Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1873-12-25
NUMBER 38.
BONAPARTE PRINCES.
IIucian Murat, nd Joseph Bonn pa

Man1SeI Is. Elelu 9 "reminiscences OF
Men contains the following:
In the spring of the year 1848 made
a flying trip to Europe for the b. nefit
of my health. We had q delightful
passage, to whish the agreeableness of
my feilow-passenaess largely contrib
uted. One of the most pleasing and
entertaining of them was Prince Lncien
Murat, next to whom accidentally hap
pened to occupy seat at table. He
was going to Franco, to derive what
advantage he could from the revolution
of the previous February. / found
him most good humored, jovial com
panion, possessing withal, good deal
of a certain KIND of wit and shrewdness.
He was extremely careless about his
person, a voracious feeder, and the
most formidable snorer I ever met
Unfortunately for me, his state-room
was exactly opposite mine, and, as he
always slept with the door open, 1 en-
joyed the fnll benefit of the terrible
noises he made in lis sleep. More than
once, after lying awake for hours, !
used, in sheer desperation, to hurl my
boots at his berth, which rather forci-
BILE protest he always took very amia-
bly,. His proportions were already of
the Daniel Lambert order, bu: they
increased considerably afte ward. The
last time I saw him was in the wear
1855, at Paris. He was then in full
uniform, and covered with orders and
the brilliancy of his attire, united
to the prodigiousness of his person,
made him sight to behold. What
changes his fortunes have undergone!
To be elevated from sort of New
Jersey sQuatter to be member of the
Imperial family of France, with at one
time a squirt at the throne of Naples,
again to sink to the position of an off,
shoot of an outcast dynasty
The Prince used to wear upon his
head very cd dirty, and d,lapidated
soft felt hat, which in it's best estate
could hardly have been ornamental
Apropos of this hat, he told me that,
before he left home, his wife, who re-
manned in this country to await events,
insisted that he should procure a
proper black hat as soon as he
reached town; that unless he would
promise to do so she declined to ac
company him here and see him of:
That he told her he could not afford the
extravaganza. and, if she imposed so
unreasonable condition upon giving
him her company to New York, she
might stay in New Jersey. He bad
with him the famous white plume which
used to distinguish his father upon the
field of battle, or rather the whalebone
remains of it, the feathers having long
ago fallen victims to time and the
moths.
He had acquired great and some
what enviable reputation in Now Jersey
as horse Jockey. It was said that he
would start of from home for a Jour
ney upon the back of a sorry Ros1narte.
and return, after an absence of several
weeks, driving stylish pair of horses
before an elegant carriage, the whole
being the result of series of success.
full Snaps He possessed q great natu-
cal taste for mechanics, and, from his
conversation, seemed to consider Mr.,
Stevens, of Hoboken, the greatest
genius of the age.
/ was very much amused with a con-
versation I had with him one afternoon
about his uncle, Joseph Bonaparte. I
we'll remembered the ex-King, for as q
child I had spent several years as a
boarder at the school Of the brothers
Peugnet, in New York, distinguished
officers of the Grand Army, at whose
house Joseph was frequent Sunday
visitor. I will try to repeat what the
Prince said, as nearly as 1 Can recollect
it, in his own words;
my uncle Joseph was very estima-
BILE man, with one great weakness-his
excessive and ridiculous affectation of
philosophy and martyrdom He had
been King of spain !; and yet he had
become resigned to live in obscurity in
a republic! He used to bore me to
death with his nonsense, until one day
1 lost my patience and almost my tenn
per. lam weary of these absurd pre-
tentions,' said to him. You are not
half the philosopher I am. Compare
for q moment our respective fates. You
we're born a miserable Corsican peas
ant. You happened to have brother
who possessed more brains than are
frequently allotted to mankind. He
grasped the scepter OF the world, and
elevated you to the rank of sovereign.
You had not very quiet time of it in
your exalted position, it is true, and
you were soon compelled to descend
from it. But you came to the ground
unharmed-with not feather rnf1led !;
and while your illustrious brother was
completing his destiny on barren
rock in the midst of distant ocean.
you retired in safety to this charming
place, where you are living like a
Prince, surrounded by ali the refine
ments of life, with the comfortable in
come of sixty thousand collars per
annum. 1, on the contrary, was born
on the steps of throne. My father
was shot in Italy; I was condemned to
like fate at Gibraltar; l escaped with
extreme difficulty, and with nothing but
my life: got to America, and have
ever since been poor New Jersey far
rner. And take things as they come,
without even imagining that I have
cause for complaint To say nothing
of: martyrdom, I am hundred times
more philosopher than you are"