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diff --git a/old/2napf10.txt b/old/2napf10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f417221 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2napf10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2114 @@ +Project Gutenberg Etext The Second Funeral of Napoleon, Thackeray +#14 in our series by William Makepeace Thackeray + + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world, be sure to check +the copyright laws for your country before posting these files!! + +Please take a look at the important information in this header. +We encourage you to keep this file on your own disk, keeping an +electronic path open for the next readers. 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We need your donations. + + +Title: The Second Funeral of Napoleon + +Author: William Makepeace Thackeray +Writing as: "Michael Angelo Titmarch." + +May, 2001 [Etext #2645] + + +Project Gutenberg Etext The Second Funeral of Napoleon, Thackeray +******This file should be named 2napf10.txt or 2napf10.zip****** + +Corrected EDITIONS of our etexts get a new NUMBER, 2napf11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 2napf10a.txt + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + +Project Gutenberg Etexts are usually created from multiple editions, +all of which are in the Public Domain in the United States, unless a +copyright notice is included. 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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.29.93*END* + + + + + +This etext was prepared by Donald Lainson, charlie@idirect.com. + + + + + +The Second Funeral of Napoleon + +by William Makepeace Thackeray +"by Michael Angelo Titmarch." + + +I. On the Disinterment of Napoleon at St. Helena + +II. On the Voyage from St. Helena to Paris + +III. On the Funeral Ceremony + + + + +I. + +ON THE DISINTERMENT OF NAPOLEON AT ST. HELENA. + + +MY DEAR ----,--It is no easy task in this world to distinguish +between what is great in it, and what is mean; and many and many is +the puzzle that I have had in reading History (or the works of +fiction which go by that name), to know whether I should laud up to +the skies, and endeavor, to the best of my small capabilities, to +imitate the remarkable character about whom I was reading, or +whether I should fling aside the book and the hero of it, as things +altogether base, unworthy, laughable, and get a novel, or a game of +billiards, or a pipe of tobacco, or the report of the last debate in +the House, or any other employment which would leave the mind in a +state of easy vacuity, rather than pester it with a vain set of +dates relating to actions which are in themselves not worth a fig, +or with a parcel of names of people whom it can do one no earthly +good to remember. + +It is more than probable, my love, that you are acquainted with what +is called Grecian and Roman history, chiefly from perusing, in very +early youth, the little sheepskin-bound volumes of the ingenious Dr. +Goldsmith, and have been indebted for your knowledge of the English +annals to a subsequent study of the more voluminous works of Hume +and Smollett. The first and the last-named authors, dear Miss +Smith, have written each an admirable history,--that of the Reverend +Dr. Primrose, Vicar of Wakefield, and that of Mr. Robert Bramble, of +Bramble Hall--in both of which works you will find true and +instructive pictures of human life, and which you may always think +over with advantage. But let me caution you against putting any +considerable trust in the other works of these authors, which were +placed in your hands at school and afterwards, and in which you were +taught to believe. Modern historians, for the most part, know very +little, and, secondly, only tell a little of what they know. + +As for those Greeks and Romans whom you have read of in "sheepskin," +were you to know really what those monsters were, you would blush +all over as red as a hollyhock, and put down the history-book in a +fury. Many of our English worthies are no better. You are not in a +situation to know the real characters of any one of them. They +appear before you in their public capacities, but the individuals +you know not. Suppose, for instance, your mamma had purchased her +tea in the Borough from a grocer living there by the name of +Greenacre: suppose you had been asked out to dinner, and the +gentleman of the house had said: "Ho! Francois! a glass of champagne +for Miss Smith;"--Courvoisier would have served you just as any +other footman would; you would never have known that there was +anything extraordinary in these individuals, but would have thought +of them only in their respective public characters of Grocer and +Footman. This, Madam, is History, in which a man always appears +dealing with the world in his apron, or his laced livery, but which +has not the power or the leisure, or, perhaps, is too high and +mighty to condescend to follow and study him in his privacy. Ah, my +dear, when big and little men come to be measured rightly, and great +and small actions to be weighed properly, and people to be stripped +of their royal robes, beggars' rags, generals' uniforms, seedy out- +at-elbowed coats, and the like--or the contrary say, when souls come +to be stripped of their wicked deceiving bodies, and turned out +stark naked as they were before they were born--what a strange +startling sight shall we see, and what a pretty figure shall some of +us cut! Fancy how we shall see Pride, with his Stultz clothes and +padding pulled off, and dwindled down to a forked radish! Fancy +some Angelic Virtue, whose white raiment is suddenly whisked over +his head, showing us cloven feet and a tail! Fancy Humility, eased +of its sad load of cares and want and scorn, walking up to the very +highest place of all, and blushing as he takes it! Fancy,--but we +must not fancy such a scene at all, which would be an outrage on +public decency. Should we be any better than our neighbors? No, +certainly. And as we can't be virtuous, let us be decent. +Figleaves are a very decent, becoming wear, and have been now in +fashion for four thousand years. And so, my dear, history is +written on fig-leaves. Would you have anything further? O fie! + +Yes, four thousand years ago that famous tree was planted. At their +very first lie, our first parents made for it, and there it is still +the great Humbug Plant, stretching its wide arms, and sheltering +beneath its leaves, as broad and green as ever, all the generations +of men. Thus, my