The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-03-31

great debt run up by her. and when
the settlement could be pat of no
| longer, Josephine would confess. She
always put the amount far below
| what IL actually was, and only after
much oadgefing could Napoleon get
| at the real state of things. Then there
was scene. ending always in tears
| from Josephine. Invariably they con-
| quered Napoleon. Come, come, pet,
| dry your tears he would beg; don't
| worry and he paid the debts, and
raised her income In twelve months
| the scene was repeated"
The vexed question of the divorce. an
action for which Napoleon has perha ps
been more severely censured than for his
endangerlng of the liberty of Europe, is
put in somewhat new light by the pres
ent biographer. 1t appears in this work
that so far from being careless of Jose
| phine's happiness, or Indifferent to the
| suffering which such n step must cause
her, the Emperor was induced TO take
it by thorough conviction that only by
the birth of an heir to his own name
could the permanenee of the work which
he had done, and the peace of France, be
assured. No one knew better than he che
instability of the foundation upon which
his empire was built no one realized
more clearly that without a competent
prestige of the name of Napoleon, there
was little hope that it would last He
could not trust his brothers or any of
his kinfolk, or he might have adopted an
heir. There was nothing for it but to
put asi6e his personal feelings, and marry
again. All that the. author tells of the
transactions attending the divorce goes
to prove Napoleon's reluctance to per-
celNe the necessity, and his anxiety to
spare Josephine much of the inevi-
table pain of the separation as possible.
The view here adopted is that Napoleon
wished Josephine to be considered, and to
consider herself, as making the greatest
possible sacrifice, voluntarily, for the
good of France-a sacrifice which he
shared. She was still to be Empress still
to be assured of his love and friendship.
1t is an anomalous, even an impossible.
situation, from the point of view Of the
conventional; but taking into account the
intense idealism and determination of Ma
poleon, and the temper of the French peo-
pie, the explanation offered by the pres
ent author seems likely to be the true
one. There is in her life of Napoleon
nothing to prove that he was moved by
personal ambition, and not by sincere de-
sires for the good and the glory of
France. Were it not so. it would be hard
to see why the French people should have
gone mad over him, why they should.
even TO this day, regard him not only
with admiration and awe, but with affec-
tion- Truly. the story of this romance
excels in strangeness any which roman
ticism ever invented. The book would be
well worth buying only for the biography
of Josephine; but the two together make
a complete history which should not be
separated into its component parts. One
biography is the public life of the two,
the other is their private life.
Not the least interesting feature of the
book is the illustration, which comprises
copies of almost every portrait of either
the Emperor or the Empress now exist
ing, and portraits of many famous men
and women of the time. 1t would be more
attractive, however, if the engraver had
done his work better. Some of the pic
lures are too blurred and sipshod to be
pleasing. tNew York: Mcclure, Phillips
& Coz