The Second Funeral of Napoleon | Page 6

might have slept in peace under "this
audacious trophy," how could he do so and carriages go rattling by all
night, and people with great iron heels to their boots pass clattering
over the stones? Nor indeed could it be expected that a man whose
reputation stretches from the Pyramids to the Kremlin, should find a
column of which the base is only five-and-twenty feet square, a shelter
vast enough for his bones. In a word, then, although the proposal to
bury Napoleon under the column was ingenious, it was found not to
suit; whereupon somebody else proposed the Madelaine.
"It was proposed," says the before-quoted author with his usual felicity,
"to consecrate the Madelaine to his exiled manes"--that is, to his bones
when they were not in exile any longer. "He ought to have, it was said,
a temple entire. His glory fills the world. His bones could not contain
themselves in the coffin of a man--in the tomb of a king!" In this case
what was Mary Magdalen to do? "This proposition, I am happy to say,
was rejected, and a new one-- that of the President of the Council
adopted. Napoleon and his braves ought not to quit each other. Under
the immense gilded dome of the Invalides he would find a sanctuary
worthy of himself. A dome imitates the vault of heaven, and that vault
alone" (meaning of course the other vault) "should dominate above his
head. His old mutilated Guard shall watch around him: the last veteran,
as he has shed his blood in his combats, shall breathe his last sigh near
his tomb, and all these tombs shall sleep under the tattered standards
that have been won from all the nations of Europe."
The original words are "sous les lambeaux cribles des drapeaux cueillis
chez toutes les nations;" in English, "under the riddled rags of the flags
that have been culled or plucked" (like roses or buttercups) "in all the
nations." Sweet, innocent flowers of victory! there they are, my dear,
sure enough, and a pretty considerable hortus siccus may any man
examine who chooses to walk to the Invalides. The burial-place being
thus agreed on, the expedition was prepared, and on the 7th July the
"Belle Poule" frigate, in company with "La Favorite" corvette, quitted
Toulon harbor. A couple of steamers, the "Trident" and the "Ocean,"
escorted the ships as far as Gibraltar, and there left them to pursue their
voyage.

The two ships quitted the harbor in the sight of a vast concourse of
people, and in the midst of a great roaring of cannons. Previous to the
departure of the "Belle Poule," the Bishop of Frejus went on board, and
gave to the cenotaph, in which the Emperor's remains were to be
deposited, his episcopal benediction. Napoleon's old friends and
followers, the two Bertrands, Gourgaud, Emanuel Las Cases,
"companions in exile, or sons of the companions in exile of the prisoner
of the infame Hudson," says a French writer, were passengers on board
the frigate. Marchand, Denis, Pierret, Novaret, his old and faithful
servants, were likewise in the vessel. It was commanded by his Royal
Highness Francis Ferdinand Philip Louis Marie d'Orleans, Prince de
Joinville, a young prince two-and-twenty years of age, who was already
distinguished in the service of his country and king.
On the 8th of October, after a voyage of six-and-sixty days, the "Belle
Poule" arrived in James Town harbor; and on its arrival, as on its
departure from France, a great firing of guns took place. First, the
"Oreste" French brig-of-war began roaring out a salutation to the
frigate; then the "Dolphin" English schooner gave her one-and-twenty
guns; then the frigate returned the compliment of the "Dolphin"
schooner; then she blazed out with one-and-twenty guns more, as a
mark of particular politeness to the shore--which kindness the forts
acknowledged by similar detonations.
These little compliments concluded on both sides, Lieutenant
Middlemore, son and aide-de-camp of the Governor of St. Helena,
came on board the French frigate, and brought his father's best respects
to his Royal Highness. The Governor was at home ill, and forced to
keep his room; but he had made his house at James Town ready for
Captain Joinville and his suite, and begged that they would make use of
it during their stay.
On the 9th, H. R. H. the Prince of Joinville put on his full uniform and
landed, in company with Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud, Baron Las
Cases, M. Marchand, M. Coquereau, the chaplain of the expedition,
and M. de Rohan Chabot, who acted as chief mourner. All the garrison
were under arms to receive the illustrious Prince and the other members
of the expedition--who forthwith repaired to Plantation House, and had
a conference with the Governor regarding their mission.
On the 10th,