Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser., 1851-09-03

melancholy nspIanted into the tumult ol
a Gallo camp. The pretended insipdity OF
silence concealed thoughts delica,ely teml-
nine, aud The mysteries of sentiment, which
waited her in Imagination far from that
court TO her magnificent but rude place of
exile.
The moment she returned to her private
apartments. or the solitude of her gardens.
she agsin became essentially German. She
cultivated The arts of poetry, painting and
music. In these accomplishments educa-
ton had rendered her perfect, as if to con.
sole her, when far from her native land, for
the absence and the sorrows which she
would one day be exposed. In these ac-
quirements she excelled but they were
confined to herself alone. She read and re-
pealed from memory the poetry of her ma
tive bards. BY nature she was simple but
pleasing, and absorbed within herself; ex-
lernalIy silent, but full Of internal feelings ;
formed for domestic love in an obscure des-
tiny but daZZled on a throne, she fell her
self exposed to the gaze of the world as the
conquest Of pride, not the love Of hero.
She could dlssemble nothing, either during
her grandeur or after the reverses of her
lord; and this was her crime. The theatrical
world, into which she had been thrown,
looked for the picture Of conjugal passion
in captive Of victocy. She was too unso-
phislicaled to af1ec, love when she only felt
obedience, limidily and resignation. Ma
lure will pity, though history may accuse
her.
This is true portrait Of Marie Louise.
wrote IL IN her presence ten years after
wards. She had developed al that period,
during her liberty and her dowhood, all
The hidden grsces of her youth. They
wished her to play par,-lhe actress was
wanting; but the woman remained. Histo-
ry should award her-what the partial ver-
dict of Napoleon's couriiers has refused
pity, tenderness, and grace.
She has been condemned for not having
been the theatrical heroine of an affection
she never felt. Overlooking the feelings of
a woman, her accusers forgot that the hear,
will make itself heard even in the drama Of
such an unparalleled destiny and if the hear,
is not always a justification, it is at least
an excuse. Justice should weigh such ex-
Suses~eyen when she condems.
tL-as. imssver loved Napoeon.-
Iin" tould she rove him? He had grown
old in camps, and amidst the tolls of ambi-
heart was cold and inneXible as The spirit
of calculation which accomplished his great
ness that of the fair German princess was
gentle, limid, and pensve as lhe poetic
dreams Of her native land. She had fallen
from the steps of an ancient throne; he had
mounted upon his by the force of arms, and
by trampling hereditary rights under foot
Her early prejudices and education had
taught her to consider Napoleon as the
scourge of God, the Atlila of modern king
doms, the oppressor of Germany, the mur
derer of princes, The ravager Of nations, the
lncendiary Of capitalism a word, the ene
my against whom her prayers had been rais-
ed TO Heaven from her cradle in the palace
OF her ancestors. She regarded herself a
a hostage conceded through fear to the con-
queror, after the ungralelul and tolerated re-
pudialion of wife who had been the very
instrument Of his fortunes. She felt that
she had been sold, not given. She look ed
npon herself as the cruel ransom Of her ia
lher and her country. She had resigned TO
her fate as an immolation. The spendors
Of an imperial throne were to her as the
flowers decking victim for sacrifice. Cast
alone, and wiihou, friend, into court
composed of parvenu soldiers, revolutionary
courliers, and bantering women, whose
p,,pnorc anJ ,,oro 49,,
known to her, her youth had consumed in
silent etiquette. Even her husbands first.
addresses were not calculated 10 inspire con-
dence. There was something disrespec,ful
and violent in his affection: be wounded
even when he sought to please. His very
love was rough and imperious; terror inter-
posed between him and the heart of his
young wife; and even the birth of an ardent
ly-deslred son could not unite such oppo-
site natures. Marie Louise felt that to Ma
poleon she was only a medium of poslerity
NOT wife and a mother, bu, merely the
root of an hereditary dynasty. This master
of the world could not boast even the inhe-
rent virtues of love-failh and constancy to
the one woman. His attachments were
transient and numerous. He respected not
the jeaIousies natural to the bosom Of the
wife and though he did not openly pro-
claim his amours like Louis XIV, neither
did he possess that monarch's courtesy and
refinement. The most noted beauties Of
his own and Of foreign courts were not to
him objects of passionate love, but of ire
sslible, transient desire; thus even mingIing
his conlemp. with his love. Napoleon's long
and frequent absences;his severe and minute
orders SO strictly observed by household
of spies instead of friends, chosen rather to
control than to execute the will of DE En-
press his pe!lshness of temper on his lre-
quen. abrupt returns; morose and meancho-
ly after experiencing reverses, her only re-
creation being ostentatious, lIresome, and
frivolous ceremonies ) nothing of such a
life, OF such character; of such man, was