The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-07-21
MOTHER OF
NAPOLEON
Biography of Madame
Mere.
A TYPICAL CORSICAN
A Woman VINO Was Always Pre-
pared for the Downfall Of
Her House.

aad "A place has been waiting for Clara
Tschudfs monograph. Now that we have
the book. In tolerable translation by
Miss Cope. we are sorry to find It not al
together worthy Of its place. The mate
rial Is awkwardly put together; the au-
theirs style is commonplace. But the
material Is there. AID uhcommonly in
teresung 1t 5. LaetItia Kamonho. mar
i ry4ng in her thirteenth or fourteenth year,
pre- missed at the time to be nothing more
,han the loveliest woman Ia Corsica.
| Laet4tia BOnaparte, the mother of al
| emperor. three kings, queen and two
| reigniLg princesses. was parsonage
Extraordinary dignity and force Of char
aeter.
carlo Bonaparte made her a poor hus-
band. Vain, restless. extravagant anC
lself-seeking, he was not long making
ms beautiful bride acquai..ted with pow
erty. he showed some courage IN en-
ibracing the cause Of Paoli and Cors.caL
linGepeLde nee, Tut he was one OK the mrs,
TO approve the union OF TIE slam VIII.
rance. and mis- Efforts 10 ingratlate HIM
self with the authorities reneCt inCes-
sanity the weak man. lie rendered little
service to his many children. Ii Is doubt
ful N he understood them or took the
trouble to sIuOy Their characters. What
lever virtues any OF them possessed wer,
handed down to them by their mother
A
my mother" he sad, in the fulness o.
ms power. Ito her good precepts and up
hight example, that l owe my success
and any great thing that 1 have accom-
Ipllsheu. She had ne sad. The head OF
a man, though the bCuy of woman.
10y her own account she never allowed
liner devotion TO her chiiCren to degeAer
ate into mere doing fondness. "A wa
Ioulgent or severe, according to the meet.
| vi the case" she stateu Iate an ner life
Ian IN no ~. fF4V. at
yers interesting anecdotes illustrative oI
her methods.
She brought her children up in stric,
ICCTsiCan fashion, ana never overlOokeI
a fault. Napo.eOn objected to go Il
Ichurch on Sundays. but "A coupe of DJxea
on the ear soon reduced him 10 subm.s-
sion. on one occasion she had gone oul
with friend. wnen turning round al
some distance from the house. LefOIe de
seeIdiLg a steep path. she sped ner sec
onc son following her. She was angry
that he had dared To come without per-
miss On. ian back and gave him sucn q
lviCIent box on ,hc ear that the china fel
lana rolled down the slope. tie got vi
lCryiLg and rubbing botn MS eyes WIT
his small nsts. but Laet.tia PAD no heeC
10 HIM, ana calmiy WeAt on her way
1his seems Canous, tut, as matter o.
fact, there appears to have been no bru-
tally m this spartan maJron. you al,
livery good 10 me-" said Napoleon in ST
Helena to his physician. 'and you shrink
? from no effort 10 alleviate my sufferings
but tins Is nothing compared with mater
nal Tenderness" Nhen she was a rug
tive from Corsica with her family, ant
Napoleon was sun an obscure Capta n o.
tartlli,ry, she established ner nOusenoi,
IA poor. underground lodgings an Mar
lse4l.cs, mehOeu her cniiuren clotn' :
cooked their frugal meas. aAo I.iboreu II
them with passionate love. she won la
tel a repute for stinginess. NapOleon
when Emperor, wOuIo Cn.ue her Tor he
parsimony. Il nave given you house Al
the capital. and lovely country villa
with an income Of "A mAli0n francs" h
y said. "and yet you live IKE a bourgeois
OF ST. Denis. You must not scrape you
y money together, but spend AL tnst 1 CIV
you" She was still oDdurate. 'Inen 70
must let me have TWO mi4nOns instead O
one she would reply. Tor 4 must econo
m.ze; It is my nature" Here she wa
v unjust 20 herself Inc habt of iookn.
twice at cCtn before she spent Il Wa
m forced upon nor by the difficult c rcum
stances OF her married NE, ana by IN
N terrible poverty with which, as a WIDOW
" she had TO struggle IN order to keep ne
family from starvation. there was MOI
truth Ia the retort which her childre
prov okod by tner constant criticisms
her economies. who knows" she woul
ask, whether all these kings Will nj
e. some day come ana beg their bread
meT'
She was the sole member of her hou:
81 TO whom the stabinCy of the Napoleon
regime seemed douLssul I'VE CorsIcaf
er have seen good many revolutions" 81
observed. "All tms pomp may come
an end, and what Wa. become of m
IN children" She saved her money with
view TO the sinister possibilities of Il
future, and when the crash came HI
" purse was indispensable to her numila
a, ed children. Avarice was not Ia m
blood. Simplicity was, beyond all que
ton. In letter Of CARDINAL Fesch
d. there - an amusing p.c,urr OF Nine. Is
et naparte visiting home IN 1904. the Poi
- had ordered a seat TO be arranged for h
In ST. Peters similar TO that occupied
the Queen Of SARDINIA ana yne Duke
heCklenburg. But as IL was only DO
sible To- place her seat behind those
the queen ard Duke. who mad neId thei
for more than year, she feit II ADV
n able 70 refuse the intended honor, und
- the pretence OF fat que after ner jou
ney." obviously she could stand up,
ceremony when she chose. and hold o
for the precedence winch she consider
her due. But against this aneCdote
can set that told by the LADY VINO in wiz
IN. drawing from the room. with her IA
IN, toward the EmperOr's mother caught h
foot In her tram aad nearly fen Il
-, straight forward" exclaimed Nine MeI
-. etiquette had well nigh brought you
- the ground"
- In her heart. to the end OF her days, $
was still the Corsican mother and hous
10. wife, impate nt Of ceremony. undazz.
- by the luxury OF court .fe. conscious
- ways with grim placidity Of the caprice
-. fate. In public she paid her great
~, the Difference required by usage, but
-" family meetings she held ner place as
mother. She would not KISS hrs har
she offered her own to his lips-and
kissed H. Flatterers could not blind
To the hclplessness of her son in
hands OF God. When she was told th
"a victory on the field Of battle was hab
on ual with him she replied: you are rig
= M yet one bullet Is sufficient to kill hi
- Gcd has not pledged Himself TO work m
acles In his behalf" To Card, nal Fes
she writes: II foresee that your neph
viii bring about his own downfali a
that Of the whole family. He ought
be satisfied with what he has already
n tained. and by striving for more he "
lose all" In ne presence Of obserN
tons Ike these. % which she was ne'
~ chary. and considering the cand q. ne
20 pendent manner she bore toward her 81
speculation as 20 her failure 10 arr
him in his recklessness is not unnatu.