The portrait of “Miss Patterson,” the first wife of the late Prince Jerome Bonaparte, which we publish herewith, is from a painting owned by her grandson, which represents her as she appeared in 1815. All our readers know, of course, that this lady is now prosecuting a suit in the French Courts for the recognition of her marriage with Jerome Bonaparte. The lady herself, though seventy-five years of age, has gone to Paris for the purpose, and is instructing her lawyers in person.
Those who wish to read a full account of the case we refer to No. 187 of Harper's Weekly, published on 28th July last, in which we narrated the eventful tale at length. Here we may briefly say that Jerome Bonaparte, a young man of twenty, commanding a French man-of-war, met at Baltimore, in 1804, Elizabeth Patterson, daughter of the President of the Bank of Baltimore; wooed and won her. They were married without the consent of Jerome's eldest brother and legal guardian, the Emperor.
When Napoleon heard of it he refused to consent; refused to suffer any court to register the marriage; refused to permit “Miss Patterson” to land at Amsterdam; and wrote, vainly, the following letter to the Pope to induce him to annul the marriage by bull:
“I have frequently spoken to your Holiness of a young brother, nineteen years of age, whom I sent in a frigate to America, and who, after a sojourn of a month, although a minor, married a Protestant, the daughter of a merchant of the United States, He just returned. He is fully conscious of his fault, I have sent back to America Miss Patterson, who calls herself his wife. By our laws the marriage is null, A Spanish priest so far forgot his duties as to pronounce the benediction, I desire form your Holiness a bull annulling the marriage. I could easily have the marriage broken in Paris, since the Gallican Church pronounces such marriages null. But it appears better to me to have it done In Rome, on of the example to sovereign families marrying Protestants. It is important for France that there should not be a Protestant young woman so near my person. It is dangerous that a minor and distinguished youth should be exposed to such seduction against the civil laws and all sorts of propriety.”
The Emperor spoke the truth when he said that Jerome was “conscious of his fault.” He was glad to accept an embassy to Algiers; and “Miss Patterson”, broken-hearted, and with her son, returned to Baltimore, where she has lived quietly ever since. Jerome, as every body knows, subsequently married a princess of Würtemberg, and had by her a son, the present Prince Napoleon, and his sister the famous Princess Mathilde. It is to have the first marriage declared legal, and Napoleon and Mathilde pronounced illegitimate, that “Miss Patterson” is now suing in Paris. The case naturally excites great interest.
