Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1859-07-16
The Ex-Kiug Jerome Bonaparte.

1t has seldom fallen To the lot of man to see
such amazing vcs>itudrs of fortune, affect
Ing himself and family, aS has been witnessed
nv the parsonage whose name heads tins arti-
Gle The dreams OF romance have been ey-
celled by the actual realities OF his life. He
is the ONLY surviving brother Of the illustri-
Gus Napoleon, and was born III 1854. So
long has the latter been III historical charac-
ter that, at first, it appears almost impossible
that the great conqueror, who, after running
the most remarkable career of twenty years
that the world ever saw, terminated 1t 10y
his death, nearly forty years ago, upon the
rock of st. Helena, should have II brother
now occupying II high position i'll the French
Government.
OF all his family ne alone is permitted to
Witness both their remark able rise in pros
peritv and fortune and their subsequent ire
mendous downfall, and their equally wonder
full return to the hei ght Of power and lntiu
ence. His recollection goes back to the time
when the family of Bonaparte was not
known beyond the range of Ii few friends
and acquaintance and when its members,
in private life, were compelled to struggle in
obscurity with perjury and misfortune. lie
can recollect his mother, widow with IL
large family of children upon her hands,
and when it required stern conflict to OBJ
tain for them the necessary means OF sub
sistence. lie was in early manhood when
the genius of his brother first burst upon the
world, and opened to his relatives visions of
DOW er and splendor that never, even in the
widest flights of imagination, had they pre-
yiously entertained He saw his brothers
and sisters placed. by the magic wand OF
Napoleon, upon nearly all the thrones Of
Europe, and decked with diadems and cor"-
mes.
For the first time in the history of Europe
WAS the extraordinary spectacle observed OF
IL family of private citizens parcelllng thrones
and crowns among themselves, rs II they
had been the mrrest baubles. Jerome was
thirty-one years old when the dark clouds 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 and glory, into the
depth of humiliation aud debasement. llesaw
the star of the Bnnaparte destiny, 81 often apoS
trophiZed by Napoleon, sink beneath the
clouds apparently never to rise again. For
nearly forty wears, the blackness of night eli
veloped it, Not one of the original family
saw this long night to close, save jerome,
as, before i, again emerged from the political
horizon they were all deceased. Jerome
has had the remarkable felicity to see the
fortunes of his family re-established under II
a new Napoleonic dynasty
One of the chiefs of the old empire, he
holds similar position in the new. lie di-
reefs the counsels of the Regent Empress
Eugenie, as he had previously done those Of
Maria Louisa. A great historical monument
of the past is this old King Jerome, who per
sonally has witnessed the most remarkable
family history that the world has ever seen.
1t is not Yet finished. He has not yet at
tanned the most extreme old age, and 1t rs
is possible that he may see events affecting
his family quite as startling and remarkable
as those which have hitherto characterized
its career. Cincinnati EHg