The Portland daily press., 1882-03-22
lst. James,s Gazette.l
Napoleon as a Fond Husband

NdDOl6Ou DIS d Il OA0 140oOct40
If, as each French writer ou the subject now
assures us, Napoleon was habitually brutal in
his treatment of women, Josephine possessed
the power of soothing and softening him; and
to this woman at least he could be tender.
When he had once entered upon his grand
career he adopted the view OF love which ac-
cording to recent writer of the East, prevails
among the Bulgarians. "En Bulgaria" says
this author, quoting the words of native in
formant, Glamour ma pas de Dreliminaires.
But in his younger days, from the tims when,
a little boy, he made love, as he went to school
with his stockings down at heel, to little girl
named Giaccommetta, even until the date OF
his marriage with Josephine, hs could be
simple and sincere in his affection. Iu taking
Josephine for a wife he may be said, of course,
to have contracted political alliance. But
his overwhelming passion for the beautiful
Creole leaves no doubt as to the sentiment by
which he was chiefly actuated in offering her
his hand Many years afterward, at st. Helena.
he seems to have been convinced that he had
acted throughout life from motives of reason
alone; and he told Las Gases that his marriage
with Mdme. Beauharnais brought him into
contact with whole party absolutely neces-
sary for carry ing out that system of fusion
which was one of the greatest principals OF his
administration. "Without my wife," he adds
at should never have been able to enter into
natural relations with the Royalists." But the
passion ate letters which he addressed to jose
phine when. Immediately after the marriage,
he started on the Italian campaign, show that
4. Iotrth har orTI hat ha ha6
married her because she was essential to his
happiness. "Ny unique Josephine" he wrote,
when he had left her for three days, ''far from
you there is no pleasure, far from you the world
is desert, where remain insulated and without
experiencing the consolation Of being able to
unbosom myself. You have deprived me ofmy
soul; you are the only thought of my life. II
am worried with business, if fear the issue, il
people disgust me, if l am ready to curse ex-
/ istence, place my hand on my heart; your
portrait beats there. I look at it. Love Is an
absolute happiness for me, and everything
smiles excepting the time when am absent
from my adored one" In another letter, when,
as Mr.. Bingham points out, be was Deatlng
Beaulieu at Montenotte and Millesimo, forcing
the King of Sardinia to sue for peace after the
victory Of Mondoyi, gaining the battle of Lodi,
enteringjAIlan in triumph, blockading Mantua,
and forcing the Pope to give up Ancona. he
wrote to Josephine, who he had heard had
fallen i'll: my life is perpetual nightmare; q
baneful foreboding oppresses my respiration.
no longer live have lost more than my life.
more than my happiness, more than repose: l
am almost without hope. Isend you a courier;
he will only remain four hours in Paris, and
will bring me back your answer. Write me
ten pages; perhaps that will console me little.
The rest of the world no more exists for
| me than If it had been anniailated. l cherish
honor because you CT erish it, and victory be-
cause it pleases you; without which should
renounce everything and throw myself at your
| feet
All that Mr.. Bingham has to tell of the re-
| lations between Napoleon and Josephine Is
| deeply interesting; and he does not deal with
| Napoleon in his character OF loversand husband
| alone but exhibits him also and above all as
| an inyeterate matchmaker lie sets forth
how after the divorce Napoleon proposed with
an air of seriousness that the woman he loved
SO much should contract o marriage with the
Prince of Wurtumberg, who, coming to Paris
on political business, had been much struck
by the beauty and the engaging manners OF the
divorced Empress Greatly enraged, however,
would her late husband have been had she ac-
cepted the suggested offer; for, though he was
no longer her husband, Napoleon still visited
and received her, and still felt the infiuerce OF
the spell she had cast over him. he granted
her sumptuous allowance, and there was no
surer way of pleasing him than by treating her
with respect. She appreciated the attentions
paid to her by the great pesronages VINO were
constantly coming to Paris, and knew when
thew visited her that this was only means Of
paying court to Napoleon. Besides delighting
in her conversation, which did not necessarily
imply good opinion of her intellect, he at
tributed 70 her her high mental qualities.
Thinking meanly, as rule, of the talent Of
women, he considered Josephine quite equal
toh to work of government. Apart from affairs
of the heart, she was, indeed as true as steel
He could trust her with anything he said, ex-
cept money; and he declared that there was
no Ministerial post she was not fit for bnt that
of Finance Minister. AS it was she ordered
bonnets at the rate of thirty-eighta month, had
ran into debt to the extent of 600, 900 francs.
Napoleon paid the bills, and begged Josephine
who was in tears, not to vex herself any more
about the matter But he lost his temper with
the chief of the milliners who on one occasion
were found blockading the entrance to his
wife's room, and sent her to pass some hours
indeed, an entire night-in the prison OF La
Force. where she received visits of coincidence
| from her principal customers.