dear, coquettes of your fascinating sex cover +their persons with figgery, fantastically arranged, and call their +masquerading, modesty. Cowards fig themselves out fiercely as +"salvage men," and make us believe that they are warriors. Fools +look very solemnly out from the dusk of the leaves, and we fancy in +the gloom that they are sages. And many a man sets a great wreath +about his pate and struts abroad a hero, whose claims we would all +of us laugh at, could we but remove the ornament and see his +numskull bare. + +And such--(excuse my sermonizing)--such is the constitution of +mankind, that men have, as it were, entered into a compact among +themselves to pursue the fig-leaf system a l'outrance, and to cry +down all who oppose it. Humbug they will have. Humbugs themselves, +they will respect humbugs. Their daily victuals of life must be +seasoned with humbug. Certain things are there in the world that +they will not allow to be called by their right names, and will +insist upon our admiring, whether we will or no. Woe be to the man +who would enter too far into the recesses of that magnificent temple +where our Goddess is enshrined, peep through the vast embroidered +curtains indiscreetly, penetrate the secret of secrets, and expose +the Gammon of Gammons! And as you must not peer too curiously +within, so neither must you remain scornfully without. Humbug- +worshippers, let us come into our great temple regularly and +decently: take our seats, and settle our clothes decently; open our +books, and go through the service with decent gravity; listen, and +be decently affected by the expositions of the decent priest of the +place; and if by chance some straggling vagabond, loitering in the +sunshine out of doors, dares to laugh or to sing, and disturb the +sanctified dulness of the faithful;--quick! a couple of big beadles +rush out and belabor the wretch, and his yells make our devotions +more comfortable. + +Some magnificent religious ceremonies of this nature are at present +taking place in France; and thinking that you might perhaps while +away some long winter evening with an account of them, I have +compiled the following pages for your use. Newspapers have been +filled, for some days past, with details regarding the St. Helena +expedition, many pamphlets have been published, men go about crying +little books and broadsheets filled with real or sham particulars; +and from these scarce and valuable documents the following pages are +chiefly compiled. + +We must begin at the beginning; premising, in the first place, that +Monsieur Guizot, when French Ambassador at London, waited upon Lord +Palmerston with a request that the body of the Emperor Napoleon +should be given up to the French nation, in order that it might find +a final resting-place in French earth. To this demand the English +Government gave a ready assent; nor was there any particular +explosion of sentiment upon either side, only some pretty cordial +expressions of mutual good-will. Orders were sent out to St. Helena +that the corpse should be disinterred in due time, when the French +expedition had arrived in search of it, and that every respect and +attention should he paid to those who came to carry back to their +country the body of the famous dead warrior and sovereign. + +This matter being arranged in very few words (as in England, upon +most points, is the laudable fashion), the French Chambers began to +debate about the place in which they should bury the body when they +got it; and numberless pamphlets and newspapers out of doors joined +in the talk. Some people there were who had fought and conquered +and been beaten with the great Napoleon, and loved him and his +memory. Many more were there who, because of his great genius and +valor, felt excessively proud in their own particular persons, and +clamored for the return of their hero. And if there were some few +individuals in this great hot-headed, gallant, boasting, sublime, +absurd French nation, who had taken a cool view of the dead +Emperor's character; if, perhaps, such men as Louis Philippe, and +Monsieur A. Thiers, Minister and Deputy, and Monsieur Francois +Guizot, Deputy and Excellency, had, from interest or conviction, +opinions at all differing from those of the majority; why, they knew +what was what, and kept their opinions to themselves, coming with a +tolerably good grace and flinging a few handfuls of incense upon the +altar of the popular idol. + +In the succeeding debates, then, various opinions were given with +regard to the place to be selected for the Emperor's sepulture. +"Some demanded," says an eloquent anonymous Captain in the Navy who +has written an "Itinerary from Toulon to St. Helena," "that the +coffin should be deposited under the bronze taken from the enemy by +the French army--under the Column of the Place Vendome. The idea +was a fine one. This is the most glorious monument that was ever +raised in a conqueror's honor. This column has been melted out of +foreign cannon. These same cannons have furrowed the bosoms of our +braves with noble cicatrices; and this metal--conquered by the +soldier first, by the artist afterwards--has allowed to be imprinted +on its front its own defeat and our glory. Napoleon might sleep in +peace under this audacious trophy. But, would his ashes find a +shelter sufficiently vast beneath this pedestal? And his puissant +statue dominating Paris, beams with sufficient grandeur on this +place: whereas the wheels of carriages and the feet of passengers +would profane the funereal sanctity of the spot in trampling on the +soil so near his head." + +You must not take this description, dearest Amelia, "at the foot of +the letter," as the French phrase it, but you will here have a +masterly exposition of the arguments for and against the burial of +the Emperor under the Column of the Place Vendome. The idea was a +fine one, granted; but, like all other ideas, it was open to +objections. You must not fancy that the cannon, or rather the +cannon-balls, were in the habit of furrowing the bosoms of French +braves, or any other braves, with cicatrices: on the contrary, it is +a known fact that cannon-balls make wounds, and not cicatrices +(which, my dear, are wounds partially healed); nay, that a man +generally dies after receiving one such projectile on his chest, +much more after having his bosom furrowed by a score of them. No, +my love; no bosom, however heroic, can stand such applications, and +the author only means that the French soldiers faced the cannon and +took them. Nor, my love, must