Connecticut western news., 1877-06-22
Reminences of the House Where the Empress Josephine Lived and Died.

| s1n6 IdIllOuS property OI MdlIld1SOIl, !, purchased by General Bonaparte in 179s for the sum of 1S0, ,000 francs, and after wards the residence of the Empress Josephine, has been sold at auction by the French government, for $120,000. Thus, one by one, are the old historical chdteaur falling under the auctioneer's s hammer, or crumbling away in ruins, Chenonceaux, the favorite residence of Catherine de Medicis, is now owned by a Radical deputy; Bouquets palace, at Vaux, is the property of sugar-refiner, Luciennes, built for Mime. Dubarry, is in the hands of a manufacturer; the palace of Montmorency, is owned by l Victorien Sardou, play writer a linen draper has bought Chanarande, a gift of Napoleon III. to the Duke of Per signey. Others have changed hands, while Mendon, St. Cloud and the Tui- leries are a heap of ruins. -. 3va~ It was at Malmaison that Josephine spent the happiest and most sorrowful portions of her life. Her Thursday receptions are famous in the history ot social events, and furnished us a choice picture of delightful repose in the midst of busy, boisterOus times. It was here that small army of the elite endeavor, by elegance of language, dress and man. ners, to stem the torrent of coarseness and violence then set loose by the rev olution. It was at the Malmaison that the eighteenth Brumaire was. prepared. It was there, too, that Lemercier read his tragedy of "Charlemagne" to the first consul, who wanted him to change the denouement so as to show the con- quered nations coming to Charlemagne to offer him in great pOmp the crown and empire of the East. The Consulate raised Malmaison to its highest splendor but no sooner had Napoleon become emperor than Josephine's modest cha teau was abandoned for the palatial magnificence of St. Cloud. Subsequent 1 ly Josephine was divorced, and then she returned to Malmaison. The allied sovereigns invited themselves to dine with her, and it was while showing the emperor of Russia the grounds that she caught the cold which carried her to the grave three days after. After Wa terloo, and just before going on board the Bellerophon, Napoleon paid noe turnal visit to the tomb of his once loved Josephine. .4
 Soon after the place was bought by the banker Haguermann and what re- mained of the property in 1942 was pur- chased by Queen Christiana for $l00, ,000
 Napoleon III. purchased it for $500, ,000
 from whose possession it naturally fell into the hands of the nation. During the late war it was occupied by the Prussian who carried off greater part of the fur niture, and spoiled considerable DOT tion of the rest. A billiard table, for in. stance, which was sold the other day for 100 francs, had had the green baize stripped from it.. The French declare that King Williams soldiers employed the material to make themselves cravats
 By good fortune they left one most inter esting piece of furniture-no less than the table in the library on which Napo- leon was wont to lay out his military maps, and seated at which he may have planned more than one of those cam paigns which changed the history ot Europe. This relic the state has deter mined to keep. The remainder of bro- ken furniture-amounting to 10 cal loads-was disposed of few days ago, the whole fetching the modest sum of l 800 francs. As has been stated, Ma poIeOn, after Waterloo, revisited Nal maison. Till 1870 small pedestal SUD- porting an eagle marked that part of the domain where the eeX-emperor's foot had rested last. The inscription it bore contained merely these words: "Deqaiel pas de Napoleon pGrtdnt poar Rochefort, lt go Juin, 1915, c quutre heures dpreS midi. ,
 Since the war nothing has been seen of the memorial, which is supposed to be now somewhere in Germany.