The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-26 00:00:00

711 E DEATH CF PRINCE JEROME.

We regret to announce that this sad event, which
for some days past has been considered probable,
took place yesterday afternoon at five o'clock.
When the Emperor went to Villegenis on Saturday

afternoon, the Prince was tranquil, but so weakened
that no hope could be entertained of any perma-
nent amendment. Prince Napoleon and the Prin.-%
cess Clotilda, who have been in constant attendance
on the illustrious patient, were supported in their
work of affectionate duty by the other members of
the Imperial family, all of whom had assembled at
th• Prince's residence. In the evening the Prince,
although exceedingly enfeebled, was in possession
of his faculties, and received the last consolations of
religion from the hand of the Cardinal-Archbishop
of Paris. Towards night, however, his Imperial
Highness sank into a kind of lethargy, nature
seeming to have worn herself out. In the morn-
ing, as the same insensibility still continued,
H.l.H.'s :medical attendants was that all hope
was over, and announced in their bulletin that

. ,
the Prince was not only reduced to the greatest
degree of weakness but had become insensible.
The Prince, however, still held on during the
day until at the hour we have mentianed he
expired calmly and totally exempt from pain.
The loss of his Imperial Highness, who was the
last surviving brother of Napoleon I. will be a
great affliction to the present Emperor of the
French and the other members of the Imperial
family, to all of whom he was greatly endearel by
his many amiable qualities. The deceased was in
his 76th year.
The following is a biographical notice of the
Prince :

Prince Jerome was born at Ajaccio on the 15th
December, 1784, and was the youngest brother of
the Emperor Napoleon I. He was brought to
France in 1793, and educated at the College of
Juilly, and on his brother having been raised to
the high dignity of First Consul, Jerome entered
the navy as midshipman. In 1801 he was pro-
moted to the rank of lieutenant, and, in command
of the Epervier corvette, accompanied the expe-
dition to St. Domingo, under General Leclerc,
his brother-in-law. He was sent to France with
the news of the successful landing of the troops,
and again returned to the West Indies, and
cruised off Martinique. Having been driven
from that station by the English, he put into New
York. He visited Philadelphia, and on the 24th
December, 1803, married Miss Elizabeth Patter-
son, daughter of a 'rich merchant at Baltimore.
This union displeased Napoleon, and, after a year
passed in the United States, Jerome was-compelled
by his brother to return to Earope, and he landed
with his wife at Lisbon in May, 1805. Jerome
left for Paris, and the lady went on in the ship to
Amsterdam. On arriving in the Texel an order
had been received forbidding her to land; she, in
consequence, proceeded to England, and took up
her residence at Camberwell. On the 7th July,
1805, her son Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte was
born. Still the Emperor Napoleon would not re-
cognise the marriage, nor was the lady permitted
10 enter France. In the March previous a special
decree of the Council of State declared the marriage
to be null and void. The Emperor next applied to
the Pope for a bull annulling the union, which,
however, his Holiness had not the power to issue,
and he wrote a long letter to Napoleon, explaining
the reasons. Young Jerome, after having been
subjected to a temporary disgrace, was, at the end
of 1805, charged by the Emperor to proceed to
Algiers to claim from the Dey the release of 250
Genoese, who were detained in slavery; he was
successful in his mission, and landed them all in
safety at Genoa, where he was received with
great honour. He was afterwards appointed to
the command of the Veteran line-of-battle ship,
and-went with seven other ships-of-war to cruize
in the West Indies. On his return thence, he cap-
tured six English merchantmen, but he was pursued
by an English fleet, and his vessel stranded off the
coast of Brittany. On reaching Paris he received
the cordon of the Legion of -Honour, was promoted
to the rank of admiral, and created a Prince of the
Empire. In the following year he quitted the naval
service, and soon after obtained the command of a
body of Bavarian and Wurtemburg troops, at the
head of which he directed the blockade of Glogan,
and reduced the fortresses of Silisea —services for
which he was made a General of Division in the
Imperial army, on the 14th March, 1807. On the
7th August following he married the Princess Fre-
derica, Caroline, daughter of the King of Wurtem-
burg, and immediately after the marriage was pro-
claimed King of Westphalia—a kingdom created
expressly for him.
The young king, then only 22 years of age, made
himself much beloved, and surprised the world by
his administrative skill. He replenished his exche-
quer by a loan from the Jews, whom he repaid by
tee concession of perfect religious freedom, observ-
ing that "No man ought to interfere with the
exercise of the religious worship of another.
Every subject should be as free to observe the
rules of his faith as the King himself. It is the
civil duty of the citizens only that
hope I shall
never have cause to regret that I favour and pro-
tect the Israeiites of my kingdom." His conduct
was not, however, always in accordance with the
ideas of the Emperor, who several times summon( d
him to Paris to remind him in a more or less severe
manner what obligations the possession of a throne
imposed on him.
In 1812 he was appointed to the command of a
corps d'artnee formed of German troops, andthe battle of
dis-
tinguished himself at Otrowno and
itaileaa In October, 1813, he was compelled to
retire before the Russians, and'at the head of some
French detachments he returned to Westphalia ,
hich he afterwards left precipitately on hearins,
Paris
of the issue of the battle of Leipsic. In 1814 he
rejoined ine d
Trieste t h
ande
Queen
Naplesat Arleat
un ircnhe residing
dantod
in April,
1815. During the hundred days he was present at
the ceremony of the Champ tie Mai, as well as at
the sittings of the Chamber of Peers, where he l
He at
a seat as a.Feench Prince. d' a e
command in
the campaign in Belgium, was wounded at'llougcu-
mont, and distinguished himself at
Waterloo,which