WJM 1IUU-:.:: w» i ■ffli.1 ■ ■H \ »i WHHHfe;:;ii I :r% Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2007 with funding from Microsoft Corporation http://www.archive.org/details/bonapartepattersOOsaffrich • •• • • c •« C t t * • c •* JEROME BONAPARTE. ELIZABETH PATTERSON. • * * • • »,..., • .' : :.• : : : >• • • • • ' THE °ib ^)m^tk^\\mm ijfyma^ I3ST 1803, AND THE SECRET CORRESPONDENCE ON THE SUBJECT NEVER BEFORE MADE PUBLIC. COIiliECTED AND ARRANGED BY W. T. R. SAFFELL, AUTHOR OF "RECORDS OF THE REVOLUTION," ETC. PHILADELPHIA: PUBLISHED BY THE PROPRIETOR. 1873. AU rights reserved. . Si 9>3 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1873, by WILLIAM L. SAFFELL, In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. MEARS & DUSENBERY, H. B. ASHMEAD, Stereotypers. Printer. PUBLISHER'S NOTE. f In explanation of the communication from Col. Jerome N. Bonaparte and Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte which appears below, the Publisher of this book deems it expedient to say a few words. The facts so far as known in the case of the mar- riage of Jerome Bonaparte to Miss Patterson in 1803, have so long been matters of history, that when the author came into possession of the complete corres- pondence on the subject, he did not feel that in making it public, he should be doing other than contributing to a portion of history about which a good deal had been already written. Out of courtesy to Mde. Bonaparte, who is still living, he sent to her, through a friend, the proof sheets of the greater part of the work, and the design of the book was fully explained to her. Mde. Bona- parte made no objection to its issue, saying, that " the publication of the volume was a matter of per- fect indifference to her." M181824 (T) vi PUBLISHER'S NOTE. This was as early as October 1872, but in January 1873, Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte called to request that the book should not be published, not denying however the right to publish it ; the book was then almost ready for issue. Mr. Bonaparte requested the lines below to be inserted in the preface : " This work is published in opposition to the formally expressed wishes of Col. Jerome N. Bonaparte and Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte" It is presumed that Mr. Charles J. Bonaparte had authority to express Col. Jerome N. Bonaparte's wishes. W. T. R. Saffell. Philadelphia, Feb. 10th 1872. INTRODUCTION For the appearance in this form of a documentary narrative of events which followed the most wonderful marriage known in historic times, we have no apolo- gies to offer. We would not, however, make it appear that the marriage itself was so wonderful ; but would say, that the events which followed it find no parallel either in the annals of fact, or in the domains of fancy. We refer to the marriage of Miss Elizabeth Patterson of Baltimore, to Jerome Bonaparte of France. In the secret correspondence on the subject, which we publish in this volume, we have brought to view many hidden facts ; and hope we have furnished strange and useful information to the general reader, the moralist, and the historian. That the public may learn how we came into the possession of the original letters and other documents quoted or published at large in this volume, we have to say simply, that we bought them from Houtine & (vii) vin INTRODUCTION. Murdock, dealers in paper-makers' material, on Cen- tre Market Space, Baltimore. These gentlemen, to our own personal knowledge, and to that of many gentlemen of Baltimore, bought them as "waste paper," directly from Mr. William Patterson's old warehouse on Gay street. In the lot of old docu- ments which we purchased, we found a bundle of English and French letters on the subject of the marriage, carefully filed in the order of time, and in perfect preservation. These we copied, and, at his request, returned the originals to Mr. Patterson's grandson, now occupying the warehouse. Mr. Robert Patterson was in Europe during the time of the troubles arising from his sister's marriage ; and his letters on the subject, made up from the most reliable French, English, and German sources of in- formation, and addressed to his father in Baltimore, contain a thrilling history of the mysterious develop- ments which succeeded the marriage with the most alarming rapidity. From these letters, in chief, and from those of other distinguished writers, collected and filed by Mr. Patterson, we have formed a chain of narrative, extending from the time of Jerome Bonaparte's marriage to Miss Patterson on the 24th of December 1803, to the time of his second marriage to the princess Frederica Catharina, in 1807. We do not mean to call attention to what we have INTRODUCTION. ix to say upon the subject of the marriage in question, for we make no pretensions to authorship ; but we mean, simply, to favor the public with what distin- guished writers have written concerning it ; and we call special attention to the letters of the following gentlemen, which are carefully copied in this book, viz. : William Patterson, the bride's father. Robert Patterson, her brother. M. Dacres, French Minister of Marine. Robert R. Livingston, American Minister to France. Gen. John Armstrong, his successor. Gen. Tuerreau, French Minister at Washington. Gen. Samuel Smith, of Maryland. Gen. Rewbell, of the French army. Capt. Paul Bentalou, of Baltimore. M. Meyronet, of the French Navy. M. Maupertuis, French Consul at Rotterdam. Sylvanus Bourne, U. S. Consul General, Batavian Republic. P. Cuneo de Ornano, of St. Croix de Teneriffe. M. Le Camus, of Genoa. Jerome Bonaparte. Madame Bonaparte, his wife. Geo. M. Paterson, of Lille, her cousin. Joseph and Lucien Bonaparte. X INTRODUCTION. Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, and several anony- mous writers. Many of these letters are in French, and some of those of Robert Patterson in cipher. We have also made use of paragraphs from the newspapers of the day, and items floating in the mists of tradition, when they were found to be to the credit of the dis- tinguished American family into which Jerome was introduced. From the letters of M. Maupertuis, we have the secrets which leaked out from the court of Napoleon through the Empress Josephine ; and from those of Captain Bentalou we have some gossip from distin- guished ladies near the throne. We have given above the main authorities which we quote. Each link in the chain of events has been so well wrought by the original writers themselves, that we have had but little to do by way of comple- tion ; and when the reader comes to the end of the book, he will feel that the subject is exhausted, and that he has been instructed, amused, and satisfied. W. T. R. S. Baltimore, Jan. 1873. CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGB Jerome Bonaparte— He visits Baltimore — Commodore Bar- ney — Miss Elizabeth Patterson — Her great beauty — Jerome proposes marriage — Gossip and scandal — Anony- mous letters — The marriage — Tranquillity restored — Young couple visit Washington City — General Tuerreau —General Smith— His letter about " Betsy"— Mr. Pat- terson writes to Minister Livingston — Napoleon angry on account of the marriage — Letters from the President of the United States on the subject — Specks of war — Napoleon and Agamemnon — Robert Patterson goes to Paris — Delicate diplomacy — Mr. Livingston's views — Letters from Miss Monroe — Madame Louis Bonaparte in Paris — Madame Campan — Citizen Genet — Fulwar Skipwith — Captain Paul Bentalou, of Baltimore . . 25 CHAPTER II. Biographical sketch of the members of the Bonaparte family — Thoughts on Jerome's marriage — Robert Patterson's second letter — Hopes of reconciliation — Jerome to be established in Ameriea — Lucien Bonaparte's opinions — Paul Bentalou' s hopeful letter — Dining with Lucien — Napoleon' 8 displeasure manifest — Stirring appeal to arms — Britain to be conquered — Mr. Patterson's third letter — Mr. Livingston again — A call on Joseph Bona- (xi) xii CONTENTS. PAGE parte — He is silent — Lucien's character — Silence in France — Robert goes to Amsterdam — French frigates plough towards New York — Napoleon's silence broken — Pichon in New York — French captains and the "young person" 40 CHAPTER III. Letter from M. Dacres to citizen Pichon — Strict orders — Jerome's pay withheld — He is ordered home — His wife to be left in the United States — Not to put her foot on the territory of France — French captains not to receive her on board their vessels — Jerome is implored to return alone to France — Letter from M. Dacres to Jerome — Napoleon's opinions of the marriage — Letters of Dacres intercepted by a British commander — He copies them — The secret out — Mr. Patterson writes to Jerome — Gives the extent of his information — Hope runs high — Chancellor Livingston recalled from France — General Armstrong succeeds him — Mr. Livingston writes to Mr. Patterson — He sends Joseph Bonaparte's letter — Its translation 66 CHAPTER IV. The young couple in Baltimore — Sleighs and snow-balls — Bad boys — Gossip in New York — French frigates — Bonaparte and lady about to sail for France — His bag- gage on board — Going in The Dido — British frigates on the watch — The couple do not embark — Robert Patter- son in Amsterdam — News from Paris — Letter from a strange writer — He hails from Lille — Pope of Rome — Queen of Etruria — The young couple visit the " Hub" — A secret gets out — More gossip— General Armstrong sails— Madame Bonaparte does not— Her letter of ex- CONTENTS. xiii PAGE planation — " Little Baltimore beauty" — An astonishing paragraph in the French papers — Napoleon's opinion of his brother Joseph — Joseph's remarkable letter to Jerome 88 CHAPTER V. Robert Patterson — Paul Bentalou — Lucien Bonaparte — The scandalous paragraph — Maupertuis — Miss Caton — Duke of Wellington — General Armstrong on marriage — More letters from Robert Patterson — Letters of Dacres in Halifax — Sensation in New York — Young couple shipwrecked in the Delaware — Madame Bonaparte first in the life-boat — Narrow escape from drowning — Balti- more and Philadelphia out-sensation New York — Phila- delphia comes out best — More letters from Mr. Patter- son — Young couple encounter 44 guns — Madame Bona- parte's courage — The gentleman who came out with John — A great wheel — Excursion into the wilds — Mons. P. de Maupertuis at the wheel— His wonderful letters — His leagues of cable — Jerome's disgrace — Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine — The world is dazzled . . 104 CHAPTER VI. Maupertuis retires — Napoleon appears again — His prestige — Battle of Austerlitz — Young couple contemplate sail- ing — Reflections on the embarkation — Robert Patterson on speculation — General Smith again — P. Cuneo De Or- nano — His letter — Mr. Patterson's letter — General Arm- strong — Letter from M. Meyronet to Jerome — Mr. Patterson alarmed — He writes in cipher — The Moniteur — Lucien Bonaparte in prison — Jerome to be thrown in prison — Betsy to be sent back — The young couple embark for Europe — Departuro from Baltimore — Gen- eral Tuerreau, French Minister — Jerome's horses — Mr. Xiv CONTENTS. PAdE Carrero — li London-particular-three-years-old-wine" — General Rewbell's letter — Jonathan Jones — Wet letters — Bordeaux Gazette 137 CHAPTER VII. Young couple on the sea ! — Robert Patterson in Paris — General Rewbell — The Erin safe — Sad news in cipher — Storms of wit — Deception " all the go" — Nineteen days at sea — Blue hills of Portugal — Letter from Bonaparte — " Sea-sick never kills nobody" — Foreign gossip — Letters in cipher — The cipher changed — Gossip in Boston— The u Columbian Centinel" irate— The Bona- partes lampooned— Letters of Dacres published — Phila- delphia and the Moniteur — Bentalou and Skipwith — Mr. Livingston's treaty—'' Bills" — Another letter from Lille — Affairs in Holland — Mr. Schimmelpenninck — Madame Bonaparte not allowed to land in Holland — Sylvanus Bourne pleads her cause — She is placed under guns — Mr. Bourne's letter — Gossip in London — Madame Bonaparte goes there — Jerome and Le Camus at Genoa 168 CHAPTER VIII. Robert Patterson at Dover — His letter from that place — Je- rome Bonaparte again — Mr. Monroe and Mr. Patter- son — Madame Bonaparte going to the Continent — Her letter to her father — Mr. Patterson writes from London — — Another letter from Madame Bonaparte — Marchioness of Donnegal — General Tuerreau — Mr. Monroe — Deceit- fulness of the French — Dr. Gamier is deceptive — He recommends Madame Bonaparte to go home — Jerome does the same — She goes when ready — Le Camus again — Napoleon's speech — Jerome at Malmaison — He writes to the Emperor — The Emperor's reply — Jerome's mar- CONTENTS. xv mil riage has no existence — Mr. Mcllhiny of London — Madame Bonaparte and child embark for home — Captain Bentalou writes again — Amusing letters — Jerome de- jected— His " little girl" affair— lt My dear little wife" — Queen of Etruria spurns Jerome — His second mar- riage — Jereme Napoleon Bonaparte — His death — His letter 250 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE, CHAPTER I. Jerome Bonaparte — He visits Baltimore — Commodore Bar- ney — Miss Elizabeth Patterson — Her great beauty — Jerome proposes marriage — Gossip and scandal — Anonymous letters — The marriage — Tranquillity restored — Young couple visit Washington City — General Tuerreau — General Smith — His letter about M Betsy" — Mr. Patterson writes to Minister Liv- ingston — Napoleon angry on account of the marriage — Letters from the President of the United States on the subject — Specks of war — Napoleon and Agamemnon — Robert Patterson goes to Paris — Delicate diplomacy — Mr. Livingston's views — Letters from Miss Monroe — Madame Louis Bonaparte in Paris — Madame Campan — Citizen Genet — Fulwar Skipwith — Cap- tain Paul Bentalou, of Baltimore. Jerome Bonaparte, youngest brother of Napo- leon I., Emperor of France, was born on the 15th day of December 1784, at Ajaccio, on the island of Cor- sica, in the Mediterranean Sea. Educated princi- pally under Madame Campan in and near Paris, he was, in early life, placed in the naval service of France, where he remained till the year 1801. 2 (25) 26 ; > 'llTE RONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. Styling himself conqueror and pacificator, Napo- leon, in November of that year, sent an expedition in command of General Leclerc, his brother-in-law, to crush an insurrection of the negroes on the island of St. Domingo ; and Jerome, as lieutenant under him, accompanied that large army. The expedition termi- nated unsuccessfully and fatally, a greater part of the men being swept away by fever and by the sword. Jerome soon returned to France as bearer of dis- patches ; and, receiving there an independent com- mand, sailed for the island of Martinique ; and cruised between St. Pierre and Tobago during the hostilities between England and France in 1803 ; but for some reason not given left the station in the same year, and sailed for New York in command of a French frigate. The broadcast fame of Napoleon insured for Jerome a cordial reception in America, and he was received with great honors wherever he went. In 1796, Captain Joshua Barney, of the American navy, received a rank in the French service equal to that of a commodore in the service of the United States; and had been employed in the West Indies ui i dor French colors ; but from this service he obtained a final release in 1802, and returned to his home in Baltimore. His young Corsican friend, and com- panion in the French service, soon found his way from Now York to Baltimore, and met with a distinguished reception from Captain Barney and other prominent citizens of the place. At the house of Samuel Chase, one of the Maryland signers of the Declaration of THE BONA PAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 27 Independence, Captain Bonaparte met a great num- ber of persons in " high social, political, and literary life." Here he made the acquaintance of Miss Eliza- beth Patterson, daughter of William Patterson, Es- quire, a highly respectable and wealthy Irish mer- chant of that city. This beautiful and accomplished young lady, it is alleged, had declared prophetically, long before she had seen young Bonaparte, that some day or other she would become a great lady in France ; and at a party where they met soon after their acquaintance, Bona- parte's gold chain was accidentally thrown around her neck, entangling itself so as to hold her fast ; and as he gracefully disentangled it, she called to mind her strange prophecy. From that hour we may safely date the beginning of her eventful matrimonial experience. Freighted with the weight of a great foreign name, Jerome speedily gained those advantages in American society for which distinguished foreigners in every period of our history have been so remarkable. Less himself than twenty years of age when he arrived in Baltimore, Miss Patterson, though possessed of great beauty, was less than eighteen ; and it is said " she strikingly resembled the Bonaparte family." Be- coming strongly attached to her, probably from first sight, she was sent to Virginia to escape his atten- tions ; but the attachment was mutual, and remon- strances were therefore in vain. That strong passion which blunts the mind and obscures the vision was the ruling passion ; and a license for their marriage 28 THE B ON A PAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. issued from the Baltimore County Court-House on the 29th of October 1803. Strong and rapidly formed currents of affection, like all others, meet grave obstacles in their course, and this was strik- ingly true with respect to the case in point ; for, in the language of the young lady's father, " the mar- riage was broken off," even after the license formally issued. The most splendid preparations had been made for the ceremony — preparations sufficiently bril- liant to eclipse those of vice-regal days in the olden time, when blue wreaths of smoke, betraying the half-hidden mansion and proclaiming the costly ban- quet, ascended gracefully through the trees from a thousand hospitable chimneys. Amid these preparations for the sacred altar, however, gossip stood tip-toe and scandal rampant. Family ancestries were discussed and character vili- fied. The Patterson family of Baltimore stood high and honorable upon firm foundations of wealth and merit. The worthy head of that family, William Patterson, Esq., stood shoulder to shoulder with Robert Morris and Stephen Girard, of Philadelphia, with open purse, bearing the financial weight of the Revolution, and the subsequent dark days of the republic. He enjoyed in a high degree the friendship of Washington, La Fayette, and Carroll, and could claim companionship with Smallwood, Gist, Howard, Smith, and Williams. Though no soldier himself, his great wealth and popularity cheerfully marched to the music of Independence. He cordially welcomed the French fleet which landed the forces of Rocham- THE B ON A PAR TE-PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. 29 beau at Newport in 1781 ; and, extending his hos- pitalities still further with those of his patriotic countrymen, welcoming Count de Estaing in the Chesapeake, he thus contributed largely to the sur- render of Cornwallis, and to the independence of the New World, while adulation even failed to endow the Bonaparte family with that ancient and honorable ancestry which it essayed to claim. Napoleon well knew that his own abilities and performances would constitute about all the nobility he could boast, and he should have been wisely acting upon this know- ledge at the time of Jerome's marriage. In six days after the 29th of October 1803, the day on which, as before stated, the license for the marriage of Jerome with Miss Patterson issued, the father of the young lady received an anonymous com- munication which he carefully endorsed with the fol- lowing words : " Received this letter by the Penny Post, on Saturday, 5th November 1803, at one o'clock P. M." " Is it possible, sir," inquires the writer, "you can so far forget yourself, and the happiness of your child, as to consent to her marrying Mr. Bonaparte? If you knew him, you never would, as misery must be her portion — he who but a few months ago destroyed the peace and happiness of a respectable family in Nantz by promising marriage, then ruined, leaving her to misery and shame. What has been his con- duct in the West Indies ? There ruined a lovely young woman who had only been married for a few weeks i He parted her from her husband, and 30 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON 31 A RE TA GE. destroyed that family ! and here, what is his conduct ? At the very moment he was demanding your daughter in marriage he ruined a young French girl, whom he now leaves also in misery ! His conduct at Nantz and in the West Indies has already reached his bro- ther's ears, and he dares not appear before him ! His voyage to this country proves it ! He now wishes to secure himself a home at your expense until things can be arranged for his return to France, when rest assured he will be the first to turn your daughter off, and laugh at your credulity ! Nothing that can be done will be binding on him ; and if you knew his moral character of dissipation, you would never ! no, never ! even with the approbation of his family, trust your daughter to him. Then take advice in time and break off everything before it is too late. Let nothing on earth tempt you to such an union ! What is here said may be depended upon, and much more might be said, for, without exception, he is the most profligate young man of the age. Demand seriously of Miss Wheeler, and you will there find he has already demanded her in marriage with the same intentions ! Will he marry your daughter at the Catholic church before the Bishop in open day, as did his friend ? I say no ! because he knows such a marriage would be in some measure binding upon him ; but that he will not do, nor anything else that will appear against him. Trust not his honor ! there never was any in his family ! Yours, A Friend." This letter is well written, in a bold hand, but with- out date. The writer appears to have been possessed THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 31 of some scholarly ability, but, judging from his pro- duction, he evidently labored to conceal it, and as much as possible disguise his penmanship. After this letter had reposed in silence and oblivion for almost three-quarters of a century, perhaps dis- regarded from first to last by its custodians, it was sold in the Baltimore market, and purchased with the other letters quoted in this book ; and the Bonaparte- Patterson correspondence, telling its stories of wonder to another generation, is still in perfect preservation. Notwithstanding the "breaking off," and the warn- ings fulminated from various quarters, the contem- plated marriage did take place on Saturday, Christ- mas Eve, December the 24th 1803. In the Baltimore "Federal Gazette" of Tuesday, the 27th day of that month, the marriage is thus noticed : u Married, on Saturday evening last, by the Reverend Bishop Carroll, Mr. Jerome Bonaparte, youngest brother of the First Consul of the French Republic, to Miss Elizabeth Patterson, eldest daughter of William Patterson, Esquire, of this city." No commentator upon the event adds another word in the same paper ; but a writer in the New American Cyclopaedia says : " The marriage ceremony was per- formed by the Bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll, brother of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and in accord- ance with the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. The marriage contract, considered of importance, was drawn up by Alexander J. Dallas, subsequently Sec- retary of the Treasury, and witnessed by several offi- cial personages, including the Mayor of Baltimore." 32 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. For a short season after the marriage, tranquillity- appeared to be restored along the lines of gossip, and the monster Slander, fat from devouring the pyramid of his recent spoils, retired from the field — perhaps to go into hibernation for the winter. But not so fast ! On the 14th of January 1804, about three weeks after the marriage, Mr. Patterson, the bride's father, feels the force of another anonymous missile, hurled at him with considerable violence, by some Frenchman, if we credit his own story, who appeared quite illiterate, perhaps as far only as handling the British language was concerned. " Sir," writes he, dating as above, " this is to inform you as a friend that you must be aware of your son-in-law, as you may now turn him, Bonaparty, for he has made his brags and boastings, before his marriage, that he would get married to your daughter, and then * * * * he would leave her and go home to his brother in France. This he has told in public company before several ; and likewise that when he goes to France, he will still be a single man, and she may then go to the devil for all he cares ; and I and many others you may be assured must think the same — certainly of such a French fop of a fool. So there- fore, as a friend, I warn you of him in time, as he has declared the above. Your friend, A Frenchman." Though coming from anonymous writers, the most contemptible class of characters that afflict society, these letters, in the light of surrounding circumstances, must have been very painful to Mr. Patterson. About this time Mr. Robert Patterson, his son, proceeds to THE B ON A PAR TE- PA TTERSON MA RRTA GE. 33 France, and Jerome takes his bride to Washington City, to visit General Tuerreau, the French Envoy to this country. On their way thither, in the rough coaches of the times, their experience must have been quite lively. Under date of Sunday, February 5th, 1804, General Samuel Smith, of Maryland, then in Congress, writes to the bride's father in Baltimore, as follows : — " Dear sir : Betsy's great presence of mind and firmness of character preserved her last night. Coming in after night, the coachman was thrown from the box. Mr. Bonaparte jumped out, but could not stop the horses. They went on, but regularly. Find- ing her danger increased, she opened the door, and jumped out into the snow, without receiving any injury." On the subject of the marriage, Mr. Patterson, the bride's father, addresses a letter to Hon. Robert R. Livingston, of New York, American Minister to France, resident in Paris : " Sir," writes he, dating Baltimore, February 10th 1804, " I take the liberty of enclosing you two letters that were transmitted to me from the Department of State at Washington, relating to the late marriage of Mr. Jerome Bonaparte with my daughter. The object of these letters, as I am informed, is to give you information on that subject, that you may be pre- pared to explain or repel any unfavorable or undue impression it might make on the mind of the First Consul, or any of the family, as it respects the heads of department, or myself. I am sorry I was not per- sonally known to you in this country, as it might 34 THE BONAPA R TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA OE. have facilitated my wishes of reconciling Mr. Bona- parte's friends to the steps he has taken ; yet I can assure you with truth, that I never, directly nor indirectly, countenanced or gave Mr. Bonaparte the smallest encouragement to address my daughter ; but on the contrary, resisted his pretensions by every means in my power consistent with discretion. Find- ing, however, that the mutual attachment they had formed for each other was such, that nothing short of force and violence could prevent their union, I with much reluctance consented to their wishes. It is, however, now equally my duty and inclination to give the event that has taken place the best possible direction it is susceptible of; and for this purpose, and to reconcile Mr. Bonaparte's family to the match as far as may be practicable, may I therefore request your friendly attention in a suitable representation of the contents of these letters I have now the honor of enclosing you ? and if necessary, and you should think it proper, that you will have the goodness to furnish the First Consul with copies of the President's and Secretary's letters to you ; but this must be left entirely to your discretion, as I know not whether it would be perfectly proper or not. You will particu- larly oblige me by advising me of the result of your communications with Mr. Bonaparte's family; and whether his marriage is likely to meet with their approbation or not. I have the honor to be, with great respect, sir, your most humble servant." It does not appear that Mr. Patterson had copies of the letters from the Department of State at Wash- THE B OX A PA R TE- PA TTERSOX MARRIA GE. 35 ington which he transmitted to Mr. Livingston at Paris ; but in his own letter quoted above, he clearly states their object, and copies cannot be given here. Thinkers in the United States appeared to be puzzled to determine the course the " Regulator of Europe" would take for revenge on account of Jerome's marriage to an American lady. Gossip, however, took high ground, and dealt largely in rumors, hailing from Paris and from Washington, to the