Napoleon’s Favourite Mistress

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 14041, 17 December 1938, Page 13 (Supplement)

Napoleon’s Favourite Mistress

THE cor XT ESS W ALEWSKA

SHARED HIS TRIUMPH AM) HIS SORROWS. (Uy J. A. Walsh). Napoleon made illicit love to many /beautiful women in Ills day, but the only one who really captured his affections was the Countess Walewska. But for s*onie strange and unaccountable reason history is practically mute regarding the emperors liaison with the lovely Pole, who shared many of his triumphs and some of his s- rrows, and who remained faithful to her imperial lover till the culminating act of the Hundred Days drama—St. Helena. Wellknown writers of that troublous period, sue a as Thiers, Alison, Abbott, and a host of others, fail to make the slightest reference to the dainty and alluring little lady. Even J. H. llose, the most scholarly and certainly the most reliable of the English chroniclers of Napoleonic lore, only refers to the Warsaw beauty in a very brief footnote. The silence is puzzling to the student of history, as the very' marked and devoted attention paid to her by the emperor, together with her wondrous charm and grace and high social position, placed her among the notable personages of her period. Paul Gruyer, in his delightful book, “Napoleon, King of Elba,’* says that from the time the emperor first met the Countess Walewska ' she continued to form part of jhis life, though history in its falsehood and hypocrisy is silent regarding her. ' The Countess Potocka. a countrywoman of Marie Walewska, j and a lady of the highest rank, who frequently met and conversed with Napoleon, and who figured prominently in the brilliant social gatherings of those days, relates in her very interesting memoirs that the Countess Walewska, whom she knew intimately, “was exquisitely pretty, a realisation of G-reuze s faces, her eyes, her month snd her teeth were beautiful. Her laugh was so fresh, her face so seductive, as a whole, that it was never apparent that anything was wanting to the complete regularity of her features." Small and beautifully' made with

blue eyes and a fair complexion, a grave and gay in temperament, she occupied in society the position of a young widow, and her jealous rivals said that if Napoleon was her last lover he certainly was not her first. She was married at sixteen to a septuagenarian—Marie Laczinska was his third wife—a hard business-like man, reputed to be very wealthy, and who spent the whole of his time on his large estate at Walewicz. Napoleon met her at Warsaw, in 1807, when at the very summit of

his fame. She was then barely twenty. It was at a ball given by the famous Talleyrand. The emperor, having heard so much about the Polish ladies, was anxious to count one among his conquests. The wily old Talleyrand, observing Napoleon's admiring glances in the direction of the fair countess, and anxious to gratify his desire, smoothed away the preliminary obstacles and arranged an introduction. The emperor, it was noticed, was particularly attentive to his young and pretty companion. and danced a quadrille with her. He then shook hands, a proceeding which, her rivals said, was equivalent to an assignation. They were right. They met an evening or

two later. The dainty* little countess blushingly resisted the emperor’s amorous advances. She returned his flowers and even, it is said, refused acceptance of a beautiful diamond ornament. Napoleon was furious. He stormed and raved, but still the fair

Marie held out, and it was only after four whole days—an unheard of defence with the ‘‘Little Corporal” in th* realms ot love—that, yielding to the advice of her friends, who looked upon the French as their deliverers. and tin* emperor as a demigod, the prettiest and most gentle lady in Poland capitulated “in the interests of her country. Religious scruples, so we are told, and the fear of being caressed one day and

abandoned the next, were responsible for h<T stubborn resistance, A few days later the countess was overjoyed when the imperial lover promoted a handsome, debonair, good-tor-nothing brother from lieutenant to colonel. One of the duties

of this young officer was to drive

his sister to headquarters, “with the blinds carefully lowered," when the emperor was not engaged in active hostilities. The countess was a great favourite with the officers of the army, as she possessed all the grace

and charm conducive to admiration, and those who saw her were bewildered by her loveliness and sweetness of manner. Her smile was iriestible. The arrival of the French at Warsaw threw the populace into a great state of excitement. The Polish ladies almost fought each other for the honour of housing the French officers. There was an orgy’

of love and gaiety. Napoleon had set the example, ft is said that the Polish ladies had never been loved with such ardour before. Their affections wen- almost stormed. After the memorable battle of Wagrarn. in 1809, the countess lived in a small ■villa in the suburbs of Vienna, and every evening the faithful Constant, who falls her “an angelic woman,' would drive her in a carriage to the

