Litchfield enquirer., 1855-03-01
THE DEATH OF JOSEPHINE.

I THE DEATH OF JOSEPHINE. Darkness and clouds surrounded the path. wayof Napoleon. In vain he straggled C retrieve his fortune. The last engagement a, Leipsie decided his fortunes for the tims aud consigned him toElha.
 Napoleon was an exile. but in his Istirci ment he did not forget the only being he eyer reallX loved, his Josephine. He i'm. mediately addressed letter to her, breathing the same spirit towards her that he had l always manl1ested, rather congrstuIating himself that his head and spirit were freer from the enormous weight of care, and in- timating that hereafter his should be a substitute for the sword.
 "The world," said he, " has as vet, only seen me in profile. shall now. show my self Tn full. How many things have to dis close how many arc the men npon whom false estimate has been placed I isAve heaped benefits upon millions of wretches What have they done in the end for me !- They have all betrayed me lS Yes. all. except from this number the good Eugene and yourself Adieu my dear Josephine. Be resigned, as 1 am, and never forget him who never forgot, and never will forget you. Farewell, Josephine. NApoLIos.p
 Upon reading these ,idings 60 terrible, Josephine was overwhelmed with grief, and immediately answered his letter, breathing the same spirit ofdevotion to him, who was once her husband, that had always charac- terized her noble heart, and entreated him to say but the word, and she would fly to him. The remaining circumstances con- necied with her illness and death we give in the language of Mir. Abbott.
 A few days after this letter was written, the Emperor Alexander, with number of illustrious guests, dined with Josephine at Malmaison. In the evening twilight, the party went out upon the beautiful lawn in front of the house for recreation. Josephine, whose health had become exceedingly, pre- carious through care and sorrow, being fe- gardless of herself in devotion to her friends, took violent cold. The next day she was, worse. Without any definite form of dis ease, she day after day grew more faint and feeble, until it was evident tFiat her final change Was near at~hand. Eugene, and Hortenss, her most affectionase children, were with her by day and by night. They communicated to her the judgment of her physician, that death was near. She heard the tidings with perfect composure, and called for clergyman to administer to her the last rites of sasigion
 Just after this solemnity .i,u Empevot AlsNaudrT entered the room. Eugene and Horlense, bathed in tears, were kneeling at their mothers side. Josephine beckoned to the Emperor to approach her, and said to him and her children, [" have always de. sired the happiness of France. ldid all in my power to contribute to it; and can say with truth, to all of you now present, nt my last moments, that the first wife ofNapoleon never caused tear to fow.n
 She called for the portrait of the Emperor; she gazed upon it long and tenderly; and then. ferventy pressing it in her clasped hands to her bosom, tain,ly ar,icula,ed the following prayer:
 @ "O God watch over Napoleon while he. remains in the desertof this world. Alas !! though he hath committed great faults. hath he not expiated them by great sufferngs! Just God. thou hast looked into his heart, and hast seen by how ardent desire for useful and durable improvements he was animated. Deign to approve my last pe- tiiion. And may this image of my husband bear me witness that my latest wish and my stprayer were for him and my cliildnn.h y
 It was the s6th fMay 1874. A uanquil summers day was fading away into cloud less. serene and beautiful evening. The rays of the setting sun struggliage through the foliage of the open window, shone cheer fully upon the bed where the empress was dying. The vesper songs of the birds which filled the grove of Malmaison foated sweetly upon the ear, and the gentle spirit of Josephine. lulled to repose by these sweet anthems, sunk into its las, sleep. Casing upon the portrait of the emperor, she ex- claimed, L'isle d Elbe-Napoleon !" asd died.
 Alexander, as he gazed upon her lifelsss remains, burst into tears, and uttered the following affecting yet just tribute of re- spect to her memory. 'She is no more; tha | woman whom France ssnasned the bsnefi- cent, that angel of goodness is nomore.- Those who have known Josephine can never forget her. She dies reyfeslad by her offspring, her friends, and lef <ontem- porsries." s
 For four days her body remained 6I1soud- cd in state for it's burial. During nm time nore than twenty thousand of tho people ofsfrance visited her beloved remains. On the Bad of June, midday, the funeral pro. cession moved from Malmaison to Rael, where the body was deposited ina tomb of the village church. The funeral services were conducted with the grcatest magni6- cence, as the sovereigHs of the sliied armies united with the French in doing honor to her memory. When all had left the church hut Eugene and-lor,ense, they knelt beside their mothers grave, and fora long time mingled their prayers and their tears. A beautiful monument of white marb le repse- seniins the empress kneeling in her coro- natical robes, is erected ovefe her burial. place. with this simple bat affecting inscrip- ! tion:
 EUGgyg AND tloRTExsE fos
 JOSEPHINE.