The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1925-06-09
NAPOLEON LOST
FIRST SKlRMISM
OF LOVE WAR
First Affair at Age of Sew
enteen Revealed in
Letters.
BIZ Times Special

BIZ Times Special
PARIS, June 9.-The first love
affair of Napoleon the Great was a
fizzle.
A fatal mistake" he calls 1t him.
self, which has caused me the
deepest humiliation" This little
episode, which occurred when the
man who was to become Emepror OF
the French and pastical master OF
the world was a 17-year-old cadet in
Corsica, is revealed in five anthem
tic letters of the emperor which have
just been published for the first
time.
Her name was Emma. That Is
all history can say. She is supposed
to have been either Mile. De Lau-
berie De Saint.Germain, who later
married M. De Montelivet, or Mile.
Du Colombier, who became the wife
of M. Garempel De Bressieux. Both
husbands were ennobled by Napoleon
when he held the imperial scepter.
Napoleon met the girls through
comrades at the Artillery School in
Toulon, where he started his career.
The five letters written to Emma
are dated simply 1878, with the days
of the week and the hour.
First Epistle
''Mademoiselle," says che future
dictator in the first epistle. you
spoke to me the other day with grace
and intelligence. 1 must see you.
without your friends, but with yourV
confessions. If you refuse. you will
hurt me very much Could you be
Indifferent to the pain which re-
fusal would cause me2 You would
be very unjust. Goodnight, Emma"
What Emma replied did not meet
the approval Of the ardent young
lover, for his second missive makes
plain that she treated his proposal
as a joke. She must have told him
1t was useless to persist. He wrote.
Have you inspired feelings which
you do not share? 1t surely is an
error Of my heart. You are cold
and Indifferent. Emma, your note
was cruel Tell me. Emma, that
your heart Is with me and that you
love a little him who loves you
much. You have caused me pain
You can cause me more or make me
happy. l submit myself to the die.
tates of your heart"
Hopeless! Soon It was not indif.
ference, but positive aversion that
the unfortunate boy was to en-.
counter. He began to realize this.
Il imagined that your indifference
was the worst that could possibly
happen to me-" he wrote in the
third letter, but now almost hope
for 1t as a relief"
Asks a Word
Protesting that her happiness was
all he was thinking of, the young
Bonaparte ended this letter with a
plea for Just a word. No, a senti-
ment Emma" 1t failed to move the
naughty damsel. They apparently
rambled in shady lanes outside Ajac, /.
clio the following day and In thd(
course of the promenade Napoleon
pride was humbled by her lack OF
attention to his lovemaking. His
fourth letter finished with another
appeal: Emma, a word. Love a
little him who loves you too much.
Let me read your soul"
BY this time he was convinced
that the game was up. He sums up
his misfortune in a last letter ask.
ing her to return the others, which
she apparently did.
These four letters" he wrote,
which l wrote to you to express
what you inspired are a moment in
the life Of man, Since you do not
participate his feelings 1 must needs
disavow them as a fatal mistake.
You were pleased to humiliate me.
but you are too kind to wish that
these unfortunate sentiments should
be the subject Of derision. You
have made me experience all the
pain of scorn. Adieu, mademoiselle.
but remember that It is not in the
power Of anybody not even of yor.
to prevent me from rejoicing al
anything that might be agreeable to
you
Less than twenty years after.
ward, Emma. If she were living in
Paris, might have stood on balcony
on the Rue Du Louvre and watched
the discarded lover coming back
from Austerlitz. leaving behind him
two vanquished emperors, the grand
army in triumph and Europe at his
feet.