you suppose that the column was +melted: it was the cannon was melted, not the column; but such +phrases are often used by orators when they wish to give a +particular force and emphasis to their opinions. + +Well, again, although Napoleon 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, 11th, 12th, these conferences continued: the crews of +the French ships were permitted to come on shore and see the tomb of +Napoleon. Bertrand, Gourgaud, Las Cases wandered about the island +and revisited the spots to which they had been partial in the +lifetime of the Emperor. + +The 15th October was fixed on for the day of the exhumation: that +day five-and twenty years, the Emperor Napoleon first set his foot +upon the island. + +On the day previous all things had been made ready: the grand +coffins and ornaments brought from France, and the articles +necessary for the operation were carried to the valley of the Tomb. + +The operations commenced at midnight. The well-known friends of +Napoleon before named and some other attendants of his, the chaplain +and his acolytes, the doctor of the "Belle Poule," the captains of +the French ships, and Captain Alexander of the Engineers, the +English Commissioner, attended the disinterment. His Royal highness +Prince de Joinville could not be present because the workmen were +under English command. + +The men worked for nine hours incessantly, when at length the earth +was entirely removed from the vault, all the horizontal strata of +masonry demolished, and the large slab which covered the place where +the stone sarcophagus lay, removed by a crane. This outer coffin of +stone was perfect, and could scarcely be said to be damp. + +"As soon as the Abbe Coquereau had recited the prayers, the coffin +was removed with the greatest care, and carried by the engineer- +soldiers, bareheaded, into a tent that had been prepared for the +purpose. After the religious ceremonies, the inner coffins were +opened. The outermost coffin was slightly injured: then came, one +of lead, which was in good condition, and enclosed two others--one +of tin and one of wood. The last coffin was lined inside with white +satin, which, having become detached by the effect of time, had +fallen upon the body and enveloped it like a winding-sheet, and had +become slightly attached to it. + +"It is difficult to describe with what anxiety and emotion those who +were present waited for the moment which was to expose to them all +that death had left of Napoleon. Notwithstanding the singular state +of preservation of the tomb and coffins, we could scarcely hope to +find anything but some misshapen remains of the least perishable +part of the costume to evidence the identity of the body. But when +Doctor Guillard raised the sheet of satin, an indescribable feeling +of surprise and affection was expressed by the spectators, many of +whom burst into tears. The Emperor was himself before their eyes! +The features of the face, though changed, were perfectly recognized; +the hands extremely beautiful; his well-known costume had suffered +but little, and the colors were easily distinguished. The attitude +itself was full of ease, and but for the fragments of the satin +lining which covered, as with a fine gauze, several parts of the +uniform, we might have believed we still saw Napoleon before us +lying on his bed of state. General Bertrand and M. Marchand, who +were both present at the interment, quickly pointed out the +different articles which each had deposited in the coffin, and +remained in the precise position in which they had previously +described them to be. + +"The two inner coffins were carefully closed again; the old leaden +coffin was strongly blocked up with wedges of wood, and both were +once more soldered up with the most minute precautions, under the +direction of Dr. Guillard. These different operations being +terminated, the ebony sarcophagus was closed as well as its oak +case. On delivering the key of the ebony sarcophagus to Count de +Chabot, the King's Commissioner, Captain Alexander declared to him, +in the name of the Governor, that this coffin, containing the mortal +remains of the Emperor Napoleon, was considered as at the disposal +of the French Government from that day, and from the moment at which +it should arrive at the place of embarkation, towards which it was +about to be sent under the orders of General Middlemore. The King's +Commissioner replied that he was charged by his Government, and in +its name, to accept the coffin from the hands of the British +authorities, and that he and the other persons composing the French +mission were ready to follow it to James Town, where the Prince de +Joinville, superior commandant of the expedition, would be ready to +receive it and conduct it on board his frigate. A car drawn by four +horses, decked with funereal emblems, had been prepared before the +arrival of the expedition, to receive the coffin, as well as a pall, +and all the other suitable trappings of mourning. When the +sarcophagus was placed on the car, the whole was covered with a +magnificent imperial mantle brought from Paris, the four corners of +which were borne by Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud, Baron Las Cases +and M. Marchand. At half-past three o'clock the funeral car began +to move, preceded by a chorister bearing the cross, and by the Abbe +Coquereau. M. de Chabot acted as chief mourner. All the +authorities of the island, all the principal inhabitants, and the +whole of the garrison, followed in procession from the tomb to the +quay. But with the exception of the artillerymen necessary to lead +the horses, and occasionally support the car when descending some +steep parts of the way, the places nearest the coffin were reserved +for the French mission. General Middlemore, although in a weak +state of health, persisted in following the whole way on foot, +together with General Churchill, chief of the staff in India, who +had arrived only two days before from Bombay. The immense weight of +the coffins, and the unevenness of the road, rendered the utmost +carefulness necessary throughout the whole distance. Colonel +Trelawney commanded in person the small detachment of artillerymen +who conducted the car, and, thanks to his great care, not the +slightest accident took place. From the moment of departure to the +arrival at the quay, the cannons of the forts and the 'Belle Poule' +fired minute-guns. After an hour's march the rain ceased for the +first time since the commencement of the operations, and on arriving +in sight of the town we found a brilliant sky and beautiful weather. +From the morning the three French vessels of war had assumed the +usual signs of deep mourning: their yards crossed and their flags +lowered. Two French merchantmen, 'Bonne Amie' and 'Indien,' which +had been in the roads for two days, had put themselves under the +Prince's orders, and followed during the ceremony all the manoeuvers +of the 'Belle Poule.' The forts of the town, and the houses of the +consuls, had also their flags half-mast high. + +"On arriving at the entrance of the town, the troops of the garrison +and the militia formed in two lines as far as the extremity of the +quay. According to the order for mourning prescribed for the +English army, the men had their arms reversed and the officers had +crape on their arms, with their swords reversed. All the +inhabitants had been kept away from the line of march, but they +lined the terraces, commanding the town, and the streets were +occupied only by the troops, the 91st Regiment being on the right +and the militia on the left. The cortege advanced slowly between +two ranks of soldiers to the sound of a funeral march, while the +cannons of the forts were fired, as well as those of the 'Belle +Poule' and the 'Dolphin;' the echoes being repeated a thousand times +by the rocks above James Town. After two hours' march the cortege +stopped at the end of the quay, where the Prince de Joinville had +stationed himself at the head of the officers of the three French +ships of war. The greatest official honors had been rendered by the +English authorities to the memory of the Emperor--the most striking +testimonials of respect had marked the adieu given by St. Helena to +his coffin; and from this moment the mortal remains of the Emperor +were about to belong to France. When the funeral-car stopped, the +Prince de Joinville advanced alone, and in presence of all around, +who stood with their heads uncovered, received, in a solemn manner, +the imperial coffin from the hands of General Middlemore. His Royal +Highness then thanked the Governor, in the name of France, for all +the testimonials of sympathy and respect with which the authorities +and inhabitants of St. Helena had surrounded the memorable +ceremonial. A cutter had been expressly prepared to receive the +coffin. During the embarkation, which the Prince directed himself, +the bands played funeral airs, and all the boats were stationed +round with their oars shipped. The moment the sarcophagus touched +the cutter, a magnificent royal flag, which the ladies of James Town +had embroidered for the occasion, was unfurled, and the 'Belle +Poule' immediately squared her masts and unfurled her colors. All +the manoeuvers of the frigate were immediately followed by the other +vessels. Our mourning had ceased with the exile of Napoleon, and +the French naval division dressed itself out in all its festal +ornaments to receive the imperial coffin under the French flag. The +sarcophagus was covered in the cutter with the imperial mantle. The +Prince de Joinville placed himself at the rudder, Commandant Guyet +at the head of the boat; Generals Bertrand and Gourgaud, Baron Las +Cases, M. Marchand, and the Abbe Coquereau occupied the same places +as during the march. Count Chabot and Commandant Hernoux were +astern, a little in advance of the Prince. As soon 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 blow to pieces our Anglo-Gallic +temple of friendship. Oh, but it is sad to think that a single +wicked old Turk should be the means of setting our two Christian +nations by the ears! + +Yes, my love, this disreputable old man had been for some time past +the object of the disinterested attention of the great sovereigns of +Europe. The Emperor Nicolas (a moral character, though following +the Greek superstition, and adored for his mildness and benevolence +of disposition), the Emperor Ferdinand, the King of Prussia, and our +own gracious Queen, had taken such just offence at his conduct and +disobedience towards a young and interesting sovereign, whose +authority he had disregarded, whose fleet he had kidnapped, whose +fair provinces he had pounced upon, that they determined to come to +the aid of Abdul Medjid the First, Emperor of the Turks, and bring +his rebellious vassal to reason. In this project the French nation +was invited to join; but they refused the invitation, saying, that +it was necessary for the maintenance of the balance of power in +Europe that his Highness Mehemet Ali should keep possession of what +by hook or by crook he had gotten, and that they would have no hand +in injuring him. But why continue this argument, which you have +read in the newspapers for many months past? You, my dear, must +know as well as I, that the balance of power in Europe could not +possibly be maintained in any such way; and though, to be sure, for +the last fifteen years, the progress of the old robber has not made +much difference to us in the neighborhood of Russell Square, and the +battle of Nezib did not in the least affect our taxes, our homes, +our institutions, or the price of butcher's meat, yet there is no +knowing what MIGHT have happened had Mehemet Ali been allowed to +remain quietly as he was: and the balance of power in Europe might +have been--the deuce knows where. + +Here, then, in a nutshell, you have the whole matter in dispute. +While Mrs. Corbett and the Prince de Joinville were innocently +interchanging compliments at St. Helena,--bang! bang! Commodore +Napier was pouring broadsides into Tyre and Sidon; our gallant navy +was storming breaches and routing armies; Colonel Hodges had seized +upon the green standard of Ibrahim Pacha; and the powder-magazine of +St. John of Acre was blown up sky-high, with eighteen hundred +Egyptian soldiers in company with it. The French said that l'or +Anglais had achieved all these successes, and no doubt believed that +the poor fellows at Acre were bribed to a man. + +It must have been particularly unpleasant to a high-minded nation +like the French--at the very moment when the Egyptian affair and the +balance of Europe had been settled in this abrupt way--to find out +all of a sudden that the Pasha of Egypt was their dearest friend and +ally. They had suffered in the person of their friend; and though, +seeing that the dispute was ended, and the territory out of his +hand, they could not hope to get it back for him, or to aid him in +any substantial way, yet Monsieur Thiers determined, just as a mark +of politeness to the Pasha, to fight all Europe for