emp'Tor at the palace of Sohoenbrunn, who “far from tiring of her grew more fond of her every day.’ lb lore Napoleon’s marriage with Marie Louise she had given her lover a narrow gold ring on which was engraved: “When you cease to love me do not forget that I love you.” The emperor’s marriage, with the Austrian princess did not separate the lovers. Napoleon arranged for Marie Walewska to come to Pans, and when the official wife had retired for the night, the secret staircase at the Tuileries was always •pen to his mistress. \tter Bonaparte’s abdication in 1814, following the disastrous Rus-

sian campaign, sue came to Fontainebleau, with words of comfort on her lips and love and tenderness in her heart. She found Constant on guard at the door of the emperor’s room. Twice during the night the trusty attendant had the temerity to inform his master that the countess was waiting to be received. But Napoleon was too much distressed to take any notice, and continued to pace the floor of his apartment With rapid strides, his -steps resounding in the stillness of the night. But love sustained her hopes and she waited, cold and shivering in her light wrap till the dawn of a raw April morning, and then silently withdrew, sad at heart, her first repulse from the only 7 man she had ever really* loved. A week later Napoleon sailed for Elba. But she was determined to see him. and a letter arriving from the emperor, in reply to one of her own, some three months after his departure from Paris, strengthened her resolve. and she arrived at his home in the Mediterranean, “rejoicing in her pride as woman and mistress. The lawful wife had denied her duties (Marie Louise had gone to Vienna), but she was faithful, and not only was she in a morally superior position to her crowned rival, but in the sole possession of his love.”

She brought their child, a happy little boy of some five years, with whom the emperor romped and play-

ed. This little fellow, Florian Alexandre Joseph, became Minister of Foreign Affairs under Napoleon 111, and died at Strasburg two years before the Franco-German war. The countess stayed two days at Elba, which were spent- in her lover’s tent at Monte Giove, his mountain rt> treat. where he put himself in

“quarantine,” receiving no one. When she reproached him for having repulsed her at Fontainebleau, he replied: “Forgive me, dearest, I was distracted.” On the evening of the second day he fondly embraced her and said they must part, as he was expecting a visit- from Marie Louise. But while the “King of Elba” was basking in the smiles and caresses of: his fair mistress, the lawful wife, Marie Louise, daughter of the Cae-

sars, was languishing in the arms of her one-eyed lover, Count Neipperg, the Austrian chamberlain, whom she afterwards married. The emperor escorted the countess part of the way to the coast, and they parted in one of the most violent thunderstorms that had ever visited the island. So rough was the sea that the authorities refused to allow the countess and her compan-

ions to embark. The countess insisted. Napoleon said she must go. and he must be obeyed. That settled the question, the port officials not daring to disobey the emperor. Bonaparte worried a great deal until ho heard of her safety. The countess was at Prince Murat’s court, at Naples, in the middle of a ball, when a lote was handed to her, written by the emperor himself, announcing his escape from Elba. The note concluded: “Will meet you in Baris.” She left the following day* for France, and was present at his 1 eception at the Tuileries. Then followed Waterloo and the rout of the French army, and his second abdication. When Napoleon was making preparations at Malmaison for his departure to St. Helena, the dainty little lady came to bid the only man she had ever really loved farewell. She was in great distress and cried bitterly. ‘“I felt very sorry for her,” said Queen Hortense, Josephine’s daughter, “as she was unable to restrain her tears, and urged her to lunch with me alone so that others might not see her evident grief.” She continued to love her friend in his fall and humiliation, “when nothing of his greatness remained but the memory of itV 7 When his star paled, when all forsook him. she stood staunchly by* liis side. Deeming herself free, following the emperor’s banishment to St. Helena—the old Count Walewska had died the previous year—she married Napoleon’s cousin, General IVOrnano, whom she' had met at Liege? where she had sought refuge from the wrath of the Bourbons. When Ihe fallen monarch heard at St. Helena of the marriage his cup of sorrow was filled to the brim. tr Slie whom

he had loved so much and-who had so long been faithful to him, had givon herself to another." She bore a child in 1817 and died in Paris the same year, in the house which Napoleon had given her. No memorial now marks the last- resting place of i the woman on whom tlrn Man of • | Destiny lavished so much affection.