Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1868-12-03
PRIVATE CHARACTER OF THE
BQNAPARTES.

The New York Erniag Post having
stated tina. Napoleon I, and his step daugh-
I ter, Queen Hortense, the mother Of Nas-
oleon III were persons Of impure char
scter aud .eaada!oas lIves, Mr.. John 5.
C. Abbott, The sat'srer Of the Bonapartes
comes 70 tl.eir defence and informs the
/ Post that i; is, mistaken, and cites various
+ writers to show that Hortense was q
cha-;e wonag, and that Napoleon |. was
bot licentious man. To this the Pcs;
makes the follolxing effective reply:
That both Napoleon aud Hortense were
persons of impure character is what We
affirmed not that there was an improper
/ intimacy between the two. Indeed, ID
the very paragraph to which MIR Abbott
replies, we rejected the story that Hor-
tense was Napoleon's own mistress as IN
/ proved The evidence of the Duchesse
j d'Abrantes and of Bourrienne is against
it, and the charge is too horrible to be be-
I hcved without conclusive proof. Yet II
is not an IDLE English story, IS the Ouch
esse pretends On tbs contrary. the VII
tiers of - tunes who were untriendiy,
gene lis an unquestloned tact
/ wh1 y..tho. like Mr.. ABBOTT, wor,
shi R,l~y Bonaparte, acknowledged
that INnerally believed
quote only the most devoted TRENDS
Of the Emperor. Las Cases says that 1t
was general rumor, but that such
crime was not according to his ideas or
/ his morals, and that one needs to kno"
] little of his court to know that he might
address hlmse If to plenty of others, with
out being driven to q choice so UNNATURAL
and SO revolving But he adds that Lou
is was hurt and shocked by the story and
/ often used it as prctext." lie Memo
rial de Sainte Helena.
Even the authors Of the eulogy known
as the Memoirs of Hortense, published
under the eye of the Emperor, her SON
show that Napoleon, Josephine and Her
tense re long agitated and made I'M
happy by these rumors that Napoleon
made ball for the sole purpose Of com
pcllinc Hortense to dance shortly before
/ her Oldest chillwas born, in order to re-
flute the rumor that it was his own, and
had already been born; and they intimate
strongly that the rumor was started anu
supported by Napoleons own brothers =
They explain this by saying that Nspo,
Icons love for Hortense was the ground
of Josephine's position and influence; and
tb,+ only necessary to drive her daughters
from court.
1t seems that Hortense herself thought
that Josephine was jealous OF her, and
therefore Intrigued TO drive her away
from Napoleon. The letter expressing
this, indeed, is suppressed, but the ans
wer is published among the Empress
( letters, in which she insists that uortense
has mi<judged her.
-.Bourriennc records thas the Emperor
~ much disturbed about the story; and
one day asked him if it was not still talk
ed of. Bourriennc replied 1T is, gen
cral, and | avow that / nersr 1comd hare
b,Iirrsd that these cotsnnltS c0Wd get
such general credit" The Emperor then
requested him to contradict it and this
| he promised to do, but added, ''untortun
ately it is not in my power to make every
body believe it," tie says that this Sian
der was generally spread throughout tu-
rope.
Finally, Fouche, Cor de Beauehamp,
in his name directly testified that Hor-
tense was Napoleon's mistress. But
Fouche was har and 1t is pieasanter
not to believe him in this On the whole
!, IS probable that the story was spread by
those who we're not critical of charges
against Napoleon, and was widely credI-
red because many unfortunate clrcum-
stances seemed to confirm 1t, and because
il quite accorded with the general charac-
ter of both parties.
Mr.. Abbott qaotcs Bourrienne as say
inc that tNapoleon's principles were rig:
d in the extreme" He gives no refer
cnce and we cannot find any such pass.
age. But if Bourriennc says so, he refer;
only to Napoleon's view of incest, not tt
his general conduct toward women. Bour'
riennc, although passionate admirer anc
defender of the Emperor, is himself dl-
rect witness to some of his gallantrles
rs for instance, when he dellcatoiy re-
marks that, on one occasion. he could no
wake Napoleon to tell him some new:
without waking Madame Grasslul too :
London edition, Ii, Boy
Those who want full evidence of Napo
Icons habits Of vicious indulgence vii
end more than enough III the apologize:
Of his defenders, such as Las Cases. t
whom he acknowledged them freely; ds
Bausset, who says that Napoleon never
boasted of these triumphs, but that they
generally became known through the wo.
men themselves (Memoires, il, 3uS :;
Madame Durand, the conhdaute aud frienc
oftbe Empress Marie Louise, Who explain.
the arram cement Of secret staircase a
Compieghcs, for his designations bu
insists, IN his honor, that after his seconc
marriage these were less frequent, auC
that he was wonderfully kind in taking
great pains to conceal them from his wife
Suffice it here, that Marie Louise finally
deserted Napoleon in lSl4. not because c
his m;s(ortuues, but because of his scand
alous infdeliey to her (H. Martineau
History Of En gland l., 431) that il
/ St. Helena lis dearest friend represent
him as'delighting in the memory of thest
adventures, and as testing over the motor
ious intrieues of his own sister PAULINE
| Uas Cases. and that, within few
weeks, the death Of the Count Walewsk