maltreating +him,--all Europe, England included. He was bent on war, and an +immense majority of the nation went with him. He called for a +million of soldiers, and would have had them too, had not the King +been against the project and delayed the completion of it at least +for a time. + +Of these great European disputes Captain Joinville received a +notification while he was at sea on board his frigate: as we find by +the official account which has been published of his mission. + +"Some days after quitting St. Helena," says that document, "the +expedition fell in with a ship coming from Europe, and was thus made +acquainted with the warlike rumors then afloat, by which a collision +with the English marine was rendered possible. The Prince de +Joinville immediately assembled the officers of the 'Belle Poule,' +to deliberate on an event so unexpected and important. + +"The council of war having expressed its opinion that it was +necessary at all events to prepare for an energetic defence, +preparations were made to place in battery all the guns that the +frigate could bring to bear against the enemy. The provisional +cabins that had been fitted up in the battery were demolished, the +partitions removed, and, with all the elegant furniture of the +cabins, flung into the sea. The Prince de Joinville was the first +'to execute himself,' and the frigate soon found itself armed with +six or eight more guns. + +"That part of the ship where these cabins had previously been, went +by the name of Lacedaemon; everything luxurious being banished to +make way for what was useful. + +"Indeed, all persons who were on board agree in saying that +Monseigneur the Prince de Joinville most worthily acquitted himself +of the great and honorable mission which had been confided to him. +All affirm not only that the commandant of the expedition did +everything at St. Helena which as a Frenchman he was bound to do in +order that the remains of the Emperor should receive all the honors +due to them, but moreover that he accomplished his mission with all +the measured solemnity, all the pious and severe dignity, that the +son of the Emperor himself would have shown upon a like occasion. +The commandant had also comprehended that the remains of the Emperor +must never fall into the hands of the stranger, and being himself +decided rather to sink his ship than to give up his precious +deposit, he had inspired every one about him with the same +energetic resolution that he had himself taken 'AGAINST AN EXTREME +EVENTUALITY.'" + +Monseigneur, my dear, is really one of the finest young fellows it +is possible to see. A tall, broad-chested, slim-waisted, brown- +faced, dark-eyed young prince, with a great beard (and other martial +qualities no doubt) beyond his years. As he strode into the Chapel +of the Invalides on Tuesday at the head of his men, he made no small +impression, I can tell you, upon the ladies assembled to witness the +ceremony. Nor are the crew of the "Belle Poule" less agreeable to +look at than their commander. A more clean, smart, active, well- +limbed set of lads never "did dance" upon the deck of the famed +"Belle Poule" in the days of her memorable combat with the "Saucy +Arethusa." "These five hundred sailors," says a French newspaper, +speaking of them in the proper French way, "sword in hand, in the +severe costume of board-ship (la severe tenue du bord), seemed proud +of the mission that they had just accomplished. Their blue jackets, +their red cravats, the turned-down collars of blue shirts edged with +white, ABOVE ALL their resolute appearance and martial air, gave a +favorable specimen of the present state of our marine--a marine of +which so much might be expected and from which so little has been +required."--Le Commerce: 16th December. + +There they were, sure enough; a cutlass upon one hip, a pistol on +the other--a gallant set of young men indeed. I doubt, to be sure, +whether the severe tenue du bord requires that the seaman should be +always furnished with those ferocious weapons, which in sundry +maritime manoeuvers, such as going to sleep in your hammock for +instance, or twinkling a binnacle, or luffing a marlinspike, or +keelhauling a maintopgallant (all naval operations, my dear, which +any seafaring novelist will explain to you)--I doubt, I say, whether +these weapons are ALWAYS worn by sailors, and have heard that they +are commonly and very sensibly too, locked up until they are wanted. +Take another example: suppose artillerymen were incessantly +compelled to walk about with a pyramid of twenty-four pound shot in +one pocket, a lighted fuse and a few barrels of gunpowder in the +other--these objects would, as you may imagine, greatly inconvenience +the artilleryman in his peaceful state. + +The newspaper writer is therefore most likely mistaken in saying +that the seamen were in the severe tenue du bord, or by "bord" +meaning "abordage"--which operation they were not, in a harmless +church, hung round with velvet and wax-candles, and filled with +ladies, surely called upon to perform. Nor indeed can it be +reasonably supposed that the picked men of the crack frigate of the +French navy are a "good specimen" of the rest of the French marine, +any more than a cuirassed colossus at the gate of the Horse Guards +can be considered a fair sample of the British soldier of the line. +The sword and pistol, however, had no doubt their effect--the former +was in its sheath, the latter not loaded, and I hear that the French +ladies are quite in raptures with these charming loups-de-mer. + +Let the warlike accoutrements then pass. It was necessary, perhaps, +to strike the Parisians with awe, and therefore the crew was armed +in this fierce fashion; but why should the captain begin to swagger +as well as his men? and why did the Prince de Joinville lug out +sword and pistol so early? or why, if he thought fit to make +preparations, should the official journals brag of them afterwards +as proofs of his extraordinary courage? + +Here is the case. The English Government makes him a present of the +bones of Napoleon: English workmen work for nine hours without +ceasing, and dig the coffin out of the ground: the English +Commissioner hands over the key of the box to the French +representative, Monsieur Chabot: English horses carry the funeral +car down to the sea-shore, accompanied by the English Governor, who +has actually left his bed to walk in the procession and to do the +French nation honor. + +After receiving and acknowledging these politenesses, the French +captain takes his charge on board, and the first thing we afterwards +hear of him is the determination "qu'il a su faire passer" into all +his crew, to sink rather than yield up the body of the Emperor aux +mains de l'etranger--into the hands of the foreigner. My dear +Monseigneur, is not this par trop fort? Suppose "the foreigner" had +wanted the coffin, could he not have kept it? Why show this +uncalled-for valor, this extraordinary alacrity at sinking? Sink or +blow yourself up as much as you please, but your Royal Highness must +see that the genteel thing would have been to wait until you were +asked to do so, before you offended good-natured, honest people, +who--heaven help them!