Evening star., 1905-11-11
ALL PARIS DID HONOR
To the Late Princess Pierre
Bonaparte.
A DEVOTED MOTHER
STORY OF A LINE OF DEMOCRATIC
BoNAPARTES.
Prince Roland Married Monte Carlo
Millions and Has Made Himself
Popular and Respected.
Special Correspondence of The Star.


position. but because OF the personal merits
Of her son.
Even the president Of the French re-
public, who Is not supposed to go out of
his way to notice families Of pretenders
to the throne of France. sent his represent
tative to the funeral of the late Princess
Pierre Bonaparte.
It lis the story of a line OF democratic
Bonapartes. grandfather, father and son,
who consecuttvely refused 10 take stock in
the empire, married middle-closs ladies and
lived private, because II Bonaparte has SO
used the q, 100000 francs Of his wife's for
tune in manner that has made him won
derfully popular he has consistently refused
to put the treasure of Monte Carlo at the
service of the family dream.
With the death Of Rolands mother. there
remain only two aged ladies whose hus-
bands had the right to call the great Ma
poleon uncle. One Is the ex-Empress Eu-
genia, whose husband, Napoleon III, was
The other is the Princess Clotilde of Savoy.
daughter Of Victor Emmanuel and widow
OF the so-called prince de Ia Montague"
whose father was Jerome; while Roland's
the Independent Pierre. son of the nnam-
bilious Lucien, who started the kicking tra-
dition by marrying Alexandrine de Bles-
champ. widow of a plain money broker.
Napoleon's Brother Lucien.
The great Napoleons brother Lucien be-
gan life as a strong man of action. While
Napoleon was in Egypt simple General
Bonaparte. Lucien got himself elected to
the legislature and, with Talleyrand and
Sieyes, plotted the coup detat When all
was ripe, he called back Napoleon from
Egypt, and on the 10Th Brumaire he show
ed frmness and decision that contrasted
with the hestatons of the future emperor.
Financially he was also hustler. Dur
ing one year as minister of interior and
five years as ambassador to Spain, he
amassed a gigantic fortune. Then he as
| tonished every one and mortally offended
| the emperor by marrying the money
brokers' widow, quitting the empire and
going to live the rest Of his life In Rome,
snug and retired.
One OF his sons was Prince Pierre, hus-
band of the lady who has just died, and
| the coincidence Is striking and continues
| in the case OF their son. the present-day
Roland
In 1s4s, while his cousin Louis Napoleon
| was laying his pipes to the throne, this
Prince Pierre got himself elected to the
iegislature-like his father-from their ma
| tive Corsico. Like his father, he began by
| helping to bring in his cousin as prince
president. Then he suddenly swerved dis
approved the coup d'etat, would accept
nothing from Napoleon III. and to en-
phasize his independence-like his father
he lest no time In marrying. on March %,
1853, Mile. Justine Elenore Ruflin, daugh-
ter of a retired stock broker, and retiring
on his own account to a villa in the Paris
suburb Of AuteuiI
In this villa, years after, and by a BIZ
zarre contrary, he, Prince Pierre Bonaparte,
who had received nothing from Napoleon
Ill, was to receive an attack, struck over
his shoulder at the empire. and as con-
sequence, he who simply surprised into
an instructive de ense of the family was
destined to work 1t incalculable harm.
The Victor Noir Incident.
1t was known the Victor Nolr incl
dent Victor Noir was a staggering young
Paris newspaper man on the staff Of the
Marseillaise, one of the opposition papers
that was finally TO bring about the fall of
Napoleon III. It's editor, Pascal Grousset,
later deported communist and today
deputy, drew Prince Pierre into a news
paper controversy and sent two of his
young men, Ulrich de Fonvielle and Victor
Noir, to provoke him to a duel.
On the morning of January 10, 1870. they
presented themselves at the villa, and there
Is no doubt that the secret object of the
plan was to embroil the dynasty, make It
disliked and win notoriety for its execu-
tants. What happened remains a question
of veracity, and can never be known. Had
Pierre Bonaparte imminent cause for self
defense? In any case he drew revolver
and fired, just missing Ulrich de fonyielle
and killing Victor Noir.
1t caused an immense stir in Paris. cap
ping the climax of popular discomfort with
the empire; and when Napoleon III prac-
tically ordered the acquittal of his cousin
by means Of q special high court sitting at
Tours, feeling was SO rife that had not
the Franco-Prussian war come at the very
moment to change everything the Victor
Noir incident might well have been the
point Of departure of revolution. At the
present day it is still used to discredit the
Bonapartes.
N he 20 D,yAg ha-
little son Roland, then aged twelve years,
1t came as first blow that was to be fol-
lowed by others. With the enl OF the
Franco -Prussian war came the ruin Of the
whole Bonaparte family, and Prince Pierre
fled with the princess and her two children
to Belgium. Frankly, he had never Eeen
of much account At the age of sixteen
years he was taking part in the Romagnes
insurrection, stirred up by italian secret
societies, to which he and his two cousins,
Charles and Louis. precociously belonged.
Charles left his skin there, and Louis
years later, as Napoleon ILL., was to just
escape assassination by Orsini for lack of
obedience when in power to these Car
bonari, with whom he ought never to have
monkeyed as boy.
Pierre's Early Career
Pierre Bonaparte next went to fight with
Bolivar for Colombian independence. Then
he offered his sword to the French govern
ment of Louis Philippe-which promptly re-
fused 1t. To Keep it bright he took a turn
against the Turks with Mehemet-AH, the
Egyptian sultan who had resisted his uncle.
the great Napoleon. Then-.ike his father
he suddenly grew discouraged and set
tied down in London until the revolution of
1S4S permitted him to return to France.
get his second wind, and enter the iegfsla-
ture, as I have already told.
Now, in 1870, the game was all up again,
and Prince Pierre was where he had started
as a boy of sixteen--an exiled Bonaparte
prince without funds. DISCOURAGED for the
second time. he sunk into easy-golng ways
and left to his energetic wife the task of
educating their little Roland, aged twelve
and their little Jeanne. aged six. She in
time, married the Marquis de Villeneuye.
and Is well fixed today
At the funeral Of the Princess Pierre the
other day all the Paris papers broke into
eulogies of her courage in distress and the
Sublime" efforts she made to give Roland
his education. She put MIN through the
Lycee st. Louis at Paris, and then got him
into st. Cyr. Roland quit the French West
Point as No. % in a batch Of 86O, and Irn-
mediately became sublieutenant IN the
Seth Of the line.
They would not let Prince Roland Bona
parte fight for his country. Two years az
ter he had become sublieutenant he was