effect that after a conquest of Britain, Napoleon would turn his arms against the United States. This wedding stood perhaps without a parallel since the mythic days of old Troy, when the son of Priam, destined from his birth to set all Ilium in flames, was promised by the fickle Goddess of Beauty the fairest woman in the world for his wife. Helen, whom the multitudinous gods of Greece had endowed with the most extraordinary charms, when dancing at a festival in the Temple of Diana, was seized on account of her beauty and carried off by Theseus; but after a time was rescued and brought back by her brothers, Castor and Pollux. Rejecting an army of distinguished suitors, she at last become the wife of Menelaus, King of Sparta; but beauty, one of the greatest afflictions that can fall to the lot of a young lady, would not let her rest with a king. Paris, the gay and adventurous son of King Priam, travelling in the territories of Greece, violated the hospitalities of Sparta, and kindled the flames of war by carrying off Helen as his promised beauty ; and a war of ten years' duration was waged against Troy, which re- 36 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRTAGE. suited in the destruction of the city and the restora- tion of Helen. French and American gossip therefore maintained that, but for the war between France and England at the time of Jerome's marriage, the French arms, on this account, would have been turned against the United States ; and in leading to battle the armies of a great nation to revenge a marriage, Napoleon, in his fury, would have figured before the enlightened juries of another era as the full-blown antitype of Agamemnon. Ys swift scuds of war appeared to fly across the canopies of imagination, Mr. Robert Patterson landed in France to inspect the signs of the times, and if possible feel the pulse of Napoleon on the subject of his sister's marriage. He arrived in Paris on the 11th day of March 1804. On the 12th he addressed a letter to his father in Baltimore. "I arrived here yesterday," writes he, dating as above, " and immediately waited on our Minister. I found that in consequence of letters received from Mr. Madison and General Smith, he was making every exertion to reconcile Bonaparte to his brother's marriage. He has stated to the brothers of the Consul and the other distinguished characters about the court, that Mr. Jerome Bonaparte could not in America have made a more respectable connection than he has made; and to think of annulling his marriage would be scandalizing the most sacred of human engagements. " Bonaparte is of a very irritable temper, and as he is at present highly incensed with his brother, he THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 37 might, were he here, take some violent measures with him — still, Mr. Livingston thinks he will after awhile become better satisfied with the union ; and as he has by his conduct hitherto uniformly endeavored to impress on the world the highest idea of his moral character, he will not lightly, in this present affair, do anything to impeach or bring that character in question. " When the account of Mr. Jerome Bonaparte's intentions first reached the consular ear, he had de- termined to recall him instantly. Since the marriage has taken place, I believe it is his intention he should remain in America for some time. Mr. Joseph Bo- naparte has consulted Mr. Livingston respecting the most eligible place for Jerome to reside at, and spoke of making a provision for him by investing 100,000 crowns in the American funds, but wished to know what Mr. Livingston thought necessary. Mr. Living- ston observed, he ought in the first place to have a town-house to cost about $30,000, and that a country- seat was indispensable to retire to in case of a yellow fever, which he estimated at §25,000; and that to support this establishment, it would require from twenty-five to thirty thousand dollars per annum. To this the other replied, they intended he should live in America as a citizen of the United States, and they thought the calculation was much too high. I wish most sincerely Mr. Livingston may prevail on Mr. Bonaparte's friends to invest a sufficiency in our stocks to produce $20,000 per annum, as with that income he may live as happily in America as in 38 THE B ONAPA li TE-PA TTEPSON MAURI A GE. Europe ; and I am convinced Mr. Livingston will endeavor to fix the sum as high as possible, should the scheme of investing a sum in the stocks of the United States for his permanent support be finally determined on. Mr. Livingston intends demanding an audience, when he will deliver Jerome Bonaparte's letter to the Consul which announces his marriage. This is the letter you sent Mr. Monroe. Mr. Living- ston will do all in his power to reconcile him to the marriage. For the present, it will be much better the parties should remain in America; but should he be directed to return, I am clearly of opinion she ought to accompany him, as, his being here and with- out her, his affection might possibly suffer a diminu- tion, which would be very dangerous in the present situation of things ; and in case of not being recog- nised by l|is friends, which is placing it in the most possible point of view, she would have an asylum in the house of our Minister. " I brought letters, from Miss Monroe to Madame Louis Bonaparte, who was at the same academy with her, and to Madame Campan, their preceptor. This lady is sister to Genet, and is very intimate with the consular family. Mr. Skipwith is also very intimate with this lady, and has promised to introduce me to her. From her situation, she has it in her power, and will most probably be useful, as Miss Monroe speaks to her in the highest terms of my sister. " This is intended to go by a Mr. Hinch, who goes direct to Baltimore from Bordeaux. He leaves this place early in the morning. In the course of a few day THE B ON A PA R TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 3 9 days I trust it will be in my power to give you some more satisfactory information. In the interim, I re- main yours very affectionately." It will be discovered that Mr. Robert Patterson, on reaching Paris, engaged immediately in the most delicate diplomacy. For the information of youthful readers, we will state that Minister Livingston, whom Mr. Patterson so frequently mentions in the above letter, was Chancellor Livingston, of New York, who, 6n the 30th of April 1789, administered the oath of office to General "Washington, first President of the United States, on the balcony of the old Federal Hall in New York City. From Miss Monroe in England, daughter of Hon. James Monroe, then Minister to the Court of London, Mr. Patterson brought letters to Madame Louis Bonaparte, who was at the same academy with her, and to Madame Campan their preceptress, who had also been the preceptress of Jerome. This lady was the sister of Citizen Genet, who, during the administration of Washington, was the French Minister to this country, and who subse- quently married the daughter of De Witt Clinton, of New York. Mr. Patterson met in Paris Fulwar Skipwith, Esq., Commercial Agent of the United States to France, and Paul Bentalou of Baltimore, who, during the Revolutionary War, was a distin- guished officer in Count Pulaski's Legion of Cavalry. In the person of Captain Bentalou Mr. Patterson found a faithful friend, and an able interpreter of the French language. CHAPTER II. Biographical sketch ot the members of the Bonaparte family — Thoughts on Jerome's marriage — Robert Patterson's second letter — Hopes of reconciliation — Jerome to be estab- lished in America — Lucien Bonaparte's opinions — Paul Ben- talou's hopeful letter — Dining with Lucien — Napoleon's dis- pleasure manifest — Stirring appeal to arras — Britain to be conquered — Mr. Patterson's third letter — Mr. Livingston again — A call on Joseph Bonaparte — He is silent — Lucien's char- acter — Silence in France — Robert goes to Amsterdam — French frigates plough towards New York — Napoleon's silence broken — Pichon in New York — French captains and the "young person/ ' As the names of the Bonaparte family are so fre- quently mentioned in the following pages, we depart from our main subject to give a short biographical sketch of each member belonging to it, at the time of Jerome's marriage. Carlo Bonaparte, of the island of Corsica, was the father of the Bonapartes of France. He was born in Ajaccio, the capital city of that island, on the 29th of March 1746. At that time the island was under the government of Genoa. Carlo studied law at the university of Pisa, and became one of the most popular jurists of his times. When about eighteen years of age, he fell in love with Letizia Ramolino, then in her fourteenth year ; but in the Corsican war to throw off the yoke of Genoa, he was a Paolist, and she of the Genoese party ; and for this reason their marriage did not take place for (40) THE B ON A Pa 1 R TE-PA TTE 11 SON MA RRIA GE. 41 several years later. In 1769, Corsica submitted to the dominion of France, and the children of Carlo Bonaparte were therefore born French subjects. Joseph, the first child of Carlo and Letizia, was born at Corte, on the island of Corsica, January 7th 1768, and died in Florence, July 28th 1844. He was educated at Autun and Pisa, studied law at Ajaccio, and became a member of General Paoli's cabinet in 1792. He was married to the daughter of Monsieur Clary, a wealthy banker of Marseilles, who made his money as a ship broker. In 1797, he was elected from his native island to the Council of Five Hundred at Paris ; but was soon sent by the French Directory as Ambassador to the Court of Rome. While Napo- eon was in Egypt, Joseph returned from Rome, re- sumed his seat in the Council ; and with his brother Lucien, inaugurated the scheme, which conducted Napoleon to the First Consulship of France. The suc- cess of this scheme made Joseph Chief Councillor of State ; which office he held at the time of his brother Jerome's marriage. Coming to America about the year 1816, after the downfall of Napoleon, Joseph resided near Bordentown, New Jersey, till the year 1842. His park and grounds there, comprised about 1500 acres of land ; and his mansion was enriched with the most exquisite works of art in painting and sculpture, for the gratification of himself and friends. Napoleon Bonaparte, second son of Carlo and Le- tizia, was born at Ajaccio, on the 15th of August 17 f ii>, and died on the island of St. Helena, May 5th 1821. Like other boys, Napoleon when quite young 42 THE B ONA PA It TE-PA TTERSON MA R R I A GE. took great delight in following companies of soldiers ; and soon distinguished himself among his fellows by drilling them in stone-battles, and teaching them artillery practice by the use of a small brass cannon. He was principally educated at the royal .college in his native city, the college of Autun, and the military school at Brienne, where he was generally unpopular on account of a morose and thoughtful temper of mind, operating as in search of some medium through which it could spy out the future. As a boy, he seldom formed strong attachments, or communicated his secrets to others, evincing in this respect a remarkable and unusual caution. Completing his studies at the military school in Paris, he was made a lieutenant in the French army ; and, distinguished as a mathe- matician and military engineer, he rapidly promoted himself, stepping from one rank to another, with ease, if convenient, or with force, if necessary. He fell far behind the general literary accomplishments of his contemporaries of like rank, caring little or nothing for those sciences which adorn and enrich the heart ; yet we find him, at a very early age, stealing interviews with a young lady, and indulging in the sentimental by eating with her certain "innocent cherries." He commenced writing a history of the island of Cor- sica, and submitted a sample of his work to the inspec- tion of General Paoli, but failed to finish it for some reason not given. In 1792, he was made a captain of artillery, a colonel of infantry in 1793, and in 1704 a brigadier-general of artillery. From these beginnings he made the most rapid strides towards THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 43 supremacy ; and whether or not Europe in his day stood in need of such a character, he was empha- tically the breaker of hardshells, and the nurse of new-fledged monarchies. Becoming suddenly armed with the most extraordinary powers, he confused the boldest thinkers; broke ancient lines at will, unseating, and, if we may be allowed the expression, unworlding, the kings of Europe in his march. On the 9th of March 1796, when within a few strides of the summit of his fame and glory as the master of Europe, he married Josephine Beauharnais, a beautiful native of the island of Martinique ; and in less than a week after left her in France to take com- mand of the army of Italy, then lying in the defiles of the Alps and the Ligurian Apeninnes. In 1797 he returned to Paris as the " Liberator of Italy ;" having in the campaign won a number of the most brilliant victories on record, making the French arms formidable to the world. On the 16th of December 1809 his obedient Senate passed at command an act divorcing him from his wife, and poor Josephine re- tired broken-hearted to Malmaison ; and from that hour the star of Napoleon's glory began to decline. Unlike the sacred biographers, those of our day drop at each successive step a few words of censure from the characters of their respective heroes until all are gone, and they are at last made to stand forth before another generation purified by the pen. Thus bad great men who fail to obtain justification at the hands of a generation which they have injured, are led to hope for a cleansing ablution in the dynamic 44 THE B ONAPA R TE-PA TTERSON MARE I A GE. current of history. Casting his swaths of dying men behind him, Napoleon mowed his way to thrones regardless perhaps of even the accusing voice of history, or the warnings from an eternal hereafter ; yet he knew the busy pen would labor through long centuries to purify his character, and engrave his name on the star-clad heights of canonization. Such was the man with whom Jerome's wife must deal. Lucien Bonaparte, another son of Carlo, was born May 19th 1775, and died at Viterbo, July 29th 1840. In 1797 he was also elected to the Council of Five Hundred, and in 1800 he was sent Ambassador to Spain. His first wife was the daughter of an inn- keeper at Toulon. These parties for a few years lived very unhappy together, and in 1797 she died of ill treatment and neglect on the part of her husband, who in 1803 was married the second time to the widow Jourbothon, a rich banker. Refusing to par- ticipate in Napoleon's imperial designs, he went to Italy in 1804, where he lived in great style ; and it will be seen that this fact is mentioned in some of the letters relating to Jerome's marriage. Elisa Bonaparte, sister of Napoleon, was born January 3d 1777, and died on the 7th of August 1820. In. 1797, she married M. Bacciochi, a noble- man, hailing from her native island. In 1805, she was made Princess of Lucca and Piombino ; and such she was when her name was written in cipher by Mr. Robert Patterson in the correspondence relating to his sister's marriage to Jerome. Louis Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon I. and THE B OX A PAR TE-PA TIERS ON MARRIA GE. 45 father of Napoleon III., was born on the 2d day of September 1778, and died at Leghorn, July 25th 1846. At an early age, he entered the French army, and was with Napoleon in Egypt. On the 7th day of January 1802, the 34th anniversary of his brother Joseph's birth, he married Hortense Eugenia Beau- harnais, Queen of Holland. This he did in compliance with the wishes of Napoleon ; but the union was very unhappy : and, estranged from the affections of her husband, she subsequently lived a dissolute life in Paris. When the empire of France was declared in 1805, Louis was made Governor of Piedmont, and in 1806, King of Holland. Paulina Bonaparte, another sister of Napoleon, was born October 20th 1780, and died in Florence, June 9th 1825. In 1797, she married General Leclerc, the commander of the expedition against St. Domingo. This lady was styled " the extraordinary perfection of beauty." General Leclerc died in 1802, and in 1803, Paulina married Camillo Borghese, but their domestic life was unhappy, and they soon separated. Carolina Bonaparte, the youngest sister of the family, was born on the 26th of March 1782, and died May 18th 1839. She married General Murat, the son of an hostler at an inn, but was made Queen of Naples in 1808. It will be seen now, that, at the time of Jerome's marriage, the Bonaparte family consisted of Letizia, the mother, and eight children, viz. : Joseph, Napo- leon, Louis, Lucien, Jerome, Elisa, Paulina, and Carolina. Napoleon was the chief of the family, not 46 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. however by seniority, but by fortune. Feeling him- self the acknowledged master of Europe, proudly sup- ported on his pedestal of fame, he conducted an un- licensed traffic in crowns; and, holding his sceptre over a vast empire of mind also, he unsettled the domestic tranquillity of individuals, and loosened the morals of his age. He dealt profanely with the insti- tution of marriage, whose foundation, he knew, had been divinely laid in some grand primeval age, when Love sung her holy lullabies over the first forms of life, and the harmonies of Heaven responded. Trifling with the institution of marriage must sooner or later bring upon the trifler a punishment equal to that which once came down to check the drinking of un- hallowed wine from the Holy Grails of Jerusalem. If Jerome had been left free to deal with his own mar- riage, and meet its responsibilities, in his individual capacity, the world of eyes would have discovered his real character, and received a profit from the disco- very. On approaching Napoleon, ostensibly for the purposes of reconciliation, it will be seen that the young man was further demoralized by the unholy light thrown upon his marriage, and the imperial raid upon family altars built over the up-welling fountains of feminine purity. The young adventurer was commercially and socially a citizen of the United States. Politically and legally he was a citizen of France. He could not have been held to military duty in the United States, for this would have been in antagonism to the claims of his native country, to which he owed allegiance, or, per- THE B OX A PAR TE- PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. 47 haps, it would have been in violation of treaty stipu- lations. Commercial and social contracts entered into in compliance with the statutes and usages of one nation, have invariably been held as binding in another ; and this rule has been more particularly observed with respect to marital contracts. The same principles are also recognised by states, or political divisions of na- tions. Parties, therefore, finding the laws of one state hostile to their marital negotiations, have gone into another to complete them ; but on their return at pleasure, have not been charged with a violation of the law of domicile. In order to the validity of contracts, it has not been deemed necessary that the parties thereto should take an oath of allegiance to the constitution and government of the country, or division of country, in which they may temporarily reside at the time of making them; but on leaving such nation or state, in which their contracts were made, to go to the place of their nativity, or else- where, " their works do follow them." When Mr. Dallas drew up Jerome's marriage contract, he did not deem an oath of allegiance to the country, or any form of naturalization whatever, necessary in order to its fulfilment. A compliance with the laws of the state of Maryland, a state to which the organic law of the nation, of which it was a division, had guaran- teed a certain degree of sovereignty, and a compliance with the divine ritual of the church of his choice, were the only conditions necessary to the entire valid- ity of the marriage contract, and the marriage itself; 48 THE BONAPAR TE- PA TTERSON M A RR I A GE. and nothing short of violence could sunder the parties in any nation. During the residence of Jerome in America, it is not clearly seen how either his contracts or his torts, or his minority, could violate the laws of France. He might have violated them in the act of coming hither, in the length of his stay, in the neglect of French interests, or the destruction of French pro- perty in his custody, so as. to incur a punishment jn his return ; but the laws of France, should he return, could not, we think, operate upon him, so as to annul a contract made on American soil solely in his indi- vidual capacity. If a Frenchman under twenty or even twenty-five years of age, could not marry in his own country without the consent of his parents or guardians, did the statutes of France declare at that time, or at any other, he could not, or must not, should he happen to go there, do so in another coun- try, over which the French flag did not display itself? We think not. Can an individual contract made on American soil in strict compliance with the laws of the country, be set aside so as to destroy its binding effect in every nation ? Napoleon did put the French statutes in motion in his Council of State to annul the marriage of Jerome ; but may we not venture to assert that he failed for want of an offence ? In calling his Council for action upon this subject, we think it was more the object of Napoleon to create, than to punish an offence. An attempt to nullify a contract is a virtual admission of its validity. As a jurist, he had already declared that the marriage, as far as the laws of France were concerned, was null and void. THE B0XAPAR7 E-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 49 This all men admitted, for the marriage did not take place in France. Why then employ a grave council of state to nullify that which was already a nullity ? This is what thinkers thought. If a marriage solem- nized in America was valid in Rome, why was it not valid also in Paris ? The same authority which sanc- tioned its validity in the United States did the same in France. But the act of nullification was rashly passed in Paris, perhaps, before a ray of holy light from the Court of Rome had fairly touched an out- line of the subject. No violations of French statutes had taken place on French soil, nor upon the high seas under Gallic colors ; and so, we think the Pope of Rome thought. What therefore could he say under the circumstances, and what could he consistently do ? He was called upon to anathematize something, which never had been, nor never could be construed into a violation of either civil or ecclesiastical law in any coun- try. He persistently refused to sanction by his au- thority the rash act of the French Council ; and when Jerome knocked for admission at the gates of France, around his marriage clustered all the force and majesty of law. Returning from our temporary digression, we take up the line of our subject by stating that Mr. Robert Patterson's first letter from France to his father in Baltimore, quoted in the preceding chapter, was dated Paris, March 12th 1804. Under date of the 14th of the same month he writes again from the same place: "Dear Father: I wrote you on the 12th inst., "Dear 50 THE B ONA PAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. acquainting you with my arrival here on the preced- ing day, and giving you what information I had col- lected relative to what brought me hither. " I am happy to have it now in my power to say something more satisfactory on the same subject. On returning to my apartments this morning, after an absence from them for a few minutes, I found a note from Mr. Lucien Bonaparte, couched in the most polite terms, requesting I w T ould call on him, which I accordingly did, taking with me Mr. Bentalou. He told us the Consul was displeased with his brother's marriage, but that himself, his mother, and the rest of the family w T ere very glad of it ; and that since he was married he must treat his wife with tenderness and affection. They wish him to become a citizen of the United States, and intend purchasing a quantity of the American funds for him. I believe it is not intended that he shall have any control over anything more than the interest of whatever sum may be invested in this manner, but rather suspect some other person will be appointed to hold them in trust for him, and that person will most probably be your- self. I am not sorry Jerome is to remain in America, as I consider he will be just as well there as in Europe. From what I have here stated you will per- ceive things are in as fortunate a train as we possibly could have expected. Mr. Bentalou and myself are to dine with Mr. Lucien Bonaparte to-morrow. I shall send this to Bordeaux to be forwarded." This letter was not received at Bordeaux until the 31st day of March. On the same day, it was for- THE B OX A PA R IE- PA T TEES OX MARRIA GE. 51 warded, by Messrs. Andrews & Cooke, for America ; I and Count Pulaski's old captain, Paul Bentalou, of Baltimore, then in Paris, as previously stated, next writes to Mr. Patterson, the bride's father. Dating Paris, March 16th 1804, he begins : " I wish with all my heart that this, which I will forward by duplicate, may reach you with all possible speed, with my most sincere and heartfelt congratulations to you and Mrs. Patterson on the glad tidings, I am autho- rized and indeed particularly requested to impart to you. Your son Robert will tell you that since his arrival, we have together been very active, and to him I leave the task of relating to you the particulars of what passed with our Minister, Mr. Livingston ; which upon the whole were of an alarming and P desponding naturo, and terminated by telling your son that the displeasure of the whole family was mani- fest, and of a nature, he feared, not to be overcome ; I and that, after having freely communicated with Joseph, the only favor he could obtain was, that your son could, privately and alone, go to see him, and that he would give his porter orders accordingly ! I confess I felt shocked at the proposal ! and observed with some warmth that I thought it would be unbecoming for your son to introduce himself in that mysterious way, and perhaps meet with a humiliating reception ; and that as the whole family were now apprised of is being here, if any of them wished to see him, it was in their place to express it. Upon this the Minis- ter made some observation which I pass in silence, and was glad to find your son perfectly to coincide 52 THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. with my opinion — the more so, as in a short time after we had left the Minister's house, your son returned to me with a note from Lucien of which this is the literal translation : Mr. and Mrs. Lucien Bonaparte are extremely desirous to have the 'pleasure of seeing Mr. Patterson, br other -in-laiv of Mr. Jerome. They will both remain at home the whole morning in hopes he will have the goodness to call on them. — Dated 23d Ventose, 14th of March. We instantly got ready, and together were admitted into a private room, where we found Mr. Lucien, and told him as I knew he could not speak English, neither could your son speak French, I as an intimate friend of the family had taken the liberty of accompanying him. We were received with all possible affability. Through me, he addressed your son in the most flattering manner, and in a strain which conveyed every appearance of can- dor and sincerity. Our conversation lasted a long time, the essential part of which I will now endeavor to relate in his own words-: f " He said to me, Hell Mr. Patterson, and let his father know, that our mother, myself and the ivhole family, with one voice, and as heartily as I do, highly approve of the match. The Consul, it is true, does not for the present concur with us, but he is to be con- sidered as isolated from his family. Placed on the lofty ground on ivhich he stands as the first magistrate of a great and powerful nation, all his actions and ideas are directed by a policy ivith which we have nothing to do. We still remain plain citizens ; and, as such, from all we have learned of the young lady's mo i pr, TEE B OXA PARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 53 aracter and the respectability of her friends, we are, tod feel highly gratified with the connection — that they ed not in the least be hurt by the displeasure of the onsul ; that myself, although of an age to be my own aster, and occupying distinguished places under the vernment, I have also, by my late marriage, incur- d his displeasure, so that Jerome is not alone. But, tvhen lue do marry, toe are to consult our own hap- and not that of another, it matters not who else , or is not, to be displeased. Our present earnest ish is that Jerome may remain where he now is, and take the proper steps to become, as soon as possible, a citizen of the United States. " Here I interrupted him by observing that it was ot such an easy matter as he