Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-01-20

The Gay Daughter of Billy patterson
She CaPtiVAted jerome bohAParte
with "a Box on the Ear.
from the chicago Nois.

from the chicago Ne's.
III WASHINGTON, D. c., in. al
though no elaborate ''hfe' ofMme. Bona
parte, nee Betsy Patterson has been
written, vet is the interestlttachin to
her everlasting, and the publication OF ner
N letters some years ago only leepened, by
n a nearer view, curiosity rgarding this
extraordinary woman. SOMETHING shad-
Owy always hung about thes letters. IL
was said that they were iond IN an olu
trunk and quietly appropriated by uhe
person who published them ana Wnen
surprise was expressed thd her two
grandsons permitted the Publication 1t
was answered that the B0nWartes were
allowed no voice in the mattcr-the nnder
4 knowing the letters to have a genuine
commercial value, anG, noting 10 Ile
maxim that findings Is havin;s,' Simply
published them. Bat even hadthey been
for sale at their value the two 3onaparte
brothers would have had to x contrary
10 all their previous actions II they hao
paid any money for the mere bGyateIle OF
shielding their family. The BOnapartes
inherit fOndness for holding on 70 every
cent they possess from both sidesot their
ancestry. At all events the authenticity
of the letters has never been questioned
and if it had been, the internal evidence
was Of such convincing nature that no
sane person could have believed that any
hand but Betsy BOnaparte's ever penned
those cutting sentences. They sustain IN
a remarkable degree the opinion held by
Lord Macauiay and quoted by Richard
Grant Whte-that the very best epistO-
lory English. ii not the best and purest
English in existence, is that written by
women in their ordinary correspondence.
Nine. BOnaparte was not highly equcat-
ed woman. She respected learning with
out having much Of it, but she spoke and
wrote the English language with an
Idiomatic force seldom equaled and never
surpassed. Her ideas sometimes, hrst and
always original, naturally assumed
form most simple and epigrammatlc In
speech and writing. Although unlVers-
ally condemned Tor phenomenal neart-
lessness and calculating GOODNESS, nobody
ever seems To have taken the trouble to
have observed her surroundings, or how
far circumstances were to blame in form
Jug her. sue was the daughter of Will
liam Patterson, of Baltimore, who, orl-
ginally a poor Irish boy, accumulated "A
fortune estimated by Thomas jefferson to
be the second in size in the United States.
Mr.. Patterson has been lauded as model
of domestic and civic virtue, but he was,
in point Of tact, an old fool apart from the
i ability to convert one dollar INTO two. de
was honest withal, and with -he narrow,
bui-headed Obstinacy which uI.tnguishes
Il men OF has type, he laid down code OF
4 morals and manners which he proposed
to fit the rest of the world to, and found
the first rebel in his own iamily-his
daughter Betsy. Mr. Patterson became
4 person of renOwn in a way he least eX-
4 pected, and which would make his veneer
4 able pig-tat-that being the style Of hair
dressing he held to until his death-stand
/ on end like quilts upon the fretful pOrcu-
Il pine. 1t was to him that the celebrated
A inquiry refers: "WAo struck Billy Pat
I tarson?" Mr.. Patterson was big, POM
4 pOus Old gentleman, mighty in his own
Il estimation, and with a regular gun
1 powder temper when his dignity was in
Iringed. During a not which took place
4 in Baltimore once tle Old gentleman sal
1 lied forth into the crowd to try the effect
1 of his ponderOus eloQuence on the assem-
bled roughs and tOughs. The first thing
n heRpss somebody hit him a humping
4 whack in the back. ''WhO struck Billy
Patterson? '' he rOare1. Nobody was rash
enough to answer. who struck Billy
Patterson?' hundred the aggrieved
citizen, and for the next six months he
charged and cayoried about Baltimore
demanding that the man that struck
Billy Patterson be discovered and con-
demned to cOndgn punishment. 1t
y got to be byword, was made the subject
ot comic song, AMI so achieved lmmor-
tality.
The only living Mortal who was brought
into close contact with his stern dogma
tism and the brute force of his wealth
Without succUmbng was his daughter
& Betsy. Mr.. Patterson invented formula
sOf success. "MOney and merit he de-
Cleared the only road of happiness through
this vale OF tears but the old gentleman
was careful to puG money first. His sur
E prise at finding an eagle Matched into his
Z brood OF tame domestic fowls is delicious
IN its manifestations. He sagely advises
Betsy-then in the full whirl OF a brilliant
PARTISAN life, admired and courted by
such men as Talleyrand, ChateauOriand,
GortschakOff, Lamartine, and scores OF
others-to return TO his house on South
Street in Baltimore, assuring her that I
was emlnently proper fer ''peOple to look
az home for real and substantial happi-
ness" Betsy's answer to this is full of
6hary, good sense: "Since we possess
not the power Of organizing ourselves,
Wisdom consists in pursuing the course
on talents and ambition point out to u.s."
WhereupOn Mr.. Patterson assures her
fhht nothing but insanity can excuse her
f1r preferring TO live in London and Paris
% his house on South street. He was so
M0ch OppOaed to women going at large
thai in leaving q legacy to his niece,
4of going to Washington when Congress
W1s ia session, he made il Conditional on
&Ancy's giving up attending the sessions
or Congress. He always claimed TO have
opp0sed the match between Betsy and
teIOme Bonaparte, but Betsy in one of
bel letters gives sly dig at the old gen.
tlkinan, which induces the belief that he
was not SO much opposed to the match as
He pretended. She gave "A son of Sir
HDbert WilmOt letter OF introduction TO
Nef father. but she wrote TO the latter:
#2do not advise people to take any trou-
bLe about strangers, as they are very
merateiul in general and their acquaint-
epce Of no great adyantage-unless one
aes daughters 10 get rid or" Another
tfoubie between them was that Mr.. Pat
tefson insisted on calling her Betsy even
inShis will. Alter Betsy became Nine.
bonaparte she preferred being called
BIZ abeth or Eliza, and Jerome Bona
aparte pleased her by calling her Elise.
Fut Mr.. Patterson thought that Betsy
was very good name, and if Billy Pat
tersOn thought so there was no earthly
reason why anybody shouldn't think So
BOD so Betsy she was andBetsy she stayed.
9er0me BOnaparte's woOing was not long
BIDDING. In september, lS03 he came to
Baltimore in company with Gen. Rewtel,
And was treated with great distinction.
Iie heard much Of Betsy Patterson's