88 BONAPARTE, ELIZABETH P. 



BONAPARTE, PRINCE. 



variance, threatened to disinherit her. In his 

 will he asserts : " The conduct of my daughter 

 Betsey has through life been so disobedient 

 that in no instance has she ever consulted my 

 opinions or feelings." Therefore he refused 

 to give her an equal share in his estate, but he 

 relented so far as to bequeath her for life nine 

 houses in Baltimore. The rapid rise in rents 

 and her penurious habits enabled her to ac- 

 cumulate property estimated at a million and a 

 half. Her jewels were of considerable value. 

 She never parted with her old dresses, and 

 was fond of exhibiting them and descanting 

 on the scenes where she had worn them, and 

 the compliments she had received. She passed 

 many winters in Florence, and counted with 

 infinite pride many royal and distinguished per- 

 sonages among her acquaintance. After their 

 tender parting at Lisbon in 1805, Jerome and 

 Elizabeth saw each other but once. One day 

 in the gallery of the Pitti Palace the ex-King 

 of Westphalia came suddenly upon his ex-wife. 

 He evinced great embarrassment. Whispering 

 to his Wiirtemburg princess, "There is my 

 American wife," they turned rapidly away. 

 The next morning their ci-devant royalties 

 quitted Florence, leaving Mrs. Patterson in pos- 

 session of the field. By birth she was a Pro- 

 testant. She became an avowed free-thinker, 

 but professed always " a great respect for the 

 Roman Catholic belief as the religion of kings 

 and princes." 



As a beautiful girl who had married for love, 

 as a wife of youth deserted at the bidding of a 

 despot, there hung about her a certain romance 

 which for a period made her a notability 

 wherever she traveled abroad. It might have 

 retained for her the sympathy of the world. 

 Unfortunately her letters are an unconscious 

 revelation of vanity, selfishness, and niggard- 

 liness naively displayed. She appears an adroit 

 schemer, quite capable of capturing a thought- 

 less boy. Jerome almost escapes the scorn 

 which his pitiful conduct merits. It is be re- 

 gretted that their publication has been per- 

 mitted. Mr. Patterson evinced a discretion 

 worthy of imitation when he wrote to his 

 daughter Betsey : " I have received your two 

 letters. They have been seen or heard of by 

 no person but myself, and to be candid with 

 you I would have been ashamed to expose 

 them to any one else." 



At the downfall of the second empire and 

 the death of Napoleon III., the hopes of this 

 indomitable schemer revived. With the weight 

 of ninety winters heavy upon her, she actively 

 endeavored to put forward the claims of her 

 grandson, Colonel Bonaparte, who had served 

 with distinction in the French army. She 

 prophesied that he would be called to the re- 

 gency, perhaps to the imperial throne. The 

 American Bonaparte needed only recognition 

 as an " official " member of the family to 

 stand next in succession to the Prince Impe- 

 rial. This was the last flicker of that restless 

 ambition which was doomed to be ever baffled. 



She died in April, 1879, at the age of ninety- 

 four. Mrs. Patterson survived her divorce 

 nearly three quarters of a century. She was 

 already eleven years of age when General Bo- 

 naparte first assumed command of the army in 

 Italy. Had she lived a few weeks longer, she 

 would have seen the death-blow of Bonapart- 

 ism dealt by ignorant savages in Zululand. 



BONAPARTE, NAPOLEON EUGENE Louis 

 JEAN JOSEPH, Prince Imperial of France, born 

 March 16, 1856, died June 1, 1879. The only 

 son of the Emperor Napoleon III., he was born 

 at the time when the Second Empire was at the 

 height of its glory, and his birth was welcomed 

 with the greatest demonstrations of joy. His 

 christening at Notre Dame, on June 5th, was 

 one of the most magnificent spectacles ever wit- 

 nessed even in France. An English nurse was 

 provided for the Prince, and he remained under 

 her charge until his seventh birthday ; so that 

 he could speak English before he could his own 

 tongue, and he always spoke it with remark- 

 able fluency and a pure accent. All through 

 his childhood and boyhood he had an insepa- 

 rable companion in the young Louis Conneau, 

 son of the Dr. Conneau who aided his father 

 to escape from Ham ; and his influence is said 

 to have been highly beneficial to the Prince. 

 The greatest attention was paid to his educa- 

 tion, and under General Frossard he made good 

 progress. He was a quiet mannered boy, nat- 

 urally shy, and disposed to become more so by 

 the diplomatic reserve continually inculcated 

 upon him. He had from his childhood a con- 

 siderable amount of shrewdness, and frequent- 

 ly said, " I always take off my hat to the Pa- 

 risians, because they take off one's crown so 

 easily when they are offended." When he 

 was three years old he was placed on the roster 

 of the Imperial Guard. At five he was pro- 

 moted to a corporalship, was made a sergeant 

 at seven, and wore his sub-lieutenant's epaulet 

 for the first time when he started for the Ger- 

 man war with his father. He was not fortu- 

 nate, however, with his military experience. 

 His appearance on the field brought upon him 

 ridicule ; his second military enterprise result- 

 ed in death. After the battle of Saarbrucken, 

 the Emperor sent a dispatch to the Empress 

 couched in the most extravagant terms, saying 

 that the Prince had just received his baptism 

 of fire, that the men had wept to see him so 

 calm, and that he had picked up a spent bullet 

 which had fallen at his feet. After the over- 

 throw of the Empire he accompanied his mother 

 to England. There he entered the Royal Mili- 

 tary Academy at Woolwich, where he acquit- 

 ted himself with considerable distinction. At 

 the final examination in 1875 he stood seventh 

 in a class of thirty-four ; and he was always 

 regarded as having inherited, not the personal 

 characteristics, but some of the military in- 

 stincts of his family. A banquet was given in 

 August, 1875, to a few of the older adherents 

 of the Bonapartes, while the Empress and her 

 son were enjoying a holiday at the castle of Are- 



