Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1895-03-14
NAPOLEON AND JOSEPHINE.
~ Dolbt that the Former Was Madly
in Love,

me marriage Of Napoleon and Jose
hing is tl4atesl in the March install
n,.nt OF Prof William NJ. Sloane's Life
il Napoleon in the Century. Prof
sloane says:
The meeting of Napoleon and Jose
thine was an event of the first inn
partant.e. His own account twice ~
Iltes that a beautiful and tearful boy
presented himself, soon after the dis,
ornament of the sections, 10 the con-.
nanoei. of the city. and asked for the
sword If his Father. The request was
granted, and next day the boys
mother. Mime. BeauharIleiis. came to
thsaik the general for his kindly act OF
restitution Capuvated by her grace
Buonaparte was thenceforward her
slave. A cold critSc must remember
thai in the first place There was no
disarmament OF anybody after the
events of October ), the only action OF
the convention which might even be
construed into hostility being a decree
making emigrants ineligible for cleo
ton to the Legislature under the new
constitution: that in the second place
THIS story attributes to destiny what
was really due 10 the friendship Of
Balras, a fact which his beneficiary
would Like 10 have forgotten or con-
,ealed; and finally that the beneficiary
left another account in which he CO..
Z, Ia first met his wife :.
IA sY,fr L..
IIucien i'm his memoirs There are
hints, too, in various contemporary
documents and i'm the circumstances
themselves that Barias was an adroit
matchmaker. In letter attributed
10 Josephine. bWt without address, a
bright light seems TO be thrown ON the
facts. She asks a female friend for
advice on the question of THE match.
After a iocular Introduction of her
Sllitor as anxious TO become a father
to the children of Alexandra de Beau
hal1ais and the husband of his widow
She gives sportive but merc,less dis
section of her own character, and de
cslres that while she does not love
him, she feels no repugnancc But
caGi she meet hts wishes on fulfill his
desires? Il admire the generals coul-
age; the extent of his information
about all manner OF Things. concerning
which he talks equally Well; the quick
ness OF his Intelligence which makes
linn catch THE Thought of another even
before 1T is eXpl eSSed; but ! confess
am afraid of the power he seems
anxious 10 WELD over all about him.
His piercing scrutiny has in it seme
thing strange and inexplicable that
nwes even our directors: think. then.
how lit frightenS a woman" The
writer il Also terrified by the very
aIyh0r of her suitor'S passion. Past her
first youth. how can she hope to keep
for herself thait violent tenderness
which is almost "a frenzy? Would Ire
NOT soon cease 10 love her and regret
the marriage: If so, her only resource
would be tears-a sorry one, indeed
bllt still the only one. ''RaaIas de
elares that if / marry the general he
win secure for him the clbief com
mand of the army of Italy Yesterday
Buonapau'te speaking of this favor,
which. although not yet granted, al.
ready has led his colleagues in arms 10
mrtmnu-inig, said DO they think
need protection to succeed? Some day
they WIN be Only too happy If
give them mime. My sword Is at my
side, and with Ut ! shall 20 far What
x yo,l think of this assurance of sue
To- t,Laf Of ~
an sing from exec. Sive self-eSteem? \
brigad1er- general protecting The heads
af tate government! / don't know; but
sometimes this ridiculous self-reliaace
leads me to the point of believing
everything possible which this strange
man would have me do; and with his
imagination, WHO can reckon what he
Would undertaken This letter. though
Gften quoted. is SO remarkable that, as
some think. it may be. later inven-
ion # actually written later, it was
probably the invention Of Josephine
herself
What motives may inaye combined
70 overcome her scruples we cannot
tell perhaps a love of adventure, prob
ably an awakened ambition foT a sue
cess n other domains than the one
which advancing years would soon
compel her to abandon. She knew that
Blnnaparte had no fortune whateyet;
she must have known likewise, ON the
highest authority, that both favor and
FORTUNE would by her assistance soon
he his At all events, his suit made
swift advance and by the end Of IAN
uary he was secure Of his prize.
On February 8, 1896. their bans We're
proclaimed; on March = the bride
SI"ni received his brides dowly in
~ own appointment, on Carnot's mo-
ton, not on that of BarTas, as chief
"l The army of Italy, stil under the
nalne Of BonapaI1e on the seventh
rs VAS handed his commission: on
Ne ninth the marriage ceremony VAS
reformed by the civil mag strate: and
on the eleventh the husband started
F Ills post. In the marriage certi-
8ta1e AZ Paris the groom gives his
= 3S twenty-eight bur IN reality he