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 Makers of History

 Josephine

 BY JOHN S. C. ABBOTT

 WITH ENGRAVINGS

 NEW YORK AND LONDON
 HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS
 1904




 Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year one thousand
 eight hundred and fifty-one, by

 HARPER & BROTHERS,

 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District
 of New York.

 Copyright, 1879, by SUSAN ABBOTT MEAD.




[Illustration: JOSEPHINE.]




PREFACE.


Maria Antoinette, Madame Roland, and Josephine are the three most
prominent heroines of the French Revolution. The history of their lives
necessarily records all the most interesting events of that most fearful
tragedy which man has ever enacted. Maria Antoinette beheld the morning
dawn of the Revolution; its lurid mid-day sun glared upon Madame Roland;
and Josephine beheld the portentous phenomenon fade away. Each of these
heroines displayed traits of character worthy of all imitation. No
one can read the history of their lives without being ennobled by the
contemplation of the fortitude and grandeur of spirit they evinced. To
the young ladies of our land we especially commend the Heroines of the
French Revolution.




CONTENTS.


 Chapter                                                    Page

    I. LIFE IN MARTINIQUE                                    13

   II. MARRIAGE OF JOSEPHINE                                 31

  III. ARREST OF M. BEAUHARNAIS AND JOSEPHINE                48

   IV. SCENES IN PRISON                                      68

    V. THE RELEASE FROM PRISON                               81

   VI. JOSEPHINE IN ITALY                                   105

  VII. JOSEPHINE AT MALMAISON                               130

 VIII. JOSEPHINE THE WIFE OF THE FIRST CONSUL               149

   IX. DEVELOPMENTS OF CHARACTER                            171

    X. THE CORONATION                                       198

   XI. JOSEPHINE AN EMPRESS                                 232

  XII. THE DIVORCE AND LAST DAYS                            282




ENGRAVINGS.


                                                            Page

 THE SIBYL                                                   24

 THE WARNING                                                 58

 THE PANTOMIME                                               85

 ISOLA BELLA                                                109

 THE INTERVIEW                                              156

 THE CORONATION                                             224




JOSEPHINE.




CHAPTER I.

LIFE IN MARTINIQUE.

A.D. 1760-A.D. 1775

Martinique.--Its varied beauties.--Birth of Josephine.--Her parents'
death.--M. Renaudin.--His kind treatment of his slaves.--Gratitude
of the slaves.--Josephine a universal favorite.--Hospitality of M.
Renaudin.--Society at his house.--Early education of Josephine.--Her
accomplishments.--Euphemie.--She becomes Josephine's bosom companion.
--Popularity of Josephine.--Childhood enjoyment.--Characteristic traits.
--The fortune-teller.--Predictions of the sibyl.--Credulity.--More
predictions.--Their fulfillment.--Explanations of the predictions.--
How fulfilled.--Falsity of the prediction.--Contemplated match.--
Attachment between Josephine and William.--Their separation.--Rousseau
throwing stones.--Josephine's superstition.--Mutual fidelity.--Deception
of friends.

The island of Martinique emerges in tropical luxuriance from the bosom
of the Caribbean Sea. A meridian sun causes the whole land to smile in
perennial verdure, and all the gorgeous flowers and luscious fruits
of the torrid zone adorn upland and prairie in boundless profusion.
Mountains, densely wooded, rear their summits sublimely to the skies,
and valleys charm the eye with pictures more beautiful than imagination
can create. Ocean breezes ever sweep these hills and vales, and temper
the heat of a vertical sun. Slaves, whose dusky limbs are scarcely
veiled by the lightest clothing, till the soil, while the white
inhabitants, supported by the indolent labor of these unpaid menials,
loiter away life in listless leisure and in rustic luxury. Far removed
from the dissipating influences of European and American opulence, they
dwell in their secluded island in a state of almost patriarchal
simplicity.

About the year 1760, a young French officer, Captain Joseph Gaspard
Tascher, accompanied his regiment of horse to this island. While here on
professional duty, he became attached to a young lady from France, whose
parents, formerly opulent, in consequence of the loss of property, had
moved to the West Indies to retrieve their fortunes. But little is known
respecting Mademoiselle de Sanois, this young lady, who was soon married
to M. Tascher. Josephine was the only child born of this union. In
consequence of the early death of her mother, she was, while an infant,
intrusted to the care of her aunt. Her father soon after died, and the
little orphan appears never to have known a father's or a mother's love.

Madame Renaudin, the kind aunt, who now, with maternal affection, took
charge of the helpless infant, was a lady of wealth, and of great
benevolence of character. Her husband was the owner of several estates,
and lived surrounded by all that plain and rustic profusion which
characterizes the abode of the wealthy planter. His large possessions,
and his energy of character, gave him a wide influence over the island.
He was remarkable for his humane treatment of his slaves, and for the
successful manner with which he conducted the affairs of his
plantations.

