The following is a reprint of an 1879 newspaper clipping from the New York Observer, here-after referred to as N.Y.O. and the Daily Times, here-after noted as D.T.J. published in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Correspondence of the New York Observer MADAME BONAPARTE; The Last survivor of the First Generation of the Most Famous Family of Modern Times. Letter from Rev. John Leyburn, D.D. Baltimore, April 4. 1879 I comply with your request for particulars in regards to this notable lady. At the moment of my writing, the breath has not left her body, though she has been unconscious for a day or two. My first acquaintance with Madame Bonaparte was in Paris in 1860. Mrs. L. (the Rev.'s wife) and myself took quarters at the Hotel de Rivoli, and soon found that there were two old ladies occupying the apartments adjoining ours. They proved to be Madame B,.---whom we had never before seen as we were not then residents of Baltimore---and a friend whom she had brought with her as a companion. Col. Bonaparte, the grandson was then stationed at Versailles, and not being in Paris, except during the day, the old ladies were lonesome at night and often came into our room, or got us to go into theirs. In this way we became well acquainted and from that day to this Madame B. has always been very friendly; and I think it probable I am the only minister with whom she ever had very special social relations. An illustration of her kind feelings occurred some two or three months ago. After she was attacked with the illness which is now terminating in death, her lady relatives in attendance upon her, naturally anxious about her spiritual condition undertook to speak with her on the subject on account of her well-known views, it was a delicate topic to broach, and the old lady has always had a special antipathy to being instructed or lectured by her own sex; so the subject was scarcely opened before she put a stop to it and said if she wished to be talked to about religion she would send for me. And the time came when that was done. Towards the close of last week, Miss Gwyn, the estimable lady in whose house she has been residing, asked her if she would not like to have me come and pray with her, and 5 she said she would. When the messenger came, however, I was out; another came, and then a third, but I had not returned. Mr. Moody was then sent for, but he was engaged in one of his meetings and could not go and indeed, has not seen her at all. He, however, sent the Rev. Dr. Leftwich, a very proper person, inasmuch as he now has charge of the church which the Patterson family attended in her early years. Dr. L. prayed with her, and she evidently followed attentively, as she afterwards repeated one of the expressions of the prayer. On finding I had been sent for, I went to her bedside and prayed and talked with her, remaining for some time. Though the tide of life was evidently fast running out, she was still conscious and responded to the questions asked her ---- the replies certainly very different from the tone of repugnance with which she would once have met such approaches, She wished to be prayed for and it was a unique and touching occasion, a little group of friends bowing in prayer around the dying bed of this renowned old lady, whose life and character had been so remarkable and who had always been reputed an infidel. We knew, however, that God's grace could avail to the uttermost and it was encouraging to know that it was her desire that she should be prayed for. The day following I found her weaker --- indeed so much so that she scarce made any replies to questions; but when asked if I should pray for her, she distinctly answered yes. During the night she roused up and requested that the Bible should be read to her, and, afterwards, as if meditating on what she had heard., she said: "Yes, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin." This is the more remarkable from the fact that she had always denied the divinity of Christ. At another time she was heard to say: "Christ have pity on me." And she said to her physician Dr. Mackenzie: "I was baptized a Presbyterian and I die a Presbyterian." NOT AN ATHEIST The secular newspaper of your city, in their sketches of Madame Bonaparte 11 have stated that she was an 'atheist'. This is not so. In her earlier life, and possibly somewhat in middle life she had read French and German Literature freely, and undoubtedly to some extent imbibed the poison. But she prided herself on her intellect and cultivation and possibly the desire to appear superior to the common run of humankind, for whom she had no great respect led her to make herself out worse than she was. The most extreme expressions to which she gave utterance were when speaking with her own sex and I think were often a sort of bravado. Some time before she was taken ill, Mrs L. and myself called and were asked up in her room. Before we left I said something about the importance of being pre- pared for another world and added: "Madame, if we wish to go to heavenly we must remember that there is but one way. We must believe- on the Lord Jesus Christ or we can't be saved." She did not take exception, but afterwards said to a lady who was familiar with her, that she wondered I should have spoken to her on that point as I did; that she had "as good an intellect" as I had still: dwelling on her intellect, and jealous of what seemed instruction from any one. As the long life of the old lady has now virtually come to a close, and, before this reaches you will have actually closed, I think I am warranted in saying of her that, whatever her skeptical or deistical views, she gave them up as the solemn realities of eternity drew near. Certainly, to those familiar with her seeming hostility to sacred things. her desire for prayer and the reading of the word of God, and her appeal to the Christ whom she had rejected, seemed a wonderful change. I may add, too that for one who had so intensely hated those from whom she had suffered injury, to say of her own accord that she forgave them allP was almost equally wonderful. PALLIATING CIRCUMSTANCES In recent newspaper notices of Madame Bonaparte, very hard things have been said about her temper, freedom of speech.and "penuriosness". It must be confessed that there is some ground for these reflections, but justice requires she should have the benefit of the great aggravations she suffered. Her life was blighted at the outset by the disowning of her marriage, which, notwithstanding, the annulling by Napoleon on the ground that his brother was a minor, and had no right to contract marriage was as lawful a marriage as was ever celebrated the young husband being not 18 as represented by Napoleon but 22 and the ceremony having been performed by the Roman Catholic Archbishop, whose authority Catholic Frenchmen certainly could not deny. The harsh language applied to:her by her father, intended to wound, and inserted in his will, together with giving her a less portion than to the other heirs, were additional causes for embittering the unfortunate lady and leading her to indulge too freely her extraordinary powers of sarcasm. And as to her money-savings, that arose partly, no doubt, from a determination to show that though her patrimoney was diminished as arebuke and stigma, she would make herself as rich as any of them. She also had a natural ambition that her grandson, Col. Jerome Bonaparte, should be prepared for his position, in case he should some day occupy a conspicuous place in France under a Bonaparte dynasty, with a fortune suitable to the circumstances. She was very proud of this grandson. His fine appearance, and the high favor he enjoyed at the Court and in the family of the Emperor Louis Napoleon as well as his kindness and courtesy to her, made her never tire of speaking of him at the time we were together in Paris. But as to her husband, no terms of bitterness were spared. The old king had died only a short time before, indeed the object of her visit to Paris was to sue for her rights, and one day she handed to them to read two weekly newspapers with sketches of his life and character and they were covered with her marginal notes, anything but complimentary to the gentleman who had once led her to the altar. Altogether, Madame Bonaparte was a very remarkable person; she had a vigorous and I might say brilliant intellect; she was most entertaining in conversation, well-informed, witty, and sarcastic; she was wonderfully apt in business matters, and retained her mental vigor unimpaired to the extreme old age of 95. Her history was so extraordinary that it seems almost a romance. --Yours, J.L. P.S ------ Madame Bonaparte breathed her last at 1:15 this afternoon. We add that the funeral was strictly private, at the house of her son's widow. Dr. Leftwichts prayer was the only service. The coffin bore the maiden name of the deceased only; as the was divorced from her husband in 1813, the Bonaparte was dropped. Ed. Note. The above article and the forth-coming one have been made possible through the good services of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Hildebrant of Flanders New Jersey, who have a large collection of New Jersey historic articles. I was fortunate in looking through a series of very old newspaper clippings, to come across these short articles. While written almost one hundred years ago, they are of great value to the modern historian and researcher as they show the feelings and attitudes of the peoples of the time. My deepest thanks to the Hildebrants, whom many of the members know as my wife Lindats parents. Perhaps if we all checked back through our familiy records additional interesting articles may be found for future issues. (TD) Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 24 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1978 by Jean Lochet This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com