Smyrna times. [volume] (Smyrna, Del.) 1854-1987, 1896-12-23

the Powers Which Swayed the Larger
World Shown to Good Advantage In His
Pygmy I1ingdOm-The Darker Side of
Brilliant Career.
Elba was an island divided against
itself, there being both imperialists and
-oyalists among its inhabitants and a
considerable party which desired indie
pendence. By representing that Napo-
leon had brought with him fabulous
sums the Austrian and English commits
sioners easily won the Elbans to a fer
vor of loyalty for their new emperor.
Before nightfall of the 4th the court
was established, and the new admins
tration began its labors Having mas
teEed the resources and needs of his
pygmy realm, the emperor began to de-
plOy all his powers, mending the high
ways, fortifying the strategic points and
creating about the nucleus of 400 guards
which were sent from Fontainebleau an
efficient little army of 900 men. His
expenses were regulated to the minutest
detail both at home and abroad. The
salt works and iron mines, which were
the bulwarks of Ethan prosperity, began
at once to increase their output, and
taxation was regulated with scrupulous
nicely. By that supereminent virtue Of
the French burgher, good management,
the island was made almost independ-
ent of the remnants of the Tuileries
treasure (about ., 900, 900 francs) which
Napoleon had brought from France. The
same powers which had swayed a world
operated with equal success in a sphere
almost microscopic by comparison.
Before long the Princess BOrghese,
separated soon after her marriage from
| her second husband and banished since
! 1910 from Paris for impertinent conduct
| to the empress, came, according to prom
Use, to be her brothers. companion,
and Madame Mere, though distant in
prosperity, came likewise to soothe her
son i'll adversely. The intercepted letters
of the former prove her to have been at
least as loose in her life at Elba as ever
before, but they do not afford a suffi-
Gient basis for the scandals concerning
her relations with Napoleon which were
founded upon them and industriously
circulated at the court of Louis XVIII
The shameful charge has no adequate
foundation of any sort.
Napoleon's economies were rendered
not merely expedient, but imperative
by the fact that none of the money
from France was forthcoming which
had been promised in his treaty with
the powers. After a short stay Roller
frankly stated that, in his opinion, it
would never be paid and departed. The
island swarmed with Bourbon spies,
and the only conversation i'll which Ma
poleon could indulge himself unguard.
eddy was with Sir Neil Campbell, the
English representative, or with the IT,
tied English gentlemen who gratified
their curiosity by visiting him. During
the summer heats, when the court was
encamped on the heights at Marciana
for refreshment, there appeared a mys
terious lady with her child. Both were
we'll received and kindly treated, bu
they Withdrew themselves entirely from
the public gaze. Common rumor said i
was the empress, but this was not true
It was the Countess Walewska, Will
the son she had borne to her host, whom
b. she still adored They remained but
: few days and departed as mysteriousl.
as they had come.
Base females thronged the precinct
!. Of the imperial residence, openly strug
Cling for Napoleon's favor as they ha
so far never dared to do. Success to
frequently attended their efforts Blu
Nbo rt,a
at his side was absent. 1t is certain tina
she made an honest effort to come, an
= apartments were prepared for her receI
tion in the little palace at Porto Ferra
10. Her father, however, thwarted he
at every turn, and finally she was viz
tual prisoner at Schonbrunn.
So manifest was the restraint that he
!, grandmother, Caroline, queen of tn
two Sicilies, cried out in indignation
eff were in the place Of Maria LOUISE
1 would tie the sheets of my bed to tn
window frame and 1ee" Committe
to the charge Of the elegant and subt,
Neipperg, favorite chamberlain, whol
she had first seen at Dresden, ne pile
her with such insidious wiles that
last her slender moral fiber was entirel
broken down and she fell victim
bis charms. AS late as August NapoleC
received impassioned letters from he
,. Then she grew formal and cold. At las
under Metternich's urgency, she cease
to write at all. Her French attendan
q Meneyal, managed to convey the who
sad story to her husband, but the er
peroF was ipcrsdulous and hoped again
hope until December Then only
ceased from his incessant and urge
- appeals. Life of Napoleon; the e
lie and His Return" by Professor I
Il NJ Sloane, in Century.