Saint Mary's beacon. [volume] (Leonard Town, Md.) 1867-1983, 1873-04-03

NEw L,sHr ON an OLp RoxAscR.-I,
has been sixty -nine years since Jerome
Bonaparte and Elizabeth Psuefson xsrs
married BY Bishop Carroll. in Baltimore,
yet the interest attaching 10 that rsmark-
, able and short-lived union has stimula.sd
many . modern interviewer to Geek on,
the venerable heroine Of the romance.
and to expand her eeurteous but flrm re-
fssal Of gossip into four columns Of imag.
mary description aud dialogue. Al Last
however, book has appeared which, il
| is Gail 70 satisfy the craving cscisod b.
that aScieut affair. viii ii least shed new
lgh. upon the attitudes of the various par
ties to il.
Mcssrs. Houtine 4 Murdock Of Baiti-
more, dealers in paper.makers' material.
bought lot Of old rubbish, which had
lain neglected for half century in q ware
house once occupied by Madame Bona
parties father. Among those musty pa
pers was found package Of letters. which
proved to be his lons-lost correspondence
with the Bonapartes and others IN relation
to bis daughters marriage. These letters
coming into the possession of Mr.. Saffell.
he proposed to publish them, and did so
after ascertaining that Madame B,napar,e
was entirely Indifferent on the subject. and
that her grandsons, Col. Jcrou.e Bona
parte aud Mr.. Charles j. .Bcuapar,e. only
asked him to state in the preface tha, they
were opposed to the publication from con-
siderations Of deiicacy.
A g'aucc at these letters shows that the
opposition Of the grandsons is altogether
on account Of the particular Bonaparte
from whom they are decended. The cor
respondeuce reflects honor upon the Pat
ter.ou side Of their house. and anything
but honor upon the character Of Je-
rome Bonaparte. A young naval officer
smi,,en with the charms Of the Baltimore
belle. he insisted on marrying her with
out knowing the designs or consulting the
wishes Of his powerful brother, the ..firs,
consul" and prospective emperor of Francs.
Mr.. William Patterson saw nothing in
viting in such union for his daughter.
and opposed it until he found that moth
ing but force and violence could prevent
it,
He had received anonymous lettars ac-
quain:ing him with the history and char
acter Of Jerome, and when at last with
many misgivings he permitted the mar
riage. he set about persuaiing his son-in-
law TO give up all hopes Of a career in
Europe amid storms Of revolution, and to
settle down in Baltimore as a citizen Of
the United States. But the young cou.
pie went to France, and the blow fell
Napoleon. with his dreams Of empire. con-
templated matrimonial alliances for his
family with all the crowned heads of Eu.
rope and the building up of a RAN -throned
d dynasty. Holding that Jerome was in
competent to contract a valid marriage
without his consent before the age of,wen-
ty-tive. he affected to regard the whole
affair as the mere intrigue of a wild young
man, and refused to recognize the beau.i-
ful bride as his brothers wife.
Three months after his sisters mar.
riage, Mr. Robert Patterson went to f.u-
rope to procure her honorable recognition.
and this correspondence shows that all the
members of the Booaparte family. Napo-
leon alone excepted. were pleased with
the match. In a letter to Capt. Paul
Bentalon, Lucien Bouapar.c writes: Tell
Mr. Patterson that our mother, myself,
and the whole family. with one voice. and
as heartily as | do. highly approve OF
the match. The consul. it is true, does
not for the present concur with Us, but he
is to be considered as isolated from his
family. Placed on the lofty ground on
which he stands as the FIRST magistrate OF
q great and powerful nation, ali his actions
and ideas are, directed BY policy with
which We have nothing to do"
But this approval Of the family and tho
advice of his mother to except a hand
some annuity and to retire with his wife to
the United States. did not nerve the tickle
aud selfish jerome to refuse the bribe Napo-
leon offered him for descrting her whom
he had just sworn at the altar to love aud
cherish. For the barren honor Of q
crown wrenched for him from a crushed
nation by the bloody hand of his brother
he repudiated his young wife aud his in
fant son, and thus earned the contempt
Of nil mankind She te.urncd to her fa
theirs house. and though her SON died a
a good old age. she still lives to show how
calm and beautiful are the last years Of /;
stainless life. And If the memory Of he,
youthful hopes. 80 cruelty blasted, ther,
fingers any vindictive feeling. It must find
ample qualification in the fact that after
all the ambitious marriages contracted by
the brothers of Napalcon her grandson:
are the only scions whose Bonaparte blood
is unqucstioned.