DIAMOND NECKLACE, TIIE AFFAIR or 'HIE. .1. celebrated s(Notilal involving the royal family of France in the years preceding the out break of the French Bi.volution. The affair has Dana illed It pliZZling incident in the history of the French Court, in spite of time and a fairly generous literature. The nearest approach to the truth has probably been made by .1lichelet, in the sixteenth volume of his llistoirc de ['ranee. Ti, story revolves about a magnificent collar of diamonds which Messrs. Boolimer and Pas s•ng... jewelers to the french Court. had brought together at vast expense for du Barry. mistress of Louis XV. The King. however. died before the necklace was completed. Toward the t•nd .4 17$'t lloolimer and Bassange attempted to iniluee llarie .Antoinette to purchase the neck lace, through the etTorts of an intermediary. a certain Countess Lainotte-Valois, who claimed desecnt from the house that had once ruled er France, and who enjoyed some influence with the Queen. For some time before this the Countess had been acting as the agent in a reinarkalile intrigue revolving about Cardin:11 Bohan. Orand %Intoner of France and Bishop of St rasslairg. v.111). prt•yious IQ 1771, ambassador at \ a had been recalled in disgrace. lloping to regain potter through the favor of the t,ucru, this good lial1111:(1 libertine, gulterous, Vain, and easily imposed upon, fell a victim to the cunning of the Countess, :vim per suaded him that Alarie .t.litoinette was inclined to look faVo• Upon hill]. A remarl:able tor respondence ensued, ill which noltan's hopes were fed by letters purporting to come from Queen. but ill reality tvritten by the Countess. Lt .Tuly, I, the Cardinal was made to believe that the Queen had consented to give him It private audience. A Woman of the streets, a certain Mlle. Oliva, in form and general cast of features remarkably resembling Alarie An toinette. was hired to impersonate the l4tcon. A brief interview ill the park of Versailles at mid night served to keep up the prelate's ardor. and his gratitude showed itself in substantial favors to the Cionitess.
NVIlen 11oelinier and Bassange sought her ser ices with the Queen, the Countess probably con ceived the idea of uniting the two enterprises into one profitable undertaking. In January, 1785, she informed 11aSSange that the Queen was trilling to purchase the collar, lint she made it a condition that the negotiations must lie carried Im through a third person. Bohan was designated as the one from whom the jewelers were to take their sureties as to payment. The Cardinal. who
had been persuaded that his services in the matter would insure his success with the Queen, agreed to pay 1.600,000 livres for the necklace in four in stallments, beginning with _kiigust 1. On Janu ary 29 the jewelers signed a contract of sale. and on the 31st the instrument was returned to them signed 'large .Antoinette de France."Ihis is generally brought forward as a proof against the genuineness of the signature, inasmuch as the Queen tvas aceustomed to sign herself 'Marie .Antoinette irAntriche.' On February 1, at Ver sailles, in the presence of Bohan, the Countess delivered a casket containing the necklace to 1)esclaux, an attendant of the Queen, after the smaller stones and pendants had been removed for the purpose of securing the money necessary for the payment of the first installment. This is the version given by the Countess ill her Memoirs, and is accepted by Nlielielet. 11hether the ac count he true or false, nothing more was ever seen of the collai as a whole. The failure of Bohan to pay on August 1 led the jewelers to complain to Breteuil. Alinister of Polite, who, as an enemy of Bohan, rejoiced exceedingly, and informed the i,hi•cti of the scandalous reports which were being circulated in Paris concerning the Cardinal and herself. The affair 'was quickly brought to the notice of die King. upon whom it proditeed an exlremidy painful impression. On .1iigilst 15. .\ scension Day. the Cardinal Bohan. in full pontifical robes, Was arrested in the midst of the C'ourt. and sent IQ the Bastille. The was three days later, and this was followed by Ilse imprisonment of the womb.r trorking magician Cagliostro who had peen Bohan's chief adviser in the affair. as well as of lover and Oliva. The Par lement of Paris was eliarged with the trial of the (.8.-e, W11 hoverer, was (.01111110 I'd in a half hearted manner. for it would scent that the 1:ing, fearing the odium which a full revelation might bring upon Ilse Queen. prevented, in a large meas ure, an imparlial investigation. On May :11 the Countess was found guilty of the theft of the neck lace, and was sentenced to be scourged, branded, and imprisoned for life. flee hu-band, who had succeeded in avoiding arrest, was condemned to the galleys as her accomplice. Rohan and Cagli ostro were found guilty of criminal intent, and the Cardinal was declared an innocent dupe. The Countess succeeded in escaping from prison, and took up her residence in London, where she died miserably in 1791.