The Birmingham age-herald., 1914-05-17
Napoleon and His Family

ing debts. Ut is inconceivable." Ma poleon growled, how much this young man costs me-" But he wrote to Jo- seph: "I have recognized him as a prince and I have given him the grand cordon of the Legion of Honor. l have arranged his marriage with Princess Catherine, daughter of the King of Wurtemburg."
 Although heavy liability in a finan- cial way, the youth was an asset for the imperial matrimonial bureau, and Napoleon made haste to ask Pope Plus VII to annul the Baltimore marriage in a religious sense as it already was an- nuled by civif procedure He assured the pope that his brother had been mar ried by SpaEish priest to "a Protestant young woman.o
 The Holy see knew the true facts and hraved the imperial displeasure by de- clining to invalidate a marriage with a Christian of any faith that had been performed by a bishop of the church. But the royal house of Wurtemburg, be- ing Protestant, was not troubled by the refusal of Rome to sanction the match, and in little more than two years after his parting from Betsy, Jerome became the husband of the Princess Catherine.
 The Eagle and the Goose
 Sometime after the costly youth had been elevated to the throne of WestpRa- lia and Napoleon had unloaded him upon the poor taxpayers of the new realm, jerome grew generous toward Betsy with the money of his subjects. He of fered her $4O,000 a year in place of the SIP, 900 she was receiving from Napoleon if she would bring their boy and live in Westphalla.
 But Betsy was not the woman to be twice fooled by the same person and lx~k Iii, t,1- dom of Westphalia is not large enough for two Queens" and furthermore that she preferred her present position of being sheltered under the wing of an eagle to being suspended from the bill of a goose." When the eagle heard of that witty retort, he enjoyed it so much that he instructed the French minister al Washington to ask Betsy what he could do for her She answered. Make me a Duchess:" but it continued to be her lot to dwell on level of equality with peo- pie who after I had married a Prince became my interiors.
 When the Kingdom of Westphalia was no more and Jerome's glory had depart ed. he and Betsy met for the first and only time after their parting in the har- bor of Lisbon. He was now bankrupt and she had divorced him to protect her property They passed without a word of greeting as each was strolling in the picture gallery of the Pitti Palace al Florence, Jerome merely jerking his thumb toward Betsy and remarking to Catherine, That is my American wife.
 The American B0napartes
 Both Jerome and Cathsrine often saw young Jerome Napoleon but his fathe, ignored him in his will. Emperor Napo- leon I'll offered to make him a duke but with the vanity of his race thi: American BoifAparte refused to relin- quish his pretensions to higher dig nifty. that of a Prince of the Empire and legitimate heir to the throne.
 Although his mother never foreswore her native Presbyterianism sne reared Jerome Catholic, because that was tc her ''the religion of Princess and Kings. She entered him at Harvard. where he graduated and greatly to his mothers grief. he so far forgot his princely rank as to make an American marriage.
 Two sons were born 70 this second Je rome. The younger, Charles Joseph Bon aparte, became Attorney General in Pres ident Roosevelts cabinet, while the eldel was the late Col. Jerome Napoleon Bon aparte. a graduate of West Point, wh' married Caroline Le Roy. daughter O Samuel Appleton of Boston and grand daughter of Daniel Webster. Their son Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte of Washing ton is the great-grandson of King Je rome and great-grandnephew of Napo leon. If his great-grandmother's mar riage had been recognized, this younl man in Washington would be the hea' of the house of Bonaparte and first Il line for the vanished tarone of Napoleon instead sof King Jerome's other great grandson, Victor of Brussels.
 Betsy Free to the Empire
 Betsy ever remained faithful to the em pire that banned her. Long after 1t na fallen che continued tt wander an0u Europe whore she could humer her con