perhaps thought — that it required an ordeal of seven years previous thereto ; and that then he would have formally to" swear fidelity to the United States, and to a renunciation of all titles of nobility, places of honor or profit, allegiance or attachment to all other countries, and particularly to the one of his nativity. " Very well, retorted Lucien, Jerome must do all hat ; he must go through that noviciate. The dignified attainment of a citizen of the United States is well orth it. His situation is much preferable to ours. We are yet on a tempestuous sea, and he is safely moored into a safe, and incomparably happy harbor. e must positively change his mode of living, and ust not, as he has hitherto done, act the part of a ince of royal blood ; not to think himself anything more than he really is, and to strive as soon as possible 54 THE BONA PA R TE-PA TTERSON MAR III A GE. to assimilate himself to the plain and uncorrupted manners of your incomparable nation, of which we ivill all rejoice to see him a worthy member. We are now making arrangements to provide genteelly for him. We wish him to live on equal footing with your most respectable citizens, but never beyond any of \ them. — - " He then gave me to understand that they had taken pains to inquire what would he necessary, and it seems they are thinking of giving him a country house, and a house in town, and an annual income of fifteen thousand dollars. He asked my advice upon that, and I told him I thought the allowance fully adequate. He added that as they wished to have a permanent capital lodged in America, they had already applied to purchase of the newly created funds for the Louis- iana acquisition, and found that they were ahove par. I observed to him that prohably, in a short time, they would have a chance of purchasing under par from American claimants, now in distress in Paris, some of the bills to be issued by our Minister ; and that by remitting to you whatever they may have a mind to send, they cannot place it in more safe hands, nor more judicious, to invest advantageously ; either in public funds, bank, or insurance stocks, than under your direction. In short, my dear sir, I think they will send that way much more than necessary to pro- vide for Jerome. "We were asked to dine there on the next day, which was yesterday. He was not in when we were introduced, but we were equally well received by his THE BONAP ARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 55 ady and family. Shortly after, he came in, and very soon invited us into a private apartment ; when, after haying reiterated generally what he had said on the I previous day, on which I had taken occasion of telling him of your son's proper reluctance to appear before his brother Joseph in the manner advised by our Minis- ter, he reminded me of it; and said that he had con- versed with his brother on the subject, and was directed by him to assure us that the Minister had cer- tainly misunderstood him. That he had said that, from tla 1 etiquette established by the higher authority* tnone of the family could allow any foreign minister to introduce to them any person who had not been pre- vious/// introduced to the First Consul ; but that his brother Joseph was very anxious to see Mr. Patterson ; that he had just left his house before ive came in, and 'red him to tell us that he had gone to Malmaison to remain there with the Consid till this evening, and that to-morrow at twelve he ivill expect us. I shall attend your son there, and leave to him the care of relating to you the result, which I have no doubt will be as satisfactory as the two interviews we have already had with Lucien. " I beg you, and you will see the propriety of keep- ing to yourself, that part of my narrative which relates to our Minister, for I assure you I would not, for any consideration, have said anything that would in any way offend him. He and his family are extremely kind to myself and Mrs. Bentalou, as they generally are to all their fellow-citizens ; and I can with truth assure you, that in this affair he has evinced a zeal so 5 6 THE B NAP All TE-PA TTERS ON MAURI A OE. as to deserve your manifest gratitude. But you will perceive that as matters stood, and as I have above related, in his official capacity, he could not act. It required a plain individual, acquainted with both lan- guages, to conduct your son to that source of informa- tion without which it were impossible your mind could have been content. " I now conclude in assuring you that no man can more sincerely rejoice than I do at our happy success, or more affectionately at your service, than your friend and well-wisher. " Reading over my letter, I perceive I have omitted to mention to you, that Lucien informed me, and re- quested me particularly to tell you, that yesterday their despatches for Jerome were sent away ; that the Consul, as Consul, caused his Minister to direct the Charge' d'Affaires in the United States to express his displeasure to Jerome, which must be considered by you as a matter of form ; but that by the same con- veyance, Jerome would receive from his family com- fortable letters, and such as all of you can wish for. It is wished that the picture of your daughter may be sent to them as soon as possible." The views of Lucien as given by Captain Bentalou in the preceding letter may have been obtained by re- flection from the chief of the family, but their diplo- macy in this case, as in all others, we think, left the observer at a loss to determine whether light breezes only, or deep and angry thunders, were betokened. Quick as the compound which rendered his artillery deadly, uncertain also as the flash which blasts the THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MA Eli I A GE. 57 grand old oak in summer, and for ever restless in search of affinities, Napoleon's temper would flash fearfully even in the pursuit of small game ; and, like the met- tled steed of antiquity, bound along where there were paths, and where there were none. Like the ancient penman's mountain in convulsions to release a little mouse from life in embryo, thinkers began to think, that he would establish from his course of conduct with respect to Jerome's marriage, some novel and ridiculous precedent that would operate to his discredit down the long ages. It was thought by some that Jerome would not be allowed to escape the punitive force of the consular will, if nothing more was done than to adopt the pathless course of treating him as a deserter from the naval service of France. About this time, Napoleon set the blood of France on fire, by the most stirring appeals to arms that the vehicle of language could convey, which it was thought would lure Jerome, peacefully, from fidelity to his wife into Pthe fields of glory. 1 Soldiers ! " says Order No. 39, issued from head quarters of the centre, " the sea is passed ! The bound- aries of nature have yielded to the genius and for- tune of the hero, the saviour of France ! and haughty England already groans under r the yoke of her conquerors ! London is before you ! That Peru of the old world is your prey ! Within twenty days I plant the tri-colored flag on the walls of her execrable tower ! March : the road to victory is open. In order to render that happy victory cer- tain and inevitable, your commander here offers you some advice, Brave Centre, at the same time that he 4 58 THE D ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. renews, upon enemy's soil, the sacred promises that you have already twice received from the august head of the state. " Once more I pledge the faith of government, which only reserves to itself, among the enormous treasures that you are on the eve of conquering, the arms and fleets of the enemy ; while it destines their monuments of the arts to decorate the temples of the capital of the world, and to become an eternal record of your victories. Towns, fields, provisions, cattle, gold and silver — I abandon all to you ! Occupy those noble mansions, those smiling farms. The properties, the families of your enemies are all your own — all is destined for your wealth, or for your enjoyment. An impure race, rejected by heaven, and which has dared to be the enemy of Bonaparte, will expiate its crimes by disappearing from the earth. Yes, I swear to you, that you shall soon become terrible ! " Soon — and the hour of a just retribution already strikes — the signal shall be given. Expect it in the posture of a tiger, and observe also his silence : then spring upon your prey, give way to your feelings, take your enjoyments, and gather without risk the mellow fruits of victory ; all will then become your duty except senseless pity, equally unjust to your country and cruel to injured humanity. May the enemy of France perish to its foundation ! May the name of England be lost and forgotten. Know that Heaven and the First Consul have conspired for its ruin and total oblivion. Then may that guilty island, formerly wrested by the sea from France, purged from THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 59 the monsters that inhabit it, return within its legiti- mate boundaries, having expiated its numberless crimes. May it be regenerated by that master-stroke of policy that can only render it worthy of becoming once more a portion of the continent, and a province of France. Perhaps its proud conquerors may not disdain to carry to it their generous race. Perhaps they may derive a sentiment of joy from compelling the wives and daughters of the conquered to give Frenchmen to France. Soldiers ! the country is your own ! My brave companions, let those inhabit it who will. It is Bonaparte who gives me authority to insure to every one who desires to reside in these beautiful plains as faithful colonists of France a house, furniture and lands ; in short, a lot, splendid and secure. They shall, moreover, be permitted to carry off without molestation every article of which they may be pos- sessed at the disbanding of the army, not excepting the women of the enemy whom they may honor with their partiality." We think it will be seen hereafter that the above appeal, and the like, were part of the vast machinery employed to fire the heart of Jerome, and thus quietly bring him from America. To throw as much light on this strange subject as possible, we again make a short digression into the wilds, by remarking that the First Consul, perched upon a giddy spire of nobility, had resolved to force each of his brothers to marry some European princess ; and that, at this time, the views of marriage entertained by a certain class of adventurers into American society were often as 60 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. sickly as odors fresh from the blooming ailanthus, or the deleterious upas. It was not therefore very strange that some men thought Jerome would yield to argument by leaving his wife in America to marry a European princess, and receive as a reward a king- dom in Britain, after the tri-colored flag was planted on the execrable tower of London. It was impossible to discover Jerome's own motives, or how far they might go to unsettle or change the consular purposes with respect to his marriage. His character, antece- dents and designs down to that time appeared to be but little known in America, except what anonymous writers declared ; but the word he, and the only one italicised by the writer, did not probably fail in time to have its effect upon the mind of the reader. It appears evident that upon hearing of his marriage, the Bonaparte family in concert determined that Je- rome should remain in America, and mingle no longer in the society of France. Lucien had already de- clared that the family was then on a " tempestuous sea," and that Jerome, under the circumstances, should be provided for and domiciled in America, was a wise and natural conclusion. That he should be disposed of in this manner was the opinion of Mr. Robert from the beginning, and he never changed it. The attention of the reader is again respectfully called to the reading of his third letter. Dating " Paris, March 16th 1804," he writes again to his father in Baltimore. He says, " I wrote you on the 14th instant via Bordeaux. In that letter I mentioned my having received a very polite note from THE B ONAP ARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 61 Mr. Lucien Bonaparte, requesting me to wait on him ; in consequence of which I did so, taking with me Mr. Bentalou. He observed, Jerome's marriage had given the First Consul great displeasure ; but that neither himself, his mother, nor the rest of the family were by any means dissatisfied with it. Mr. Lucien is in a similar situation with Jerome. He married without his brother's approbation, and his wife has not as yet been recognised by the Consul. Since the rest of the family are pleased with the marriage, I think there can be little doubt of the First Consul's being eventually reconciled to it, as his moral cha- racter is irreproachable, and it is scarcely possible to suppose that he would stain that character by doing away so sacred a contract as that of matrimony. The family intend Mr. Jerome shall remain in Ame- rica, and become a citizen of the United States. They mean to invest a sufficiency in our stocks to produce him an income of about $15,000 per annum. I believe it is not their intention that the principal should be subject to his control. You will most pro- bably be appointed to hold in trust for him whatever stock may be purchased. Mr. Bentalou and myself had the honor of dining with Mr. Lucien Bonaparte yesterday. I was highly flattered with the attention shown me. He observed, at parting, that he should expect to see me every three or four days, and if I disappointed him he would be obliged to quarrel with me. M Mr. Livingston has had no conversation with the Consul relative to his brother's marriage. He wishes G2 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. to reconcile him to it by means of his ministers. They inform Mr. Livingston that when they have intro- duced the subject he has remained silent, which they taking as an indication of his displeasure have drop- ped it. Mr. Livingston is entitled to our warmest thanks for his zeal to serve us in this business." Dating the 17th, Mr. Patterson continues his letter on the same sheet: "I called at Mr. Joseph Bona- parte's this morning without having- the pleasure of seeing him. I was, however, very politely received by Madame, who regretted that Mr. Bonaparte was obliged to be at that time from home, particularly as he was very desirous of seeing me. We have every reason to be pleased with the situation of this affair at present, and think you may make yourself perfectly easy as to the result. " I have been asked if I have the portrait of Madame Jerome, more than once. The family are desirous of seeing a miniature of her. If one has not been taken already, it may not be amiss to have it done, and sent either to some of the family or to me, that I may present them with it." Pausing for a moment or more to inspect public opinion, we find it drifting in the direction that the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte of France to Miss Patterson of America, at this early day in the history of the latter country, was a mild specific providen- tially administered to check irregularities in republi- can society. Opinion took another direction, and hinted that the wrath of the First Consul, which was rapidly gathering, would dismiss Jerome from the THE B ONAPARTE-PA TTEESON MARRIAGE. 63 service, and hurl him violently from French associa- tions, even before the beginning of the first dog-watch in the day of his glory ; but it will be seen hereafter that this was not the consular purpose. From the 17th to the 28th of March Mr. Robert Patterson remains silent, waiting for an opportunity perhaps to dine with Mr. Joseph Bonaparte. The French mind was now inclining to the opinion that Napoleon would soon define his position with respect to the marriage, and make himself guilty of a vast expenditure of power upon the subject. In this state of uncertainty Mr. Patterson writes again to his father. Dating " Paris, March 28th 1804 ;" he writes : " On Saturday I had the honor m dining with Mr. Joseph Bonaparte. None of the family were present but his lady. It is a little singular he did not throughout the evening speak a word of his brother's marriage, and only mentioned his name when I was departing, to request I would forward him the letter which I now enclose. As he possesses the confidence of the First Consul, he probably for this reason de- clined saying anything on that subject, lest I might imagine he gave the sentiments of his brother. My being admitted to his table cannot but argue more favorably to our wishes than otherwise ; though it had been infinitely more satisfactory and pleasing had he been less reserved. " Lucien is a firm and decided character. On all occasions he thinks and acts independently. On this one he nobly and candidly uttered what he thought. The consular recognition or disavowal of the marriage 64 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. will probably* be determined by future occurrences. Much will depend on Jerome. If he acts the part of an honorable man everything must go right. " It is the duty of my sister, as a wife, to retain and increase the affections of her husband ; and her exertions ought, if possible, to be doubled, from the peculiarity of her situation. " They are perfectly acquainted with your history. Lucien the other evening, asked me if our family were not originally from Ireland. I replied that you came when very young to the United States from that country ; but that my mother was a native American." From the first of January to the date of the pre- ceding letter, the witer says he had no accounts from his father. Mr. Patterson, it appears, wrote very little on the subject of his daughter's marriage; and the avenues of information to Robert in Paris, just about this time, became almost suddenly closed. Scaling his surroundings in finely-wrought balances, he found uncertainty so heavy that all other commodi- ties kicked the beam, and he departed for Amsterdam to bide his time. Mr. Bentalou, the cheerful and ever hopeful friend of the Patterson family, is silent, and Minister Livingston is the same ; but certain French frigates are ploughing the deep towards New York. Minister Livingston has not yet answered Mr. Pat- terson's letter to him under date of February 10th 1804. It is the middle of April, and the young couple, returning from Washington, are about to set off on a northern tour. Napoleon's silence on the subject of THE B ON A PA R TE-PA TTERSON M ARE I A GE. 65 the marriage was so deep and unbroken, that certain parties interested in the affair, reclined to repose ; but others, alarmed by " the voice of silence," kept wide awake, conscious that some slumbering tempest was about to break forth and sing his war-song on the face of the deep. Napoleon spoke at last, and gave out to one of his ministers the wonderful facts detailed in the next chapter. Pichon, the French Consular General in New York is instructed to withhold Jerome s supplies, and the commanders of French vessels are prohibited from receiving on board the " young person ," to whom e has attached himself 7 CHAPTER III. , Letter from M. Dacres to citizen Pichon — Strict orders — Jerome's pay withheld — He is ordered home — His wife to be left in the United States — Not to put her foot on the territory of France — French captains not to receive her on board their vessels — Jerome is implored to return alone to France — Letter from M. Dacres to Jerome — Napoleon's opinions of the mar- riage — Letters of Dacres intercepted by a British commander — He copies them — The secret out — Mr. Patterson writes to Jerome — Gives the extent of his information — Hope runs high — Chancellor Livingston recalled from France — General Armstrong succeeds him — Mr. Livingston writes to Mr. Pat- terson — He sends Joseph Bonaparte's letter — Its translation. Heading his letter, u For yourself only" and dating " Paris, April 20th 1804," M. Dacres, French Minister of Marine, writes to Citizen Pichon, " French Consular-General at New York." "I have taken," writes he, " the orders of the First Consul, citizen, concerning the demand you made on me for the ap- pointment of an allowance to be granted to Citizen Jerome Bonaparte ; and, bound to obey the orders which he has given me in a way that showed it "was not his intention that the slightest modification should have place, either in my mode of transmitting them to you, or in the execution of them, I discharge my duty in notifying to you his resolution that no money shall be advanced on the order of Citizen Jerome. " He has received orders in his capacity of lieute- nant of the fleet, to come back to France by the first (GG) . THE B ON A PAR TE-PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. 67 French frigate that was returning thither; and the execution of this order, on which the First Consul insists in the most positive manner, can alone regain I him his affection. But what the First Consul has prescribed to me, above everything, is to order you to prohibit all captains of French vessels from receiving on board the young person to whom the Citizen Jerome has connected himself, it being his intention that she shall by no means come into France, and his will, that should she arrive, she be not suffered to land, but be sent immediately back to the United States. " After having thus notified to you the intentions of the First Consul, and having ordered you to attend to the arrangements he has made, it remains for me to invite you to employ for the persuasion of the Citizen Jerome, every expedient which your wisdom, your prudence and excellent judgment shall suggest. I have written him to this purpose, and have repre- sented to him that the glorious and brilliant career to which his destiny calls him, requires of him a neces- sary sacrifice, due also to his interest, his personal glory, and the designs of the Hero to whom he has the honor to be related. Explain to him, that having been absent for several years, he little knows the First Consul, whose inflexibility can be compared to I nothing but the vastness of his conceptions. Cherish- ing important and profound meditations, he considers himself as having no family but the French people ; everything unconnected with the glory and the happi- Iness of France is indifferent to him. In proportion as he delights in exalting and honoring those of his 68 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON 31ARRIA GE. relations who participate those sentiments with him, does he feel coldness for those who do not partake them, or who walk in a different path from that which his genius has traced out for himself. Unwearied fabricator of his own glory, he bewails in secret that he sees not his example followed with the same per- severance by those of his own blood ; he is indignant at the obstacles thrown in his way by what he calls their effeminacy; and he declares against beholding them otherwise engaged than in following the steps of his career. " Citizen Joseph, his eldest brother, distinguished by the eminent services he has rendered in his council, by diplomatic meditations and labors, known to all Europe by the treaties he has concluded, invested with the senatorial robe and of the first rank in the legion of honor, has seemed to him as not yet suffi- ciently clothed with glory, and wishing to crown him with that for which every one may find instruments in perils, hardships, and genius, he has just given him one of the regiments to bear into England the national vengeance. " General Louis, general of division, known until now by military glory, is about to add to that of the statesman, and has just been admitted into the coun- cil section of legislation. " Citizen Lucien, with the reputation of past con- duct, and a fortune perfectly independent, has formed connexions repugnant to the views of the First Con- sul ; and the consequence is, that he has just quitted France ; and that, obliged to abandon the theatre of THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. the. glory of his own family, he has exiled himself to Rome, where he becomes the simple spectator of the destinies of his august brother, and the Empire. " These examples will inform Jerome what his bro- ther expects of him, and what he may expect of his brother. Young as yet, and of an age when the laws authorize not a marriage to which relations have not consented, he has indiscreetly and rashly contracted one (these are the Consul's words) ; he has abandoned the labors which the country required of him. Yield- ing to an irrational passion, he has without doubt acted grievously wrong, but his youth shall be suffered to plead his excuse, provided he is wise enough not to disobey the voice which calls him. " Ashamed of his indolence, too long protracted, let him seize the first occasion of returning to share the labors whereof he should have given an example, and he will recover his brother in the head of the state. It is the only means to consecrate the ties which unite them. , " As his friend, as devoted to his family, as his super- intendent in fine, in the career which he has embraced, I.fyive a right to expect a quiet hearing from Jerome, and I entreat that he will execute the orders he has received, and follow my advice. I see his brother every day, and if I give him no prospect of bending that brother, by a different conduct, it is because, in truth, I have perceived that he is in this respect in- flexible. I " ' Jerome is wrong, 1 said he to me, i to fancy that he will find in me affections that will yield to his weak- 70 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. ness. The relation in which I stand to him does not admit of parental condescension ; not possessing the authority of a father over him, 1 cannot feel for him a father's affection. A father is blind, and takes a pleasure in blinding himself because his son and he are identified. They have given and received so much reciprocally that they form but one person ; but as to me, what am I to Jerome ? what identity can subsist between us ? Sole fabricator of my destiny, I oive nothing to my brothers. In what I have done for glory, they have found means to reap for themselves an abundant harvest ; but they must not on that account abandon the field when there is something to be reaped. They must not leave me insulated, and deprived of the aid and services which I have a right to expect from them. They cease to be anything to me, if they press not around my person, and if they follow a path that is opposite to mine. If I require so much from those of my brothers who have already rendered so many services, if I completely abandon him who in maturer years has thought proper to withdraw himself from my direction, ivhat has Jerome to expect ? So young, as yet, and only known by forgetfulness of his duties, assuredly if he does nothing for .me, I see it in the decree of fate which has determined that I ought to do nothing for him.'' " This is what the Hero has said and repeated to me in divers conversations. The solemnity of these confidential communications he has condescended to make to me on this subject, has struck me, and I re- pose them in your bosom that you may seize the THE B ONAPA R TE-PA TTERSON MA UP. I A GE. 71 moment and the manner of impressing them upon Jerome. What gratitude will he not owe to you if you succeed in persuading him ! I know not what degree of resistance you will experience, but let him be well persuaded that it is more from personal attach- ment than from that duty, that I insist with him on such details. My duty might be limited to trans- mitting to him the orders and arrangements of the First Consul, but this long effusion can proceed from no other motive but my friendship for him. The Consul would end by forgetting him, and he is occu- pied by so many great objects, that this oblivion, pain- ful at first, would settle into habit, and this is what I fear. " If the delirium of the passion should render him inaccessible to the voice of reason, you have only one thing to represent to him, which is, that the passions cease, or at least decline, and that in this case the consequence would be endless. Jerome is very young, his life will be long, and I, who know his brother much better than he himself knows him, am certain that should he not comply with his wishes, he is storing up for himself the most poignant regret. Moreover, if, unfortunately for Jerome, he should prolong his stay in the United States during the war, if peace should be made before his return, what a grief for him to have passed with a woman a season of dangers ; and what regret does he not prepare, even for the woman herself, when humbled by his obscurity, he shall one day impute to her, were it even involuntary and secret at the bottom of his heart, the indolent part to which 72 THE B ON A PA R TE- PA TTERSON MARRTA GE. he shall have been reduced by the passion wherewith she inspired him ! And even if he loves this woman, let him learn, for her sake, to quit her. Let him re- turn and keep near his brother — he will give him credit for the