Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-03-23

'Nk1S 6]N 1 LETITIA poNAPARTE. MOTHER OF NAPOLEON. and the space there is a small gulf. The island beast. sketched fiat on the sea, shows many black spots on the side: they arc mountains. There arc veins also, and these arc swift streams; small circles in few places-towns. Tho area of the broadsido is S.S16 square miles. It is moro than twice as big as Rhode Island-smallor somewhat than Connec- ticut And tho population exceeds a quarter of n million.
 Of tho towns hero marked. We are concerned with only two; Curto and Aiaccio The former is tho old hO;no of tho Buonapartos; tho latter. the placo tC which tho family removed just at the timo when, by the birth of a man child clad with thunder. 1t was destined to emerge from mciiUval ohScuritirS, star like, Sirius like. into tho open sky of fame
 Tho genesis of Napoleon touches rc markablc cthnic condition. Nearly all of tho West Aryan races havc Contrihut- cd to the population of tho island i'll which he was born. Tho people and the architecture alike show traces of all these remote but potent influences in de termiping the final race-CharactCr of the CorsiCans who, after tho fifteenth cen tury, became essentially Italian. The race is thus composite in its derivation to as great n degree as any people in thu world. Besides the Cthnic origin. the Cnvirunmcnt-thr narrow confines Of the island, its mountainous character, is pleasant situation i'll the prlluCid waters of tho Mediterranean. its easy distance from the long lrndiuS limo of one of the most famous coasts uf the wurld--haS tended powerfully. hy in" reactions ot nature on the human animal. to Cstah- fish and confirm the small insular race whose ono man Was destined to give it a conspicuous place in human annals The BuonapartCs wcre true CorSicanS. | The family reaches back obsCurely into the Middle Ages. The name Is Italian. and shows linguistically an origin as | remote as tho Renaissance. There were Italian as we'll as CorSican BuOnaparteS. 4 family of this name lived ill the Tus- can city of Sarzana; another perhaps, | in Genoa, and another at Florence. EX- amplcs arc found ill which the spelling Is given thus-Buona Parte. They of Sarazana were cnnobled ill the sixteenth century, and continued to write their name with di, or de. until the epoch when the Great Ono was born. The mo- blesse. however. became atteuuated. | both in Tuscany and in the island, whereto branch of the family. at some unknown date, removed and established itself at Corto or Ajaccio.
 | At the middle of the eighteenth cen tury the head of tho Corsican Bucna- partes was Joseph. grandfather of Ma | poleon. Tho family resided at Corte. i'll tho center of the island. Joseph received patent of nobility from tho grand dnke | of Tuscany. making him patrician; and this worthless distinction was car ried down to his son, Carlo Buonaparte whose rights wcro confirmed by the Archbishop of Pisa and the King of | Franco
 Tho geographical position of Corsica made it bono of contention among the Powers From thu sixteenth to tho eight eenth century tho island was under the suzerainty of Genoa Tho people were | partiSanS. some favored tho GUnN,>u; some. the FrCuCh; and some. other ltal- ian States. At tho middle uf the eight eenth century, there Was turbul,n nee. The patriots rose against Genoa, and Il certain General Vom Ncuhof was about to be mado king. when a French army f the island to bring it into suhjection. The French had just lost their colonial empire ill North America, and were anxious to make q gain in the Mediter. ranean to oounterbalance the growing power of Great Britain.
 After the episode of Von Neuhof, the patriot leader Pascal Paoli gained an aS- tendency in Corsica, and became dicta. tor. He contended valiantly for the in. dependence of his country. and for a while held his powerful enemies at bay. This, however. could not last The French party among the COrsicans de. sired the breaking of all connection be- tween their country and the petty stats of Genoa, and a union with the power. ful kingdom of France The cause ol Paon fell before overwhelming odds, and in May of l16S, Corsica was form ally delivered to the French. Tho pa triots were scattered, and their leader found refuge in England.
 Itwas i'll the midst of these agitations civil and military, that the Buonapart, family emerged clearly to view. Carlt
 Maria Buonaparto was born in Ajaccio March go. l14G. At tho time of the fail
 ure of the revolutionary movement ana
 the loss of his country's independence, h.
 was twenty-two years of ago. Mean while. in his eighteenth year, he hat 1 fallen in love with Leritia Ramolino
 daughter of a well-to-do Corsican peas ant With her. nature had been prodiga
 of all gifts She was beautiful to de
 gree; strongly marked in feature an, . person with the excellencies of the Ital
 Ian race
 Of the Ramolino family, not much i
 known Suffice it that Carlo di BuOna
 parte-though n nohle-reCklessly tool
 Letitia in marriage when she was bu fifteen years of age She brought hin
 her beauty and n portion of properties
 but no additional rank, Sho Is said [
 have been n girl of heroic qualities Queenly in her boaring. rather silent il
 manner. healthy as to her bodily life . and ignorant of sentiment. Her face
 preserved in hundred forms of art
 shows unmistakably the origin of tha