It is known to very few even in France that an Indian Sultana, a
descendant of Tamerlane, named Aline of Eldir, has been living in Paris,
poor and forgotten, for above forty years. This heiress to a great
kingdom was stolen almost out of her cradle, and deserted by the robbers
on the coast of France. She was presented to the princesses of the
old court, and conceived a particular attachment for the Princess de
Lamballe; but when, at the age of only nine or ten years, her beauty
had attracted too much notice, and nothing but a _lettre de cachet_
could secure her from the persecutions of an exalted personage, she
exchanged a convent for a prison. The revolution set Aline at liberty.
At the time of the Egyptian campaign, the man who was destined to rule
France, and almost all Europe, and who had probably thus early turned
his attention to India, is said to have thought of the heiress of
Tamerlane, and to have formed the plan of restoring the illustrious
stranger to her native land. Josephine interested herself on this
occasion for the Sultana; but this had no influence upon her condition.
Unhappy, surrounded only by a few pious nuns, and urged by her
confessor, she renounced the religion of Mahomet, and became a
Christian. At length, in December, 1818, an Indian Sheik, named Goolam,
arrived in Paris, with instructions to claim the Princess Aline from the
Court of France. The Envoy sought out the Sultana: he informed her, that
her relations were desirous of her return; that she should be reinstated
in the rank which was her right, and again behold the bright sun and the
beautiful face of her own Asia, upon the sole condition that she would
forsake Christ for Mahomet. No persuasions, however, could prevail upon
the convert to comply with this requisition; Goolam went back to India
without accomplishing the object of his mission, which produced no
improvement in her straitened circumstances. Two years afterwards, she
learned that an Indian Prince had landed in England with a splendid
retinue, including three females, but that he had been obliged by the
English government to embark again immediately for India. Aline had no
doubt that this event had some connexion with her history, but she
heard no more of the matter.
These particulars are chiefly extracted from the preface to the books
of the Princess, written by the Marquess de Fortia. This nobleman
generously took upon himself the charge of supporting Aline, who has
now attained the age of sixty years in a foreign land.--_Court
Journal_.
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