The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1859-11-23
The Bonapartes and the Beauharnais-
The Revenge OF History.

The Bonapartes and the Beauharnais-
The Revenge OF History.
| LhOmme propose, ct Diem dispose. =
This familiar French proverb, which the
vicissitudes of life induce even the most
unredecting so frequently to apply, and
which some witty writer of the same ma
tion, no less philosophical than gallant,
wishing to testify to woman's inevitable
influence in all things both great and
small, has modified into "L'homme propose
ct In femme dispose" is, perhaps, no where
more forcibly impressed upon the mind
than in the chequered careers of Napol-
con and Josephine. Familiar as every
one is with the lives of these two person
ages, many, however, have never thought
of following Josephine through her de-
scendants, and are not prepared to ac-
knowledge how much more closely the
Beauharnais are allied to the royal fami-
lies of Europe than are the Bonapartes
A few, probably, might prove as incredu
lous, in the absence of proof as would
have been the Viscount Beauharnais had
any one revealed to him the fate of his
children and grandchildren, when. in 1874
he laid his head under Robespierre's re-
lentless guillotire. and left widow be-
hind him destined 60 fascnate and marry
the rising General of the Republic
Equally surprised. too, would the respec-
table planter of Martinique, Tascher de
la Pagerie, have been, had he been told,
while attending to his negroes On his far
to spring q race of emperors and en-
presses, queens and viceroys, as powerful
as any the world had ever known; and
that to this end two little islands, colo
nies of France-Corsica and Martinique,
were to contribute.
!, After the treaty of Tilsit, Napoleon
occupied the loftiest position in the civ
illzed world. Enthroned amid the splen-
; dor of the most magnificent court of Eu-
rope, he was virtually master of an en-
pire stretching over the entire face of the
continent with the exception of Russia
and Turkey, and with those two powers
he was on terms of cordial alliance. To
himself, as every school boy knows, he re-
served the imperial throne of France,
comprising the France of the present day,
Belgium, Savoy. Piedmont. and at one
time the whole of Northern Italy and part
of Germany. On his brothers and Sis
ters he conferred respectively the diadems
of Holland, Naples, Spain, Westphalia
and Tuscany; whilst his step-son, Eugene
Beauharnais, he appointed viceroy of Ita-
3 ly. Yet, with this unrivalled dominion,
he was dlscontented. AS long as he had
no issue to transmit his name to posterity
he fancied his power Unsecured. To con-
solidate his throne, then, and to CRAFTY
= !, the ambitious yearnings of his heart, he
i formed the project of an alliance with the
:, . imperial family of Austria. And to ac
:. complish this, he discarded Josephine
y his long devoted and faithful wife. She
. retired to Malmaison, powerless, weep
% ing woman, cast-off favorite, withou
. political friends or influence. And hi
:. continued to rule, the very emblem o
70 power, all Europe at his feet, millions o
' men ready to carry out his lightest ca
- price, and his throne apparently frme
than Gibraltar Who then would hav
y dreamed of the retribution that time hel,
- in reserve!
A few short years more, and Napoleo
10 lay chained to st. Helena's rock, an
:" Josephine lay sleeping peacefully beneat
the sod The rule of the Bonapartes wa
III over: the sceptres of France, Belgium
:, Holland, Spain. Italy and Westphalia ha
III beer transferred to hostile hands. Th
y only scion of the great man fallen, tn
st Duke de Reichstadt, ci-devant King 9
d. Rome, roamed virtual prisoner in hi
es grand:ather's palace at Vienna, bearing i
ID him the seeds of malady to which b
Is, IS, was early doomed to fall a victim. Th
~ family name of the ambitious Napoleo
as figured in none of the courts of Europe
ne The children of the discarded JOSEPH
aS inc, on the other hand, were rising int
as power and forming alliances with tt
u proudest blood in Europe. Her son E,
eyy gene, already allied to the royal house
nu Bavaria by his marriage with Emeli
n' daughter of the king, was living with b
father.in-law, under the title of Duke
: Lenchtenberg. His eldest son, Augu
tus, married Donna Maria, Queen of Po
go tugal, in 1885. His younger son, Prin'
nd Maximilian, married IN 1889 the daug
I'd ter of the Emperor Nicholas of Russi
cd The eldest daughter of Eugene Beauha
to nais, Josephine, married Oscar, afterwar
The King Of Sweden, son Of Marshal Bern
am dotte, and successor to his father in "a