--have never shown themselves at all +murderously inclined towards you. A man knocks up his cabins +forsooth, throws his tables and chairs overboard, runs guns into the +portholes, and calls le quartier du bord ou existaient ces chambres, +Lacedaemon. Lacedaemon! There is a province, O Prince, in your +royal father's dominions, a fruitful parent of heroes in its time, +which would have given a much better nickname to your quartier du +bord: you should have called it Gascony. + + + "Sooner than strike we'll all ex-pi-er + On board of the Bell-e Pou-le." + + +Such fanfaronading is very well on the part of Tom Dibdin, but a +person of your Royal Highness's "pious and severe dignity" should +have been above it. If you entertained an idea that war was +imminent, would it not have been far better to have made your +preparations in quiet, and when you found the war rumor blown over, +to have said nothing about what you intended to do? Fie upon such +cheap Lacedaemonianism! There is no poltroon in the world but can +brag about what he WOULD have done: however, to do your Royal +Highness's nation justice, they brag and fight too. + +This narrative, my dear Miss Smith, as you will have remarked, is +not a simple tale merely, but is accompanied by many moral and pithy +remarks which form its chief value, in the writer's eyes at least, +and the above account of the sham Lacedaemon on board the "Belle +Poule" has a double-barrelled morality, as I conceive. Besides +justly reprehending the French propensity towards braggadocio, it +proves very strongly a point on which I am the only statesman in +Europe who has strongly insisted. In the "Paris Sketch Book" it was +stated that THE FRENCH HATE US. They hate us, my dear, profoundly +and desperately, and there never was such a hollow humbug in the +world as the French alliance. Men get a character for patriotism in +France merely by hating England. Directly they go into strong +opposition (where, you know, people are always more patriotic than +on the ministerial side), they appeal to the people, and have their +hold on the people by hating England in common with them. Why? It +is a long story, and the hatred may be accounted for by many reasons +both political and social. Any time these eight hundred years this +ill-will has been going on, and has been transmitted on the French +side from father to son. On the French side, not on ours: we have +had no, or few, defeats to complain of, no invasions to make us +angry; but you see that to discuss such a period of time would +demand a considerable number of pages, and for the present we will +avoid the examination of the question. + +But they hate us, that is the long and short of it; and you see how +this hatred has exploded just now, not upon a serious cause of +difference, but upon an argument: for what is the Pasha of Egypt to +us or them but a mere abstract opinion? For the same reason the +Little-endians in Lilliput abhorred the Big-endians; and I beg you +to remark how his Royal Highness Prince Ferdinand Mary, upon hearing +that this argument was in the course of debate between us, +straightway flung his furniture overboard and expressed a preference +for sinking his ship rather than yielding it to the etranger. +Nothing came of this wish of his, to be sure; but the intention is +everything. Unlucky circumstances denied him the power, but he had +the will. + +Well, beyond this disappointment, the Prince de Joinville had +nothing to complain of during the voyage, which terminated happily +by the arrival of the "Belle Poule" at Cherbourg, on the 30th of +November, at five o'clock in the morning. A telegraph made the glad +news known at Paris, where the Minister of the Interior, Tanneguy- +Duchatel (you will read the name, Madam, in the old Anglo-French +wars), had already made "immense preparations" for receiving the +body of Napoleon. + +The entry was fixed for the 15th of December. + +On the 8th of December at Cherbourg the body was transferred from +the "Belle Poule" frigate to the "Normandie" steamer. On which +occasion the mayor of Cherbourg deposited, in the name of his town, +a gold laurel branch upon the coffin--which was saluted by the forts +and dykes of the place with ONE THOUSAND GUNS! There was a treat +for the inhabitants. + +There was on board the steamer a splendid receptacle for the coffin: +"a temple with twelve pillars and a dome to cover it from the wet +and moisture, surrounded with velvet hangings and silver fringes. +At the head was a gold cross, at the foot a gold lamp: other lamps +were kept constantly burning within, and vases of burning incense +were hung around. An altar, hung with velvet and silver, was at the +mizzen-mast of the vessel, AND FOUR SILVER EAGLES AT EACH CORNER OF +THE ALTAR." It was a compliment at once to Napoleon and--excuse me +for saying so, but so the facts are--to Napoleon and to God Almighty. + +Three steamers, the "Normandie," the "Veloce," and the "Courrier," +formed the expedition from Cherbourg to Havre, at which place they +arrived on the evening of the 9th of December, and where the +"Veloce" was replaced by the Seine steamer, having in tow one of the +state-coasters, which was to fire the salute at the moment when the +body was transferred into one of the vessels belonging to the Seine. + +The expedition passed Havre the same night, and came to anchor at +Val de la Haye on the Seine, three leagues below Rouen. + +Here the next morning (10th), it was met by the flotilla of +steamboats of the Upper Seine, consisting of the three "Dorades," +the three "Etoiles," the "Elbeuvien," the "Pansien," the +"Parisienne," and the "Zampa." The Prince de Joinville, and the +persons of the expedition, embarked immediately in the flotilla, +which arrived the same day at Rouen. + +At Rouen salutes were fired, the National Guard on both sides of the +river paid military