The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1879-04-18

The recent death, at Baltimore, OF
Mrs. Patterson Bonaparte removes q
venerable lady whose life was one Of
extraordinary interest, and whose
strength and pecularities Of character
apart from the romances and accidents
of her career, would have made her q
noteworthy member of society. She
was also remarkable for the great age to
which she attained, "a years, and fol-
the vigor of body and mind she pre-
served until within few months OF her
death.
Her marriage with Jerome Bonaparte,
which made her a conspicuous and in
teresting character for more than fifty
years, was one of the important social
events of the early part of the century.
Though her weak and time-serving If
not villainous husband, ut the bidding
of his imperial brother, discarded his
American wife and formed bigamous
union with a German Princess, Mrs.
Bonaparte chung to the name to which
she was entitled, and had all the pride
and ambition of member of reigning
family and the mother of Prince.
Jerome Bonaparte came to the United
States, in 1903, as the commander of
French frigate, and, Napoleon being then
First Consul, his brother was sure of
receiving the most marked social atten-
tons Mt a time when even less distin-
guished foreigners than he rarely visited
the new republic. In Baltimore he
met and speedily won Miss Elizabeth
Patterson, a beautiful girl, the daughter
of William Patterson, q rich and leading
merchant of that city, which then was
remarkable, as it is now, for its lovely
mnidens. The pair were married in
December of the same year by the
Roman Catholic Archbishop of Balti-
more; the marriage contract was care
fully drawn, and. in both legal and
ecclesiastical sense, it was matrimonial
union as binding as that of the Duke Of
Connaught the other day. Mrs. Bona
parte was both fond and proud of her
husband, and he seems to have been
much attached to her. His affection,
however, was not strong or lasting
enough to make him stand by his wife
in the face of the violent opposition of
Napoleon to the match. The Emperor
would not allow her to set her foot on
French soil, so when the pair went to
Europe, in 1905, Jerome, leaving his
bride outside of France, proceeded to
Malmaison with the avowed purpose of
modifying Napoleon. He never re-
turned to her, however, and, in July,
she gave birth to son at Camberwell,
in England, while two years after, in
spite of the refusal of Plus VII. to sane
ton the union, he was married to the
Princess Frederick Catharina of Wur-
temberg.
Mrs. Bonaparte's subsequent efforts to
obtain legal recognition of her marriage
in France were all failures, owing un-
doubtedly to imperial pressure; but
during Louis Napoleon's time the
legitimacy of her son was acknowledged,
and her grandson, Jerome Napoleon,
who crossed the ocean to attend her in
her last illness, received commission
in the French army after having pre-
pared himself at West Point for
military career. Another grandson,
Charles Joseph, was graduated at Har-
ward, and is now practising law In
Baltimore. PROFESSIONALLY these de-
scendants of Jerome by his American
wife are the rightful heirs of the great
Napoleon; for Napoleon iii. could not
claim 70 have drop of that blood in
his veins, nor can his son, the young
man who has lately gone to fight the
Zulus, and who has received vast
amount of toadying In England since
Sedan.
Mrs. Bonaparte was very peculiar
old lady. She rejected all religious
faith, satirized marriage, was close In
money matters to the point of
penuriousness, and, though she could
not help despising her weak, mean
spirited, and treacherous husband, she
was a great admirer or Napoleon and
devoted imperialist, living and dying in
the hope that her descendants would
yet become Emperors of France. Du-
ring large part of her last illness she
resdutely refused to see any clergyman,
Catholic or Protestant, calling herself
Presbyterian to Catholic priests and
Catholic to Presbyterian ministers.
But finally she yielded and re-
quested the presence of a minister, and
a Presbyterian clergyman was sent for.
Later in the day Moody, the revivalist,
prayed with her, and up to the hour of
her death spiritual advisers we're present
at her bedside.
Mrs. Bonaparte was rare character,
and she was remarkable among women
for her exceptional experience. The
memoirs of her life and associations
with prominent characters of the first
quarter of this century, which she is
said to have left, will therefore pos ess
an unusual interest. III
"As SIAM" Gen. Grant quietly asked