The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1896-01-03

teresy I'm his sisters son; and the former
had wealth and influence In the island.
both OF which mo was willing TO bestow ON
tho Bonaparte schoolboy. Young Fesch
aided him with his lessons, and exercised
q conservative influence on his temper.
How little might IL be foroseen that the
younger of these twain, with his surly
look and long hair and stockings down
over his shoes In the dust OF the play
ground should one day, from an imperial
palace In the most splendid city In the
world despatch his elder playmate as am
bassador to the Pope Of Romel
What were the civil and social influences
around the schoolhouse of Bonapartei The
sentiments of that place are among the
most potent and enduring forces of life.
The child nature imbibes unconsciously
the prevailing principles Of the hour; and
the character is forming while the first
hesitant words are conned from the prim-
er. The boy Napoleon had around his
schoolroom-as around his oradle-an api-
tated atmosphere. 1t was banked with
the receding clouds Of revolution. There
was lightning on the rim, and blood on the
fringes.
The majority of the Corsioans had ac-
cepted the French domination. Some still
remembered Genoa with Affection; and
many sighed for Independence. Among the
latter were the Buonapartes. The feeling of
regret for the lost cause began to wane
about the time that Napoleon was sent to
school, but there was still in his heart
drop of inherited bitterness on account Of
the French conquest. He looked back az
grily at the terrible conditions surround
ing him in his childhood. AS late as his
twentieth year he broke out In passion.
II was born, said he, "while my coun-
try was dying. Thirty thousand French,
vomited on our shores, drowning the
throne of liberty In waves Of blood-such
was the horrid sight which first met my
view. The cries Of the dying, the groans
of the oppressed, tears of despair, sur
rounded my cradle at my birth. The ut
terance shows how hardly the future en-
peror of the French himself In youth be-
came Frenchman.
When, from the sixth TO the ninth year
of his age the boy Bonaparte attended
school in his native town, three lines ra-
dated before his feet. One of these was
dim and clouded, but glorified with patches
of extreme light 1t was the way into the
kingdom of that New Philosophy which
was just then revealing itself with such
brilliancy in France. A second and we'll
Rome was great and honorable. Her re-
wards for diligent ambition were rich and
certain. The young aspirant who entered
her colleges might well expect emolument
and reputation The third path led dan
gerously to the military life. None might
at that time discern the coming upheaval
of society, with its concomitant reign of
the sword. But the agitations of the
epoch were sufficient to encourage war
and to offer measure Of inducenent to
follow In the path of military glory.
The taciturn schoolboy of Ajaocio had
these three open ways before him. From
the first he was preoluded by the DISPOSE
tions of his family, intensified in himself
He never had the scholastic trait. His
abilities as a pupil, and afterwards as a
military cadet, showed nothing of the
philosophe. Indeed he conceived-how
early in boyhood we know not-a preju-
dice against philosophy and the philoso.
pliers as we'll. AS for the Church, he had
an inbred admiration for Rome; but the
kind of life offered in the priesthood was
without attractions for him personally.
He was willing that Joseph and other of
his friends should become priests and
bishops: but not himself. Neither the
scholars gown nor the priests surplice
offered the slightest attraction TO his i'm
agiuation.
The condition of the Buonaparte family
about the years 1776-7S was critical. Car
10, the father, had given an interested adj
hesion to the French. He bad his hopes
from the annexation. He would keep his
titles and recover the properties formerly
belonging to the family. The Buonaparte
estates in Corsica had been mostly lost.
Some had been confiscated by the Genoese
party and converted into Jesuit schools.
The recent revolution had reduced Carlos
means almost to naught. He was himself
of no reputation as an economist. His
family had rapidly multiplied. Two chill
dren died in infancy between the birth of
Napoleon and that Of Lucien, in 1875.
! The family was brought almost TO perjury.
Carlo de Buonoparte could not get back
| his properties. The privilege of writing
his name with do did not compensate
for his losses. He struggled with adver-
sity, and sought the aid of influential
| friends. Among these the most availa-
BILE was General Marbeuf. The latter in
| 1875 appealed on behalf of his Corsican
friends to the authorities in Paris for the
! privilege of educating the Buonaparte
hoys in France at the expense of the royal
treasury This thing might be done-pro-
vided the applicants should be under ten
years of age, and be able to show four
strains of noble blood in their veinsl In
the case of the boys Buonaparte this could
not be proved; and affairs in the home
stead went from bad to worse.
At this juncture history, rather than
man, came to the rescue. France was on
the verge of bankruptcy. One finance
minister after another was appointed, and
one financial scheme after another explod-
ed in the hands of the inventors. 1t be-
came necessary to call together, at Yer
sailles, a council of the mobiles. Carlo de
Buonaparte was chosen a representative
from Corsica. In going to perform his
duty at the French capital, he took with
him, to be distributed en- route his two
sons, Joseph and Napoleon; also, the boys
half uncle, Joseph Fesch; also, cousin OF
Letitia the mother. AS for Fesch, he was
to be left as a student at AK. The cousin
had been appointed to an Office In the
church at Autun; and at that place the
distracted father determined to drop his
two sons at school.
This was in the year 1878. The com
pany set out by way of Florence, Genoa,
AZ - Il.