the sick and the sorrowful,
she won the hearts of the seamen. When a prisoner, under sentence of
death, by her cheerfulness, her forgetfulness of self, and her hourly
deeds of delicate attention to others, she became an object of universal
love in those cells of despair. When prosperity again dawned upon her,
and she was in the enjoyment of an ample competence, every cottage in
the vicinity of Malmaison testified to her benevolence. And now, when
placed in a position of power, all her influence was exerted to relieve
the misfortunes of those illustrious men whom the storms of revolution
had driven from their homes and from France. She never forgot the
unfortunate, but devoted a considerable portion of her income to the
relief of the emigrants. She was at times accused of extravagance. Her
nature was generous in the extreme, and the profusion of her
expenditures was an index of her expansive benevolence.

Napoleon, soon after he became first consul, published a decree,
inviting the emigrants to return, and did what he could to restore to
them their confiscated estates. There were, however, necessarily
exceptions from the general act of amnesty. Cases were continually
arising of peculiar perplexity and hardship, where widows and orphans,
reduced from opulence to penury, sought lost property, which, during the
tumult of the times, had become involved in inextricable embarrassments.
All such persons made application to Josephine. She ever found time to
listen to their tales of sorrow, to speak words of sympathy, and, with
great soundness of judgment, to render them all the aid in her power.
"Josephine," said Napoleon, in reference to these her applications for
the unfortunate, "will not take a refusal. But, it must be confessed,
she rarely undertakes a case which has not propriety, at least, on its
side." The Jacobin laws had fallen with fearful severity upon all the
members of the ancient aristocracy and all the friends of royalty. The
cause of these victims of anarchy Josephine was ever ready to espouse.

A noble family by the name of Decrest had been indebted to the
interposition of the wife of the first consul for their permission to
return to France. As nearly all their property had disappeared during
their exile, Josephine continued to befriend them with her influence
and her purse. On the evening of a festival day, a grand display
of fire-works was exhibited on the banks of the Seine. A rocket,
misdirected, struck