John Holland Rose

“ Napoleon began to plan the formation of a ring of states surrounding, and in close alliance with, the French empire. He destined Louis for the throne of Holland, and proclaimed him king of that country on the 6th of June 1806. From the first the emperor reproached him with being too easy with his subjects and with courting popularity too much. ”

“ Joseph Bonaparte. Bastia in June 1788, and was soon elected a councillor of the municipality of Ajaccio. Like his brothers, Napoleon and Lucien, he embraced the French or democratic side, and on the victory of the Paolist party fled with his family from Corsica and sought refuge in France. After spending a short time in Paris, where he was disgusted with the excesses of the Jacobins, he settled at Marseilles and married Mlle Julie Clary, daughter of a merchant of that town. The Bonapartes moved from place to place, mainly with the view of concerting measures for the recovery of Corsica. ”

“ She never accommodated herself to the part she was called on to play during the Empire, and, though endowed with immense wealth and distinguished by the title of Madame Mère, lived mainly in retirement, and in the exercise of a strict domestic economy which her early privations had made a second nature to her, but which rendered her very unpopular in France and was displeasing to Napoleon. After the events of 1814 she joined the emperor in the island of Elba and was privy to his plans of escape, returning to Paris during the Hundred Days. ”

“ Nevertheless he was influential in effecting the reform by which in 1869 it was sought to reconcile the Empire with Liberal principles. The fatal war of 1870 was resolved upon during his absence in Norway, and was strongly condemned by him. After the first disasters he undertook an ineffectual mission to Italy to implore the aid of his father-in-law; and after the fall of the Empire lived in comparative retirement until in 1879 the death of Napoleon III.’s son, the Prince Imperial (see XIII. below) , made him direct heir to the Napoleonic succession. ”

“ The end of his nominal rule came in the next year, when Wellington utterly overthrew the chief French army, commanded by King Joseph and Marshal Jourdan, at Vittoria (June 21, 1813) . The king fled from Spain, was disgraced by Napoleon, and received the order to retire incognito to Mortfontaine. The emperor wrote to the minister of war (July 11, 1813) :—“His [Joseph’s] behaviour has never ceased bringing misfortune upon my army; it is time to make an end of it.” ”

“ Carlo Buonaparte [Charles Marie de Bonaparte] (1746–1785) , the father of Napoleon I., took his degree in law at the university of Pisa, and after the conquest of Corsica by the French became assessor to the royal court of Ajaccio and the neighbouring districts. His restless Napoleon’s father and mother. and dissatisfied nature led him to press or intrigue for other posts, and to embark in risky business enterprises which compromised the fortune of his family for many years to come. ”

“ There he was arrested and imprisoned for a time until Napoleon’s influence procured his release, and further gained for him a post as commissioner in the French army campaigning in Germany. Lucien soon conceived a dislike for a duty which opened up no vista for his powers of oratory and political intrigue, and repaired to Corsica. In the hope of being elected a deputy of the island, he refused an appointment offered by Napoleon in the army of Egypt in 1798. His hopes were fulfilled, and in 1798 he entered the Council of Five Hundred at Paris. ”

“ His elder son, also called Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte (1832–1893) , entered the French army, with which he served in the Crimea and in Italy.
Charles Joseph Bonaparte (b. 1851) , younger son of the first Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, and a grandson of Jerome, king of Westphalia, attained a distinguished place in American politics. Born at Baltimore on the 9th of June 1851 and educated at Harvard University, he became a lawyer in 1874 and has been president of the National Municipal League and has filled other public positions. ”

“ His body was brought back to England, and buried at Chislehurst.
XIV. The Bonapartes of Baltimore are a branch of the family settled in America, descended from Jerome Bonaparte (VII.) by his union with Elizabeth (b. 1785) , daughter of William Patterson, a Baltimore merchant, probably descended from the Robert Paterson who was the original of Sir Walter Scott’s “Old Mortality.” The marriage took place at Baltimore on the 24th of December 1803, but it was greatly disliked by Napoleon, who refused to recognize its legality. ”

“ After the final downfall of Waterloo, she took up her residence at Rome, where Pope Pius VII. treated her with great kindness and consideration, and protected her from the suspicious attentions of the powers of the Grand Alliance. ”

“ The failure of the revolution forced him to leave Italy in July 1849. He gained Holland, then France, where he turned again to science. His principal works were, Conspectus systematis ornithologiae, mastozologiae, erpetologiae et amphibologiae, Ichthyologiae (Leiden, 1850) , Tableau des oiseaux-mouches (Paris, 1854) , Ornithologie fossile (Paris, 1858) . Eight children survived him: Joseph Lucien Charles Napoleon, prince of Canino (1824–1865) , who died without heirs; Lucien Louis Joseph Napoleon, born in 1828, who took holy orders in 1853 and became a cardinal in 1868 ”