sacrifice, and from the sentiments of good will and friendship which will thence result, it has not forbidden him to conceive hopes. But let him not bring her along with him. Be her accomplish- ments what they mag, they would produce no effect, for most assuredly the order is given to prevent her land- ing, and it would be fresh trouble, and a disobedience too gross of the orders of the First Consul to have any other effect than an irritation extremely unpleas- ant for what is and ought to be most dear to the heart of Jerome. " I repeat to you, citizen, I recommend the object of this letter to your careful attention, and to your solid judgment, as to the use you shall make of it. I have entered into no detail on the nature of the ille- gality of the connection in question, because I treat this affair in a sentimental manner merely ; but I have some difficulty to conceive how the father of the young person has brought himself to yield to an union rep- robated by our laws, and which the dignity of Jerome's family required should be very maturely considered before it was consented to. D acres." " The example of Lucien cannot but divert Jerome from imitating his conduct. Behold him separated from his brother ! But this afflictive separation, afflic- tive for all the friends of their family, would have much more unpleasant consequences for Jerome, who 'THE BOX A PARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIAGE. » 73 has yet acquired no personal weight, no fortune, and whose property left behind at Paris, has been em- ployed in part to pay the bills he has drawn on France. But this motive is nothing in comparison of those more prevailing ones of the duties and the career of glory that call upon him." — Cotemporaneous remark. On the 20th of April 1804, the pen, whose potency has been compared to that of the sword, was busy in the department of the French Minister of Marine. On that day also he writes to Jerome Bonaparte in New York. Dating, "Paris, 30th Germinal, year 12," he proceeds — "I have been just fulfilling, my dear Jerome, a rigorous duty imposed upon me by the First Consul— that of forbidding the Citizen Pichon to supply you with money, and prescribing to him to prohibit all the captains of French vessels from receiv- ing on board the young person to ivhom you have at- tached yourself ; it being the intention of the First Consul that she shall on no pretext whatever, come into France; and should she happen to present herself, that she shall not be received, but be re-embarked for the United States without delay. " Such, my dear Jerome, are the orders which I have been obliged to literally transmit, and which have been given me and repeated after the interval of a mouth, with such a solemn severity as neither allowed me to withhold them altogether, nor to soften them in the slightest degree. " After the discharge of this severe duty, I cannot, my dear Jerome, deny myself the pleasure of length- ening my letter in a way which the attachment I feel 5 74 THE B ONAPA R TE-PA TTERSON At A PR I A GE. • to you will warrant, and our military association entitles me to. If I loved you less, if the sentiments with which you have inspired me, did not so perfectly accord with those which I owe to your family, if there were not between you and me a sort of companion- ship in arms, and of intimacy which I delight in keeping up, I should confine myself to the despatch- ing of the orders which I have received, and to an accurate official correspondence, the result of which would give me very little uneasiness. Instead of this, I am going to chat with you at a great rate, and with- out knowing beforehand what I am about to say. Of one thing I am certain, I shall tell you nothing of which I am not well persuaded. " War is carrying on, and you are quiet and peaceable at the distance of twelve hundred leagues from the theatre on which you ought to act a great part. If unfortunately you come not back in ihm first French frigate which returns to Europe, and I have already given you that order by C tds, an order which I repeated to you by the Consul's com- mand in the most formal manner — if, I say, you shall not return to France until after the peace, what dignity will accompany your return ? How will men recognise in you the brother of the Regulator of Europe ? In what temper of mind will you find that brother, who, eager after glory, will see you destitute even of that of having encountered dangers ? — and who, convinced that all France would shed its blood for him, would only see in you a man without energy, yielding to effeminate passions, and having not a THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 75 single leaf to add to the heaps of laurels with which he invests his name, and our standards. " 0, Jerome ! this idea alone should determine you to return with all expedition among us. The sound of arms is heard in every quarter, and of the prepar- ations of the noblest enterprise ! you are inquired for ! and I, vexed that I should be at a loss what an- swer to give to those who ask where you are, declare that you are just at hand — give me not the lie, I beseech you ! your brother Joseph, father of a family he adores, possessed with a fortune proportioned to his rank, invested with the highest civil honors of the state, known throughout Europe for his sagacity and his diplomatic labors, wishes to add to so much glory, that of sharing with the Consul the dangers of war, and has just got one of the regiments about to embark. Louis, known by his military services, a general of division, is desirous of adding to that glory, that of displaying talents for civil arrangements. He has just entered into the Council of State — the Section of Legislation. " Lucien, it is true, has just quitted France, and has exiled himself to Rome in consequence of a marriage repugnant to the views of the First Consul ; but Lucien is known by the services he has rendered by his genius, by his talents, by the dignity of a senator ! He is possessed of a great and independent fortune; and notwithstanding, the connections dis- avowed by his brother which he has contracted, have been found incompatible with his abode in France. " What has taken place in your family points out 76 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. to you sufficiently what the First Consul expects of you, and his inflexibility concerning what you shall do in opposition to his views. Sole architect of the glory of which he has attained the summit, he ac- knowledges no family but the French people ; and in proportion as he exalts his brothers who press around him, so have I seen him show coldness and even aversion to those of his own blood who push not for- ward in the career which his genius marks out for them. Whatever is foreign to the accomplishment of his great designs, seems to him treason against his high destiny; and believe me, for I know your brother better than you know him yourself; if you should persist in keeping yourself at a distance from him he would get angry at first, and would conclude by entirely forgetting you ; and Heaven knows what regrets your obscurity would lay up in store for you ! Scarce can a more brilliant career be opened to a man of your age. Shut it not up yourself! The union which you have formed has deeply afflicted him! While I, thought he, am doing every tiring for glory, for my own, for that of my name, for the happi- ness of the people that have put their fate into my hands, by ivhom may I hope to he seconded, if not by my brothers ? and the youngest among them forms an inconsiderate connection on which he has not even asked my opinion. He has disposed of himself as a private individual. It is titer (fore as a private indi- vidual he wishes me to consider him. What claim does he earn to my benefactions ? None! for instead of being useful to me, he takes the route diametrically THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 77 opposite to that which I wish him to follow. In vain, availing myself of the freedom which the First Consul permits in domestic privacy, did I wish to make the voice of natural affection be heard. I became sensi- ble, from his conversation, that he neither felt, nor was sensible to feel, any pliancy of that kind. " ' I will receive Jerome if, leaving in America the young person in question, he shall come hither to asso- ciate himself to my fortune. Should he bring her along with him, she shall not put a foot on the terri- tory of France. If he comes alone I shall recall the error of a moment, and the fault of youth. Faithful services and the conduct ivhich he owes to himself, and to his name, will regain him all my kindness.' " Such, my dear Jerome, are nearly the words of the First Consul ! Bethink yourself, my friend, that he is only your brother ; and that, as I have already told you, a brother feels not the yielding condescen- sion of a father, who identifies himself in some mea- sure with his son. Consider that you have as yet done nothing for him ; and that in order to obtain the advantage attached to the honor of being con- nected with him, you have not a moment to lose for deserving them — for it is his character that merit and services rendered, or to be rendered, are the only things on which he sets a real and solid value. In truth, I am frightened at the regrets you are pre- paring for yourself, and the young person with whom you have connected yourself, should you go to the length of opposing the views of your brother. Your passions will pass away, and you will reproach your- 78 THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSON 31 AR RIA GE. • self with the injury you have done yourself. Perhaps you will accuse, even involuntarily, the young person who will have been the occasion of it. Listen to rea- son ! and she will tell you, that, at any rate, you have committed the fault of failing in respect for your brother, and for a brother fed for a length of time with the love and veneration of all France, and with the respect of Europe. You will be sensible how happy it is for you, that you are atle, by returning to France, to obtain the pardon of this fault ; that it would be inconsistent with your profound dignity to carry thither a woman who would be exposed to the mortification of not being received. I know not whe- ther you can hope to overcome your brother's unfa- vorable dispositions towards her ; and, to deal frankly with you, I see no probability of such a thing — but if there be any means of obtaining it, it must be your presence. By your compliance with his views, by proofs of your devoted attachment to him, you can bring it about. You are so young, that if you un- happily let slip the opportunity of placing yourself about the Consul, you will have many years for regret to steal upon you. The obscurity to which you would thus condemn yourself would be long — and long and bitter the comparison between that lot you had chosen for yourself, and that which once awaited you. With- out distinction, fame, or even fortune, how could you bear the weight of the name with which you are honored ? To you, a stranger to the glory attached to it, it would become an insupportable burden. I repeat it for the last time, my dear Jerome, come THE B ON A PAR TE-PA TTEESON MA RE I A GE. 79 • Mther — come hither by the first French frigate which shall sail from the United States, and you will meet with such a reception as you desire; but I regret that you know not the Consul sufficiently, because you would then be persuaded that you cannot regain his good will but by this expedient; and this good will is essential to your happiness and to your glory. " I conclude with the expression of the most sincere attachment, which I shall never cease to retain. Happy if I have been able to influence your deter- mination in the way I could wish, more happy still, if my letter was unnecessary for that purpose. A thousand kind wishes. DacreS." These letters the imperial Bonaparte directed to be sent to M. Pichon and Jerome at New York, on the subject of the marriage, but they were intercepted by the commander of the British frigate Leander off New York. After taking copies the British commander transmitted the originals to their owners, and we hear no more of them for nearly a year ; but we shall meet with them again in these pages. The condition of morals exemplified in the order from " head-quarters of the centre," and in these letters, is a leaning back- wards after glory, so that, under the circumstances, the great master-wheel of civilization in Europe, driving its little world of counter-wheels, could not have made many revolutions in its pit. If Providence, moving in time, carries a " fan" in hand to purge the floor of nations, that the wheat may go into the*garner and the chaff into the fire, its European correlative surely cannot be discerned in Napoleon. Like " a 80 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. m thorn in the flesh" he appeared to do little else than to gather corruption around him until the time of his removal. From the stand-points exposed to view by the documents in question, the "wind and tide" against which the noble bark of Mr. Patterson and his daughter was beating, will be clearly seen and comprehended. Weary of the silence in Europe, and unconscious of the fulminations of the consular decree delivered through the Minister of Marine, he takes his pen in hand to write to Jerome, and revealed to him the extent of his information, his hopes and his fears. .The young couple had gone to New York, probably with a view of embarking immediately for France on some French vessel to go from that port ; but found there the alarming intelligence from Dacres, and the following enactment of the French Senate : — "By an act of the 11th Ventose, prohibition is made to all the civil officers of the Empire to receive on their registers the transcription of the act of the celebration of a pretended marriage that Jerome Bonaparte had contracted in a strange country, during the age of minority, without the consent of his mother, and without previous publication in the place of his nativity." Without the least knowledge of this alarming state of things, the young lady's father, as just mentioned, wrote to Jerome. Dating, Baltimore, May 13th 1804, he writes — " Dear Sir — As you may not probably have received any late letters from your family in France, and of course must be anxious to know their sentiments respecting your marriage, I will now give you the best information I have been able to collect. In the middle of the month of January, your mother THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 81 • and the First Consul were made acquainted with the circumstances that had taken place, until the match was broken off, and were highly pleased that it had not taken place. About this time the First Consul gave orders that you should be recalled and brought home ; but I presume before his orders could be put into effect, by despatching a vessel from France, the news of your marriage must have arrived, and prob- ably put a stop for the present to sending out the vessel intended. I have no information that can be depended on after the news of your marriage reached your family, and I fear they will be greatly displeased, and perhaps be difficult to reconcile them to the steps you have taken. This however will rest with yourself ; and I trust you have, and will take, every -means in your power to satisfy them on this head. My son Robert had arrived in Amsterdam from London, and was to set out for Paris on the 5th of March, with your letter to the First Consul, and several more from this country, and from Mr. Monroe, our Minister in London. I shall know the event after he reaches Paris, and will communicate to you the information I may receive from him immediately ; but in the mean time, if you should receive any news relative to the business, I request you will write me, and as you may naturally suppose, our anxiety will be great until we know the final issue. Believe me, with sincere regard, your friend." Receiving his first letters from Robert in Paris, the mails at that time travelling slowly, he writes agajn to Jerome in New York. Dating May 17th 1804, he 82 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MA ERIA GE. begins — " Dear Sir — I wrote you the 13th inst. under cover to my friends, Messrs. William Neilson & Co., of New York, and this will be forwarded in the same way. I have now the satisfaction to inform you, that on yesterday I received letters from my son Robert in Paris, dated the 16th and 17th of March, stating the particulars of a conversation and interview he had with your brother Lucien, which affords myself and family very great satisfaction, and I hope will be equally pleasing to you and Betsy ; and for your bet- ter information, you have now the conversation that passed between your brother and my son, word for word, as taken down and noted at the time. By the note at bottom, you will perceive that your despatches were made up and forwarded on the 15th of March ; but that the First Consul had instructed his Charge 1 a" Affaires in this country to express his displeasure to you on the measures that had taken place relative to your marriage. Your brother Lucien however ob- serves, that this is to be considered as a matter of form ; and that your family have written to you by the same conveyance in the most friendly and affec- tionate terms. ''Whatever measures you may think proper to adopt in consequence of the recommendation and plans laid down for you by your family, I will most cheerfully promote, and assist, as far as is in my power, so as to forward and establish your happiness in whatever depends on me. Write me frequently, and believe me, with the utmost sincerity, dear sir, your assured friend." THE B OX A PA R TE- PAT TEE SOX MA BR I A GE. 83 Under date Baltimore, 19th May 1804, Mr. Pat- terson again writes to Jerome, and drops a word of advise. " Dear sir," be begins, "I wrote you tbe lltli accompanying an exact copy of the communica- tion made by your brother Lucien to my son Robert at Paris, respecting the views and intentions of your family for your settlement in this country. It is to me and my family a very pleasing circumstance; and considering the precarious and unsettled state of things in France at present, added to the risk of your being captured by the British were you to embark just now for home, I think it a wise and fortunate determination of your family. You can better judge of their views than I can in being so very anxious for your becoming a citizen of the United States. I should however be led to conclude that their intention is to secure an establishment in this country in case of any violent change or revolution in France ; and surely it is equally your interest and duty to promote their happiness and security by following their instruc- tions. " The frigate you mention coming out with the Minister will certainly bring you letters that will explain everything, and corroborate what your brother told my son in Paris. Under these circum- stances it will perhaps be best for you not to go on to Boston before you receive the letters you may daily expect. I am, dear sir, yours very sincerely." In reply to the above letters from Mr. Patterson none from Jerome appear. If he did answer, the reader will before long find some reason to induce the 84 THE B ON A PA R TE- PA TTERSON MA RRTA GE. belief that the answers were burned soon after read- ing them. We hope, however, this was not the case. Waiting a few days for Minister Livingston's reply to Mr. Patterson's letter of the 10th of February, we remark that this gentleman, late in the winter of 1804, was recalled by the President of the United States, and General John Armstrong appointed to succeed him. An item of news from London, under date of February 13th 1804, says : " The recall of Mr. Livingston, the American Minister at Paris, was occasioned by a personal infirmity of that gentleman. He is unfortunately very deaf." It will be remembered that Jerome Bonaparte held a commission in the French Navy, having arrived at New York in command of a French frigate. From the " British Neptune" of February 13th 1804, we clip the following item: "Two Swiss officers in the French service are just arrived from France, having made their escape from thence. They have been examined before the privy council, and made a de- claration that the invasion of this country will be attempted in the course of the present week, wind and weather permitting;" and in order to obtain his services in this naval attack on England, the Prefect of the Department of the Indre and Loire, issuing the following circular, would fain have reached Jerome in America. The document reads : " The French go- vernment attaches the most extreme importance to the immediate appearance of the proper officer at the different ports, of those seamen who have been called upon by their country to assist in the grand expedi- THE BOXAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 85 tion now preparing, and which will shortly be afloat. Many have answered to their demand, and have pro- ceeded to their several places of destination. But there are still more who have persisted in keeping themselves concealed, or who have otherwise found means to disobey this peremptory order notwithstand- ing their having been duly apprised of it by the proper magistrates." The words still more are italicised in the original, and the order goes on to declare that all who do not obey it in a given time shall incur the penalties of desertion. If, as the French Minister of Marine declared in his letter to Jerome of the 20th April, the order of Napoleon prohibiting Citizen Pichon from supplying him with money, and the French captains from re- ceiving on board the "young person" to whom he had attached himself, had been given and repeated with solemn severity " after the interval of a month," then had it gone forth and was in the custody of Dacres, when, on the Saturday preceding the 28th of March, Mr. Robert Patterson " had the honor of dining with Mr. Joseph Bonaparte;" and it does not now appear so "singular" that "he did not through- out the evening speak a word of his brother's mar- riage." Under date of June 20th 1804, Chancellor Living- ston, still in Paris, and not yet displaced by the arri- val of General Armstrong, his successor, answers Mr. Patterson's letter of the 10th of February. " Sir," says he, in the handwriting of his Secretary of Le- 86 THE B ON A PA R TE- PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. gation, "I received your favor of the 10th of Feb- uary, a few days before my departure for England. As I had written fully on the subject of your daughter's marriage both to the Secretary of State and to Gen- eral Smith, who I knew would make the communication to you, I postponed writing in the hope of being able to communicate something satisfactory to you. You learned from those letters the plan that had been pro- posed for making an establishment for Mr. Bonaparte in America. You have also learned from my late letters that the new order of things here would prob- ably make some changes in the determination of the First Consul on this subject. To reduce my suspicions on this head to certainty, I wrote to Prince Joseph, who was at Boulogne. On my return from England, I found the letter of which the enclosed is a copy, which I think clearly evinces that the plan is changed. But I have great hopes it will not be disadvantageous to your son-in-law, or daughter. "If, as I doubt not, he perseveres in his attach- ment for her, and in those resolutions which ,his sentiments of honor will dictate, I think I see some appearance of relaxation here ; and I hope for a full reconciliation which will place him upon the ground on which he ought to stand with the Emperor. I can- not be more particular at present, but you may be assured that the little I can give in this business, you may freely and fully command. I have furnished, as you request, extracts from General Smith's letters to Prince Joseph, and communicated the sentiments con- tained in the President's and Mr. Madison's letters. Though I can tell you nothing certain, for you know THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 87 a matter of this kind cannot be treated diplomatically, and the absence of Madame Bonaparte, the mother, and Lucien, and Prince Joseph, narrows the ayenues to information, yet I have great hopes, that ere long this business will be accommodated to the satisfaction of all the parties. I am, sir, with esteem, your most obedient humble servant." The copy of Prince Joseph's letter enclosed by Mr. Livingston is dated, " 27th Floreal (April) year 12," and reads as follows : — " Monsieur: J'ai re6monies ou il aurait eu une aussi belle place ! Mais comme vous le dites, le malheur vous poursuit, et vous me rendez assez de justice pour croire a quel point j'en suis afflige\ il Ecrivez-moi, je vous prie, a Rotterdam le plus souvent que vous pourrez ; marquez-moi la vie que vous menez. Votre hiver n'aura pas 6te surement aussi gai que le dernier. Vous avez vu par la place que je viens d' avoir, que l'homme propose et Dieu dispose 5 tous mes projets ont ete bouleverses en un intant, mais je suis trop heureux, et il ne me reste plus qu'a meritcr 1'auguste bienveillance que l'E. m'a temoignee. Vous aurez eu un instant de consolation au passage d'Auguste aux Etats-Unis. II y a un siecle que je n'ai reiffe, le 30 Nivose, an 2 Empire fran. Le Commissaire des Relations Coinmerciales de 1' Empire Francais aux Canaries, A Son Altesse Imperiale le Prince J6rome Bonaparte : u Je ne doute point, qu'etant si 61oign6 de l'Europe, V. A. Imperial ne recoit avec plaisir les nouvehes d'un concitoyen, qui a l'honneur de vous faire des compliments sur votre mariage, et fait des vceux pour votre prosperity et de l'aimable prin- cesse, que vous avez cru digne de votre choix. Elle est parfaite. ment connu par Mde. Dumestre, qui se trouve actucllement dans cette ville ; pour tout ce qu'elle me dit, elle brillera a Paris, etfera les delices de votre auguste f'amille, et de la societe. Je serais fort heureux si a votre retour le hazard pouvaitme pro- curer l'honneur de vous recevoir en ce port, et vous procurer quelques rafraichissements. " Je ne puis vous donner des nouvelles fraiches de la France. Lesdernieresquej'airecusontdateesdu 18 Brumaire. La guerre entre l'Espagne et S. M. I. est declare, ce qui rend notre cor- respondance tres difficile. Le meurtre Meyronet est parti ; je d6sire qu'il ait 6t6 vous rejoiudre ; c'est un homme sur lequel vous pouvez compter, et qui vous est tout devoue. u S. M. rimperatrice a fait obtenir a Monsieur de Mauper- tuis le consulat de Rotterdam ; Ton assure que cette place vaut dans ce moment passe cent mille francs. Je me plais a croire que M. de Maupertuis vous est aussi attache - que Mey- ronet. Je voudrais vous parler avec la confiance quo je vous dois, et qu'on ne peut s'empecher d'avoir pour un cceur comme le votre ; mais cela devient impossible dans les circonstances actuelles. "Puisse-je avoir l'honneur de vous faire bientot ma cour ! Vous n'gtes pas fait pour vieillir en Am6rique. Malgre' tout ce qui se passe Mde. R. espere avoir 1'a-v.antage de voir Ma- dame J. B. dans ce pays-ci. Je me joins a celle en pensees et en desirs. Veuillez nous rappeller a son souvenir, et croire, Monsieur, que je ne cesserai en aucunes occasions de ma vie de vous §tes attach^ avec la plus tendre et la plus res.pectueuse reconnaissance. u Votre tout devoue - serviteur, "Retvbell." TRANSLATION. " Paris, March 14 tt 1805. " Sir : I have had the honor to write to you and to testify how much I have been afflicted on learning from Meyronet all the particulars of your shipwreck. I have just received a letter from M. Pascault con- firming these reports, and informing me also that you have been sick. No one, sir, takes more interest in your welfare than I, and this last news has caused me a great deal of real sorrow. I will go this morn- 166 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. ing to Mr. Patterson to request him to send you this letter. I hope he will have something more satisfac- tory to tell me concerning the state of your health. " Meyronet is gone. I wish he would rejoin you. He is a man on whom you can depend, and he is entirely devoted to you. " Her Majesty the Empress has obtained the con- sulship of Rotterdam for M. de~ Maupertuis. People say this situation is now worth more than a hundred thousand francs a year. " I am happy in believing that M. de Maupertuis is as much devoted to you as Meyronet. I would like to speak to you with the confidence which I oWe you, and which it is impossible not to have for a heart like yours ; but this becomes impossible in the present circum- stances. I hope I shall soon have the honor to pay you my homage. You are not made to grow old in America. In spite of what is taking place, Mrs. Rewbell hopes to have the pleasure of seeing Mrs. Bonaparte in this country. I join with her in thoughts and desires. Be kind enough to remember us, and believe, sir, I will never cease on any occasion of my life to be de- voted to you with the most tender and the most respectful gratefulness. Your all-devoted servant, Rewbell." We close