Northwestern giving Napoleon’s brother’s letter to France
Special delivery from Northwestern University to France: A letter from Napoleon Bonaparte’s brother.
In a news release, the university announced Friday it will hand over next week to the Consul General of France in Chicago the letter dated April 27, 1792, and signed by Joseph Bonaparte. One of the school’s archivists found the letter a few years ago.
The letter was part of a collection given to Northwestern by the family of a man named Jack McBride, who is credited with saving the collection during World War II on the island of Corsica — the birthplace of Napoleon — when he stopped soldiers from burning documents.
In the letter, Bonaparte writes in Italian about his then-22-year-old brother and a “skirmish” he got into on Corsica.
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