The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1895-03-21
EMPRESS JOSEPHINE.
her Early Life and Her Separation From
Her First Husband.

her Early Life and Her Separation From
Her First Husband.
In 1873, while the boys at Brienne
were still tormenting the little I'M
tanned Corsican nobleman. and driving
him to his garden fortalice. there to
seek refuge from their taunts in COM
pany with his Plutarch. there had ar
rived in Paris from Martinique a sue
cessful planter of that island. French
gentleman of good family, NJ. Tascher
de la Pagerie, bringing back to that
city for the second time his daughter
Josephine. She was then girl of six
teen, without either beauty or educa-
ton, but thoroughly matured, and
with quick Creole intelligence and a
graceful litheness of figure which made
h.her most attractive woman. She had
l6p9St the years of her life from ten to
CTnrtSen in the convent of Port Royal.
! Having passed the interval in her ma
| tive isle, she was about to contract a
marriage which her relatives in France
had arranged. Her betrothed was the
younger son of family friend, the
Marquis de Beauharnais. The bride
landed on October 90 and the ceremony
took place on December -. The young
vicomte brought his wife home to a
suitable establishment in the capital.
Two children were born to them
Eugene and Hortense; but before the
birth of the latter the husband quar-
relied with his wife for reasons that
have never been known. The court
granted separation, with alimony, to
Nine. de Beauharnais, who some years
later withdrew to her fathers home in
Martinique. Her husband sailed to
America with the force of Bouille, and
remained there until the outbreak of
the revolution. when he returned, and
was elected deputy to the states gen
eral.
Becoming an ardent republican, he
was several times president of the
National assembly, and his house was
an important center of influence. In
1890 NJ. Tascher died, and his daugh-
ter. with her children, returned to
France. 1t was probably at her hus-
bands instance, for she at once Joined
him at his country seat. where they
continued to live as brother and sis
ter" until Citizen Beauharnais was
made commander of the Army of the
Rhine. AS the days of the Terror APP
preached, every man of noble blood
was more and more in danger. At last
Beauharnais' turn came; he, too. was
denounced to the commune, and i'm
prisoned. Before long his wife was be-
hind the same bars. Their children
were in the care of an aunt. Nine. Egle,
who had been and was again to be a
y--4sriab of distinction in the social
world, but had temporarily sought the
protection of an old acquaintance, a
former able who had become mem
Der of the commune.
The gallant young general was not
one of the four acquitted out of the
batch of forty-nine among whom he
was finally summoned to the bar of the
revolutionary tribunal. He died on
June %, 1894, true to his convictions,
acknowledging in his farewell to his
wife fraternal affection for her, and
committing solemnly to her charge his
own good name. which she was to re-
store by proving his devotion to France
The children were to be her consola.
ton: they were to wipe out the dis
grace of his punishment by the prac.
tice of virtue and-civism Prof. Sloane.
in Century