this chapter by giving two extracts from letters written to Mr. Patterson in Baltimore by Jonathan Jones of Bordeaux. Under date of 24th February 1805 he writes : " I have lately forwarded you several letters via New York, without the least observation made thereon, though particularly recom- THE DON AP All TE-PA TTERSOX MA RRIA GE. 167 mended by me to the captain's care, and as I had some responsibility therein, beg you to be so obliging as to advise me in course if such letters get safe to hand. They went by the brig Georgia [unfortunately lost) that sailed the 24th of January from Bordeaux, and was driven ashore at the entrance of the river. The captain had two bags of letters, one of which was saved that I had sealed up, and the bag was sent on by the brig New York. You had better send your orders to some confidential friend at New York to detain yours, for many of the letters were opened on account of their being wet with sea-water." On theH7th of March he writes again: "Here enclosed you will please receive two letters that came to hand two days since with a desire to send both by some occasion, as well as the Gazette herewith, that gives me infinite pain from the warm friendship I take in all that interests you." The Bordeaux Gazette, to which this last para- graph refers, contained the article of the " 13th Yentose," relating to "the pretended marriage" of Jerome, which " he may have contracted in a foreign country." CHAPTER VII. Young couple on the sea ! — Robert Patterson in Paris — Gen- ral Iiewbell— The Erin safe— Sad news in cipher— Storms of wit— Deception "all the go"— Nineteen days at sea— Blue hills of Portugal — Letter from Bonaparte — " Sea-sick never kills nobody" — Foreign gossip — Letters in cipher — The cipher changed — Gossip in Boston — The "Columbian Centinel" irate — The Bonapartes lampooned— Letters of Dacres pub lished — Philadelphia and the Moniieur — Bentalou and Skip with — Mr. Livingston's treaty — '' Bills" — Another letter from Lille — Affairs in Holland — Mr. Schimmelpenninck — Madame Bonaparte not allowed to land in Holland — Sylv%ius Bourne pleads her cause — She is placed under guns — Mr. Bourne's letter — Gossip in London — Madame Bonaparte goes there — Jerome and Le Camus at Genoa. No news has yet arrived from the young couple on the sea. Another letter from the bride's brother has probably passed them on its voyage to America. Mr. Patterson still in Paris, writes a letter, mostly of a business character, to his father, and w T e copy from it the following paragraphs. Dating Paris, March 17, 1805, he says, "Dear Sir: — My last was of the 9th inst., and I am still without any of your letters. " It is my intention to set out in the course of two or three days for Nantz and Bordeaux, from there to Marseilles, then to Lyons, and return to Holland, without passing this place again. I shall probably be in Amsterdam in the course of six weeks, perhaps sooner. When Bentalou gets his bills, he will transmit (168) THE B OXA PA R TE- PA TTE RSON MA RRIA GE. 169 them to me to be forwarded to you, on his doing which I will return him his obligation ; and will let him have something more on account of them. " Mr. Skipwith has some idea of going himself to the United States with his bills ; but if he does not, which is by far the most probable, he will send them to you for collection. I mentioned to you his having expressed a wish to have his commissions, in the event of his sending his bills to you, paid to him here at the rate of 108 sous per dollar, which is par, twelve months after he hands me the bills. As it will be the means of your getting your money home without the loss that has latterly attended the drawing in Europe, it would certainly be an advantageous arrangement for us : and if he thinks seriously of the plan, I shall have no hesitation in entering into it on the terms I have stated, with this proviso, that the money is only to be paid after we know of the bills being paid in the United States. His commissions amount to about $80,000. " The enclosed letter is from General Rewbell. I do not see the least reason to change the opinion given you before, that the only chance left' to Jerome to bring his affair to a fortunate issue, is by his remaining in the United States. If he were to come out I suspect he would be very far from finding a cor- dial reception. I shall write you more particularly and fully from Bordeaux." The reader will discover that General Rewbell's letter came as an enclosure in Mr. Patterson's letter 11 170 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. just quoted, but it was published in the last chapter, in the order of time. Fearing that ladies may grow tired of the historical and commercial part of the correspondence, we will lay before them something perhaps more suited to their tastes. From Mr. Patterson, now in Bordeaux, we have another cipher letter, intended as a warning to the young couple, now far out on the trackless ocean, in sight of nothing save billow and sky. This letter, on its way to Baltimore, will pass them nearer the rock-bound coasts of Europe than mid-ocean, but will remain the custodian of its dreadful secrets ; and the unconscious vessels will plough on as the thought- less messengers of grief. The young couple are safe on the bosom of ocean. The noble Erin has gallantly carried her unusual freight, and auspicious winds will soon bring her in sight of land. But to return to Mr. Patterson's letter. Dating " Bordeaux, 31st March 1805," he writes to his father under the impression that Jerome and his wife are still in Baltimore : — " Dear sir," writes he in original and duplicate, " I had the pleasure of writing you on the 17th inst. from Paris, enclosing you a letter from General Rewbell for Jerome, which was forwarded from here by a schooner bound to Baltimore. " I had thought for a long time that the Emperor's being dissatisfied with Jerome's marriage proceeded merely from the pique of the moment, which I hoped he would soon have got over ; but from what General THE BOXAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 171 Armstrong has been able to learn, and by what I have heard from other quarters, it seems that this uncon- ciliatory disposition of the Emperor is kept alive and meuvraxri by the oaxbathrfofa, c lb x of the m Iv o y 8 . The R — ff and the c b o a g - rff r f . Y — , and R y o f I are not m l j e b - I d y s iofcefri xeplbifQ — . His dbexurbf, with the exception of Y — a , take probably but little v a x r b r f x in his d r ul y m. The mother, I believe, is really desirous of appeasing the Emperor and to recognise the marriage. I am afraid however that her good dispositions "will be of no avail, as she is not supposed to have much influence over him. M — , you know, has a handsome appoint- ment, and the Empress, who is his relation, has made him several presents as testimonies of her regard. He shows all Jerome's letters to the Empress, and one or two of them he mentions as having sent to the Empe- ror. He is not considered a man that can be de- pended upon, but one who will adhere to his friend whilst it is convenient. Though we cannot confide in him, it is unnecessary to discover our mistrust of him. " If Jerome were to arrive he would undoubtedly begeamoari, and till he should g e r c y 8 with whatever the R — might direct ; and if his wife should come out, and I must repeat, I should consider her fortunate in e ay s being fr ax dig n to the United States. He may possibly, on showing a reluctance to return, be demanded of the American government as an officer in the Navy, which demand could scarcely be complied with if he chooses to throw up his com- mission. There is not much to be apprehended on 1 72 THE B ONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MAURI A GE. the score of fhc cy o rf. Their choir is a suffi- cient guarantee against any inconvenience of that na- ture. They have been informed of the consequences that might attend doy yf brxhbaoat c b exrf x r i. It might be a disadvantage for your a Iv r to I c c rib e a las of them. The reports of the Iff I ff o a I x o e a ovgeamvarvrax of Y — A are not confirmed, and are most probably unfounded. The bore circumstance, however, of their being consid- ered possible shows a ylvraxldyr ircbljoxs of v e b lyf." To this letter Mr. Patterson adds his initials only. The paragraphs in cipher read thus — " This uncon- ciliatory disposition is kept alive and fomented by the intrigues of a 'part of the family. The Empress, and the princesses ; Lucien and Elisa, are not favorably disposed towards Jerome. His brothers, with the ex- ception of Lucien, take probably but little interest in his behalf.'' " If Jerome were to arrive, he would undoubtedly be confined, and till he should comply with whatever the Emperor might direct ; and* if his wife should come out, I must repeat, I should consider her fortunate in only being sent bach to the United States." " They have been informed of the consequences that might attend bills returning protested. It might be a disadvantage for your name to appear on any of them. The reports of the assassination or confinement of Lu- cien are not confirmed. The bare circumstance how- ever of their being considered possible shows a lament- able depravity of morals" " M — ," appearing in the preceding letter, refers to THE BOXAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 173 Maupertuis the French Consul at Rotterdam ; and it is somewhat singular that Mr. Patterson always dis- guises his name in the correspondence. He finds that Maupertuis is " not considered a man that can be de- pended upon," and perhaps the 3000 francs loaned him as part of his out-fit for Rotterdam, have gone where the "woodbine twineth." In this letter, as given above, the full face of deception is unmasked, even that of Lucien also, who in the beginning of diplomacy uppn this subject was described as " a firm and decided character. On all occasions, he thinks and acts independently. On this one he nobly and candidly uttered what he thought." Did he? Down to this time, March 31st, the reader will, remember that the young couple have been nineteen days on the sea, and no accounts of their voyage ap- pear. By this time they should be in sight of the calm blue hills on the shore of Portugal. They may have partaken of " fresh provisions" at St. Croix de TeneriiFe, if the good ship Erin has been favored. If she has, or even has not been favored, what a fame will she earn for herself ! It will eclipse that of the fairest of the argosies that swarmed the ancient ocean, or flitted before the imagination of the wildest poet. She will be classed among the real heroines of the white-bannered battalions of the sea, and the canvas will record her precious memory. Before the appearance on the path of gossip, that unlicensed peddler of paragraphs, we will favor the lady, into whose hands this book may come, with the reading of the first letter from the young couple, written by Jerome's own hand, and in his own Eng- 174 THE B ONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. lish. It was directed to " Mr. William Patterson, Baltimore," in the handwriting of the young Madame Bonaparte herself, and we give below a verbatim copy. " On Board of the Erin, the 2d 'April 1805. " I have the pleasure of writing to you, dear father, from the arbous of Lisbon where we arrive this morn- ing the 21st day of our departure from Cape Henry. We shall be obliged to perform a qua^ntine of 16 days, but I have already found the way for not doing it, and in three days I shall be ready to proceed on my Long, monotonne, and fatiguing journey. My feelings for you, my second mother, and all your good family are very well known to you, and it is easier for me to feel them than to express them. I have left one of my family and will be soon among the other, But the pleasure and the satisfaction of being in my first will never make me forgot my second. " My dear wife has fortunately supported the fatigues of our voyage perfectly well. She has been very sick, but you know as well as any body that sea- sick never has killed no body. " I pray you, dear father, to do not forget me near my friends, and particularly General and Mrs. Smith and family, Nancy, Dallas, and Dr. McHenry, and remember that you solemnly promised me to never show my letters, and to burn them after having read it. B." This letter is signed B. only ; and in the hand- writing of Mr. Patterson, father of Madame Bona- THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 175 parte, it is endorsed, "Bonaparte, Lisbon, April 1805 — received loth May." From Jerome's letter, it will be seen that the ship, with himself and wife, arrived at Lisbon, the capital city of Portugal, on the 2d of April 1805. On the 14th, the Lisbon papers had it that " Jerome Bona- parte, after having been jive days under quarantine, landed and received visits from the Spanish ambassa- dor, and others of the corps diplomatique in friendship with France." On the 2d of May, it was published at Greenock that " a Lisbon mail arrived on Thursday per the Walsingham packet. Jerome Bonaparte had set out for France, and his lady and her brother by sea for Amsterdam." This was William Patterson, Jun. Jerome set out for the city of Artesian wells, and the lair of the lion which he must soon encounter ; but his wife, delicate, fatigued, and dishonored, bids a final farewell to her husband at Lisbon, and that hour of parting becomes also the hour of a final forsaking, and she must finish her journeyings on earth alone. Still in Bordeaux, Mr. Robert Patterson, seriously operated upon by fear from some quarter, writes the following letter to his father, even disguising in cipher the initials of his name ; and then changing the cipher itself ! We copy the letter in full : — " Bordeaux, 11th April 1805. " Dear Sir — The following is an extract of a letter I received from B u by yesterday's post : 'I have been told, and assured that the information may be relied on as coming from a correct source, that x ur 176 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. vexurlulffloi xul x If fur br gr o - j r i I yrxxrl m b e v Q — r xr y o at ur b x ul x rn o ar o a t uof vlbboltr fe vhgu ioflccbejri urplfpoyyoat xe uljr vx ioffeyjri fur y e af r ax r i xe xur ylxr chdyoglxoea.' " I do not know how he gets his information, but as he sometimes gives credit to reports without consid- ering them sufficiently, I think it highly probable that what he states will prove unfounded. B. C. " N. B. I will write you in the following cipher when there is anything material to communicate : — abcde fgh ij kl mnopqrs t uvwxyz g k np 8 u a d r v z b w h y mxc j I o i t f q V B u, in the above letter, stands for Bentalou; and the extract from his letter, using the former Key, reads thus : " I have been told and assured the information may be relied on as coming from a correct source that the mother has said that, as she received a letter from Jerome telling her that, finding his mar- riage so much disapproved, he was willing to have it dissolved, she consented to the late publication." On reference to the first Key to cipher, in a former part of this book, the reader will discover that the initials B. C, appended to the above letter, represent .R. P., or Robert Patterson. This is the last letter Mr. Patterson writes from Bordeaux. Soon after the writing, he appears to have departed for Paris without hearing of the arrival of the young couple, and William Patterson Junior, his brother, in Portugal. For the. present we leave THE B OX A PAR TE-PA TTERSON MA RRIAGE. 177 Jerome on the overland route from Lisbon to Paris, which he probably took, and Mr. Patterson and his sister in the Erin, Captain Stephenson, on their voy- age to Amsterdam ; and we will hear no more of them until they arrive at their respective destinations. The paragraph from Mr. Bentalou's letter addressed to Mr. Robert Patterson, and by him transmitted in cipher to his father in Baltimore, fully unmasks the mother of Jerome also, and the demon of deception, fully denuded, stands forth as the ruling genius of the Bonaparte family. Leaving affairs in Europe to the control of circum- stances, the kind reader will please return with us to America, and we will land in Boston, where we breathe a pure atmosphere among real people. The editor of the " Columbian Centinel," published in that city, becoming irate upon the subject, handles the Bonapartes in the following careless manner. Referring to the letter of M. Dacres to Jerome, he says in his issue of the 3d of April 1805 : — " The real character of man may perhaps be more justly appreciated by his private sentiments and actions than by his public ; in the former, he is less prepared and more off his guard ; he has fewer mo- tives for disguising or checking the emotions of his heart ; his nature, if we may be allowed the expres- sion, is more undressed than in public, where the con- viction that all eyes are fixed upon him, that every feature, and look, and gesture is weighed and watched, gives to his manners a constrained and studied air, and makes him more the child of art than of nature. 178 THE B ON A PARTE- PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. " This letter affords more insight into the character of Bonaparte than we could gain from his public actions ; it contains the expression of his undisguised sentiments and feelings in private and in confidence. What a cold unfeeling heart ! How severe, unbending, and unforgiving ! occupied solely by ambition and the love of power, valuing only the ties of family and blood, as they contribute to the gratification of his master passion, and the accomplishment of his ambi- tions desires ! ' Whatever is foreign to the accomplish- ment of his great designs, seems to him treason against Ms high destiny,' says M. Dacres, and tells his Brother that he knows him better than he does. * I will re- ceive Jerome, if, leaving in America the young person in question (his innocent and virtuous wife), he shall come hither to associate himself to my fortune.' 1 Consider,' says the Minister to M. Jerome, 'that you have as yet done nothing for Mm.' Of natural affection, the Minister candidly confesses that he is utterly devoid. ' In vain, availing myself of the freedom which the First Consul permits in domestic privacy, did I wish to make the voice of natural affection be heard. I became sensible from his con- versation, that he neither felt, nor was liable to feel, any pliancy of that kind.' A stranger, unacquainted with the character of Bonaparte, might be led to sus- pect, upon hearing his repugnance to the marriage entered into by his brother, that that brother had married a lady of low origin, and that she formed a \ distressing contrast to other marriages that had been ' entered into by the family — a contrast indeed ! the contrast which virtue affords to vice ! Is it possible THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 179 that Bonaparte could have been blinded to this truth, that every rebuke he uttered against his brother was ten times more applicable to himself? to himself who evinced the most disgusting indelicacy and immorality in the union he had formed, a union in which every feeling most congenial to the heart was violated, and which was entered into for the sole purpose of grati- fying his thirst of ambition and dominion. And Joseph Bonaparte ! was his wife of superior rank and virtue to the wife of Jerome ? Lucien appears to be under the same ban and anathema as Jerome ! He has been banished from France because he has con- tracted connections 'which have been found incom- patible with his abode in France.' But of Lucien, the Emperor, if we may form a judgment from the letter of the Minister of Marine, stands in some awe. He certainly is indebted in a great degree to him for his present pre-eminence and power. This high sense of family pride which must not be sullied by contact and commixture with plebeian blood, would scarcely been pardonable in the real descendants of Charle- magne. But in a little low Corsican, born we know not of whom, and whose name and family were never heard of until within these ten years, it is perfectly contemptible and ridiculous. To demonstrate to our readers the folly of the objections which the Emperor Buonaparte has made to the alliance formed by his brother Jerome, in America, we present the following authentic sketch of the genealogy of the Buonaparte family, which we deem it our duty to blazon and set forth for the entertainment and information of our readers — 180 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. Mrs. Ranioglini, of Basle, married M. Ranioglini ; and, secondly, M. Fesch. She had by these marriages Letitia Ranioglini, and M. Fesch, now Cardinal Fesch. Letitia Ranioglini married Carlo Bonaparte, a Recorder of a petty Tribunal of Ajaccio. Letitia Bonaparte was afterwards mistress of Count Marbceuf, Governor of Corsica. Her children by Carlo Bonaparte and Count Marbceuf are — His Imperial Highness, Joseph Bonaparte, who married Her Imperial Highness, M. M. Clary, daughter of a ship-broker at Marseilles. His Imperial Majesty, NAPOLEON BONAPARTE, who married Madame de Beauharnais, first the wife of Count Beauharnais, and afterwards the mistress of Barras. Citizen Lucien Bonaparte. He was first an Abbe. In 1793 he was employed in the wagon service of the Army of Provence, at £100 a year. His first wife was a chambermaid in the tavern of one Maximin, near Toulon. She died at Neuilly in 1797, from bad treatment. His second wife is Madame Jauberthou, the di- vorced wife of an exchange broker, of Paris. She was his mistress for a year, and then he mar- ried her. THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 181 His Royal Highness, Louis Bonaparte, Married Mademoiselle Beauharnais, daughter of Her Imperial Majesty by her first husband. CITIZEN JEROME BONAPARTE Married MISS PATTERSON, a very respectable and beautiful young lady of Baltimore. Her Imperial Highness, Princess Elisa, the sister of his Imperial Majesty, married at Mar- seilles, Bacciochi, son of a waiter at a coffee-house, and marker- at a billiard-table at Aix-la~Ohapelle and Spa, in 1793 ; the son carried on a small trade in Cotton in Switzerland. Her Imperial Highness, Princess Matilda Bonaparte, married Gene- ral MURAT, son of an ostler at an Inn, three miles from Cabors, in Quercy. Murat, in 1793, proposed to change his name to Marat. Her Imperial Highness Princess Paulina Borghese, married first Gene- ral Leclerc, who was the son of a wool dealer, at JPontoise. He purchased wool from the country peo- ple, and resold it at Paris, to the upholsterers. His mother, Madame Leclerc, was a retail dealer in corn and flour. Her brother had been sentenced to be hanged for robbery." It was not until early in the spring of 1805 the letters of M. Dacres found their way into the news- papers of the United States. At this time they were 182 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. generally published by the few journals then existing in the country ; but we find that the " National Intel- ligencer" in Washington, as early as February 11th, publishes the letter to Pichon, and for it that paper credits the London Morning Chronicle, but does not give the date of the issue. We do not find that the Baltimore papers published these letters at any time, but remained comparatively silent upon the whole subject. On the 3d of May it was published in Philadelphia that " the report of a decree annulling the marriage of Jerome Bonaparte has been also deemed a fiction in this country. We, however, find in the Moniteur of the 1st of March the official document to that effect. It differs from that we have already published in the concluding words which are, without the con- sent of his mother, and without the banns thereof being published in the place of his abode." On the 20th of April we find Mr. Robert Patterson again in Paris. He addresses a business letter in triplicate to Messrs. William Patterson & Sons, Bal- timore, and says he wrote them a letter from Bor- deaux the 2d of April, " stating the particulars of the arrangement I had entered into with Mr. Skipwith respecting the bills he is to receive." This letter does not appear in hand, and he goes on to say, " On my arrival here the day before yesterday I was very much astonished at Mr. Bentalou telling me that Skipwith had expressed some regret at the contract he had made, and that he feared very much he wished to be off. I immediately called on him, determined to hav( THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 183 to have such explanations as would prevent any- future misunderstandings ; but finding very soon from the tenor of his conversation, and from the shuffling disposition he discovered, that it would be difficult if not impossible to compel him to adhere to his agree- ment ; and considering also the danger of having any- thing to do with a person on whose word we find not the smallest reliance can be placed, I consented to acquit him of his engagement and to annul the con- tract. Bentalou is very much mortified at Skipwith's trifling conduct. He suggested the arrangement, and from motives of friendship towards him forwarded the negotiation. The disappointment is the more aggra- vating, as I have reason to suspect I was undermined in the business by a person from whom a very differ- ent conduct ought to have been expected. I allude to Js. Per s." After writing at length on the subject of commer- cial affairs in such a manner as to make very* dry reading for the present generation of merchants, Mr. Patterson concludes : " Mr. Bentalou requests you will send him a pipe of Madeira wine of first quality. It can be sent either to Nantz or Bordeaux. He wishes it to be cased." This looks very much liko " sending coals to New Castle." Without any previous notice of his departure from Paris, we find Mr. Patterson in Amsterdam on* the 10th of May. Dating "Amsterdam, May 10th 1805," he writes to his father : " Enclosed you will find a bill on the Treasury of the United States, drawn by General 184 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. Armstrong in favor of Paul Bentalou, and endorsed to you, for 170,378 francs 58 centimes. The letter of advice which you have also enclosed and the bill are dated on the 6th inst. You will please to recol- lect- 1 have purchased $20,000 of this bill from Mr. B., for which I am to pay him at the rate others are sold of the same description. The balance you will hold subject to his orders. You know I have already given Mr. B. $4000 as part of the purchase-money for the $20,000. I shall remit him $10,000 or $12,000 more in the course of a day or two, and the balance when we have a precedent to establish the discount I am to be allowed. Mr. Bentalou informs me the bills are to be paid at the Treasury at the rate of one dollar per jive francs and three thousand three hundred and thirty -three ten-thousandths of a franc. " The following is an extract of Bentalou's letter, dated the 7th of May : ' As the Ministers have agreed to serve first all the claimants present, it follows that we will, I fear, have to wait some time longer before those represented by powers of attorney are granted, and have gone through not only the examination of these powers ; but perhaps more difficulties arising in their progress between the Ministers will have to undergo long discussions. It appears they have agreed that the bills are to be issued in the name and for the sole benefit of the original claimant, therefore not negotiable ; and hence the necessity of the agents, in order to secure their due, to send these bills to a third person ; and I have the pleasure to add that Mr. THE BO NAP A R TE-PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. 185 Skipwith has already informed me that since he is not allowed to deduct here his commissions from each claim that he represents, he means to comply with his former engagements agreed upon with you, and of course will send all his bills to your house. If this turns out to be the case, as I really believe it will, we must discard our suspicion of any collusion with our New England friend. " When I have anything from Skipwith respecting a renewal of our engagement, you shall be informed. It will then be sufficient time for you to make your arrangements. " The person sent to the Texel writes that public notice was given there in handbills that any person having communication with the ship Erin, Captain Stephenson, would incur a severe penalty. He men- tions 'also that he has reason to believe that the ship arrived in the Texel roads last Wednesday, but was ordered off immediately; and he adds that there is a report of her being in the Vlieland, a place about thirty miles to the northward of the Texel. He sent a letter of mine for William to that place. They will no doubt proceed to Embden." To this letter Mr. Patterson signs his name in full, as he invariably did when without the boundaries of France. As so much has been written by Mr. Pat- terson on the subject of " bills to be drawn by our Minister," we give below a letter from General Arm- strong transmitting a "bill," and also a copy of one of the bills in question : — 12 186 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. « Paris, May 6, 1805. " Sir — I have this day drawn on you in favor of Paul Bentalou, in pursuance of a liquidation by the government of France, in this case provided by the Convention between the United States and France of the 30th April 1803, the 10th of Floreal, year 11, for one hundred and seventy thousand three hundred and seventy-eight francs fifty-eight centimes. " John Armstrong, " Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. "To the Treasurer of the United States, Washington." We cannot give a copy of the bill which was drawn as above, but we have one similar. "No. 559. " Exchange for 3321 francs and four centimes at 5 francs foWo per dollar, Paris Aug. 16, 1805. Pay ninety days after sight this my first of exchange, 2d and 3d of same tenor and date unpaid, to the order of George Ellis, surviving partner of the house of Geo. Short & Thos. Ellis, in pursuance of a liquida- tion by the government of France, in this case provided by the convention between the United States and France of the 30th April 1803— the 10th of Floreal, year 11, three thousand three hundred and twenty- one francs and four centimes. Per advice from the undersigned Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States. John Armstrong. " To the Treasurer of the United States, Washington." The treaty of 30th April 1803 was concluded by Mr. Livingston for the purchase of Louisiana. THE BOXAPARTE-PATTERSOX MARRIAGE. 