BONAPARTE, ELIZABETH PATTERSON. 



87 



York harbor. They next took passage on an 

 American vessel, which was wrecked off the 

 Delaware coast, the passengers narrowly es- 

 caping with their lives. "Mine. Bonaparte," 

 says the narrative, " \v:is the first person who 

 j limped into the boat." Finally they sailed in 

 March, 1805, on one of Mr. Patterson's ships. 

 They reached Lisbon, and found a French fri- 

 gate there to prevent her landing. By the 

 suggestion of Madame Mere, seconded by the 

 advice of Mr. Patterson, Jerome left his young 

 wife, and went to Paris to plead her cause 

 with the Emperor, and be won over by him. 

 This separation proved final. The vessel pro- 

 ceeded to Amsterdam. At the mouth of the 

 Texel two men-of-war awaited her. The Con- 

 tinent was forbidden ground to Elizabeth Bo- 

 naparte, and she was forced to seek an asylum 

 in England. Pitt sent a regiment to Dover to 

 prevent mischief, so great was the multitude 

 that thronged thither to witness her landing. 

 A few days later her son, Jerome Napoleon 

 Bonaparte, was born, July 7, 1805, at Cam- 

 berwell. Here she continued to reside, con- 

 stantly receiving messages and letters from 

 Jerome, protesting his fidelity and his undy- 

 ing affection for her and his infant son. He 

 was doubtless sincere at that moment, being 

 still hopeful of the Emperor's consent. Napo- 

 leon applied to Pius VII. to dissolve the mar- 

 riage, which the Pontiff steadfastly refused. 

 The decree of divorce was passed by the im- 

 perial Council of State. He wrote to Jerome : 

 " Your marriage is null both in a religious and 

 legal point of view. I will never acknowl- 

 edge it. Write to Miss Patterson that it is not 

 Sossible to give things another turn. On con- 

 ition of her going to America, I will allow 

 her a pension during her life of sixty thou- 

 sand francs a year, provided she does not take 

 the name of my family." Napoleon feigned 

 to consider her residence in England as a spe- 

 cial offense. Madame Bonaparte consented to 

 return to America, hoping thus to conciliate 

 her imperial brother-in-law. When Jerome, 

 after vexations delays, was admitted to Napo- 

 leon's presence, he upbraided him rudely for 

 his folly, and concluded : " As for your affair 

 with your little girl, I do not regard it." As a 

 reward for his desertion, Jerome was created a 

 Prince of the Empire, and was promoted Ad- 

 miral. He received subsequently the rank of 

 general. In 1800 he was made by the Senate 

 successor to the imperial throne in the event 

 of Napoleon leaving no male heir. On the 12th 

 of August, 1807, he married Catherine Fred- 

 erica, Princess of Wurtembnrg. By his sec- 

 ond marriage ho had three children, of whom 

 two survive, the Princess Mathilde Demidoff, 

 and the youngest son, Prince Napoleon, dy- 

 nastic heir to the Prince Imperial. 



Jerome's marriage dispelled the illusions of 

 Elizabeth Patterson. A cynical and disap- 

 pointed woman, she saw herself condemned 

 to what she termed her " Baltimore obscur- 

 ity." She loathed her native city so that she 



says that when residence there seemed the sole 

 alternative she determined to commit suicide, 

 but her courage failed. In 1817 she sailed for 

 Europe, and remained abroad for seven years. 

 I in ~i ness considerations inducing her to return 

 to Baltimore, she bewailed the time she was 

 forced to spend in a country where " there is 

 no court, no nobility, no fit associates " for her. 

 Although feeling and expressing an unbounded 

 contempt for the worthless man who aban- 

 doned her, she was ever a passionate adherent 

 of Bonapartism. She employed every means 

 to prove the legality of her marriage and the 

 legitimacy of her son. When Napoleon III. 

 mounted the throne a formal trial was granted 

 her. Jerome, the father, was not ashamed to 

 appeal to the Council of State to forbid " Je- 

 rome Patterson" to assume the name of Bona- 

 parte. Nevertheless, the Council decreed that 

 the son of Madame Elizabeth Patterson was 

 entitled to the name of Bonaparte, although he 

 could not be recognized as a memfler of the 

 imperial family. After the death of Jerome 

 she again brought suit for a share in his estate. 

 In spite of complete documentary proof and 

 the fact that the validity of her marriage had 

 been sustained by the Church, all the zeal and 

 eloquence of her advocate, Berryer, did not 

 prevent an adverse decision, probably inspired 

 by the Imperial Court. Her son was, how- 

 ever, formally recognized by official decree, 

 that "Jerome Bonaparte was a legitimate child 

 of France." 



Ambition, which had been so cruelly nipped 

 in her own case, was equally crushed when she 

 endeavored to advance her son. He was rec- 

 ognized by Madame Mere, and petted by Pau- 

 line Borghese, who at one time declared him 

 her heir. Mrs. Patterson bent all her energies 

 to make a fit match for him. Her choice was 

 one of Joseph Bonaparte's daughters. The 

 young man preferred the life of an American 

 citizen, which his mother despised. He chose 

 for himself, and married Miss Williams of Bal- 

 timore. His mother wrote to Mr. Patterson 

 on the subject : " I had endeavored to instill 

 into him from the hour of his birth the opin- 

 ion that he was much too high in birth and 

 connection ever to marry an American wo- 

 man. ... I would rather die than marry any 

 one in Baltimore. ... As the woman has 

 money, I shall not forbid a marriage which I 

 never would have advised. ... I hope most 

 ardently that she will have no children." She 

 goes on to say that she washes her hands of 

 him and his affairs, that she regrets the econ- 

 omies practiced by her to increase his wealth, 

 and that henceforth she will double her ex- 

 penditures. But the love of money was too 

 strong for her, and she never carried out this 

 threat. Her letters are full of moans over the 

 expenses of her foreign journeys. She lived 

 and died in a boarding-house, and her expenses 

 did not reach two thousand a year, when her 

 income exceeded one hundred thousand dol- 

 lars. Her father, with whom she was ever at 



