The Bonaparte-Patterson marriage in 1803, and the secret correspondence on the subject never before made public

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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT.

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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 apologies 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 &

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Murdock, dealers in paper-makers' material, on Centre Market Space, Baltimore. These gentlemen, to our own personal knowledge, and to that of manygentlemen of Baltimore, bought them as "waste paper," directly from Mr. William Patterson's old warehouse on Gay street. In the lot of old documents 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 information, and addressed to his father in Baltimore, contain a thrilling history of the mysterious developments 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 distinguished 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.

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Jerome Napoleon Bonaparte, and several anonymous 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 distinguished 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 distinguished 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 completion ; 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.

Baltimore, Jan. 1873.

Chapter I. Page

Jerome Bonaparte — He visits Baltimore — Commodore Barney — 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 " Betsy' 1 — Mr. Patterson 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's displeasure manifest — Stirring appeal to arms — Britain to be conquered — Mr. Patterson's third letter — Mr. Livingston again — A call on Joseph Bona-

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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 baggage on board — Going in The Dido — British frigates on the watch — The couple do not embark — Robert Patterson 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-

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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 — Baltimore and Philadelphia out-sensation New York — Philadelphia comes out best — More letters from Mr. Patterson — Young couple encounter 44 guns — Madame Bonaparte'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 sailing — Reflections on the embarkation — Robert Patterson on speculation — General Smith again — P. Cuneo De Ornano — His letter — Mr. Patterson's letter — General Armstrong — 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 — Departure from Baltimore — General Tuerreau, French Minister — Jerome's horses — Mr.

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Carrere — " London-particular-three-years-old-wine" — - General Rewbell's letter — Jonathan Jones — Wet letters — Bordeaux Gazette 137

Chapter VII

Young couple on the sea ! — Kobert Patterson in Paris — General Kewbell — The Erin safe — Sad news in cipher — Storms of wit — Deception u 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 Bonapartes lampooned — Letters of Dacres published — Philadelphia and the Moniteur — Bentalou and Skipwith — Mr. Livingston's treaty — t( 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 — Jerome 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 — Napoleon's speech — Jerome at Malmaison — He writes to the Emperor — The Emperor's reply — Jerome's mar-

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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 — Jereme Napoleon Bonaparte — His death — His letter . 250

THE

BOMPAETMATTERSON MARRIAGE.

Chapter I

Jerome Bonaparte — He visits Baltimore — Commodore Barney — 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 " Betsy" — Mr. Patterson 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.

Jerome Bonaparte, youngest brother of Napoleon I., Emperor of France, was born on the 15th day of December 1784, at Ajaccio, on the island of Corsica, in the Mediterranean Sea. Educated principally 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.V"

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Styling himself conqueror and pacificator, Napoleon, 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 terminated 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 dispatches ; and, receiving there an independent command, 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 under 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 companion in the French service, soon found his way from New 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

Independence, Captain Bonaparte met a great number of persons in " high social, political, and literary life. ' , Here he made the acquaintance of Miss Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of William Patterson, Esquire, a highly respectable and wealthy Irish merchant 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, Bonaparte'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." Becoming strongly attached to her, probably from first •sight, she was sent to Virginia to escape his attentions ; but the attachment was mutual, and remonstrances 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 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 strikingly true with respect to the case in point ; for, in the language of the young lady's father, " the marriage was broken off," even after the license formally issued. The most splendid preparations had been made for the ceremony — -preparations sufficiently brilliant 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 banquet, 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 vilified. 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, Grist, 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 Rochambeau at Newport in 1781 ; and, extending his hospitalities still further with those of his patriotic countrymen, Welcoming Count de Estaing in the Chesapeake, he thus contributed largely to the surrender 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 knowledge 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 communication which he carefully endorsed with the following words: "Received this letter by the Penny Post, on Saturday, bih November 1803, at one o'clock

"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 conduct in the West Indies ? There ruined a lovely young woman who had only been married for a few weeks ! He parted her from her husband, and 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 brother'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 , v 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 without date. The writer appears to have been possessed of some scholarly ability, but, judging from his production, 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 disregarded 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 warnings fulminated from various quarters, the contemplated marriage did take place on Saturday, Christmas Eve, December the 24th 1803. In the Baltimore "Federal Gazette" of Tuesday, the 27th day of that month, the marriage is thus noticed :

" 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 performed by the Bishop of Baltimore, John Carroll, brother of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, the signer of the Declaration of Independence, and in accordance with the ritual of the Roman Catholic Church. The marriage contract, considered of importance, was •drawn up by Alexander J. Dallas, subsequently Secretary of the Treasury, and witnessed by several official personages, including the Mayor of Baltimore."

For a short season after the marriage, tranquillity appeared to he 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 therefore, 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 afnict 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

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. Finding 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 prepared 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 personally known to you in this country, as it might have facilitated my wishes of reconciling Mr. Bonaparte'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. Finding, 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 Kave 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 particularly 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 Washington 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 ike 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 w T ife 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 resuited in the destruction of the city and the restoration 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.

Is 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 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.