187 If ladies will pardon this digression from the sub- ject of the marriage into the channels of business, in which gentlemen only may take an interest, we will place before them a short letter from Mr. Robert Patterson, written from Amsterdam to his father, announcing the arrival of Madame Bonaparte's vessel at the Texel. The Texel is a small island in the North Sea opposite the inland waters of Holland upon which the city of Amsterdam is situated. Its location will be seen on reference to a map of Europe. Dating Amsterdam, May 11th 1805, Mr. Patterson says : — " I learn from the Texel the arrival of the tErin. The pilot who brought her in is put in the guard-ship, and will in all probability be punished. The person who is at the Texel had not at the time he wrote succeeded in putting my letter on board, but expected to be able to do it. From the circumstance of their prohibiting the pilots from bringing in the vessel, I am in hopes their object is merely to prevent their landing, and that they will be permitted to depart again. Yours affectionately." To this letter Mr. Patterson does not sign his name ; but addresses it to Messrs. Wm. Patterson & Sons, Baltimore. Whilst we are waiting for more news from the Texel, we will open another letter that comes from a different direction and goes in a different one, quite contrary to the location of the person to whom it is addressed ; but the writer has already been admitted into our circle of correspondents, and we will give him a hearing in order. Before we open the letter, 188 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. let us take particular notice of the directions on its envelope. Just look ! It is headed by large red let- ters in print. Ship Lille. Then conies the writing — " A Madame. Madame Jerome Bonaparte. Baltimore, Maryland. In Amerique." We will now break the great seal of wax, and read — " Lille, May 29th 1805. " Madame — " It was with the most lively solicitude that I read in the Official Journal that Mr. & Mrs. Jerome Bonaparte had arrived at Lisbon. The joy however which I felt on this occasion was not, I find, to be of any long duration ; but on the contrary was to be succeeded by some news as unpalatable and mortifying as my intelligence had been pleasing. You may sup- pose, Madame, I allude, and if you do, you will con- jecture rightly, that I allude to the subsequent rumor, that you and Mr. Patterson were again departed for America. How to account for this circumstance, I am utterly at a loss ! If it is true, I trust whatever may be the event, it will still be such as to establish your reputation, and the honor of your family, on as solid a basis as they have both heretofore rested ; and that the connection which you have so happily and honorably formed will at length be sanctioned in its TEE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 189 due extent. If this should be the case, no one will rejoice more sincerely at this event than myself. If it should unfortunately be otherwise, which I cannot bring myself to believe, it becomes our duty, however painful the practice of this duty may be, to submit with resignation to the will of Providence, which you, from your own conscious rectitude of conduct and purity of intention, will be enabled to do, so far as to insure to yourself that tranquillity and peace of mind which virtue always gives, and which neither gold nor honors can purchase. " In this case, should any chance hereafter bring you to this part of the world, I shall feel it my indis- pensable duty to seize the earliest opportunity of pay- ing my respects to you ; and to assure you personally, as I now do by letter, of my readiness to render you every service in my power. " Permit me, Madame, to subscribe myself, with most respectful regards, " Your most obedient and most devoted servant, George Matthew Pater son. Rue Equimoise, No. 921. " P. S. I have already had the honor by letter of the 6th of August 1804, to make myself known to you. To Madame Jerome Bonaparte." If the reader will turn back to Mr. Geo. M. Pater- son's letter of the 6th August 1804, the two together will make up an interesting and an amusing docu- ment. Next we have the following paragraph from the 190 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. New York papers, but without date. " Paris papers to the 20th of May brought from Amsterdam by the ship Mississippi, we are verbally informed, state that Madame Bonaparte had arrived at Amsterdam from Lisbon some days previous to the sailing of the Mis- sissippi, but no communication was suffered between her and the shore; and the ship being ordered away was about to sail, but for what port was unknown. Jerome Bonaparte was then at Amsterdam." Chancellor Livingston returned from Europe on this ship ; but it is not true that Jerome was in Am- sterdam at the time stated. He at once yielded to the dictates of the Dictator, forsook his wife, returned to service in the French Navy, and was, on the 4th of June 1805, erasing off Genoa as commander of the frigate Pomona, attended by two brigs — a single man again, as the anonymous correspondent said Jerome declared he would be on his arrival in France. Digressing again into the political affairs of Holland, we copy the following paragraphs found in the Lon- don papers of the 5th of April 1805 : — " A letter from Rotterdam, of the 27th ultimo, states that the people of that country seem in general pleased with the new constitution, as it assimilates so much with their old one. The best informed politi- cians think that at the period of a general peace the stadtholderian government will be re-established through the intervention and influence of the cabinet of Berlin. " Mr. Schimmelpenninck will remain at the head of the government till that time. Before the revolution, THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 191 he was a man very little known — a barrister. He is of a good family. His behavior, since he has been in a political situation, has gained him the esteem of many of his countrymen. He assumed his functions on the 29th of April." The English papers in their issues of June 1805, said that the ship Erin of Baltimore was at Amster- dam in May, with Madame Bonaparte in board, '• where she was not suffered to go on shore. Madame is in the last stage of pregnancy. Her brother did not think it safe to proceed to Baltimore. The Erin was in the Texel a week, and was placed between a sixty-four gun ship, and a frigate, a guard-boat kept about the ship at night." On this situation we would forbear to indulge in any remarks. Our pen lifts from the attempt, and perspiration starts at the task. But we would ask a few questions of the civilized, the great, and the learned maritime jurist ; for we make no pretensions to learning ourselves. What principle underlying the law of nations did the ship Erin violate ? What code prepared by the wisdom of the great past ? and what of the national statutes, or the unwritten law, the law of custom ? What doctrine founded in inter- national courtesies ? The Erin, armed with nothing more dangerous than an American flag and register, and with nothing less respectable, was entitled to the respect and confidence of every nation, yet she was driven under guns ! She was simply a merchant vessel of the United States, with a cabin fitted up expressly for the accommodation 1 92 THE B ONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MAR RIA GE. of a lady. What is " a vessel of the United States?" It is not " a vessel of, or belonging to, the govern- ment, carrying arms and munitions of war ; but simply a ship or vessel belonging to a citizen or citizens of the United States, carrying their national flag. The Erin had on board her register and flag, granted: to her on compliance with an Act of Congress passed on the 31st of December 1792, and approved by Presi- dent Washington himself. She carried nothing known as " contraband of war." She was a merchant vessel, we say, owned by William Patterson of Baltimore ; and her clearance from Baltimore certified that she carried" no guns." Her character and documents, therefore, subject by law and custom to the inspection of all nations, declared that she was not dangerous to the nations "with which the United States are at peace," or even at war. She was not an alien, foreign to all nationalities, but a fully documented ship, pre- pared for all the privileges of the ocean, and fitted for entry at all the parts of civilization. On her arrival at the Texel, the authorities there well knew that no one of her crew or passengers could be made a polit- ical prisoner, or a prisoner of war. The party charged with some imaginary violation of the laws of France, left the vessel in Portugal, an entirely different na- tionality, with which the French were at peace ; and the Erin therefore passively stood before Amsterdam clear of the least guilty charge. /But she was not allowed to enter any port within the jurisdiction of France ; for the Emperor of that country sent two gun-ships alongside of her, for no other reason than to frighten a lady with "no guns." THE B ON A PAR TE- PA TTE 11 SON MA RRIA GE. 193 If the scene could be photographed on oui; skies, we think sun, moon, and stars might pale at the sight of the strange figures ; and the affrighted comet, dropping his load of material for building and repair- ing worlds, would depart a tailless wanderer through the deeper blue of the heavens. Mr. Schimmelpenninck, whom we have already in- troduced, was at the time of Madame Bonaparte's arrival before Amsterdam styled " Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic," and was then at the head of the government of that country. Sylvanus Bourne, Esq., who had the honor of bear- ing to John Adams the intelligence of his election to the office of first Vice-President of the United States, under Washington as first President, was Consul- General of the United States at Amsterdam, when Madame Bonaparte was under guard of French guns, in the Erin, before that city ; and from the paper we copy below, we discover the highly honorable and manly course he took with respect to the humiliating condition of his countrywoman. The paper appears to be in the handwriting of Mr. Bourne himself, and we copy it in full : — " Copy of a letter of S. Bourne, Consul-General of the United States at Amsterdam, to His Excel- lency R. J. Schimmelpennnick, Grand Pensionary of the Batavian Republic, in the case of the ship Erin, Captain Stephenson, May — , 1805. " Sir, — I am called upon by imperious motives in which the influence of private friendship combines with that of public duty to address you on the inter- 194 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MAURI AGE. esting case of the American ship Erin, Captain Ste- phenson, late from Lisbon, and the passengers on board, now lying in the Texel Roads, under the most rigorous interdiction of any communication with the shore. " I shall waive all contest on the question of right resulting from the treaty between the Batavian Re- public and the United States to carry on a free com- merce with this country ; nor shall I inquire how far the circumstances under which this vessel arrives, may constitute any illegality in the case. I am not ignorant of the avowed cause of the detention, and have only to ask that an immediate decision may be had thereon. My amiable countrywoman, who is on board, is very far advanced in a state of pregnancy, which renders her situation peculiarly delicate and deserving of attention. Her sufferings already, from causes which perhaps cannot be controlled, are suffi- ciently severe, and sure I am you will be anxious that they should not be aggravated by any unnecessary delay. I must therefore entertain the fullest confi- dence that you will immediately cause orders to be given for a due supply of fresh provisions to be fur- nished the ship, and' that she be suffered to depart, if Mrs. Bonaparte cannot be permitted to find an asy- lum here. In this request her brother joins, united with that of having permission to go on board in person, or to send on board a sealed letter relative to the future destination of the vessel. " Submitting the whole matter to the operation of those sentiments of propriety and justice which emi- THE BOXAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 195 nently distinguish jour character, I have the honor to be your obedient servant." In May 1805, a London paper says, " The ship Erin, of Baltimore, arrived at Dover on the 19th of May. Madame Bonaparte was on board last from Amsterdam;" and on the 30th of May the same pa- pers said, "Madame Jerome Bonaparte has seen very little company since her arrival in London." For the present we will leave Madame Bonaparte in London. She has found an asylum at last among her own people. She is but nineteen years of age ; yet she is on an ocean of trouble, and she greatly needs rest. She will have kind friends there to nurse the embers of hope during the days of her sojourn- ment, and the calm nights which breed multitudinous thoughts. To hear the next sad story, the kind reader will please follow me over to Genoa. Here we find " Al- exander," perhaps the identical person whom our old friend Maupertuis styled " My dear Alexander." We mean Alexander Le Camus, and here is his letter. We copy it in full. It is addressed to William Pat- terson, Baltimore. " Genoa, 12th of June 1805. " Dear Sir — Mr. Bonaparte did not let you hear from him since his arrival among his family, on account of painful circumstances in which he was placed. Notwithstanding the difficulties there were to be level- led in adjusting the affair with his brother, he con- stantly entertained great hopes ; but your daughter has far removed, if not destroyed for ever, the possi- 196 THE B ON A PA R TE-PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. bility of a reconciliation. Being obliged to leave her in Lisbon, Mr. Bonaparte thought she could not have been committed to a better guide than her brother, and that her conduct would have agreed with the plan that he was to carry into execution; her situation, and her own interest, would have advised her not to take any improper steps ; but finding in Holland orders which prohibited her landing on the French territory, she imprudently went to London, instead of going to a neutral port, as Embden or Bremen ; and her arri- val in that city mentioned in the newspapers, has excited some rumors, and will certainly give occasion for any kind of observations directed against his family. The Emperor, in a letter which Mr. Bona- parte received yesterday, expressed to him a strong dissatisfaction at it. In the present circumstances of war, such a conduct was not dictated by a good policy. It breaks all correspondence between them both, and offends the emperor, whose generous heart would have been converted to more favorable disposi- tions. " However, Mr. Bonaparte begs me to assure you that he will never deviate from the principles of honor and delicacy which were always the basis of his cha- racter, and on which his happiness is established. He desires you to rely entirely upon him, and let time obliterate the first impressions made on the mind of the Emperor. " I am happy that Mr. Bonaparte has chosen me to transmit to you the expressions of his true attach- ment for you and family. He does not forget the THE B ONAPA R TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 197 children, whom he misses very much. We speak often of you all, and of our good acquaintances in Ame rica. Will you be so good as to recall myself to their remembrance, and be persuaded of my perfect esteem and attachment. " Yours, truly, "Alexander Le Camus." The preceding letter speaks too plainly for itself to need explanation ; and we give another letter from General Tuerreau, the French Envoy at Washington, of whom we will shortly have Madame Bonaparte's opinion. Dating Washington, July 3d 1805, he writes : — " I wish to ascertain with any person appointed by you the situation of the country-house which I hold from you, as well as to make a statement of the furni- ture left by you, and the repairs which might be neces- sary to make in the said house. This I hope will be as agreeable to you as to me. As we have not agreed yet on the yearly price for the rent of this country-house, please let me know it, with the date that it is to run on my account. If any immediate repairs are now judged necessary, I will with great pleasure, when agreed by you, pay them upon the rent. I am, with consideration, sir, " Tuerreau. "Mr. Patterson, Merchant, Baltimore." We have no more letters from the Minister at pre- sent, but Madame Bonaparte will let us hear again from her father's tenant by a missile which she hurls at him from England. 198 THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON 31 A RR I A GE. Using the parlance common to the science of agri- culture, let us "knock off cutting," and "shock up" that which is already down. We must bear in mind that the mother of the Bonaparte family recommended her son Jerome to come directly to France and send his wife to Holland, where she should remain whilst negotiations for the imperial recognition of her marriage were pending at Paris. It is not clearly seen why she did so instruct her son ; but the eye of history which " penetrates the cabinets of kings," and finally rests upon the form of mystery, will soon bring it to full view. She knew, and Jerome also knew, that, with respect to government, Holland was just as French as France. According to the first epistle of Le Camus, Jerome, after her humiliating detention before Amsterdam, upbraids his wife for not going to a neutral port after she cleared the Texel. If going to a neutral port was proper at last, it should also have been proper at first. It does not therefore fail to appear that the Bonapartes were determined upon a laugh at her "credulity." National diplomacy had already estab- lished the precedent of conducting negotiations for the adjustment of national differences on the soil of neutral countries, and Holland was not therefore the place for carrying on negotiations concerning the marriage. With respect to negotiations concerning a marriage only, London should have been considered just as neutral as Embden, Bremen, or Copenhagen. " She imprudently went to London," says Le Camus. We ask why was going to London so impru- THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 199 dent ? He lamely and miserably answers the ques- tion himself, because it " will certainly give occasion for any kind of observations directed against his family," and " such a conduct was not directed by a good policy. It breaks off all correspondence between them both, and offends the Emperor /" He had no other ground for offence than that her name was Patterson, and the King of England had a right to a like ground of offence because her name was Bona- parte. But he was not offended. He had no fears for the loss of his crown because the " young person" who had attached herself to a Bonaparte had arrived before London. He received her in his dominions notwithstanding her name and history, and he also honored her national colors. " It breaks off all correspondence between them," says Le Camus. It need not be broken off; for there were her two brothers, her physician, Dr. Gamier, and her lady attendants, all fully competent to con- duct it for Jerome just as well as Mr. Le Camus could conduct it for him with Mr. Patterson in Balti- more. Jerome might have conducted the correspond- ence himself without his signature, and bound his wife and her attendants under a sacred promise to burn his letters, as he said he had bound his father- in-law Mr. Patterson. Before Jerome and his wife embarked for Europe, he had learned from Dacres, Pichon, and Tuerreau, his own countrymen and others, that an order had gone forth under the imperial seal forbidding her to board a French vessel, or " put a foot on French 200 THE B ON A PA B TE- PA TTERSON MA1UITA GE. territory;" and he was therefore well advised, in advance, that she would not be permitted to land in Holland. But in the face of these warnings Jerome deliberately sent his wife to that country, and conse- quently this act was what I have heard ladies call " a come-oif." Madame Bonaparte's first and only child was borr at Camberwell, near London, on the 7th of July 1805. It was a boy, and she named him Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte ! — Not Patterson, We next meet Mr. Robert Patterson in London. The only letter we have from him touching the event just referred to is one which we shall now place before the reader. It is headed " Original per London packet via Philadelphia," and on the cover is written "To Mr. William Patterson, Baltimore." Dating "London, 27th July 1805," he writes :— " Dear Sir : I have now the pleasure to inform you that my sister is well recovered from her confine- ment. She has been down stairs two or three days. The child was vaccinated five or six days since, and is doing well. " We are still without any news from the continent. The vigilance of Jerome's friends will, I am very much afraid, completely prevent his hearing from us and we from him. Poor B was so much afraid of another visit from the police that he has returned me by Mr. Monroe some letters which he received from me since his enlargement. " I have as yet had but little conversation with Mr. Monroe. He does not, however, say anything very THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 201 flattering to our hopes. I shall consult him on the propriety of our going to the continent, and will en- deavor to persuade my sister to whatever he may advise ; but I do not think she can be diverted from her intention of going. " Everything on our part shall be done to bring the affair to issue before we leave Europe, which can scarcely be before next spring. Write us to this place, for were we even on the continent, letters will reach us just as soon as if sent there direct. Yours affectionately." It is not easy to determine who was meant by " Poor B " in the above letter. Le Camus says that Bonaparte was at Genoa on the 12th of July, and received a letter from the Emperor "yesterday," which was the 11th. Another account, given on a previous page of this book, says he was there also on the 4th of June in command of the frigate Pomona and two brigs ; and it will be seen that Le Camus locates him as still there on the 29th of July, and it is not likely that an officer on duty in the French Navy would be subject to the visits of the Genoese police ; nor is it likely that Jerome would return to Mr. Patterson, by way of France, any letters on the subject of his marriage. Can it be that the writer refers to Mr. Bentalou and the police of Paris ? or does he refer to some person in London subject to the visits of the police of that city ? Before Mr. Patterson and Madame Bonaparte begin to send in more letters, we will prepare the reader for the reception of the surprising intelligence 202 TEE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. of which they are the vehicle, by giving our friend Le Camus another hearing. His letters are very entertaining and refreshing to us, because he writes for Jerome. Young ladies, especially, who are gen- erally trying to learn how to get married themselves, often find that the experience of those already mar- ried is instructive to them ; and Mr. Le Camus in the following letter may furnish them with some information that will be useful in directing their choice of a hus- band. From the reading of this letter, they may be impressed with the belief that " all is not gold that glitters," and that everything drawn is not the " prize which most of their sex covet." " Genoa, 29th July 1805. " Dear Sir— "I committed the 13th of June to the care of the American Consul in this town, a letter for you stating the circumstances of the separation of your daughter from Mr. Bonaparte. Nothing more has occurred since. I have received no news from Eng- land but once by the doctor, who arrived here ten days ago. He left Madame in good health and spirits, notwithstanding the trouble of her situation. He met, at his landing at Rotterdam, Mr. Robert ready to embark for England, where he must be at this moment with his sister. I entertain no doubt that he will advise her to take the proper steps that are to be followed in the present affair. In my interview with him at Amsterdam, I explained to him the conduct of Mr. Bonaparte, the order and propositions of the Em- peror, the consequences of an untimely opposition to THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 203 them, and the plan of conduct to pursue. He must have mentioned to you all these particulars. I added the instructions which Jerome had received from M. * * *, and his wishes to see them executed. "You know him too well, dear Sir, to misrepresent in the slightest degree his intention, and nojt to be persuaded that he will leave nothing undone to bring the Emperor to a reconciliation to which his happiness is so closely annexed. I cannot repeat to you too often the assurance of the sentiments in which he is persevering. Nothing is neglected on his part to prove him worthy of your confidence, attachment, and general esteem ; but now too much precipitation would be fruitless, and operate nothing else but the ruin of your son-in-law. Your daughter has only to yield to the present, and expect a better time. Mr. Bonaparte hopes that you will advise her not to reject the marks of the benevolence of the Emperor, if you consider them in the proper light. A refusal would oifend him and destroy everything. " When Madame shall be able to undertake a sea voy- age, Mr. Bonaparte desires, if she is not recalled, that she will return to America and live there in her own house, and in the same way as she did when she was in Baltimore, and as if she was expecting her husband, until he shall succeed in obtaining her recall. He will anticipate all her wishes, and provide for everything in that momentary establishment. " Mr. Bonaparte cannot write to you in this mo ment. This privation is very grievous to him. You will soon know the reasons of it. Do not let anybody 204 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. know the contents of your letters mentioning family matters. Keep them open only to your wife. " Mr. Bonaparte has in this port under his com- mand a small squadron of five men-of-war, and is ready to sail in a few days for a mission. If he is successful, he will ask his wife as a reward of his conduct. ."I have not in my recollection the debts that Mr. Bonaparte may have left behind, but they are trifling. The bill of M. Chandron is correct. Your accounts will be settled in Paris as soon as you please. I hope that my letter will find all the family in good health, and relieve you from anxiety on account of a beloved daughter. I address this under the cover of your correspondent in Lisbon, and hope it will be conveyed to America by a safe opportunity. " Mr. Bonaparte kisses the children tenderly, and sends his love to the family. I beg you to present my compliments to her, and not to forget that I will always remain your affectionate and devoted He Camus." CHAPTER VIII. Robert Patterson at Dover — His letter from that place — Je- rome Bonaparte again — Mr. Monroe and Mr. Patterson — Madame Bonaparte going to the Continent — Her letter to her father — Mr. Patterson writes from London — Another letter from Madame Bonaparte — Marchioness of Donnegal — General Tuerreau — Mr. Monroe — Deceitfulness of the French — Dr. Gamier is deceptive — He recommends Madame Bonaparte to go home — Jerome does the same — She goes when ready — Le Camus again — Xapoleon's speech — Jerome at Malmaison — He writes to the Emperor — The Emperor's reply — Jerome's mar- riage has no existence — Mr. Mcllhiny of London — Madame Bonaparte and child embark for home — Captain Bentalou writes again — Amusing letters — Jerome dejected — His "little girl" affair — '' My dear little wife" — Queen of Etruria spurns Jerome — His second marriage — Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte — His death — His letter. We next find Mr. Robert Patterson at Dover, Eng- land, a seaport on the strait of Dover, opposite Calais, France. He is not far from Lille, the resi- dence of Mr. George Matthew Patterson. Dating August 13th 1805, he addresses a letter to Messrs. William Patterson & Sons, Baltimore : — "Gentlemen," says he, "I have the pleasure of informing you of Captain Duncan's arrival. He came in consequence of orders to that effect that I had given to one or two pilots of this place for him. It is my intention to send the Robert home to you, and you may make your insurance accordingly. She has $60,000 on board. I believe we will put on board fifteen or twenty tons of coal, and subject her (205) 206 THE B ONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. thereby to a tonnage duty in order to get a regular clearance to Baltimore. " It was with infinite satisfaction that I learned by a letter of the 27th July from S. & H. of their having landed the dollars from on board the Balti- more in conformity to my directions, which it seems they have got rid of without loss. She was to have gone into Lisbon in a ballast of brick and iron for speoie. I have written to that place to have her despatched from thence to Baltimore. Before I knew of her specie being landed, I had given similar orders as those for Dunkin to the pilots to send her here for my orders. If she does come into this place, we will consider how far it is prudent to send her to Lisbon for specie ; but let her sail from what port in Europe she may after I can convey instructions to them, it must be for Baltimore, as it will not answer to let her proceed to India. " Captain Spaiford, in the London packet, expe- rienced some little damage in a gale of wind, and put into the Downs to repair it, on or about the 7th inst. He got under weigh again, but was immediately boarded by an officer from one of His Majesty's gun brigs. His papers have been sent to London to see whether they can do anything with her ; they are all correct, and there can be no doubt but she will be immediately given up. " We are still without any information from Jerome that can be depended upon. All idea of visiting the continent has been renounced from, I think, a just apprehension that it would revive the passions of his THE B ON A PARTE- PA TTERS ON 31 A RRIA GE. 207 brother, as it would be, in some measure, opposing him ; and particularly as such a step would have a tendency to counteract any exertions that Jerome may be making. " I have mentioned, in my former letters, that all vessels fallen in with his majesty's cruisers coming froin America with cargoes which they had brought from either of the Indies, are sent in for adjudication. Their having landed their cargoes in the United States is of no avail, as they allege here it is a mere eva- sion ; and that they must consider the voyage to Europe as a continuation of the former one. " Yours, affectionately, "Robert Patterson." "P. S. Mr. Monroe and myself had some conver- sation whether it would not be as well, if not better, that Betsy should return home ; as it is uncertain when the affair will be brought to issue. I return to- morrow to London, and if we determine on it will embark in the Robert. I do not, however, think it probable we shall return this winter. She and her son are well." This letter came by the ship Warren via New York, and bears the post-mark "New York, October 5." Next in the order of time comes the following short letter in the handwriting of Madame Bonaparte, di- rected to William Patterson, Esq., Baltimore. We give it in full, in every particular : — " August 15th 1805. "Dear Sir,— " Our plans are changed with respect to Mrs. An- 208 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. derson — that is to say, Mrs. Anderson does not mean to go until next spring ; therefore I do not send some things to Mama that I mentioned in my letter to her ; but by the first good opportunity they shall be sent. We have just heard that Bonaparte is going to Paris for a few days. "Eliza." To this letter, as to others, she places the five let- ters first in order in the name of Elizabeth. The time this letter arrived in Baltimore is unknown. As it bears no American post-mark, it must have come as an enclosure. On the 16th Mr. Patterson is in London. On that day he wrote a business-letter to the house in Balti- more, which is of no interest here, and the following private letter to his father, which we copy in full : — " London, 16th August 1805. " Dear Sir,— " Since writing the house this morning, we have prevailed on Mrs. Anderson to remain here, as it is possible I may find it necessary or beneficial to go to France ; in which case it would be more proper that my sister should not be left alone. "I received to-day a letter from Mr. O'Meally, dated 2d August, from Paris. He mentions that Je- rome was expected the next week there ; but that he would not remain more than eight or ten days. They were fitting up a house for him. " Yours, respectfully, " Robert Patterson." THE B OX A PAR TE- PA TTERS ON M ARRIAGE. 209 Next we have a letter from Madame Bonaparte, in which she does not fail to remember General Tuer- reau, the French Minister at Washington, and other gentlemen, who appear to be conversant with her affairs. She appears to think, as well she may, that deception has been practised upon her ; and that without a real friend in Europe, she stood alone. We copy the letter in full. It was addressed " William Patterson, Esq., Baltimore." "September 3d 1805. " Dear Sir — " The John & Joseph sails to-morrow, and although I have nothing new to write, I cannot resist sending you a few lines. Prudence, who was of no earthly use, sailed in the Baltimore. I wrote you by her that we had no letters from Bonaparte — but Dr. Gamier wrote to me from Genoa the 15th of July, advising me to return to America, and that Bonaparte desired it ; and that I would not see him before a year or eighteen months. As Bonaparte did not write him- self, we are disposed to think that Mr. Gamier wrote the letter of his own accord, and indeed the letter bears all the marks of being a deception. " I told you, likewise, that an intimate friend of the Marchioness of Donnegal, residing at Genoa, had seen Bonaparte on the 29th of June. He requested that person to inform me that his sentiments towards me were not changed ; and that he was still as much attached to me as ever. The Marchioness of Donne- gal is at a watering-place, Tunbridge Wells. She has written to me. 210 THE BONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON MA RRIA GE. " I have written three times to Lucien Bonaparte, but have never been able to get a letter conveyed to Jerome. I told jou likewise of the proposition that Le Camus brought to Robert ; but he said Bonaparte desired me to keep quiet for some time, and he would try to effect something. " Mr. Monroe thinks I had better remain here some time — indeed, the climate agrees very well with me, and I have no objection to staying as long as you please. We live extremely retired, and I spend as little money as possible. We have no letters from you since our arrival here. " Yours, affectionately, "Eliza." " P. S. I mentioned to you before to beware of Tuerreau, the French Minister. He will write every- thing you say. The French are very intriguing and deceitful. Likewise be on your guard before Mr. O'Donnell, who, though a very good man, repeats everything to his wife. This I know to be a fact. I am very circumspect here." The following letter from Mr. Robert Patterson, enclosing an extract from a letter written by Napo- leon, the Emperor, to his brother Jerome, will fully explain the letters of Le Camus and Madame Bona- parte, which have just been brought to the notice of the reader, the former in the preceding, and the latter in the current chapter. " London, 5th September 1805. "Dear Sir,— " Since we have been in this country, the only in- THE BOXAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 211 telligence we have got from the Continent is by a letter from Dr. Gamier, dated at Genoa. In that he recommends Betsy's going home, and gives this ad- vice in the name of her husband. But as we cannot conceive that Jerome would direct the doctor to write on a subject of this nature, and as we have some reason to think the doctor is not entitled to much regard in consequence of his conduct in Paris, we are determined not to act on anything coming from him. " I mentioned in my letters from Amsterdam last spring that Le Camus was the bearer of a letter which the Emperor had written to Jerome, and which the latter had given him with a view that it should be shown his wife, in order to enable her, I suppose, to judge of the situation with his family. As the pres- ent is a good opportunity, I will repeat the substance of it here, which is as follows. The Emperor begins iving he will never acknowledge the marriage, and directs Jerome to write his wife to return to her family. On condition that she will, and does not as- sume the name of Bonaparte, to tvhich he says she has no right to, he says he will direct his minister in America to allow her a pension of 60,000 francs per annum. " I am very desirous of knowing whether we ought to accept of any terms in the event of a recognisal being impossible by a new marriage on his part. My own opinion is never to hear of a settlement without his friends should force him to marry again ; and that in no case ought she to give up her name. If her 212 THE BONAPAR TE-PA TTERSOX MA URIAGE. husband cares to make any settlement on her, it is well enough ; but the principal would be better than a precarious annual payment, if it could be had. " I really see no prospect of the Emperor's becom- ing reconciled, and do not think it will be of any kind of use to wait longer than the spring, at which time we will embark on our return. If any of your ves- sels are in the way, we will return by one of them. " Betsy and her son are both well. He is really a fine large fellow. I was a little indisposed when I arrived in this country, but am now perfectly recov- ered. Yours affectionately, Robert Patterson. " P. S. It is probable that I will repair to Paris in the course of the winter — that is if there is any pros- pect of doing anything." This letter was sent by the vessel " John & Joseph," Captain Manning, and the enclosure, with the pref- atory remark of Mr. Patterson, reads as follows : — " On Jerome's arrival at M — , he wished to have seen his brother, but the latter would not receive him. He was however told to write, which Jerome did, just mentioning his arrival. An answer was returned in substance merely as follows : — " I have received your letter of this morning. There are no faults that you have committed which may not be effaced in my eyes by a sincere repentance. Your marriage is null both in a religious and legal point of vieiv. I will never acknowledge it. Write to Miss Patterson to return to the United States ; and tell her it is not possible to give things another turn. On con- THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 213 dition of her going to America, I will allow her a pen- sion during her life of 60,000 francs per year, pro- vided she does not take the name of my family, to which she has no right, her marriage having no existence.^ This paper is. marked " copy and translation" in the handwriting of Mr. Robert Patterson, and it is the " piece" which Bonaparte "spoke." The abbre- viation M — , in the above is Malinaison. We will now introduce to the reader, Mr. James Mc- Ilhiny, of London, Mr. Patterson's commercial corres- pondent in that city. Dating London, 16th Sep- tember 1805, he writes : " Dear Sir — Your much es- teemed favor of the 18th of July, I received a few days ago, and have noted the contents. Madame Bonaparte and her child, her brother Robert, and Mrs. Anderson will embark in a few days on board the brig Mars, Captain Murphy, which will soon be ready to sail from hence for Baltimore. I could have wished it had not been so late in the season, but still I am in hopes from the vessel being a fast sailer, that she will be safe with you before the north-west winds become severe on your coast. The child as well as its mother are in a very good state of health, which is a fortunate circumstance, as I fear they will not find themselves as comfortably accommodated as they were on board of the Erin — the cabin of this vessel being very small. However, they are determined to go, although I believe they have written to you not long since that they had concluded to remain here all the winter, and return to America in the spring, hav- ing given up all idea of going to the continent, not 214 THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSOX MA R R1AGF- having had any encouragement from the party on that side of the water ; and indeed I have always been of opinion that if anything can be done, Amer- ica will be the best place to have matters arranged; and at all events she must, I think, be more comfort- ably situated with her relations and friends in Amer- ica, than she could be in a strange country. " Robert no doubt has advised you of the important changes he has made in some of the voyages you had planned — finding it absolutely necessary in con- sequence of the rigid measures recently gone into by this government to suppress that valuable branch of American commerce. It would appear now how- ever that they were relaxing in some degree, and will let all pass except where the ship is bound direct to or from the mother country to the colonies. " It is to be hoped the American government will take some measures to have that part of your valu- able trade put on a more respectable footing, and that their flag in future will not meet with so many de- grading insults as it has hitherto met with. " All accounts we have recently from agricultural societies as well as individuals state the crops gener- ally throughout Europe to be very good; conse- quently the price of grain has been on the decline ; so much so, that there will not be any chance for Americans finding a market for their wheat or flour in any part of Europe, unless the destruction and waste that must occur from the immense armies that are now taking the field once more on the continent to ravage and destroy one another, may have some effect THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. 215 to keep up the prices of provisions; for there is not any manner of doubt that the combined powers will make some great effort to try to reduce the gigantic power of Bonaparte ; and at present it is difficult to say what the result of so great a contest may be ; but this I may venture to risk as my opinion that a general peace is yet far distant, and indeed I think ere that event takes place you will hear of a wonderful change in the political affairs in some one of the two great contending powers ; for you may be assured that this country while under the present government will never make peace with Bonaparte, unless he relinquishes the whole or the greater part of his con- quered dominions ; and, on the other hand, we all know his determined and unlimited ambition, so that there must some great and unforeseen disaster befall some one of the parties, before a peace can be made." This letter was addressed to William Patterson, Esq., Baltimore, and endorsed " Ship Huron via New York." On the 21st of September, Mr. Mcllhiny writes again to Mr. Patterson: — " Dear Sir — I had the pleasure of addressing you a few days ago, the chief object of which was to advise you of the sudden resolution of Robert and Madame Bonaparte to embark for America, and that they had engaged to go in the brig Mars, Captain Murphy, from hence for Baltimore. Since then we have been busily engaged in getting things ready for their de- parture, and was in hopes that by this time they would have been ready to sail ; but from some unfore- 216 THE BONAPAR TE-PA TTERSON 31ARRIA GE. seen occurrence at the custom-house respecting some things belonging to the captain the brig was prevented clearing out. The matter is now however finally arranged, and I see nothing to prevent their going on board on the 25th inst. at Gravesend, where they intend to embark, and at which time the brig will be ready and clear to sail from that place direct for Baltimore." This letter came on the ship Enterprise via New York. On the 9th of October 1805 we have another hear- ing from Captain Bentalou in Paris. After writing a long letter to Mr. William Patterson concerning some bales of merchandise about which there was some mis- understanding, he adds to his letter the following postscript : — " Enclosed in the last letter from Robert in Lon- don, I found two letters for Jerome, one I believe was from yourself, and the other from his wife. Jerome arrived here the latter end of last week ; and deter- mined at all hazards, I enclosed them under one cover, directed them in the form required, and, accompanied by my servant last Monday, I myself went to his loor, and saw the packet delivered to his own porter ; \o that there can be no doubt but he received them on hat morning. I have not since heard anything from bim, nor do I believe he would dare have an interview with me. Should he, however, communicate a wish of the kind, notwithstanding the persecution I have already experienced, I would brave all danger to act the part of the friend I profess to be." THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 217 On the 17th October, Captain Bentalou writes another letter from Paris which he directs in the fol- lowing words : " Robert Patterson, Esq., or in his absence William Patterson, Senr., Esq., Merchant, Baltimore." The writer says, " In all conscience your silence is beyond all reason, and my anxiety is as great as can be well imagined to know where you now are, and whether it is true that your sister is gone, as we have been told by a lieutenant of our Navy, who says whilst he was in London he saw you daily and became intimate with you. I notwithstand- ing doubt the fact much because I think the season too far advanced, and moreover suppose that had that been the case, you would ere this have returned to your post ; and were you there, if not to me, you surely would have wrote to somebody else here. "On the 16th ultimo, I received the last from you, dated the 2d of August, with the two enclosed. The person to whom they were directed lately arrived here, and the moment I found out his domicil, I enclosed the two letters under a blank cover, directed them properly, and on Monday the 7th inst. attended by my servant, I saw him deliver them to his porter ; and as he occupied a house to himself, there could be no mistake, and no doubt but that he must have re- ceived them on that morning. I have since learned from a lady present that, on the next day in the even- ing, at one of his sister's, he appeared extremely de- jected and pensive. Everybody, she said, took notice of it ; and whether the receipt of those letters were the cause of it, is best known to himself; but I have, 14 218 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. and will take care not to let that lady, or anybody else here, know anything about it. I have not since heard anything more transpire about him, but I am on the watch, and promise you that if either himself or any of his attendants have any wish to see me, and let me know it, I will brave any danger for an interview which would be as gratifying to my feelings as could possibly be to you or your relatives ; but if lie really has any inclination of the kind, I fear he knows himself to be so closely observed that he will not dare to risk anything of the kind. Rewbell is no more here, and I regret it very much, because from their old acquaintance, he would probably have seen him, and no doubt his attendants, frequently, and through that channel I could have come to something direct ; but deprived of that safe intermediary, I do not for the present know any other person so suitable with whom I could safely confide. I have however been told by one who pretends to know it from the right quarter, that when his brother first saw him he addressed him thus : — " ' So, sir, you are the first of the family who shame- fully abandoned his post. It will require many splendid actions to wipe off that stain from your rep- utation. As to your love affair with your little girl, 1 do not regard it.' "Whatever degree of credit or consequence you may be inclined to give to that report, I beg of you to conceal it from your sister. For what exploits he intends him for, it is not yet known, nor can it be foreseen ; and if what is said is true it would appear THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 219 that he will remain here unemployed this winter. He is now in the house of one of his absent sisters, and it is asserted that he will shortly take possession of the one lately owned by his brother-in-law, the entrance to which is by an arch which you had in view from the window of the apartment you last occupied here. It was probably thought too small for the other, as a much larger one is preparing for him. "After having written the foregoing to you by Russell, I am informed by James Mcllhiny that he has this day received a letter from you which he has not thought proper to communicate, and barely tells me that you and your sister had embarked, and must by this time be half way home. Taking his word for it, I will not send this as I intended it, but as I under- stand that Waddle is not yet gone, I will this moment go to General Armstrong, and if in time I will request him to insert this with his despatches." On the 18th Mr. Bentalou continues : " The depar- ture of Mr. "Waddle having been from day to day delayed, affords me the opportunity of adding this to my two last of 9th and 16th, all going by the same conveyance. By this however I hasten to impart to you much more pleasing intelligence than I were able to do by my former. It comes to me from a lady much in our interest, and from whom I expect occa- sionally to receive much useful information ; and from her I have learned that last evening, at a select com- pany collected at one of his sisters, where my inform- ant was, and our man too, after a concert, dancing was introduced; he was pressed, and as my friend is a 220 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. good dancer, he took her for his partner, and in the of course of conversation spoke of his wife several times, always calling her by that endearing name, and relating occurrences of a nature most affecting. Among the rest he said : — " 'He would for ever remember the sliipivreck tliey had encountered together. How well on that trying occasion she did behave I How, when danger was over, he pressed her into his arms!' " In short, my dear friend tells me that those who are most habitually in his company all agree in saying, that he is almost always talking about her, delighting in the recollection of her good qualities, and never mentions her name without saying — " ' My wife ! My dear little wife V " From a heart apparently so well disposed, I think some ultimate good may be reasonably prognosticated. Should that be the case, I promise you that no man in the world would more sincerely rejoice than your ever devoted friend and well-wisher." We have another letter from Mr. Mcllhiny of Lon- don, and though it is long, yet it is full of interest from beginning to end. Dating 28th October 1805, he writes to " William Patterson, Esq., Baltimore :" — " My last was advising you of the intended depart- ure of your son Robert and his sister, with her child, from this country. Since then I have received your favor of the 9th of August, covering letters for Robert and Madame Bonaparte, which were a few days ago sent on to Liverpool, with a number of other letters for Robert • to be put on board the Birmingham for Baltimore. THE BONAPARTE-PA TTERSON MA RBIA GE. 221 " The Mars, Captain Murphy, with that part of your family I have already mentioned, went through The Doivns on the 27th ult., which is the last we have heard of them ; but as the winds have since been to the eastward, with but little variation, we have every reason to think and hope that ere this they are safe with you. " There has not been any letters or messages for Madame Bonaparte from the continent since her de- parture ; nor can I throw any further light on that unfortunate affair, only to repeat my opinion merely that they are separated for ever. What confirms me in that opinion on that head is Jerome's coming into the measures proposed by the Emperor. I believe he is now at Paris, and from what I can learn from several American gentlemen recently from that place, he has been created a prince, and it was generally understood there that overtures had been made to the Queen of Etruria to marry him, but that she spurned at the idea ivith the greatest contempt, and has said she would in preference abdicate her crown. " The war has commenced on the continent with uncommon vigor, particularly on the part of the French ; and Bonaparte goes on with his usual good luck. The present moment is big with great events ! The next mail from the continent will no doubt bring us the news of a decisive victory on the part of the French, but whether that will tend to bring about an immediate peace with France and Austria is a matter as yet not easy to determine, the Russian armies not having yet got on the field of battle. At all events 222 THE B ON A PARTE-PA TTERSON MARRIA GE. however I think you may safely conclude that a gen- eral peace will not be the result of anything that may be done this campaign ; and that there are some years yet to come before peace is restored between this country and France." On the 31st of July it was published in London that " accounts from Genoa of the 23d of June state that yesterday morning the Princess Eliza and other distinguished personages went on board the Pomona, commanded by Jerome Bonaparte. They were saluted on their arrival and departure by a double salute of artillery. Jerome is reconciled to the Em- peror his brother. The Princess Eliza exerted her- self very much to effect the reconciliation. Jerome, according to reports, will shortly be made the Arch- Duke of Genoa." We have not been able to find on record the time of entry of the ship Mars at the port of Baltimore. The newspapers appear to be silent on the subject, but Mr. Mcllhiny dates her arrival about the 28th of October. Madame Bonaparte however is safe in Baltimore again, and but for the sable shadows, now and then crossing the radiant disk of her young life, she would be happy. In the spring of 1806, Mr. Le Camus turns up in Cayenne, and writes another letter, from which we copy a paragraph. Addressing Mr. Patterson in Baltimore, and dating "May the 21st 1806," he writes : — " I enclose a letter for Mrs. Bonaparte. I wish I could convince you of what I have already told you in my former letters. I feel how uneasy you THE B ONAPAR TE-PA TTERSOX MARRIA GE. 223 may be in the present circumstances ; but if you be- lieve there are on earth moral honor and delicacy, you have no reason to be alarmed." "We have a letter from Mr. Robert Patterson dated " Boston, 8th of September 1806, from which we copy a short sentence. He writes, ' after the many news- paper accounts I have seen respecting Mr. Bona- parte's squadron, I expect to find him with you on my return." Dating, " November 21st 1806," William Patterson, Esq., Madame Bonaparte's father, writes to W. C. Nicholas, Esq., of Virginia, and from his letter we copy the following : — " You may have seen by the last accounts from France, published in the newspa- pers, that Jerome Bonaparte was restored to favor by his brother ; and that a second marriage had, or was about to take place. We have no information on this subject but what appears in the papers, and I am led -to believe that it must be well founded ; for I do not conceive that the Emperor would be reconciled to Je- rome on any other terms. It differs however very widely from his letters to Betsy when he was lately on our coast ; and from every other part of his con- duct since he left this country. But the temptation, in the situation he was placed in, was perhaps too great for him, or any other young man, to resist." We have some more news from Jerome coming by way of New York, which Mr. William Neilson, Jr., of that city communicates to Madame Bonaparte's father under date of April 21st 1806. "When I called on the captain respecting the picture," writes Mr. Neil- 224 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. son, " he entered into conversation with me respect- ing your son-in-law ; and informed me that he had dined with him several times — and that at all times he expressed great affection for your daughter. He spoke publicly of his determination of adhering strictly to his marriage ; and that he would not be considered a ~French.