The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1879-08-17
"BETSEY" BONAPARTE.
Her Ambitious Desire to Make Her
Son NapoIeon's Successor.
Extracts from Some of the Suppressed
Letters Of That Vivacious Lady
to Her Father.
New York Herald j.


nar's Sons, several very interesting and
characteristic letters were omitted at the re-
quest Of the Bonaparte family In Baltimore.
As those letters present this remarkable wo-
man in q new and brilliant light, we publish
them as valuable and entertaining contribu-
ton to this romance Of modern history.
Nine. Bonaparte had exhausted her talents
and ingenuity In endeayoring to make o
splendid European match for her only son,
jerome Napoleon Bonaparte. This was her
one ambitious object in life after the despotic
mandate Of Napoleon had excluded her from
the continental courts and sent her back to
the detested obscurity Of Baltimore. While
fondly cherishing her brilliant schemes for
her son the fatal news reached her at Flor
ence that Jerome was engaged to and soon to
marry the daughter OF q Baltimore merchant
This sudden termination of all her ambitious
plans Of nearly quarter Of a century
crushed her at a blow and almost destroyed
her reason for time.
When the intelligence first arrived Nine.
Bonaparte, under date of Florence Septem-
Der g. 1929, sent her father pithy letter.
My before expressed determination and in
tantiOn says she, verbal and written, to both
OF YOU We're and have ever been for twenty
years that he never should marry in America
His education had ever for it's object q rest
never to marry, unless it be into some Of the
great European families and Ii can prevent
It, II the authority OF n mother can prevail, he
never shall destroy his prospects for the sum
of less than S500.0O0. That would be little
enough to excuse you and me for aiding him
in marrying beneath his rank.
The nephew of Napoleon has no equal in
America. He might marry greatly In Eng
name. II he we're minor I would go to
America and avail myself OF the laws Of the
country to prevent or dissolve the marriage
he has listened to. ! never can consent, /
never will consent, to Jerome's marrying Miss
Williams or any other American miss. Ii he
Is still single let him employ every means in
his power to remain SO. Let him employ my
name in any way or every way to break off
the engagement. Let him return to Eucone.
Let him say he is obliged to consult his re-
lations here. Let him do anything rather
than make such match. years reflection
would show him the folly of claiming himself
to the Williamses l will never acknowledge
it.
will, II he marries her, write to every one
In America that | know that the marriage
was made In spite OF me and that protest
against 1t. No one likes money more than /
dol am, perhaps, too avaricious-but [
would rot, even ut my age, marry any one In
America with $4,000 q year, and my pre-
tensions are certainly, Or ought to be, much
lower than his. No one, | repeat, knows the
value OF money better than myself, or has
-
opinion that Miss Williams has too little to
compensate for young man connected with
the first families Of Europe riveting himself
to Baltimore.
IT be were starving 1t might be excused. IF
she had S50o,OOO, and would be taken away
from her family and enable him to live In
Italy. 1t might do; but to live upon $4,000
year where she Is can never be made advisable
with his advantage.
At this time Nine. Bonaparte's letters fol-
loved each otherin rapid succession. Jeromes
engagement affected her more seriously than
anything had ever done since the desertiOn OF
her husband tWenty-four years before. She
claimed that she had always fulfilled every
duty toward her son; that her love Of money
had never blinded her to his true interests
that she had nearly starved herself to give him
an education suited to his rank. The whole
tenor OF her correspondence shows that had
she possessed the power that Napoleon had In
1905, she would have used 1t to break off the
engagement contracted by her son against
her wishes. In her next letter she calls her
father to account for encouraging this mar
riage and speaks OF her beauty and intellect
My ambition, nay beauty and my intellect
untitled me, she writes, for the life led in
America, and after my marriage all those who
desired my happiness must naturally have
wished me to be established In Europe It be-
came the proper residence for me and for my
son. III position and his bore no resemblance
to that Of American wives aud American
sons, ana only stupidity and meanness OF feel
AAies w.
more agreeable TO US. Influenced by this
view OF our situation, took him to Geneva
for his education, and have constantly tried
to instii in his mind the sentiments his name
woman who has not a very large fortune
would be the extreme OF folly. / hope that
1t has not taken place. beg you to do every
thing in your power to prevent his marrying
prevent my interference, because every ono
there knows that have too much sense and
too much pride ever to consent to it
must regret that my son has thrown away all
bright prospects and that he has committed
folly which he will bitterly regret.
In her next letter Nine. Bonaparte reproves
her father for not making better bargain
iior her son, and accuses the former Of hurry |
ing the marriage to prevent her Interference.
She also speaks in disparagfng terms Of her /
sons wait OF pride and ambition. and says I
she would as soon go to Botany Bay for !
husband as marry one ia America after hay |
ing married the brother OF an emperor. She T
complains that Jerome, the son Of 9 king, |
has not been treated, In the affair Of his mar
rage, as well as the sons OF shopkeepers Who |
nave married American helresses.
In letter dated Florence, October IN, 1929,
Nine. Bonaparte seems to have come down
from her pride OF place" for moment, and /
even expresses regret that she had spoken SO
Violently when she first heard Of her sons en-
gagement. She says she will no longer OPP
pose the marriage. but urges her father to
1uiht tllb DeSJ TERMS 10 secure the lOIGuuo Vi
Jerome's intended for himself and children.
She then gees on to speak Of his want Of /
ambition. and says she is thankful under the |
that he did no worse. She
writes as follows sAca.i
| was unreasonable in expecting my son to
te as ambitious as | have been and shall
always be. /, however, hope that as he has
married an American he will not bring her to
Europe, because if he does she will never be
content In America. The American women
fnrnaI
worse than the European women, and not one
of them Of any age has ever been satisfied in
her own country after having lived here. /
shall try to get the $1,000 per annum continued
oy the family, and il anything can extort |
money out of them 1t will be the fear of my
.ongue. They know that there is not ball