The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1869-04-15
Birlrmond 1ispatt11.
THE CIRCULATION OF, THE "DIs-
PATCR" is LARGER THAN THE COM
SINED CIRCULATION OF. ALL THE
OTHER DAILY NEWSPAPERS OF THIS
OITY. t.
Birthplace Of Napoleon.

birthplace Of Napoleon.
Ajaccio would not be accounted mucl
except for its bay and healthy situation
were it not the birthplace Of the most re
markable man Of the past thousand years
1t has q fine gallery Of paintings, but tha
is gift Of one Of the Napoleonic connec
tlons, Cardinal Fesch. 1t has beautiful
marble chapel, but that is a mausoleum Q
the Napoleon family. 1t has On old cathe
dral, where Madam Letitia was accustom
ed to take the young Bonaparte to mass.
has some fine villas but chief among then
which We visited was that Of the Counties
Bacciochi (still Bonaparte), which tha
lady, just dead, has left to the youn
prince imperial. All the streets bear Ma
poleonic names. The cafes, also, are nance
: after Jerome or some others of the family
But chief among the souvenirs of the grea
family is the house where Napoleon wa
born. 1t is situated next door to hatter's
| looked in upon the halter at his work
looked through the grated windows of hi
shop, and there, unconscious of his emo
bling proximity, he was beating away al
his trade. The house where the princes o.
the earth first drew breath is next door to
hatter's! "We shall all meet at the hat
ter's," saith the homely proverb. But lei
me be more precise
Passing up narrow street in the heart o.
the town, you come upon the Place Letitia
then upon little open spot ornamenteG
with tropical palms, shrubs, and flowers
This plot was opened by the mother Of Ma.
poleon by tearing down house in front Of
her own. She used the house on one side
of the plot as 9 stable and coach-house
My halter is opposite. The woman who
showed US the premises was formerly O
waiting woman of Caroline Murat. She
lives in the old stable opposite my halter
which is neatly fitted up. Upon the front
Of the Bonaparte mansion there is an in
scription that within this house Napoleon
was born. The house is large,-four sto-
ries-stone, evidently one of the best Of
its day. 1t is hardly excelled even
yet in Ajaccio. It shows that the family
were well-to-do" in the world. In
fact, Madam Letitis's family (the Ramo-
linis) were rich, and had many estates upon
the island. When she died she bequeathed
1ost of her furniture to members of her
family. The present Emperor has collected
most Of the articles, and replaced them in
the house. Our conductress told US what
each object meant, and whose room this and
that was. The second floor was the Madam
bed-chamber, dining-room, salons, &c.
quite commodious. The floor above it was
devoted to the sons. Here was Napoleon's s
room and his bureau. Yonder, Joseph's.
| There, Jerome's. The floor above that for
the boys was occupied by the daughters.
There was very small terrace looking out
from the reception-room, with flowers in
| pots-all in bloom. This reception-room
| contained five little square mirrors as high
as your head running down each side, and
three other mirrors near them, and one grand
| mirror at either end of the room. In fact,
We counted some fifteen mirrors in this
room. The Napoleons we're we'll provided
with looking glasses. We cannot say as
much for any Of the other houses We have
seen. What effect these mirrors had upon
the young Napoleon will leave, with other
reflections, to the reader. Two brackets, for
wax tapers, hung below each little mirror.
The ceiling was ribbed. 1t had been newly
plastered, with some little effort at fresco.
The mothers portrait, very finely execu-
ted, hung over her dre sing-table. 1t pre-
sents her as a splendid woman. The cabi-
nets were inlaid with every-colored marble,
and very antique; some rare objects sent
by Napoleon from Egypt we're seen. But
the chief attraction was the bed On which
Napoleon was born! 1t was wooden,
ricketty affair near by it was the sedan
chair of the Madam. 1t is well known
we'll, L will put it (politely) in French :
that Madam Letizi3, SurpriSee q pegiSs
par les douleurs de pent ntantement, le Is Aout,
1869, jut rapportfe a son domici!e In
this very sedan the mother Of the great
Emperor was borne from the church, and
on this very couch the " little corporal
first drew his breath. From this bed to st.
Helena, from the capital to the Tarpeian
Rock! Fill up the gap-Arcola, Austerlitz,
Waterloo Here, in this house, he passed
his time, playing at soldiers with his fell
lows, and mourning because he had no
moustache, till, at the age of fifteen, he
entered the military school at Brienne. He
returned home for vacations, and mixing
his young ambitions with the daily round
of boy hood pleasures and walks, be at the
same time imbibed from the peculiar cha
racteristics of the Corsicans their feuds
and feelings, which his grand, gloomy, and
tltS1-lllC AA1oStItit u ooe oUOfO
us-where I write-we are pointed out 6
grotto, made by the boulders, and sur
rounded with foliage and musical with
birds, as the faVorite study-spot Of the
young Napoleon. The spot commands
beautiful view of the bay and the snow-clad
mountains around. From it can be seen,
upon clear day, the island Of Sardinia.
Gardens of oranges, from which we are per-
mitted to pluck at pleasure, cover the
slopes near by. Hedges of cactus-cactus
piled on cactus-the famous macchie, so
sweetly scented; the arbutus, the myrtle,
the olive, and every kind of color Of. tree
and flower, here grow in the air Of winter.
1t was within the circle Of such influences
Of sun, sky, land, and water, that the young
Napoleon formed his plans Of life. . How
many Of them failed, or how many Of them
were realized, we can only guess. One
thing remains to be said: that in the hurly-
iburly Of his active career he never forgot
Corsica. He always intended to do more
fer her than he did. His last thoughts
were about his native isles, s. Coz, in
"Ths World."
FooD AND FIGHT IN CHEsTNUTs.-It would
not be amiss, before We reach Vico, to say
word about the chestnut. 1t is the bane
and the blessing Of Corsica. It grows in