of hei family in the days of her girlhood by a journey to England and Scot land, in the autumn of 1861, and in 1864 to some of the German baths. The Empress Eugenie, who became the mother of an heir to the house