The Second Funeral of Napoleon | Page 9

as the cutter had pushed off from the quay, the batteries ashore
fired a salute of twenty-one guns, and our ships returned the salute with
all their artillery. Two other salutes were fired during the passage from
the quay to the frigate; the cutter advancing very slowly, and
surrounded by the other boats. At half-past six o'clock it reached the
'Belle Poule,' all the men being on the yards with their hats in their

hands. The Prince had had arranged on the deck a chapel, decked with
flags and trophies of arms, the altar being placed at the foot of the
mizzen-mast. The coffin, carried by our sailors, passed between two
ranks of officers with drawn swords, and was placed on the
quarter-deck. The absolution was pronounced by the Abbe Coquereau
the same evening. Next day, at ten o'clock, a solemn mass was
celebrated on the deck, in presence of the officers and part of the crews
of the ships. His Royal Highness stood at the foot of the coffin. The
cannon of the 'Favorite' and 'Oreste' fired minute-guns during this
ceremony, which terminated by a solemn absolution; and the Prince de
Joinville, the gentlemen of the mission, the officers, and the premiers
maitres of the ship, sprinkled holy water on the coffin. At eleven, all
the ceremonies of the church were accomplished, all the honors done to
a sovereign had been paid to the mortal remains of Napoleon. The
coffin was carefully lowered between decks, and placed in the chapelle
ardente which had been prepared at Toulon for its reception. At this
moment, the vessels fired a last salute with all their artillery, and the
frigate took in her flags, keeping up only her flag at the stern and the
royal standard at the maintopgallant-mast. On Sunday, the 18th, at
eight in the morning, the 'Belle Poule' quitted St. Helena with her
precious deposit on board.
"During the whole time that the mission remained at James Town, the
best understanding never ceased to exist between the population of the
island and the French. The Prince de Joinville and his companions met
in all quarters and at all times with the greatest good-will and the
warmest testimonials of sympathy. The authorities and the inhabitants
must have felt, no doubt, great regret at seeing taken away from their
island the coffin that had rendered it so celebrated; but they repressed
their feelings with a courtesy that does honor to the frankness of their
character."
II.
ON THE VOYAGE FROM ST. HELENA TO PARIS.
On the 18th October the French frigate quitted the island with its
precious burden on board.
His Royal Highness the Captain acknowledged cordially the kindness
and attention which he and his crew had received from the English
authorities and the inhabitants of the Island of St. Helena; nay,

promised a pension to an old soldier who had been for many years the
guardian of the imperial tomb, and went so far as to take into
consideration the petition of a certain lodging-house keeper, who
prayed for a compensation for the loss which the removal of the
Emperor's body would occasion to her. And although it was not to be
expected that the great French nation should forego its natural desire of
recovering the remains of a hero so dear to it for the sake of the
individual interest of the landlady in question, it must have been
satisfactory to her to find, that the peculiarity of her position was so
delicately appreciated by the august Prince who commanded the
expedition, and carried away with him animae dimidium suae--the half
of the genteel independence which she derived from the situation of her
hotel. In a word, politeness and friendship could not be carried farther.
The Prince's realm and the landlady's were bound together by the
closest ties of amity. M. Thiers was Minister of France, the great patron
of the English alliance. At London M. Guizot was the worthy
representative of the French good- will towards the British people; and
the remark frequently made by our orators at public dinners, that
"France and England, while united, might defy the world," was
considered as likely to hold good for many years to come,--the union
that is. As for defying the world, that was neither here nor there; nor
did English politicians ever dream of doing any such thing, except
perhaps at the tenth glass of port at "Freemason's Tavern."
Little, however, did Mrs. Corbett, the St. Helena landlady, little did his
Royal Highness Prince Ferdinand Philip Marie de Joinville know what
was going on in Europe all this time (when I say in Europe, I mean in
Turkey, Syria, and Egypt); how clouds, in fact, were gathering upon
what you call the political horizon; and how tempests were rising that
were to