A message from the allied sovereigns, expressed a desire to visit her at Malmaison, with which she immediately complied, for the sake of her children, whose honors and titles had vanished with the emperor's downfall. On arriving at her beloved home, she was deeply affected to find a guard of honor had been stationed there to protect her property from the pillage and destruction involved in a revolution, like the dev astation that marks the track of a whirlwind. Josephine was here visited by the Emperor Alexander, with whom she plead for Napoleon. It was greatly owing to her influence and eloquence, and a regard for her devoted attachment for Napoleon, that severe measures were not taken to crush or effectually pinion his ambitious spirit. Josephine was comparatively happy when it was at last announced to her that he was to possess, in full sovereignty, the principality of the Island of Elba, an envied fate in contrast to the one she had feared. Upon his departure with the few who were still devoted to him, she wrote a most affectionate and touching letter, and would have followed him but for the delicacy of supplanting his rightful wife. Malmaison was again thronged with the great and gay, who came now, not with empty flattery, but to assure the empress of the most profound esteem. The Emperor Alexander on meeting her, expressed his gratification thus: "Madame, I burned with the desire to behold you. Since I entered France, I have never heard your name pronounced but with benedictions. In the cottage and in the palace, I have collected accounts of your goodness, and I do myself a pleasure in thus presenting to your majesty the universal homage of which I am the bearer." She was also visited by the King of Prussia. Louis, the occupant of the throne of France, conferred flattering distinctions upon Eugene, and would have made him marshal of France had his pride permitted him to accept the honor. Hortense was also received with marked favor. These monarchs, besides the most distinguished persons in Europe, frequently visited and dined at Malmaison, where Josephine gracefully did the honors. On the last occasion, May 19th, when a grand dinner was given to the allied sovereigns, she became too ill to remain with her guests. She left her duties with Hortense to perform, obliged at length to yield to a disease that for some time she had endeavored to keep at bay. A malignant form of quinzy had fastened upon her, and, despite the exertion of the most skillful physicians, it made rapid and alarming progress. She articulated with much difficulty. She expressed affection for her children, who remained constantly at her bedside, by grateful and tender looks, often smiling upon them while enduring the severest pain, endeavoring to calm their agitation and lessen their anxiety. A few days, however, so changed the beloved countenance of their mother, that no hopes were entertained for her recovery. She, herself, quickly recognized the hand of death. In her last moments, her thoughts wandered far away to Elba, longing for the presence of one whom not even the near approach of eternity could drive from her heart. A portrait of Napoleon hung near, which she motioned to be brought to her and placed where she could gaze upon it, as if to number him, who had forsaken her, among the weeping ones gathered about her. Hortense and Eugene knelt at the bedside, overcome with grief, and sobbing painfully while they received her last blessing. At this moment the Emperor Alexander, who visited her daily, entered and was gratefully recognized by Josephine. She summoned all her remaining strength, to say in a faint whisper, "I shall die regretted. I have always desired the happiness of France; I did all in my power to contribute to it; I can say with truth, that the first wife of Napoleon never caused a tear to flow." She died May 29th, 1814, mourned as she had said, not only by the French nation, but by all Europe. Princes testified their remembrance of her noble and eminent goodness, by following her remains to the simple, little church at Rouel, which was covered with black drapery on the occasion of her funeral. "No ornament or inscription decorated the walls, but the tears of the proudest sovereigns of Europe, mingled with those of the poor of France, to pronounce the funeral oration of the good Josephine." Her remains were afterwards placed in a beautiful tomb of white marble, upon which the empress is represented in a kneeling posture, as if praying for France. It gives no recital of her virtues, no enumeration of her titles; the monument only bears the simple, touching inscription-" Eugene and Hortense to Josephine." Though crowned an empress, she never lost the sweetness and simplicity of character that belonged to her lively girlhood, in the quiet at Martinique. Early disappointments and afflictions, so far from em bittering her nature, served to chasten and fortify her spirit for the gentle endurance of sterner griefs. Great in prosperity, she was greater in adversity. She is an example of humane sympathy, of calm reason, of lofty magnanimity, thorough integrity and unfaltering devotion to the objects of her affection. She was one of the countless instances of womanly tenderness repeatedly sacrificed to worldly schemes of the base and crafty; and she is an illustrious evidence of the higher policy of a frank and straight-forward rectitude. Hers was that simple wisdom of a true heart which transcends the most dazzling genius of man. And as one of earth's true souls, she will enlist the warm admiration of all who have an earnestness akin to hers, so long as the world endures. |