The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1879-07-05
CAMPAIGN PRESS.
The Bonaparte Family.

In the corn-felds of Southern Africa,
spear thrusts, lay the lifeless body of Napo-
leon Eugene Louis Jean Joseph Bonaparte,
Prince Imperial of France, the son Of an
Emperor, the hope of a dynasty. With his
death, the branch of the Bonaparte family
designated by the great Emperor to perpetu-
ate the succession, becomes extinct, and it
may be opportune to take genealogical sur
vey of the imperial heritage in order to ap-
preciate our morning news from the volatile
politicians of France.
The recognized charter of the empire,
which will guide it's future course should
it ever be re-established, is the will of
Napoleon /. made at st. Helena during
his ignominious exile; and in order to
comprehend its provisions a glance at the
Bonaparte family will be necessary. Of the
thirteen children of Carlo Maria Bonaparte
and his wife, Maria Letizia Ramolino, but
eight arrived at maturity, five sons and three
daughters, who were born in this order, Jo-
seph, Napoleon, Maria, Lucien, Louis, Car
Lolita, Caroline, and Jerome. According to
the Salique law of France, which debars fe-
males from the royal succession, it will only
be necessary to keep in mind the relative po-
sitions of the sons.
Joseph, the eldest, King of Spain, had
no male issue, but his two daughters,
Zenaide and Charlotte, married their cous-
ms, Charles and Napoleon, sons of Lu-
Glen and Louis respectively, and his line is
perpetuated in the Neapolitan family. Next
came the Emperor, of whom it is unnecessary
to speak, except to state that his own branch
became extinct 22d july 1882, when his son,
born King of Rome, and called by the family
Napoleon H., died in the palace of the Haps-
burgs, where he had lived with his grandfa-
ther, the Austrian Emperor
Lucien Bonaparte, the third son, Great
ed Prince of Canine by the Pope,
snapped his fingers at the regal honors
which his ambitious brother thrice Of
fered him, and waived the right of
heritage in his branch, if allowed to marry
a tavern keepers handsome daughter,
Christine Boyer. =. The Emperor, disgusted
with his plebeian inclinations, compromised
with him on that basis, and the descendants
of Lucien by a second wife, Marie de Bles-
champ, lived in Naples and became quite
celebrated in scientific circles as naturalists
and philologists. Prince Pierre, who, it will
be remembered, shot Victor Noir some time
since, is a son of Luclen, and married
laundress of the Fauburg ST. Antoine.
The fourth son, Louis, King of Hol-
land, father Of Napoleon III. by his
wife Hortense Beauharnais, was desig-
mated by the Emperor as his legitimate
successor. Hortense was the daughter
of his wife Josephine, the only woman
Napoleon really loved, and having ten
der regard for his foster child, he made the
heirs of her body the imperial lineage, and
thus the discarded Empress Josephine reap
peared on the throne of France in the person
of the late Emperor.
By the death of the young prince in
Zululand, the house of Louis loses its
rank in default and now the descend
ants of Jerome, King of Westphalia,
youngest son of the family, step into the un-
enviable shoes of the leader of the clan Bon
aparte. jerome, while on a tour in America
in 1903, fell in love with and married the
same year, Elizabeth Patterson, lately de-
ceased, by whom he had one son, Jerome
Napoleon, born 7th July, 1905, nicknamed
by the mother "Bo." The details of this
romance are so fresh that il is not necessary
to rehearse them. This union, however, was
never recognized by the Emperor, but Plus
VII, to his lasting credit be it said, refused
ton of marriage that lad been performed
by prelates of his own church, and the Cath
Ollie world acknowledged the descendants of
"Betsey'' Patterson to be the lawful heirs of
the Empire. ''Bo," always source of care
to his mother, after being educated in Eu-
rope according to her high-strung notions,
grieyously offended her in the matter of
marriage. She greatly desired that he
should make an alliance with his cousin Ze-
naide, the daughter of Joseph Bonaparte,
but the imperial miss was allotted to Prince
Charles as above noted. Finding his aspira-
tions checked and seriously objecting to the
courtly way Of making marital selection,
he consulted his own heart and married Miss
Susie Williams, the daughter of wealthy
Baltimore merchant, by whom he had two
sons, Jerome Napoleon and Charles Joseph.
More than any of the brothers or nephews,
"Bo" resembled the renowned uncle to a
striking degree, having the square face, the
thoughtful expression so characteristic of
the Emperor, and he was greatly admired
during his visits to the European courts.
During the reign of Napoleon I'LL, who ever
received him kindly, giving to his son Je-
rome lieutenancy in the French Army, he
put his claim to the succession in the impe-
rial courts, but the Judge, who did not dare
to break the explicit clause of the st. Helena
will, which annulled the marriage of his
mother, rejected his case.
Jerome died 18th June, 1870, an I'M
perial Frenchman, leaving as the rep
resentative of his house the son Jerome
before mentioned, who married Bos
ton lady in 1872 and resides at present in
Newport. After the decree of divorce the
ambitious Emperor cast about for a royal
wife for his dashing brother, and as
sop for his broken heart, he created mush-
room kingdom, called it Westphalia, placed
crown ON his head, and breathed easier.
Soon Jerome was gazetted in the courts of
Europe as the prospective husband of Prin-
cess Frederica. Catherine, daughter of the
King of Wurtemburg, to whom in 1907 he
was united in marriage. The issue of the
second alliance was two sons and daugh-
ter, Jerome, who died childless in 1910.
Mathilde and the present Prince Napoleon,
born 9th September, 1922, baptized Napoleon
Joseph Charles Paul, Prince de Montfort.
He is the PRINCE Iarn1ne of the talarrams as