honors to the body; and over the middle of the +suspension-bridge a magnificent cenotaph was erected, decorated with +flags, fasces, violet hangings, and the imperial arms. Before the +cenotaph the expedition stopped, and the absolution was given by the +archbishop and the clergy. After a couple of hours' stay, the +expedition proceeded to Pont de l'Arche. On the 11th it reached +Vernon, on the 12th Mantes, on the 13th Maisons-sur-Seine. + +"Everywhere," says the official account from which the above +particulars are borrowed, "the authorities, the National Guard, and +the people flocked to the passage of the flotilla, desirous to +render the honors due to his glory, which is the glory of France. +In seeing its hero return, the nation seemed to have found its +Palladium again,--the sainted relics of victory." + +At length, on the 14th, the coffin was transferred from the "Dorade" +steamer on board the imperial vessel arrived from Paris. In the +evening, the imperial vessel arrived at Courbevoie, which was the +last stage of the journey. + +Here it was that M. Guizot went to examine the vessel, and was very +nearly flung into the Seine, as report goes, by the patriots +assembled there. It is now lying on the river, near the Invalides, +amidst the drifting ice, whither the people of Paris are flocking +out to see it. + +The vessel is of a very elegant antique form, and I can give you on +the Thames no better idea of it than by requesting you to fancy an +immense wherry, of which the stern has been cut straight off, and on +which a temple on steps has been elevated. At the figure-head is an +immense gold eagle, and at the stern is a little terrace, filled +with evergreens and a profusion of banners. Upon pedestals along +the sides of the vessel are tripods in which incense was burned, and +underneath them are garlands of flowers called here "immortals." +Four eagles surmount the temple, and a great scroll or garland, held +in their beaks, surrounds it. It is hung with velvet and gold; four +gold caryatides support the entry of it; and in the midst, upon a +large platform hung with velvet, and bearing the imperial arms, +stood the coffin. A steamboat, carrying two hundred musicians +playing funereal marches and military symphonies, preceded this +magnificent vessel to Courbevoie, where a funereal temple was +erected, and "a statue of Notre Dame de Grace, before which the +seamen of the 'Belle Poule' inclined themselves, in order to thank +her for having granted them a noble and glorious voyage." + +Early on the morning of the 15th December, amidst clouds of incense, +and thunder of cannon, and innumerable shouts of people, the coffin +was transferred from the barge, and carried by the seamen of the +"Belle Poule" to the Imperial Car. + + +And, now having conducted our hero almost to the gates of Paris, I +must tell you what preparations were made in the capital to receive +him. + +Ten days before the arrival of the body, as you walked across the +Deputies' Bridge, or over the Esplanade of the Invalides, you saw on +the bridge eight, on the esplanade thirty-two, mysterious boxes +erected, wherein a couple of score of sculptors were at work night +and day. + +In the middle of the Invalid Avenue, there used to stand, on a kind +of shabby fountain or pump, a bust of Lafayette, crowned with some +dirty wreaths of "immortals," and looking down at the little +streamlet which occasionally dribbled below him. The spot of ground +was now clear, and Lafayette and the pump had been consigned to some +cellar, to make way for the mighty procession that was to pass over +the place of their habitation. + +Strange coincidence! If I had been Mr. Victor Hugo, my dear, or a +poet of any note, I would, in a few hours, have made an impromptu +concerning that Lafayette-crowned pump, and compared its lot now to +the fortune of its patron some fifty years back. From him then +issued, as from his fountain now, a feeble dribble of pure words; +then, as now, some faint circles of disciples were willing to admire +him. Certainly in the midst of the war and storm without, this pure +fount of eloquence went dribbling, dribbling on, till of a sudden +the revolutionary workmen knocked down statue and fountain, and the +gorgeous imperial cavalcade trampled over the spot where they stood. + +As for the Champs Elysees, there was no end to the preparations; the +first day you saw a couple of hundred scaffoldings erected at +intervals between the handsome gilded gas-lamps that at present +ornament that avenue; next day, all these scaffoldings were filled +with brick and mortar. Presently, over the bricks and mortar rose +pediments of statues, legs of urns, legs of goddesses, legs and +bodies of goddesses, legs, bodies, and busts of goddesses. Finally, +on the 13th December, goddesses complete. On the 14th they were +painted marble-color; and the basements of wood and canvas on which +they stood were made to resemble the same costly material. The +funereal urns were ready to receive the frankincense and precious +odors which were to burn in them. A vast number of white columns +stretched down the avenue, each bearing a bronze buckler on which +was written, in gold letters, one of the victories of the Emperor, +and each decorated with enormous imperial flags. On these columns +golden eagles were placed; and the newspapers did not fail to remark +the ingenious position in which the royal birds had been set: for +while those on the right-hand side of the way had their heads turned +TOWARDS the procession, as if to watch its coming, those on the left +were looking exactly the other way, as if to regard its progress. +Do not fancy I am joking: this point was gravely and emphatically +urged in many newspapers; and I do believe no mortal Frenchman ever +thought it anything but sublime. + +Do not interrupt me, sweet Miss Smith. I feel that you are angry. +I can see from here the pouting of your lips, and know what you are +going to say. You are going to say, "I will read no more of this +Mr. Titmarsh; there is no subject, however solemn, but he treats it +with flippant irreverence, and no character, however great, at whom +he does not sneer." + +Ah, my dear! you are young now and enthusiastic; and your Titmarsh +is old, very old, sad, and gray-headed. I have seen a poor mother +buy a halfpenny wreath at the gate of Montmartre burying-ground, and +go with it to her little child's grave, and hang it there over the +little humble stone; and if ever you saw me scorn the mean offering +of the poor shabby creature, I will give