The Iowa plain dealer. [volume] (New Oregon, Howard County, Iowa) 1867-1895, 1891-06-04
THE NAPOLEoNlc WILLS.

A Singular Contrast Between Those OF
Prince jerome and His Great Uncle.
Speaking of the will of the late Prince
Jerome Napoleon. London paper says:
1t may be useful to contrast this docu-
ment, SO full of ill-nature, of egotism,
and, in parts, of downright meanness,
with the last will and testament of the
princes uncle, the First Napoleon. Like
almost every other emanation of the
character of this extraordinary man
and what should be more characteristic
than willo-the testament of the exile
Of Longwood, first dictated to Montho-
Ion and afterward entirely copied in his
own hand is a perplexingly conflicting
mixture of goodness and wickedness.
Napoleon's preliminary assertion that
he died prematurely ''assassinatcd by
the English oligarchy and its deputy"
may, at this time of day, be taken as SO
much political clap-trap introduced into
the will simply for the purpose of keep
ing up the spirits of the Bonapartist fac
ton in France, and encouraging the
Bonapartist sympathizers in Eng land.
The better nature Of Napoleon shines
with a very kindly light in his affec-
tionate allusion to ''his dearest wife,
the Empress Maria Louisa who, from
the moment of his fall, never seems to
have troubled herself whether he
lived or died, and who in her
petty Parmcsan duchy forgot. in
the society of one-eyed Austrian
chamberlain, that she had been
the wife of Caesar. The ruin of the
empire Napoleon ascribed to the trea-
son OF Marmont, Augereau, Talleyrand
and Lafayette. and, with the exception
of the last, the exile was probably not
very far out in his reckoning. But he
forgave the traitors He forgave his
brother Louis for the libel which he
had published against him in 1920. He
spoke of his remaining brothers and
sisters and of all his other kindred in
terms of the warmcst affection. His
legacies to his adherents and his de-
pendents were numerous and magnih-
cent. He left two millions of francs to
Montholon, five hundred thousand to
Bertrand, four hundred thousand to his
valet Marchand, of whom he wrote:
1.-THE services which he has rendered to
me are more than those of friend"
Even his cook, Chandelier, was left
seventy-hve thousand francs. He made
splendid requests to the widows and
children Of his old companions-in-arms;
and one of his legacies is almost unique
in its nobility: ITO Larrey, surgeon-iu-
chef, one hundred thousand francs.
He is the most virtuous man ! have
ever known" Exquisitely touching,
too. is his gift to Lady Holland of the
antique cameo presented to him by Pope
Plus vi. The irremediable blot, the
ineffaceable stigma on the will of Ma
polcon the great is his bequest of ten
thousand francs to the miserable Can
tillon, who was tried for an attempt to
assassinate the Duke Of Wellington in
Paris, but the payment of whose legacy
did not take place until the accession OF
Napoleon Ill. to the throne of France,
when all the provisions of the will
made at st. Helena were carried out
In the insulting codicil in which Ma
poleon indicated his gift Of money to a
would-be assassin his ineradicable Cor
sican nature - brooding, savage. re-
vengeful, mplacable-shone with lurid
Intensity. His will, nevertheless, ppe
sents some dignifed and some amiablt
traits. They may be sought for in vair
in the testament of his nephcw.-Chi
cago Journal.