Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1851-11-05
THE DEATH OF JOSEPHINE.

his fortune. Ihe last engagement at Lelpslc
decided his fortunes for the time, and consigned
him to Elba.
Napoleon was an exile, but in his retirement
he did not forget the only being he ever really
loved, his Josephine He Immediately address
ed letter to her, breathing the same spirit to-
wards her that he had always manifested rath-
er congratulating himself that his head and spir-
it were free from the enormous weight of care,
and intimating that hereafter his pen should be
a substitute for the sword.
"The world" said he, I" has as yet, only seen
me in profile | shall now show myselfin full.
How many things have to disclose how many
are the men upon whom false estimate has
been placed have heaped benefits upon mill
ions of wretches! What have they done in the
end for me? They have all betrayed me-yes,
all. | except from this number the good Eu-
gene and yourself. Adieu! my dear Josephine.
Be resigned as / am, and never forget him who
never forgot, and never will forget you. Fare
well, Josephine. NAPOLEON"
Upon reading these tidings so terrible, jose
phine was overwhelmed with grief, and immedi-
ately answered his letter, breathing the same
spirit of devotion to him, who was once her hus-
band, that had always characterised her noble
heart and entreating him but to say the word,
cumstances connected with her illness and death
we give in the language of Mr.. Abbott.
A few days after this letter was written, the
Emperor Alexander, with a number of iustri-
Gus guests dined with Josephine, at Malmaison.
In the evening twilight, the party went out up
on the beautiful lawn in front of the house, for
recreation. Josephine, whose health had be-
come exceedingly precarious through care and
sorrow, being regardless of herself in devotion
to her friends, took violent cold. The next
day she was worse. Without any very definite
form of disease, she day after day grew more
faint and feeble, until it was evident that her fl
nal change was near at hand. Eugene and Hor-
tense, her most affeetionate children, were with
her by day and by night. They communicated
to her the judgment of her physicians that death
was near. She heard the tidngs with perfect
composure, and called for a clergyman to adj
minister to her the last rites of religion.
Just after this solemnity the Emperor Alexan-
der entered the room. Eugene and Hortense,
bathed in tears were kueeling at their mothers
side. Josephine beckoned to the Emperor to
approach her, and said to him and her children,
81 have always desired the happiness of France.
did all in my power to contribute to il; and
can say with truth, to all of you now present,
ut my last moments that the first wife Of Napo-
leon never caused tear to flow"
She called for the portrait of the Emperor;
she gazed upon it long and tenderly and then,
fervently pressing it in her clasped hands to
her bosom, family articulated the following
prayer
90 God watch over Napoleon while he re-
mains in the desert of this world Alas! tho
he has committed great faults, hath he not ex-
plated them by great suferingsg Just God,
thou hast looked into his heart, and hast seen by
how ardent desire for useful and durable i'm
provements he was animated. Deign to approve
my last petition. And may this image Of my
husband bear me witness that my latest wish
and my latest prayer were for him and my chill
dren."
1t was on tho 26th of May, 1874 A tranquil,
summers day, was fading away into acloudless
serene and beautiful evening. The rays Of the
setting sun, struggling through the foliage of
the open window, shone cheerfully upon the bed
where the empress was dying. The vesper
songs of the birds which filled the groves of
Malmason foated sweetly upon the ear, and
the gentle spirit of Josephine, lulled to repose
by the sweet anthems, sank into its last sleep.
Gazing upon the portrait of the Emperor, she
exclaimed =" Lisle d'Elba-Napoleon! and died.
Alexander, as he gazed upon her lifeless re-
mains, burst into tears, and uttered the follow
ing affecting yet just tribute of respect to her
"She is no more that woman whom
France named the beneficial, that angel of good
ness is no more. Those who have known Jo-
sephine can never forget her. She dies regret
ted by her offspring, her friends, and her conem-
poraries."
For four days her body remained shrouded in
state for its burial. During thistime more than
twenty thousand of the people of France visited
her beloved remains. On the I'd of June, at
midday, the funeral procession moved from NAL
maison to Ruel, where the body was deposited
in tomb of the village church. The funeral
services were conducted with the greatest mag
nificence, as the sovereigns of the allied armies
united wth'the French in doing honor to her
When all had left the church but Eu-
gene and Hortense, they knelt beside their
mothers grave, and fora long time mingled their
prayers and their tears. A beautiful monument
of white marble, representing the Empress as
kneeling in her coronation robe, is erected over
her burial place, with this simple but affecting
inscription:
EUGENE AND HoRTEssE,
TO
JOSEPHINE.