Northwest enterprise. [volume] (Anacortes, Wash. Ter.) 1882-1887, 1883-03-10
NAPOLEON AS A HUSBAND.


softening him; and to this woman at
least he could be tender. When he
had once entered on this grand career
he adopted the view of love which,
according to recent writer on the
East, prevails among the Bulgarians.
En- Bulgarie,' says tho author,
quoting the words of native inform
ant, "Lamour ma pas de prelmi
naries." But in his younger days,
from the time when a little boy, he
made love as he went to school with
his stocking down at heel, to little
girl named Giaccommetta; even until
the date of his marriage with Jose
phine he could be simple and sincere
in his affection. In taking Josephine
for his wife he may be said, of course,
to have contracted political alliance.
But this 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 con-
vinced that he had acted throughout
life from motives Of reason alone;
and he told Las Casas that his mar
riage with Nine Beauharnais brought
him into contact with whole party
absolutely necessary for carrying out
that system of fusion which was one
of the greatest principles of his
administration. 'Without my wife" "
he adds, II should never have been
able to enter into natural relations
with the Royalsts" But the pas
sionate letters which he addressed to
Josephine, when, Immediately after
the marriage, he started on the Italian
campaign, show that he was miserable
without her, and that he had married
her because she was essential to his
happiness. my unique Josephine"
he wrote, when he had left her for
three day S, far from you there is no
pleasure; far from you the world is
a desert, where remain isolated, and
without experiencing the consolation
of being unable to unbosom myself
You have deprived me of my soul
you are the only thought of my life.
If l am worried with business. if L
fear the issue, if people disgust me,
if l am ready to curse existence. L
place my hand on my heart; your
portrait beats there. 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,
he was beating Beaulien at Monte
notte and Millesimo. forcing the
king of Sardinia to sue for peace
after the vic, ory of Mopdovi; gaining
the battle of Lodi, entering Milan 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 Nightmares; a baneful fore.
boding oppresses my respiration. L
no longer live; L have lost more than
my life, more than my happiness,
more than repose; l am almost with
out hope Isend you courier; he
will only remain four hours in Paris,
and will bring me back your answer.
Write me ten pages; perhaps this
will console me a little. : The
rest of the world no more exists for
me than il it had been annihilated.
/ cherish honor because You cherish
it, and victory because it pleases you;
without which / should renounce
everything and throw myself at your
feet" tu.I .f -a..
All that Mr.. Bingham has to tell of
the relations between Napoleon and
Josephine is deeply interesting, and
he does not deal with Napoleon in
his character of lover and husband
alone, but exhibits him also, and
above all. as an inveterate match
maker. He sets forth how, after the
divorce, Napoleon proposed, with an
air of seriousness, that the woman he
loved so much should contract a mar.
riace with the Prince of Wurtemburg,
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 accepted
the suggested offer, for, though he
was no longer her husband, Napoleon
still visited and received her, and still
felt the influence of the spell she had
cast over him. He granted her n
| sumptuous allowance, and there was
| no stlrer way of pleasing him than by
treating her with respect. She appre-
ciated the attention paid to her by
the great personages who were con
stantly coming to Paris, and knew
when they visited her that this was
only means of paying court to
Napoleon. Besides delightingin her
conversation, which did not neces
sarily imply good opinion of her
intellect. he attributed to her high
mental qualities. Thinking meanly,
as n rule, of the talent of women. he
considered Josephine quite equal to
the work of government. Apart from
State affairs of the heart, she was,
indeed, as true as steel, lie couio
trnst her with anything, he said, ex,
cent money, and he declared that
there was no ministerial post she was
not fit for but that of Finance MIN
;ster. AS it was, she ordered bonnets
at the rate of thirty eight a month,
had troops of milliners waiting upon
her. and once ran into debt 10 the
extent of $4,000 francs Napoleon
nnid the bills, AMI begged Josephine:
who was in tears. not to vex herself
anv more about the matter, But ne
lost his temper with the chief OF the
| w. u. Al On ono occasion, was