The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1895-03-18

taken To build upa wine trade with Italy,
but had failed-as he did with most things
else. Luoien, student at BriCnne, was
doing his best to get a transfer To AK,
where he might substitute a priestly for
military education. Madame de Bona
parto, now thirty seven years Of age. was
hoping against hope that the government
would pay her the petty stipend due for
the care OF her mulberry orchards, but no
payment was made.
There came want into the household
Lieutenant Bonaparte, making the condi-
tion OF his family a plausible excuse,
sought, and in February OF 1888, obtained,
leave Of absence to visit Corsica. Thither
he went, In poor health and general NOR
bldity Of mind. BY this time his arbitrary
character had begun TO show itself In full
force. Once mt home, he played the despot.
He hectored all bis kinsfolk, with the ex-
ception of the mother, and she could hard
ly withstand his impetuosity, willfulness
and gloom. His old and gouty great-uncle
Lucicn, from being the main stay OF the
family, was now about to die. Napoleon
sought TO alleviate the distrcsses Of the
household; but his resources were limited,
and his ambitions were constantly con-
tending with the purposes born Of natural
affection
Home again after an absence Of nearly
nine years, the young officer busted him
self more with things great than things
little. He was more concerned with the
political condition of the world than with
the daily needs of his mothers house. He
dwelt moro on the state of Corsica than
on the emptiness Of Madame Bonaparto's
cuisine--rnore on the woes of Ajaccio
than on those of his bros ers s,nd sisters
stomachs. He conceiveSh i'm " TO be the
patriot par excellence of his age, and spent
more time In delivering socialistic mono
logues than In contriving the means TO
rescue the family from impending ruin.
1t was at this juncture that Napoleon
began TO concern himself especially about
the institutions and history of England.
Along with his Neoker he studied Smiths
wealth of Nations" then only twelve
years from the press. The Elizabethan ago
NOT indeed for the intellectual glory that
was in it, but for its political intrigues--
impressed him greatly; and he undertook
TO do into fiction the features Of that era
In a novel entitled tho Count Of Essex. "
Then he few back to his History of Cor
sica, revised the parts which he had sent
TO the Abbe Raynal, and pressed on with
the rest. Alongside OF Voltaire, he would
set up n rival production OF his own. called
the Masked Prophecy marvellous and
impossible invention out of persial Litera-
ture was thus mixed with affairs; fiction
fourished at the meager meals which Ma
dame Bonaparte was able 10 set for her
family; anathemas of Joseph's unprofta-
bic wine-shop were Illuminated with para
graphs about the glories of rebellion and
the mulberry orchard back Of Ajaccio was
cursed in the middle Of an apostrophic per.
Grafton about the regeneration of man.
kind
Bonaparte's leave OF nbsence--so eagerly
sought-soon became as intolerable To him
as to tho rest. His paper gave him privilege
to be away from his command for six
months; but before the end of the fourth
mountaineering casuistical reasons
he impatiently left Corsica to rejoin his
company. During his stay in the island,
he had accomplished something--some-
thing that would have been much in any
other. He had induced the French intend
ant TO agree 10 allow his mothers claim.
He had pushed forward the inert Joseph
TO try the law as a profession, and had
seen him installed at Bastia He had
urged upon his gouty uncle the necessity
Of patriotisml He had drawn up and sub
mitted a system Of coast defcnses for the
principal ports of the island. He had pre-
pared a scheme for the creation of an in
sular army. He had studied and written
incessantly at furious speed, completing
his Oriental novel and his History Of Cor
sica. " The latter was cast In tho cpistolary
form, and was dedicated to Monsoigneur
Marbnuf, now promoted to the SEQ OF sens.
Meanwhile the Regiment La Fere had
been ordered from Douai, 70 Auxonne, in
Cote dor, 1872 miles from Paris. Thithel
Napoleon repaired, to reioin bis command,
In the last week Of May, 1888. He took
with him the manuscript of his 4" istory Of
Corsica" seeking publisher, but finding
none, either at Valence or Lyons or Aux
onne or Paris or anywhere else in this
mundane sphere forever. In that same
week, Alexander Hamilton wrote his last
paper for The Federalist One month pre-.
viously, from the presses Of Strahan and
Cadell in the Strand, was issued, by the
author, on his flfty-f1rst birthday, the
greatest history ever composed by man.
1t would be impossible 10 define the
meutal condition of Napoleon at this stage
of his development. Politically - for
though soldier he was always politician
-he went halting between two forces
Il He ONO tcDutnCy ureW MIN powerfully To-
wards the local independence of his native
island. This involved hatred of the con-
quest and annexation Of Corsica to France
1t also involved hatred of France itself;
of the French race; and of tho French
monarchy In particular. But the other
tendency drew Franceward with equal
stress. 1t was from the powerful fact Of
France that oil benefits had thus far
flowed to the family of Bonaparte. BY
France he had himself been educated. Be
sides, Corsica, even as an independent
state, was limited field Of action. France
is great France offers worldwide dis
tinction Our commission as Lieutenant
Of artillery Is French commission, and
our very sword is French blade
But our History Of Corsica" Is patri-
otio and ingurrectionary document. 1t is
inconsistent with our allegiance, ana hurt
full TO what France may promise hereafter
Therefore we would better shuttle, and re-
write our book. We will put 10 into tho
mouth of Corsican patriot of the old
Gcnoese faction, TO which the family OF