-man if his wife was not consid- ered a French-w oman. The captain says Prince Je- rome has become very steady, and behaves with pro- priety and like a man." Notwithstanding all this, and the fact that his own legal wife was still living in Baltimore, his brother, the Emperor of France, caused Jerome to be married, a second time, to Frederica Catharina, daughter of the King of Wurtemberg, on the 12th of August 1807 ! On this subject we have nothing to say. Madame Bonaparte, first and only wife of Jerome, still lives in Baltimore, ripe in years and in honors ; but her husband is gone to his reckoning. The reader will however inquire of us, where is the little boy of Camberwell ? We reply by saying, he lived in Balti- more, a highly respectable and honored citizen of the United States. He was a good man, and the chamber where he met his fate was therefore "privileged." An imposing granite obelisk, erected within the enclosure of "Loudon Park Cemetery," near Baltimore, marks the spot where his remains peacefully repose. From it we copy the inscription : — THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. 225 " Sacred To the Memory of Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, Born July 7th 1805. Died June 17th 1870, Aged 65. Requiescat in pace." A tender memorial of his youth is preserved — a letter to his " Grandpapa," — and we give it in full, ■with a translation : — 11 Seminaire de Mont St. Mary, Fcvrier 1 1817. u Mon Cher Grand-papa— Je ne vous ai jamais 6cris une let- tre en francais parceque vous ne l'entendez pas ; mais pour vous donner une preuve de ma bonne volonte d'apprendre le francais, je prends ma plume pour cela. Je veux vous donner une preuve de mon amitie pour vous en ecrivant une lettre en francais. Comment vous portez-vous? pour moi je me porte tres bien, et je desire beaucoup vous voir et j'espere que vous vien- drez bientot me voir. " Adieu, mon tres cher grand-papa, c'est tout ce que j'ai a vous 6crire a present ; mais que je veux que vous bientot re- pondiez a ma lettre. " Je suis votre tres obeissant et tres aimant fils, "Jerome Bonaparte." " Seminary of Mount St. Mary " February 1, 1817. " My Dear Grandfather — I have never written to you a letter in French, because you do not under- stand it ; but to give you a proof of my good will to 226 THE BONAPARTE-PATTERSON MARRIAGE. learn it, I take my pen for this purpose. I want to give you a proof of my love for you, in writing you a letter in French. How do you do ? for me, I am very well, and I have a great desire to see you. "Farewell, my dear grandfather, it is all I write to you for the present; but I want you to answer my letter soon. I am your very obedient and loving son, Jerome Bonaparte." APPENDIX. We copy the following article from the " Baltimore Sun," the most popular and extensively circulated paper in Maryland. It was published in the issue of that paper on the 19th of January 1870, several months before the death of Jerome Napoleon Bona- parte ; and as it refers to the death of Jerome, his father, it will be highly interesting and instructive to the reader. THE AMERICAN BONAPARTES. TJie Imperial Family of France and its Connections in Baltimore. The Louisville Courier-Journal has the following : The revolutionary movements which are now going forward in France invest the Napoleonic dynasty with additional interest. Prince Pierre Bonaparte, who has caused the pot to boil so fiercely, is a son of the great Emperor's brother Lucien, who was considered the ablest of the family next after Napoleon. The present Emperor is regarded by many as not a Bona- parte at all, but the son of a Dutch admiral by Hor- tense Beauharnais, the daughter of Josephine. Louis Bonaparte was forced by his brother to marry Hor- (227) 228 APPENDIX. tense. He was in love with another woman, and withal a dreamy sort of person. Those who believe in the operation of a principle of poetic justice run- ning the progress of history, make mention of the fact that the grandson of Josephine, and not of Napo- leon, now rules in France as proof that the " whirligig of time brings in his revenges." Josephine once said " My progeny shall be supreme." But Josephine was not the only woman who was ill-used by the imperial Corsican. Nor was she the only one who cherished hopes of a divine revenge through her descendants. And hereby hangs a tale. In 1803 Jerome Bonaparte, then in command of a French frigate, landed in New York. As the brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, he was received with distinc- tion, and was most hospitably entertained wherever he went. While in Baltimore he met Miss Elizabeth Patterson, the daughter of a wealthy merchant of that city, and married her on the 24th of December of the same year. The ceremony was performed by Bishop Carroll, of the Catholic diocese of Baltimore, a brother of the distinguished Charles Carroll of Car- rollton. The marriage contract. was drawn up by Alexander Dallas, afterwards Secretary of the Trea- sury, and was witnessed by the mayor of Baltimore and several other official personages. After remain- ing in the United States about a year, Jerome Bona- parte and his wife embarked for France in an Ameri- can ship. In the meantime Napoleon, to whom the marriage of his brother gave great offence, bad ordered that APPENDIX. 229 the newly married pair should be permitted to land at no port over which France exercised authority. They, therefore, landed at Lisbon, where Jerome left his wife, directing her to proceed to Amsterdam, and went to Paris with the hope of prevailing upon Napo- leon to recognise his marriage; but this Napoleon refused to do, at the same time upbraiding his brother for daring to marry without his consent. On arriving at Amsterdam, whither she went in the American ship, Madame Bonaparte was confronted with Napo- leon's order forbidding her to land. She then sailed for England, where she took up her residence at Camberwell, near London. And here on the 7th of July 1805, was born her only child, Jerome Napo- leon Bonaparte, now living in Baltimore. Napoleon had determined that his brothers should marry among the princesses of Europe, and all efforts to induce him to recognise the wife of Jerome were vain, and Jerome was at last forced to yield to the wishes of the Emperor and marry the Princess Fred- erica Catharine, of Wurtemburg. Madame Bona- parte met her husband but once afterward, and then no word passed between them. It was in the gallery of the Pitti Palace at Florence, in Italy. The Prin- cess was leaning on the arm of her husband when the meeting took place. Jerome started aside on recog- nising Madame Bonaparte, and a moment afterward whispered to the Princess : " That lady is my former wife." He immediately left the gallery, and the next morning quitted Florence. Although Napoleon declared the marriage of 230 APPENDIX. Jerome and Miss Patterson null and void, he could never induce the Pope to so declare it; and a few years ago, when the question as to the rank to which the Bonapartes of Baltimore were entitled as princes of the imperial household was up for decision, the protest of the Pope against the decree of Napoleon was brought forward. Soon after the birth of her son Madame Bonaparte returned to Baltimore, where she has principally resided ever since, in the enjoyment of a large fortune. She was about eighteen years of age when she first met Jerome Bonaparte, and is now about eighty-five. She was always a great admirer of Napoleon in spite of the cruel manner in which he treated her. It is said that she believes that her grandson will yet be Emperor of France. Madame Bonaparte's son, Jerome Napoleon, now in his sixty-fifth year, has lived in Baltimore since his boyhood. He was educated at Harvard College, where he graduated in 1826. He afterwards studied law, but never practised at the bar. When quite a young man he married a very wealthy lady, Miss Susan Mary Williams, originally of Roxbury, Mass., and has since devoted his time to the management of his large estate and to agricultural pursuits. His own fortune, added to that of his wife, made him one of the wealthiest men in Baltimore. He visited his father several times in Europe, and for many years received from him a large allowance. He is on good terms with Louis Napoleon, and has once visited the French court, accompanied by one of his sons, upon APPENDIX. 231 an invitation from the Emperor. During the reign of Louis Philippe he was permitted to remain in Paris for a short time, but was required to assume his mother's name of Patterson. Mr. Bonaparte has two children, Jerome Napoleon, who was born in Baltimore in 1832, and Charles Joseph, born in 1852. The first named graduated at "West Point at the age of twenty, and after remaining a short time in the United States army, resigned his commission and entered that of France as a sub-lieu- tenant. He was with the French and English allies in the Crimea, and received a decoration from the Sultan of Turkey for his gallant conduct at the siege of Sebastopol. Mr. Bonaparte is said to bear a strong personal resemblance to his uncle, the first Napoleon. If the validity of his father's marriage with Miss Patterson were recognised by the Court of France, it would give him and his children precedence over his half- brothers and their sister, the Princess Mathilde, the children of Jerome by his second wife. Efforts to secure such recognition have been made on perhaps more than one occasion, but they failed, though how far they fell short of success has never been known to the public. Jerome himself, who died at a vener- able old age a year or two ago, bitterly opposed all such efforts to obtain precedence for the Baltimore Bonapartes, and would acknowledge them only by the name of Patterson. The scrimmage now going on in Paris is peculiar. The American Bonapartes are republicans, and so are 232 APPENDIX. the agitators in the Corps Legislatif. It may afford some of them an opportunity, and a I^tterson may yet occupy the Tuileries as Prince President, just as Louis, a Beauharnais, occupied the palace in 1849. At all events the story is worth re-telling, as more or less apropos of transpiring events in .France, in which the Bonapartes, their past, present and future, bear such close relation. Jerome Bonaparte acted badly enough to Miss Patterson. Nor has his family done much better. It would be a piece of poetic justice if Time should balance the account. APPENDIX. 233 [From the same paper, issued on the 17th of January 1873, we clip the following article, which explains itself:—] THE BALTIMORE BONAPARTES. Views of Madame Patterson and Col. Jerome Buona- parte on the French Situation. A Baltimore correspondent of the New York Herald gives a detailed history of the American Bonapartes, and especially of Madame Jerome Bonaparte Patter- son, of this city, who was married to the youngest brother of the great Napoleon, by whose decree they were divorced, with which history most of our readers are familiar. The writer, however, adds some inte- resting particulars in regard to the recent illness of the lady and in regard to the death of the late Em- peror Napoleon. He says : — Though eighty-eight years of age, Madame Bona- parte retains TRACES OF A ONCE WONDROUS BEAUTY. Her complexion is still smooth and comparatively fair, while her peculiarly beautiful blue eyes are as yet undimmed. Her nature is suspicious and warped by her many injuries. She seems in constant dread of some indefinable injury ; never receives visitors in her room save her most intimate acquaintances, and is always on the watch for some fancied insult. For the past month she has been quite ill, likely to die, so the physician said, at any moment, but on hearing the fact mentioned by an attendant, she straightened herself up in bed and said, emphatically, that 15 234 APPENDIX. " SHE WOULDN'T DIE, and that she intended to live until she was one hun- dred years old." From that time she began to improve until within a day or so, when she has grown worse. She believes that she will yet live to see her grandson on the throne of France. She had probably because of the fact that he refused to allow her a share in his uncle Jerome's estate, to which, as his widow, she was legally entitled. Madame Bona- parte is, however, very rich in her own right. The present Jerome Bonaparte was always a great favorite with her previous to his marriage. She made a hand- some allowance to him while in France, it is said, and during his sojourn there she supplied him liberally with money, as it was always her ambition to have her grandson live like the nobility. She has at all times watched the political condition of France with great interest, and at times would talk freely of her ambi- tion for her grandson, and declare HIS RIGHT TO THE THRONE in case of the death of the Emperor and Prince Im- perial. Colonel Bonaparte has steadily refrained from making public his views on the situation in France ; but it is said by his friends that he would not be averse to receiving any distinction which the French people might wish to confer upon him ; and, in fact, that he still hopes for the restoration of the Empire and the elevation of the Bonaparte family to its control. He APPENDIX. 235 is personally so fond of the dead Emperor, the Em- press and their son, and was such a favorite with them, that no position inimical to their interest, however complimentarily offered, would be accepted by him. This fact is so well known by his friends that they usually look upon him as willing to accept A CO-REGENCY WITH THE EMPRESS during the minority of the Prince Imperial. I will here distinctly reassert that this is but the belief of his friends and not his declaration. His grandmother takes that view of it very strongly ; but in consequence of their personal estrangement has probably no better ground for it than his friends. Colonel Bonaparte is at this moment on the friend- liest footing and pleasantest epistolary intercourse with the various members of his family in Europe — notably the Empress and the Princess Mathilde — and it is much more than probable that the opinion of Colonel Bona- parte has been sought and will be followed in the mea- sures to be taken by his family in consequence of the death of the Emperor, and that in the events of the future he will have a controlling part. He has all the qualities which endear a ruler to the popular heart, being strikingly handsome, suave in his manners, a brave and daring soldier, and possessed of no ordinary intelligence. He is a great favorite in France among those who look for a restoration of the Empire. The death of the late Napoleon affected Madame Bona- parte strongly, and on the reception of the news she 236 APPENDIX. betrayed emotions which had long lain dormant. One of her lady attendants ASKED HER IF SHE WAS SORRY. "No," said the madame, emphatically, "he would not recognise my grandson, and I don't care a bit." On being asked what were her views on the political situation in France, she evinced no marked interest, and merely said that, for herself, she had done all she could to secure her grandson's rightful inheritance, and that she could do more, as she was nearly approach- ing her final end. She declared the hope and belief that he would at some time ascend the throne of France. The ruling passion of this remarkable woman's life has been to regain HER LOST RIGHTS in behalf of this grandson, and to that end she has studiously economized, though enormously rich, living in seclusion, that the greater wealth he lives to inherit might add to his chances for the crown. She often says that this money may be needed for that purpose, and if so, here it all is. She keeps it easily realizable, and could convert it all into cash in thirty days. She lives in the fourth or fifth story of a boarding- house on the corner of St. Paul and Lexington streets, and has never, until very recently, had any companion or nurse. She talks constantly of her RELATIONS TO THE FRENCH EMPIRE, and although she is displeased with her grandson for what she terms " injuring his own prospects for the APPENDIX. 237 throne" by marrying an American lady, she appears brighter and more cheerful since Napoleon's death than before, and declares her strong belief of the accession of her grandson to the throne in the near future. YESTERDAY SHE CONVERSED FREELY UPON THE SITUA- TION IN FRANCE, and stated that her belief in a great popular demonstra- tion at the funeral of Napoleon was strong. " This," said she, " would show that the Bonaparte family were yet admired by their people, and that the empire would yet be re-established, with a Bonaparte at its head." In order to find what views Colonel Bonaparte might entertain about the succession to the French throne, the Herald representative called at his elegant resi- dence on North Charles street (the fashionable quarter of the city), and was conducted by a lackey, beauti- fully attired in drab cloth togs and scarlet waistcoat, into THE PRESENCE OF MRS. BONAPARTE, wife of the colonel and the granddaughter of Daniel Webster. She is a remarkably prepossessing lady, and was richly attired in a heavy silk morning robe. Her surroundings were elegant, and the air of her mansion was that of quiet royalty. She received me pleasantly, and invited me to a seat. WHAT MRS. BONAPARTE SAID. " Can I see the colonel, madam ?" said I. Mrs. Bonaparte — " He is out, sir. What would you have with him?" 238 APPENDIX. " I called for the Herald/' I replied, " to inquire his views with regard to the present situation in France." She seemed pleased at this remark, and replied, " I am sure, sir, he would not give them." " Well, madam," I remarked, " I supposed as much from what I have heard ; but he would at least say whether he would consent to be drawn from private into public life if the French people should desire ; and, too, he could afford me some interesting facts with regard to his family connections, about which so much has been falsely stated in the newspapers." " Yes, sir, a great deal that is false has been put in the papers," she answered, " and Colonel Bonaparte will be glad to see you if you will call again." I thanked her for her kindness, and bade her good morning. As I passed out the family carriage stood before the door, and upon the panels the Bonaparte coat-of-arms shone in silver, showing that the Colonel held his right to a membership in that remarkable family. INTERVIEW WITH COLONEL BONAPARTE. I called yesterday on Colonel Bonaparte, and was well received. After some unimportant remarks I alluded to the death of Napoleon III., following it up with the question : — " Is there now any chance, Colonel, for the restora- tion of the empire by a regency of the Empress during the minority of the Prince Imperial ?" "It is very hard for me to answer that question. APPENDIX. 239 Being here at a great distance from the scene of events in France, I am not competent to express an opinion, because I have no evidence upon which I could base it. THE FRENCH PEOPLE ARE SO FICKLE that any conjecture or prediction I could make might be falsified by events in a few days or weeks hence. The death of the Emperor was so sudden and unex- ' pected that I have scarcely got over my amazement at it. I am awaiting events for a week or so before I form any opinion as to the chances of a regency. I have read in the Herald what the Marquis de Noailles, the French minister, said regarding the death of the Emperor. I do not agree with him where he says that this sad event will give the final blow to the hopes of the imperialists. I do not think the restoration of the empire improbable, but, on the contrary, believe it not impossible that the Emperor's death might cause a change of feeling in favor of the empire. Now that he is dead it will be remembered that his reign had given France twenty years of uninterrupted pros- perity, such as she never enjoyed under any preceding government, and its disastrous close will not be alto- gether attributed to him." THE EMPRESS AS REGENT. " But would the Empress be qualified to act as Regent ?" " Why not ? She has great tact, is high-minded, generous ; indeed possesses those qualifications of head and heart which command the admiration of the mul- 240 APPENDIX. titude. The Bonapartes have a far better claim to the affection of the French people than the Orleanists and the Bourbon pretenders." " Do you think, Colonel, that the army is still attached to the empire?" " The French army does not meddle with politics, and I think this is right, but I have no doubt that the greater part would hail with joy THE BETURN OF THE EMPIRE. Look at the demonstration there is going to be at Napoleon's funeral. I have seen in the papers that so many people are leaving France to attend that the railways have reduced their fares for that special occa- sion. A great number of officers in the army have asked leave to pay the last honors to the dead chief, to whom they have sworn allegiance. Does not this look like A DEMONSTRATION ?" " What is your opinion, Colonel, regarding the order of the French government that the officers who went to attend Napoleon's funeral could only do so in civilian's dress ?" " I suppose the government wishes to have the fact concealed that so many army officers are to be present. Being in civilian's dress, their great number will not be easily known. The Thiers government appears to be uneasy that the demonstration will be very formi- dable, and hence these precautions." " Are you not APPENDIX. 241 IN CORRESPONDENCE WITH THE IMPERIAL FAMILY, Colonel?" "Yes; I received a letter from the Empress only a few days ago, saying that the Emperor was in good health, but she did not make any allusion to the pros- pects of the imperial family. She very seldom writes or talks politics." " How did Madame Bonaparte take the death of Napoleon ?" " I cannot speak for her. I do not suppose she was specially affected by it." " Is there not some misunderstanding between you and Madame Bonaparte ? I hear that you have not met lately?" Pause, and then, evasively : " I cannot speak for Madame Bonaparte. You had better ask her your- self." The interesting interview was then brought to a close. madame Bonaparte's wonderful energy. The remarkable energy and singleness of purpose with which Madame Bonaparte has striven to obtain in fact what the Pope, the French courts and every impartial man have declared to be her rights in law, have been inherited by her descendants ; and, added to the personal qualities of bravery, discretion, and a high view of what is right in her grandson, the Colo- nel, promises in the present disturbed state of France and amid the vacillating movements of her present 242 APPENDIX. statesmen, a rallying point, the stability of which is the most imperative need in that country, as it is an indispensable foundation for a contented government. This content for themselves and stability for their im- perial government will be attempted to be secured by the French imperialists by their availing themselves of the abilities of the Colonel, and in greater measure the higher the office they confer on him. From an intimate association with those who know the facts well I have compiled the above statements, and I close with the declaration that the field of action of Colonel Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, now in Bal- timore, will be transferred to the old continent ere long, and that his efforts there will be devoted and commensurate with the national importance and dig- nity of the people in whose government the Bonaparte family still are endeavoring to take a leading part. INDEX. "A Bonaparte," 199. u Abdicate her crown," 221. " Affair finished," 93. " Affected by his disgrace," 134. " A small asteroid," 137. "A year, or 18 months," 209. Agamemnon and Napoleon, 36. Alexander, Le Camas. 122. Amsterdam, Madame Bonaparte before, 190. Ancient argosies, l7o. Anderson, Mrs., 208, 213. Annapolis, young couple at, 108. Anonymous letters, 29, 30, 32. Annulling Appendix, 227. Arbous of Lisbon, 174. Arch-Chancellor Beauharnais, 152. Arch-Duke of Genoa, 222. Armstrong, General, 84, 85, 98, 107. his old letters, 149, 158, 185, 186. Artesian wells, 175. Assassination of Lucien Bonaparte, 172. Astonishing paragraph, 100. Austerlitz, battle of, 138. B. only, 174. Bacchiochi, 181. Barney, Joshua, 26. Battle of Austerlitz, 138. Beauharnais family, 180, 181. 11 Beautiful young lady of Baltimore," 181. " Be on your guard before Mr. O'Donnell," 210. Bentalou, Captain Paul, 39, 184. his bills, 168. his letters, 51, 217. (243) 244 INDEX. u Betsy " (Madame Jerome), 82, 160, 211. her -son well, 212. should return home, 207. Bills of exchange, 186. Bills protested, 172. " Blazon," 179. Bonaparte, Napoleon, 36, 57, 65, 70, 77. Bonaparte, Joseph, and Mr. Livingston, 37. Lucien, his character, 63. biography, 44. quits France, 44. Carlo, 40. Carolina, 45. Eliza, 44. Joseph, 41. Letizia, 40. Louis, 44. Paulina, 45. Jerome, 25. he arrives at New York, 26. his lady, 89, 90, 91, 92. his letter to Mr. Patterson, 17' " Bonaparte cannot write," 203. Bordeaux Gazette, 167. Borghese, Princess, 153. Boston stirred, 177. Bourne, Sylvanus, Esq., 193. "Brave Centre," 57. Brig Georgia lost, 167. British Neptune, 84. tl Burn my letters," 174. "Buzz," 117. Cambrian frigate, 90, 91. Campan, Madame, 25, 38. " Camp " marriage, 116. Cannon ier frigate, 150. Captain Duncan, 205. Cardinal Fesch, 147, 180. Careless handling of the Bonapartes, 177. Carroll. Bishop, 31. Charles, 31, 106. Caton, Richard, 106. Cession of Louisiana, 140. Chase, Samuel, 26. Cipher writing, 156, 160, 171, 172, 175, 179. INDEX. 245 Citizen Jerome Bonaparte, 181. of the United States, Jerome must become, 53. Clark, General, 97. " Cold steel," 139. u Columbian Centinel," 177. u Come alone to France," 116. " Come-off." 200. Consul at Bordeaux, 156. at Malmaison, 55. Consulate at Rotterdam, 137. Coronation of Napoleon and Josephine, 119, 126. description of, 136. Count de Moustier, 107. County house, 197. Cybele frigate, 89. Dacres, French Minister of Marine, 178. his letter to.M. Pichon, 66. Jerome, 73, 110. Dallas, Alexander J., 31. Danes, a misnomer, 111. Deafness of Mr. Livingston, 84. Demon of deception, 139, Depravity of morals, 172. Didon frigate, 89, 90. Dining with Lucien, 61 ; with Joseph, 85. Diplomacy " shut out," 119. Dog-watch, 63. Dragon of Night, 161. Dreadful secrets, 170. Driver sloop of war, 91. Duke of Wellington, 107. Dulany, Mrs., 113. Duncan, Capt., 205. « Eliza," 208. Embarkation for America, 213, 215. of Jerome and wife, 160. Embden, 185. "Emperor says," 211. to Jerome, 212. in cipher, 156. " Enemy of Bonaparte," 58. Epistle of Le Camas, 198. "Erin" ship, 161, 185, 191, 192. Esmenard, Mr., L02. •• Everybody took notice of it," 217. 246 INDEX. Extract from Bentalou, 184. "Extremely angry," 116. " Extremely dejected," 217. " Fair spouse " of Jerome, 113. Fame and beauty go before her, 139. " Farewell, my dear grandfather," 225. Fictitious names, 117. Finn/ forsaking, 175. " Fine large fellow," 212. First and second family, 174. "First Consul's great displeasure," 61. Five hundred dollars reward, 88. Flag and register, 191. Flight of the young couple, 115. Florida lands, 140, 143. Forgeries, 110. French and American gossip, 36. official letters, 110. leave, 99. intrigue and deceit, 210. calendar, 108. paragraph, 159. letters of Maupertuis, 120, 123, 124, 128, 129, 131, 132. letters of Cuneo De Ornano, 145. M. Meyronet, 150. Gen. Rewbell, 164, 165. French as France, 198. " French leave," 99. French tariff, 154. Frenchman and Frenchwoman, 224. Frederica Catharina, 224. Frigates at New York, 116, 135. Gamier, Doctor, 199, 209, 211. Genet, Citizen, 38. Genealogy of Buonaparte, 179. "General Armstrong in cipher, 11 156. Armstrong, 156. Clark, 97. Le Clerc, 26, 181. Lafayette, 28. Pulaski, 39. Rav, 92. Rewbell, 164, 166, 169. Smith, 33, 86, 144. Tuerreau, 33, 162, 163, 197. INDEX. 247 Genoa, Jerome at, 190. "Gentleman from Dover," 115. " Gentleman who came out with John," 119. Gigantic powers of Bonaparte, 215. Girard, Stephen, 28. "Going with an ambassador," 98. Gonteaume, Admiral, 147. 152. M Good and amiable mother," 117. Gravesend, 210. Halifax newspaper, 110. " Haughty England," 57. Heaven and the First Consul, 58. He italicised, 60. " He would for ever remember the shipwreck/' 220. " He will write everything you say," 210. Helen and Paris, 35. "Hero," 67. "Her imperial highness," 181. "Her marriage having no existence," 213. "Highway of nations, - ' 161. Holland, Mad. Bonaparte sent to, 116. Hour of parting, 175. ^ "If you return, come alone," 112. "I dare not write to him," 126. " I have written to Lucien," 140. "I was highly flattered," 61. " I will allow her a pension," 213. Immutable affection, 125. " In all conscience," 217. "In a gale," 114. " Incomparable nation," 54. Intercepted letters, 79, 110. Interesting and pleasing intelligence, 112. lady, 127. 161. Jerome and lady at the theatre, 149. he and his lady incog., 114. "he can plead his cause," 134. he kisses the children, 204. his august brother, 134. his bills. 149. his horses, 102. his second marriage, 224. his squadron, 204, 223. his mother affected by his disgrace, 134. •J 18 INDEX. Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte. his birth, 200. his letter, 225. his grave, 224. his life and death, 224. "Jerome was