The general condition of the slaves of Martinique at this time was very
deplorable; but on the plantations of M. Renaudin there was as perfect
a state of contentment and of happiness as is consistent with the
deplorable institution of slavery. The slaves, many of them but recently
torn from their homes in Africa, were necessarily ignorant, degraded,
and superstitious. They knew nothing of those more elevated and refined
enjoyments which the cultivated mind so highly appreciates, but which
are so often also connected with the most exquisite suffering.
Josephine, in subsequent life, gave a very vivid description of the
wretchedness of the slaves in general, and also of the peace and harmony
which, in striking contrast, cheered the estates of her uncle. When the
days' tasks were done, the <DW64>s, constitutionally light-hearted and
merry, gathered around their cabins with songs and dances, often
prolonged late into the hours of the night. They had never known any
thing better than their present lot. They compared their condition with
that of the slaves on the adjoining plantations, and exulted in view of
their own enjoyments. M. and Madame Renaudin often visited their cabins,
spoke words of kindness to them in their hours of sickness and sorrow,
encouraged the formation of pure attachments and honorable marriage
among the young, and took a lively interest in their sports. The slaves
loved their kind master and mistress most sincerely, and manifested
their affection in a thousand simple ways which touched the heart.

Josephine imbibed from infancy the spirit of her uncle and aunt. She
always spoke to the slaves in tones of kindness, and became a universal
favorite with all upon the plantations. She had no playmates but the
little <DW64>s and she united with them freely in all their sports.
Still, these little ebon children of bondage evidently looked up to
Josephine as to a superior being. She was the queen around whom they
circled in affectionate homage. The instinctive faculty, which Josephine
displayed through life, of winning the most ardent love of all who
met her, while, at the same time, she was protected from any undue
familiarity, she seems to have possessed even at that early day. The
children, who were her companions in all the sports of childhood, were
also dutiful subjects ever ready to be obedient to her will.

The social position of M. Renaudin, as one of the most opulent and
influential gentlemen of Martinique, necessarily attracted to his
hospitable residence much refined and cultivated society. Strangers from
Europe visiting the island, planters of intellectual tastes, and ladies
of polished manners, met a cordial welcome beneath the spacious roof of
this abode, where all abundance was to be found. Madame Renaudin had
passed her early years in Paris, and her manners were embellished with
that elegance and refinement which have given to Parisian society such a
world-wide celebrity. There was, at that period, much more intercourse
between the mother country and the colonies than at the present day.
Thus Josephine, though reared in a provincial home, was accustomed, from
infancy, to associate with gentlemen and ladies who were familiar with
the etiquette of the highest rank in society, and whose conversation was
intellectual and improving.

It at first view seems difficult to account for the high degree of
mental culture which Josephine displayed, when, seated by the side of
Napoleon, she was the Empress of France. Her remarks, her letters, her
conversational elegance, gave indication of a mind thoroughly furnished
with information and trained by severe discipline. And yet, from all the
glimpses we can catch of her early education, it would seem that, with
the exception of the accomplishments of music, dancing, and drawing, she
was left very much to the guidance of her own instinctive tastes.
But, like Madame Roland, she was blessed with that peculiar mental
constitution, which led her, of her own accord, to treasure up all
knowledge which books or conversation brought within her reach. From
childhood until the hour of her death, she was ever improving her mind
by careful observation and studious reading. She played upon the harp
with great skill, and sang with a voice of exquisite melody. She also
read with a correctness of elocution and a fervor of feeling which ever
attracted admiration. The morning of her childhood was indeed bright and
sunny, and her gladdened heart became so habituated to joyousness, that
her cheerful spirit seldom failed her even in the darkest days of her
calamity. Her passionate love for flowers had interested her deeply in
the study of botany, and she also became very skillful in embroidery,
that accomplishment which was once deemed an essential part of the
education of every lady.

Under such influences Josephine became a child of such grace, beauty,
and loveliness of character as to attract the attention and the
admiration of all who saw her. There was an affectionateness,
simplicity, and frankness in her manners which won all hearts. Her most
intimate companion in these early years was a young mulatto girl, the
daughter of a slave, and report said, with how much truth it is
impossible to know, that she was also the daughter of Captain Tascher
before his marriage. Her name was Euphemie. She was a year or two older
than Josephine, but she attached herself with deathless affection to her
patroness; and, though Josephine made her a companion and a confidante,
she gradually passed, even in these early years, into the position of a
maid of honor, and clung devotedly to her mistress through all the
changes of subsequent life. Joseph