The Superior times. [volume] (Superior, Wis.) 1870-1912, 1882-12-09
OUR FOREIGN LETTER.
From our own Correspondents

PARIS, NOV. ~, ISS2.-AlalmaisOn
the edifce which will ever be memoir
able as having been the residence of
the First Napoleon and Josephine,
has just been sold at auction for about
$4,000. Josephine celebrated her in
stallation at the Chateau of Malmaison
by brilliant fete. On the day Of its
its being held the news arrived that
Napoleon had returned to Cairo from
his Syrian expedition Early in De-
tober, 1899, Bonaparte himself made
his appearance at Malmaison. lie had
left the army of Egypt to take care of
itself as 1t best could under Kleber.-
He had FASTENED home, without leave.
to plot against and to betray the Re
public, and to make himself the abco-
lutte ruler of France. His residence
at Malmaison has frequently been
dwelt upon by his biographers as the
most tranquil, and consequently the
happiest, period in the life Of this ex-
traordinary man; but with that pleas
ing inference lsabeys well-known pic
ture, representing Napoleon halting
in a quiet stroll in his garden, may
have had great deal more to do than
had strict historic fact The First
Consul certainly looks calm and even
benign enough. His thoughts, were
you to pin your faith to the sauve
lines of the painter, might be running
Oh things no more noxious than mel
ons and asparagus, summer-houses and
fountains. He looks as pacific as Dam
lei Webster on his farm. In reality,
Napoleon at Malmaison, while his
graceful and accomplished spouse WAS
surrounded by the poets, the painters,
the musicians and the birds she loved
so dearly, was revolving in his mind
illimitable schemes of conquest and
glory. He was quiet enough at Nal
maison, for a little while; but so also
is the panther in the jungle before he
springs.
All the world knows that the Emp
ress Josephine retired to the Chateau
of Malmaison after her divorce from
Napoleon, and. that she died there on
the 18th Of May, 1914, just three
weeks after the man to whom her heart
was still faithful, and whom in his
downfall she had bewailed as 'her Cid,
her Achilles" had sailed in a British
war vessel to take possession Of his
shadowy sovereignty at Elba. The
Emperor Alexander of Russia and the
King of Prussia had dined with her
five days previously. The day after
the banquet, feeling herself suffering
from slight sore throat, she kept her
bed; but she insisted on giving audi
ence to the famous flower painter Red
out, whom she had sent for from Paris
to make drawing Of some freshly cut
flowers which she had wished to have
limned. She watched him from her
bed, at his easel sketching, remarking
that the poor flowers had only few
hours to live, but that she hoped her
self to be very soon well again -Four
days afterwards she was dead. Her
ashes lie in the little church at Rueil,
with those os her children, Eugene
Beauharnais, Viceroy Of Italy, and
Hortense, sometime Queen Of Holland
and mother of Napoleon III By
strange fatality, Napoleon |, once
again set foot in Ma!maison after the
death of Josephine. He came thither,
after Waterloo, a fugitive from the
EIysee, and stayed in his old home
just four days. There he confded to
the custody Of banker Jacques Lafitte
the six million francs which constitu-
ted the bulk of his fortune lie left
Malmaison for Rochefort-for the
Bellerophon and Plymouth Sound, for
the Northumberland and St. Helena,
and another and yet more fatal house
of evil-Longwood.
In the days Of his power he had set
tied the estate of Malmaison absolute
ly on Josephine; and at her death her
heirs sold the property to a syndicate
of bankers. The house had been par
TALLY pillaged by the Prussians in
1915; and the bankers appear to have
called in the bande noire," an asso-
citation of dealers in bric-a-brac,"
who made havoc Of what remained Of
the sumptuous furniture and decora-
tons.
In the early days of the Second
Empire the Chateau of Malmaipn
passed into the occupancy of Maria
Christina Of Spain, the widow Of Fer
dipand VII, and the mother Of the
extant ex-Queen Isabella. Who its
next occupier is to be is a secret known
to but the purchaser and his discreet
notary. 1t is only to be hoped that
the new owner, whatsoever he may be,
will refrain from turning the Chateau
into a restaurant, and what remains
Of the grounds into z casino after the
fashion of the defunct Jardin Mabille.
An attempt will be made, with a
good prospect Of success, during the
approaching congress to abolish tax
on tobacco. This is a move in the
right direction 1t is true that tobac-
co is not a necessary article, but it
is the poor mans luxury, frequently
about the only luxury he has. Let
the tobacco tax be abolished.
Yes, and most all the poor men of
the country will say the same of his