Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1879-05-09
The Late Madame Bonaparie.


i Among the many hundred editorials
elected by the death OF Madame Patter-
scn.Bonaparte in Baltimore, the follow
nS nom the Springfield, Mass Re
p"6hcIn, is far from being the least in
tereStmg:
There are other lives vet remaining
\ linked by ono tie and another with the
first Napoleon, hut none more smark-
abe than that OF Madame Patterson
Bonaparte, which closed at Baltimore
recently. II Is the province OF some in
history 70 distinguish events hy their
contact With them, and the privilege of
Others TO be distinguished hy their con.
tao, with events; but il WAS the peculiar
distinction vi Madame Patterson 10 be-
long to the last class, and in spite of all
untoward circumstances to display tho
qualities which hy common consent as
signed her to the first order among the
women whom the accident of marriage
and the mockery OF birth united to the
fortunes ct the Imperial family of
France, She joined these fortunes too
early and claimed her share in them too
late; both the uncle and tho nephew
put aside her claims 10 valid marriage
with Jerome Bonaparte, but tho long
stretch and perspective OF her life on
ahled her 10 Mko an equal, though dis
tanL interest in Gen. Bonaparte's cam
palgn against England in Northern AZ
rica aud the military excursion oi his
grand.nephew, the present Prince I'M
pcrlai, To Zululaud in Southern Africa,
10 witness another demonstration of
! English power events II century apart.
1t was u brilliant but doubtful match
she made in 1893 (who has not heard
the story with Capt. Jerome Bona
parte. lie was the youngest brother of
the first consul, IN six months to be the
first Emgcror of France. hut France in
twelve years before had had ouo-third
the constitutions which in the hast
ninety years have sont great country
rocking from license to despotism. There
WIS nothing there To mako certain the
future ot the lonnpartes, and Miss Pat
tcrson belonged To that assured Amori-
can stock which had furnished the
financial management of our rovolu-
tion, and has continued To our own day
to direct the trade and banking of
great sen port. The time came when
she was 10 bo alone among tho Bona
parties in the possession Of assured
means, and she has never censed To
rest u fond hope of her grandson's sue
cesscs To his uneln's throne, which re-
manned the last darling dream Of her
old ngc, upon u fortune sho had herself
amassod 1t had been her fato never
10 do moro than dream OF Nh imperial
connection. Upon her marriage, tho
young girl of seventeen found herself
exolndedhy u policy which swayod tho
court, and the military power
ot France, Under the code M
poloon, then year old, and to whose
highest tribunal she appealed, and APP
pealed III VAIN within our own time to
establish the legitimacy Other offspring,
the record of her marriage was formal
ly excluded from the records of France,
and tho official journals Of tho new en-
pire announced that she might set foot
within liz borders only as tho mistress
Of her husband. Her youth passed,
while the cliques and cabals of st.
Cloud, by which tho crowns of Auster.
lilz, of Wagram and Of Jena were dos
tribuled among the Bonapnrtos, pivot
cd around her reception. A French
fleet watched her, ministers cores
pondcd about her, her own family
dared cntrust To cipher only the record
Of her movements.
She had started To return To France
with her husband year after her mar
riugo. Ho was weak, oowardly and in
decisive. They were separated. She
1 Il. th ...tat,,ly, ~ Inr IF, al
refuge iii England. Her son was born
there. His father became king of
Westphnlia. lie offered his ropudiatod
wife residence and pntrimony within
his dominions. Brond as they were she
rotOrtod tnat they were not wide enough
for two queens, Tho answer won her u
pension, recognition and II place in the
family which then ruled Europe, from
its chief, Napoleon |. She lost the pen
sion with his fall, she regained il when
y Bonaparte returned TO reign in France.
Her recognized place in the imperial
family she never lost. She formed u
part ofthat shadowy circle Of discrowned
kings and soiled princosses who met at
Rome around tho one member of their
family whose place in the church saved
| him tho fall Of the rest, Cardinal Fesch
1t came to pass that this American
woman, now middle-agcd, WAS rccog-
nized rs easily first Of this discredited
throng, in grace, in charm and IN en-
dowmcnt. Gortschakoil, then dslin-
guishcd in a service 10 which he has
since given fifty successful years, saw
in her abilities which might have do-
layod the fall OF the great emperor and
the names Of those who, like him, coun-
soed the rulOrs Of Europe. During the
long eclipse Of tho Napoleon family she
returned 10 Baltimore, poor, embittered
and disappointed. Sho had lost the
love Of her father, aud she had gained
nothing but the empty praise OF use
less abilities in her European career.
The rising splendor Of tho second EN-
pire she shared, but she was denied
farther part in the honors Of the impe-
rial family, when her grandsons attack
cd her husbands will, and her marriage
WAS brought to the rude test Of a court
whose decree was again swayed by dy-
nastic influence. But she lived TO see
- Il