The Opelousas journal. [volume] (Opelousas, La.) 1868-1878, 1873-06-28
Jerome BOmaparte and Miss
Patterson.
BY JAMES PARTON.
from the New York Ledger. !


short time ago, bought quantity of
old documents and letters from dealer
in papermakers' material, and among
the rest was a bundle of letters, yellow
with age, relating to the marriage be-
| tween jerome BOnaparte and Miss Eliza
beth Patterson, which was the uni
versa1 tea-table topic of the United
States seventy years ago.
| The letters tellnearly the whole story :;
| for most of them were written by actors
in this domestic drama, such as the fa-
ther and brother Of the bride, the broth
ers of the bridegroom, and. some even
from the mighty Napoleon himself. We
| discover even that personages no less
important than the President of the
| United States, the Secretary of State,
the American Minister in Paris, and
the French Minister Of Marine, were in
terested in this affair, and wrote letters
relating to it. 1t was, of the more in
terest to the American government, be-
cause President Jefferson had just sue
| ceeded in effecting the most brilliant
| feat of his administratiOn-the Purchase
of Louisiana from NapOleOn-and some
alarm was felt at Washington lest the
First Consul, displeased at the marriage,
might hold the government in some de-
gree responsible, and not stand to his
bargain. The reader will be interested
in this most strange, eVentful history
It was in the fall of 1903 that a French
frigate, having Jerome BOnaparte on
board, cast anchor in the harbOr of
| New York. He was then naval officer,
full share of that singular beauty of
form and face, for which so many of the
| BOnapartes- have been noted. The
splendor of his brothers fame, and the
great service he had just done the
United States, insured the young man
a distinguished reception, and the news
papers everywhere chronicled his arri-
val as an interesting event.
He had in America one friend, Cap
tain Joshua Barney, who had formerly
served in the French navy with Jerome,
and had become much attached to him.
| The young man visited Baltimore, as it
seems, chiefly for the purpose of visit
| ing his old COmrade; who introduced
him to many Of the principal families
of the place-amOng others, to that of
Judge Chase Of the Supreme Court, one
| of the signers of the Declaration of indie
pendence, anoted parsonage at that day.
It was at the house of Judge Chase that
he first saw the young lady, who is
styled in these family letters Betsy Pat
| terson, the daughter of one of the
wealtiest merchants in the country.
Miss Patterson was eighteen, and as the
gossip of the day reports, a bewitching
little beauty.
1t was case of love at first sight.
| Before many days were passed they
were engaged to be married. But from
the beginning of the affair, the lady's fa-
ther utterly and strongly opposed the
match; even after a license had been
procured, he caused the engagement to
| be broken.
Il never" he wrote, directly or in
directly, gave Mr.. Bonaparte the small
est encouragement to oaddressmy daugh
ter but on the contrary, resisted his
pretensions by every means in my pow
er, consistent with discretion. Finding,
however, that the mutual attachment
| they had formed for each other was
such that nothing short of force and
violence could prevent their union, /,
with much reluctance, consented to their
wishes
And, so, after an acquaintance of
about three months, ON Christmas eve,
1903, they were married, after the man
ner of the Roman Catholic church. The
announcement of the marriage in the
Baltimore paper was asfollows:
MARRIED, on Saturday evening last, by the
Reverend Bishop. Carroll, Mr.. jerome Bona
| parte, youngest brother of the First Consul of
| the French Republic to Miss Elizabeth Patter-
son, the eldest daughter of William Patterson,
| Esq, of this city"
The young couple passed the honey
moan at Baltimore. It so happened
that there was good ~sleighing that win
ter, and one of the papers reports that,
as Mr., and Madame Bonaparte were
daslling by In o sleigh, a boy threw q
SNOWFALL at the lady aud hit her; at
which the ardent young husband was
SO indignant that he offered reward
of five hundred dollars for the arrest of
The Derpetrator. The newspapers also
| inform us that, when they visited Wash
| ingtOn that winter, the coach upset and
threw Madame Bopaparte out, without,
however, doing her much harm. Dur
| ing the following summer they made
an extensive tour in the northern and
eastern States, travelling with their
! own carriage -and-four, attending the
| theatre in the large cities, and making
| themselves conspicuous generally.
When they passed through Boston a
young law student, named Daniel Web
ster saw them, and being Federalist-
that is, opposed to Jefferson and the
purchase of Louisiana-he regarded
the young couple with wrath and con-
tempt.
| GauIs is here" he wrote. every day you may
see him whisking along COrnhill, with the true
French air, with his wife by his side. The
| sseur with cold and distant respect, They
| feel and every honest man feels, indignant at
seeing this lordly gTassshOpper, this puppet in
| cities. luxuriously rioting on the property OF
| Dutch mechanics or Swiss peasants"
In the mean time, an awful question
was agitating the family of the bride.
| Would the terrible Napoleon, now En-
peror of France, for whose coronation
1.-The Pope was coming from Italy, would
this mighty potentate recognize the
marriage of his brother with the daugh-
ter of Baltimore merchant To get
| light on this matter, Robert Patterson,
her brother, went to Paris in the spring
of 1904. It was long before he could get
any certain information. Some of the
Bonapartes received him cordially
lenough, especially Lucien, who had al
so married without his brothers con-
sent, and who was about the most res
Oectable person of the family. Joseph,
too, was deeently civil, and for some
time the young man had good hopes.
i Little by little, however, the truth
Eeanle out, that the Emperor was opposed
to the marriage, and was perfectly de-
termined never to recognize it. He
wanted Jerome for himself. His heart
was set on creating French navy that
coald hold its own against the English,
and he fancied hesaW in Jerome the ma
terial out of which naval officer could
finally be made. He give orders to tile
French Consul in New York, not to
furnish Jerome with any more money,
and forbade commanders of French
vessels to receive on board The goun0