Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1859-07-26
rhe E--Kin. Jerome Bonauarte.

1t has seldom fallen to The lot OF man to see
such amazing vicissitudes OF fortune, affecting
himself and family, as has been witnessed by
the parsonage whose name heads this artlcle-
The dreams of romance have been eXceIied by
the actual realities of his life. de Is the only
surviving brother OF the illustrious Napoleon,
and was born in 1884. So long has the latter
been an historical character that, at first, 1t ap.
pears almost impossible that the great conqueror,
who, after running q most remarkable career
of twenty years that the world ever saw, ter
minated it by his death, nearly forty years ago,
upon the rock OF ST. Helena, sbonld have
brother now occupying high position In the
French Government
Ofall his family, he alone is permitted to
witness both their remarkable rise in prosperity
aud fortune and their subsequent tremendous
dowGa, and their equally wonderful return to
the height ofpower and influence. His recollec
tioD. goes back to the time when the lalnily ol
Bonaparte was not known beyond the range ol
few friends and acquaintances, and when lts
members, in private life, were compelled TO strng
gle in obscurity with penury and misfortune
He can recoect his mother, a widow, with Q
large family OF children upon her hands, and
when it required stern conflict to obtain Tor
them the necessary means of subsistence. lie
was in early manhood when the genius OF his
brother first burst upon the world, and opened
to his relatives visions OF power and splendor
that never, even in the widest flights OF lmagi-
nation, had they previously entertained. lie
saw his brothers and sisters placed, by the magic
wand of Napoleon, upon nearly all the thrones
of Europe, and decked with diadems and coro-
nets.
For the first time in the history of Europe
was the extraordinary spectacle observed OF
family of private citizens parceng thrones ano
crowns among themselve, as if they had been
the merest baubes. jerome was thlrty-one
years old when the dark cloud of misfortune
and disaster gathered black and heavy over the
fortunes of his family, and when the storm came
that swept them from their height of grandeur
aud glory, into the depth of humiliation and de
basement. He saw the star of the Bonaparte
destiny, so often apostrophized by Napoleon,
sink beneath the Clouds apparently never to
rise again. For nearly forty years, the black
ness of night enveloped it. Not one of the
riginal family saw this long night to close, save
Jerome; as before it again emerged from the po-
litical horizon, they were all deceased. jerome
has had the remarkable felicity to see the for
tunes of his family re established under u new
Napoeonic dynasty.
One of the chiefs of the old empire, he holds
similar position in the new. He directs the
counsels of the Regent Empress Eugenie, as he
had previously doue those of Maria Louisa. A
great historical monument of the past is this old
King Jerome, who personally has witnessed the
most remarkable family history that the world
has ever seen. 1t is not yet finished. He has
not yet attained tue most extreme old age, and
it is possible that he may see events affecting
his family quite as startling and remarkable as
those which have hitherto characterized its ca
reer-Ci Cincinnati Enquirer.