The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1910-09-03
GRE |! !. ! Il u We.
81 les :.
of HISTOR Il
By Albert Papson Terhune
Napoleon and Josephine

Copyright, By the AuthoF.l i
Napoleon Bonaparte. young. stern,
cynical-commander Of Frances army
In Egypt-sat silent in his tent at
Cairo. His fayorite officer. LIE Febvre,
stood near, not wishing to break In
upon his chiefs thoughts. Those
thoughts. lie Febvre knew, were doubt.
less Of Josephine. the adored wife
whom the commander had been forced
to leave behind him In France soon
after their wedding. Suddenly Bona
parte raised his head and asked in his
imperioqs, rasping voice:
lie Febvre, what do you suppose
Josephine is doing at this moment?"
The officer, more tactful than truth.
full. answered: a
General, she is weeping and count.
ing the days that must crawl by until
your return"
lie Febvre, you're fool!" snarlcd
Bonaparte. AT this moment Joseph.
inc is riding in the Bots de Boulogne
on a white horse and in bad com.
pany!".
Which goes to show that the future
emperor's eyes were already opened
concerning the character OF his wife
and that his early worship Of her was
dying out. Josephine was a creole,
ignorant but pretty. and with no depth
of character. At Is she had come
to France and married the Vicomte
A uuso,.,. de Beauharnais.
n.. 80" Their welded life
Nase''uFes' was not pleasant.
Josephine was not model wife. Beau
harnais tried to divorce her, failed to
secure the decree, and for time sep;
arated from her. Later he fell victim
to the reign Of terror and was behead-
ed Josephine herself was sent to
prison, but managed to win her free
dom. The reign Of terror was ending
and France was governed by a com.
mittee known as the directory" 10.
sephine became a leader in the de.
cidedly fast social set made up Of the
directors relatives and friends. She
attracted the notice Of Barras, dis.
solute politician, who Just then was
high in power. Soon Barras tired OF
her. She was past her first youth, her
teeth were bad and she could no
longer help him politically. Also she
had two children to support. 1t was
at this time that she met Napoleon
Bonaparte.
Napoleon, poor Corsican, had had
many changes of fortune and at last
had risen to local military power un,
der Barras. He was Just 81. He was
poor, unpopular and lacked the quality
Of making friends. He had lived the
life Of a hermit. One day Josephine
visited him to thank the young gen.
eral for the return OF her late hus.
bands sword Napoleon, who knew
nothing of women. thought her
vision Of lovellness. The ascctic shy
man went mad with love for this
somewhat faded widow. who was six
years his senior. Josephine was not
carried away by the same fcrvor.
When Napoleon proposed to her she
asked Barras' advice. Darrns Che says
in his memoirs) told her Napoleon had
promising future and advised her to
accept him. The couple were married.
Napoleon received from Barras the
command of the army of Italy and left
for the campaign almost at once after
his wedding. He was desperate at
parting from Josephine and wrote
wildly ardent love, letters to her all
the time he was gone. He conquered
Italy in whirlwind campaign and
was sent to Egypt. By this time he
had heard that Josephine was consol.
ing herself for his absence by a series
Of daring flirtations.
Such rumors, as well as news of n
political crisis in Paris. sent Bona
parte hurrying back to France before
his work in Egypt was finished. .Jo-
sephine failed to come TO meet him on
his return. A stormy scene cnsued,
after which Napoleon seems to have
realized how foolish had been his
blind love for, his Eighty wife. Yet
the two settled down to a fairly pleas
an! existence together. Meanwhile
Napoleon forced himself to the high.
est rung of the political ladder. He
became first con-
up ess anu sui and then, in
o'vo'eeo' 1904, emperor of
France. With his own hands he
crowned Josephine. The former ere.
ole widow was thus empress of the
worlds greatest nation. For Napoleon
brought nearly every other European
country to its knees, browbeat kings,
bullied the pope and turned peaceful
lands into armed camps. He was the
"hold.up man" Of Europe; a military
genius such as the world had never
before known-lawless. invincible.
But he and Josephine had no chill.
dren. He wished an heir to carry on
his own greatness. He also wished