The Washington herald., 1914-07-26
100 Years After His
Downfall By JAMES MORGAN

paper to a gentleman Of the court aud
dumbly appealed TO him to finish the
speech, which continued:
Il owe all to his bounty. It was his
hand which crowned me and. seated on
his throne, / have received nothing bud
proofs Of affection and devotion from the
French people.
The dissolution Of my marriage win
heart.
THE Emperor viii always have in me-
his best friend. I know how much this
act, which Is made necessary by his poll
icy and by such great interests, has
wounded his heart. but we shall win
glory. both of US. for the sacrifices We
have made for our country
After the Divorce.
AS the divorced Empress left the pain
ful scene attended by her son and daugh-
ter. Eugene fell to the floor in faint and
himself had to be assisted out of tho
room. After a few minutes the Emperoe
and Empress met again to mingle their
Josephine covered his face with kisses
and for the last time he embraced ths
bride Of his youth and his glory.
Napoleon at once entered a waiting car
riage and drove alone in his gloom
through the black night to Versailles,
there to pass a few days in solitude at
the palace Of the Grand Trianon. Joseph
ines departure was deferred until the
next afternoon. A few courtiers present-
ed themselves in the morning to take
formal leave Of her. but when attended
by two members Of the court she entered
her carriage for the drive to Malmaison
no one came to say good-by. and she saw
not friendly or grateful face as in a
cold and dismal rain, she drove away
from the Tuileries forever. The palace
crowd were saving their supple hinges
and their fawnings for her successor.
The Emperor rode over to Malmaison
the next day to call. There he strolled
TmTaWA I<a aN.a 4
the chateau park. but there were no
more embraces. When he had re-
turned to Versailles he at once sat down
and wrote her a letter breathing the ten
derest anxiety and hastened to dispatch
II by courier in time to reach the En-
press before she retired for the night:
My Frtend-I found you weaker than
you should have been. You have shown
courage, and you must seek the strength
to sustain you. Do not let yourself fall
into a fatal melancholy. You must learn
to content yourself. and above all care
for your health, which is so precious to
me. Sleep well. thinking to yourself that
IL is my wish"
But the callers at Malmaison all cana
away with tales Of Josephine's tears and.
at each distressing report: the Emperor
sped courier to her with a letter ap1
pealing to her fortitude He called again
in person on Christmas eve to invite her
TO Christmas dinner with him at YER
Eugene.
Napoleon returned to the TuiIeries the
day after Christmas. He had been awaV
a fortnight and was plainly moved By
the memories the place evoked and
shocked to find It so desoIate without its
graceful mistress. The great palace
seemed very empty to me-" he confessed
In his daily letter to Josephine Once
to her to try to live on so. 900 a year, saw
ing the rest OF her income for her Rrand-
children. But when Gen savary return
ed from settling those business matters
with the Empress and reported that sha
had wept. the Emperor complained, You
ought not to have made her cry"
Napoleon AwooinE.
The completion OF his policy inaug71.
rated oy the divorce now occupied Ma
poleon's attention and he at once pressed
his plans for a matrimonial alliance with
some great reigning house. list Of the
available princesses Of Europe Law before
him like a military map. But the wild
oWerhood Of the most celebrated and
powerful man Of his time, with the lof-
tiest throne in the world at his bestowal,
aroused more fear than ambition in ths
bosoms Of some Of the eliSibles. Queen
Louise, who had only lately returned 10
Berlin from her long exile. thanked God
in her maternal heart that her first born
daughter was dead and safe from the pos
sibility OF being sacrificed to the con-
queror, while the Archduchess Marie
Louise OF Austria wrote to reassure an
anxious friend that she was in no peril.
as her father was too good to think OF
Offering her up to the minotaur,
Napoleon's own preference was TO bind
together the two empires of France and
and a Romanoff. Alexander. however,
was childleSS. like himself. and had only
sisters TO be considered. Their mother
hated the French Emperor, and when
Alexander had come back from Erfurt
in lSOS, with TaIleyrand's suggestion OF
match. the DOwager CZarina made such
haste to rescue her only grown-up. un-
married daughter that in eight days shs
mad her betrothed to a little German
duke, the heir to the duchy of OldenbeTg
Napoleon felt the rebuff, but il did not
deter him now from asking for the
younger sister. who was a mere girl in
short dresses and with her hair down
her back. The Gar was caught between
his importunate ally on one hand and
his mother and the entire Russian aris-
tocracy on the other. and he parleyed for
time For two months he put OF a deCis-
i've answer to the demand which had real
ly been made some time before the di-
Norce was pronounced. At last the i'm
perial and imperious widovcr sent an
ultimatum. giving the Russian court
forty-eight hours to say yes or no. But
Alexander continued to palter
Already. however, the Emperor Francis
OF Austria had frankly entered his daugh-
ter. Marie Louise, as an open candidate
for the vacant throne. MetterniCh, the
Austrian foreign minister. had been camp
ing on the trail Of the divorce for two
years and now that II had come. he pre-
pared to take advantage OF IL He and
the crafty politicians had no doubt that
Napoleon was riding for a fall but thew
shrewdly calculated that the inevitable
day OF reckoning probably was four wears
on. Meanwhile Austria must keen in his
good graces the provinces he had taken
from her. A marriage alliance with him
surely would stay his hand and AT the
same time weaken his political alliance
with Russia, thus Fastening his downfall
1t was a clever. weIl-thought-out scheme
on the part Of the Austrian court-and Il
would cost only an eighteen-ycar-old
girl!
Josephine's Last Service.
Napoleon. weary and exasperatcd with
the Cars shifty conduct. suddenly turn
ed to take up the hint which the Austrian
government had dropped. For the task
of opening the delicate negotiations. he
wished to select the most tactful and
faithful ambassador in all his empire Ard
his choice fell upon none other than
as ever. did not hesitate to accept the
strange duty. inviting the wife Of Met
ternich to MalmaiSOn only two weeks
after the divorce. she amazed that lo1y
by expressing her earnest wigh that hnr
divorced husband might find consolation
in a marriage with Marie Louise
Nine. de MetteTnich was hardly less as
Napoleon himself bluntly asked her it
she thought the Austrian archduchnsS
would marry him. The lady very Drnn-
erly declined to answer for another. But
when the Emperor asked her II she her
self would have him We're shn Marie
Louise, Nine. dc Matternich. displayinG a
candor that belied her wifely association
with the accOp1OIiShad praca rica tor