Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1895-07-26

NAfa)LEON Bl lSABE1.
leon himself The state necessity was
not etfectual with her who was nearly
forty. sevenl The promises had one con
clusion only-GiU0rcc.
All the world knows the story. The
Empress had both man and nature
against her. As to the Corsican, she
had lived with him for nearly fourteen
years. She knew too we'll the futility of
resisting him. It would seem that all
expedients were useless. At length the
Emperor 8 mind was made up. He broke
his purpose to Josephine as gently as
might be, at Malmaison.> The divorce
was arranged on the 18th and 10th Of
Decemb Der, 1909. The Bonapartes had
now full satisfaction. No child of JOSE
phine should ever wear the diadem of
France. Napoleon, did as much as he
might to alleviate her despair. He left
her Malmaison, her title of Empress, and
pension of two million francs.
After the fallen, Whom? Would the
Emperor Of the French, son Of the null
berry woman Of Ajaccio choose another
--as he had chosen the firstly nature
and natures law. Or would he oalcu-
late? Would he find in Vendee or Cotes
du Nord or Lorraine some peasant girl,
some Pucelle of Arc, and make her-as
he had made himself-Impe1ial, and
from her wait to see springing his pos
sible lions whelp, so coveted-and nec-
essary? Or would he, hoping to pacify
the past, choose some princess out of the
House of his friends-such friends as
Gustavus or Alexander or Frederick
William or Francis?
! The politician prevailed over the man,
even in Napoleon The splendors Of
dynastio glory obliterated the plebeian
instincts Of his nature. The eagle Of
.Austerlitz dove into the thicket Of
the past, and mated with Hapsburg!
Maria Louisa, child Of our well-beloved
brother, the good and faith-keeping
Francis, whose subjects we lately met
.on the field Of Wagram, is our choice.
There was little delay. Maria Louisa
was appalled, at the prospeot--at the
first. The woman in such cases is hard
to quenoh. But Francis would have an
Emperor for a son-in-law; and the
daughter Of Francis assented. With
swift preliminaries the royal cavaloade.
ION the 18th Of March, 1910, swept out
of Vienna, bearing her to her fate. On
the LIST Of April, at tho old palace Of st.
Cloud, shining splendidly for the ocoa-
sion, the civil marriages was performed.
The Pope refused to approve the divorce
OF Josephine. Most Of the cardinals, de-
Ginning to bless the marriage, were
stripped Of their scarlet regalia and
banished from Paris. r.
J. In the Tuileries, Maria Louisa sought
at first to play the part Of 1mperatrice
with gaiety and good will. Tradition
adds that Napoleon loved her. Certain
J. " be said SO; and his future conduct in
the marital relation was more exem.
plary than before. There we're no more
4 Madame Foures, Countess Grassinis,
. Msdame ~>~'s, Stephanies, Eloenores.
Hmtenses, Walewskas, or other beauti-
\ ful Uncertainties on the horizon. But
tho vivacity and charm Of the court q
Josephine never returned. She at least
4 had 0ccomplt stnsents.
vi Tho new Empress fulfilled her part
with the apathetio smile Of q Haps.
\ burg. On the night Of the 20th Of March.
1911, the fftteth gun from the battery
\ announced to Paris a-tiptoe that the