Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1895-03-26

LETITIA BONAPAETE. MOTHER OF NAPOLEON.
and the space there is small gulf. The
island beast, sketched fat ON the sea,
shows many black spots ON the side:
they are mountains. There are veins
also and these are swift streams: small
circles in a few places-towns. The area
of the broadside is 1876 square miles.
1t is more than twice as big as Rhode
Island-smaller somewhat than Connec-
ticut. And the population exceeds a
quarter Of q million.
OF tho towns here marked, We are
concerned with only two; Corte and
Ajarcio. The former is the old home of
the Buonapartes; the latter. the place to
which tho family removed just at the
time wheE, by the birth of a man child
clad with thunder, it was destined to
emerge from medieval obscurities, star
like, Sirius like, into the open sky of
fame.
The genesis of Napoleon touches re-
markable ethnic condition. Nearly all
Of the West-Aryan races have contribut-
ed to the population Of the island in
which he was born. The people and the
architecture alike show traces of all
these remote but potent influences in de-
termining the final race character of the
Corsicans who, after the fifteenth GEN.
fury, became essentially Italian. The
race is thus composite in its derivation
to as great a degree as any people in the
world. Besides the ethnic origin, the
environment-then narrow confines of the
island, its mountainous character, its
pleasant situation III the pellucid waters
of the Mediterranean, its easy distance
from the long bending line of one of the
most famous coasts of the world-haS
tended powerfully, by tho reactions Of
nature on the human animal, to estab-
lish and confirm the small insular race
whose one man was destined to give it
q conspicuous place in human annals.
The Buonapartes were true Corsicans.
The family reaches back obscurely into
the Middle Ages. The name is Italian,
and shows linguistically an origin as
remote as the Renaissance. There were
Italian as we'll as Corsican Buonapartes.
A family of this name lived in the Tus-
can city of SarZana; another perhaps,
in Genoa, and another at Florence. Ex-
amples are found in which the spelling
is given thus-Buona Parte. They of
Sarazana were ennobled in the sixteenth
century, and continued to write their
name with a di, or de, until the epoch
when the Great One was born. The no.
blesse, however. became atteruated,
both in Tuscany and in the island,
whereto branch of the family, at some
unknown date, removed and established
itself at Corte or Ajaccio.
At the middle of the eighteenth CEN
fury the head of the Corsican Buona-
parties was Joseph, grandfather of Ma
poleon. The family resided at Corte, in
the center Of the island. Joseph received
a patent Of nobility from the grand duke
of Tuscany, making him patrician;
and this worthless distinction was car
ried down to his son, Carlo Buonaparte,
whose rights We're confirmed by the
Archbishop of Pisa and the King of
France.
The geographical position of Corsica
made ii n bone of contention among the
Powers. From the sixteenth to the eight
zenith century the island was under the
suzerainty of Genoa. The people were
partisans. Some favored the Genoese;
some, the French; and some, other Ital-
ian States. At the middle Of the eight
eenth century, there was turbulence
The patriots rose against Genoa, and q
certain General Won Neuhof was about
to be made king. when a French army
under General Marbeuf was sent into
the island to bring it into subsection.
The French had just lost their colonial
empire in North America, and were
anxious to make a gain in the Mediter-
ranean to counterbalance the growing
power of Great Britain.
After the episode of Won Neuhof. the
patriot leader Pascal Paoli gained an as
tendency in Corsica, and became dicta-
tor. He conteIded vaiiantly for the in
dependence Of his country, and for
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 state
of Genoa, and union with the power