you leave to be as angry as +you will. They say that on the passage of Napoleon's coffin down +the Seine, old soldiers and country people walked miles from their +villages just to catch a sight of the boat which carried his body +and to kneel down on the shore and pray for him. God forbid that we +should quarrel with such prayers and sorrow, or question their +sincerity. Something great and good must have been in this man, +something loving and kindly, that has kept his name so cherished in +the popular memory, and gained him such lasting reverence and +affection. + +But, Madam, one may respect the dead without feeling awe-stricken at +the plumes of the hearse; and I see no reason why one should +sympathize with the train of mutes and undertakers, however deep may +be their mourning. Look, I pray you, at the manner in which the +French nation has performed Napoleon's funeral. Time out of mind, +nations have raised, in memory of their heroes, august mausoleums, +grand pyramids, splendid statues of gold or marble, sacrificing +whatever they had that was most costly and rare, or that was most +beautiful in art, as tokens of their respect and love for the dead +person. What a fine example of this sort of sacrifice is that +(recorded in a book of which Simplicity is the great characteristic) +of the poor woman who brought her pot of precious ointment--her all, +and laid it at the feet of the Object which, upon earth, she most +loved and respected. "Economists and calculators" there were even +in those days who quarrelled with the manner in which the poor woman +lavished so much "capital;" but you will remember how nobly and +generously the sacrifice was appreciated, and how the economists +were put to shame. + +With regard to the funeral ceremony that has just been performed +here, it is said that a famous public personage and statesman, +Monsieur Thiers indeed, spoke with the bitterest indignation of the +general style of the preparations, and of their mean and tawdry +character. He would have had a pomp as magnificent, he said, as +that of Rome at the triumph of Aurelian: he would have decorated the +bridges and avenues through which the procession was to pass, with +the costliest marbles and the finest works of art, and have had them +to remain there for ever as monuments of the great funeral. + +The economists and calculators might here interpose with a great +deal of reason; for, indeed, there was no reason why a nation should +impoverish itself to do honor to the memory of an individual for +whom, after all, it can feel but a qualified enthusiasm: but it +surely might have employed the large sum voted for the purpose more +wisely and generously, and recorded its respect for Napoleon by some +worthy and lasting memorial, rather than have erected yonder +thousand vain heaps of tinsel, paint, and plaster, that are already +cracking and crumbling in the frost, at three days old. + +Scarcely one of the statues, indeed, deserves to last a month: some +are odious distortions and caricatures, which never should have been +allowed to stand for a moment. On the very day of the fete, the +wind was shaking the canvas pedestals, and the flimsy wood-work had +begun to gape and give way. At a little distance, to be sure, you +could not see the cracks; and pedestals and statues LOOKED like +marble. At some distance, you could not tell but that the wreaths +and eagles were gold embroidery, and not gilt paper--the great +tricolor flags damask, and not striped calico. One would think that +these sham splendors betokened sham respect, if one had not known +that the name of Napoleon is held in real reverence, and observed +somewhat of the character of the nation. Real feelings they have, +but they distort them by exaggeration; real courage, which they +render ludicrous by intolerable braggadocio; and I think the above +official account of the Prince de Joinville's proceedings, of the +manner in which the Emperor's remains have been treated in their +voyage to the capital, and of the preparations made to receive him +in it, will give my dear Miss Smith some means of understanding the +social and moral condition of this worthy people of France. + + +III. + +ON THE FUNERAL CEREMONY. + + +Shall I tell you, my dear, that when Francois woke me at a very +early hour on this eventful morning, while the keen stars were still +glittering overhead, a half-moon, as sharp as a razor, beaming in +the frosty sky, and a wicked north wind blowing, that blew the blood +out of one's fingers and froze your leg as you put it out of bed;-- +shall I tell you, my dear, that when Francois called me, and said, +"V'la vot' cafe, Monsieur Titemasse, buvez-le, tiens, il est tout +chaud," I felt myself, after imbibing the hot breakfast, so +comfortable under three blankets and a mackintosh, that for at least +a quarter of an hour no man in Europe could say whether Titmarsh +would or would not be present at the burial of the Emperor Napoleon. + +Besides, my dear, the cold, there was another reason for doubting. +Did the French nation, or did they not, intend to offer up some of +us English over the imperial grave? And were the games to be +concluded by a massacre? It was said in the newspapers that Lord +Granville had despatched circulars to all the English resident in +Paris, begging them to keep their homes. The French journals +announced this news, and warned us charitably of the fate intended +for us. Had Lord Granville written? Certainly not to me. Or had +he written to all EXCEPT ME? And was I THE VICTIM--the doomed one?-- +to be seized directly I showed my face in the Champs Elysees, and +torn in pieces by French Patriotism to the frantic chorus of the +"Marseillaise?" Depend on it, Madam, that high and low in this city +on Tuesday were not altogether at their ease, and that the bravest +felt no small tremor! And be sure of this, that as his Majesty +Louis Philippe took his nightcap off his royal head that morning, he +prayed heartily that he might, at night, put it on in safety. + +Well, as my companion and I came out of doors, being bound for the +Church of the Invalides, for which a Deputy had kindly furnished us +with tickets, we saw the very prettiest sight of the whole day, and +I can't refrain from mentioning it to my dear, tender-hearted Miss +Smith. + +In the same house where I live (but about five stories nearer the +ground) lodges an English family, consisting of-- 1. A great- +grandmother, a hale, handsome old lady of seventy, the very best- +dressed and neatest old lady in Paris. 2. A grandfather and +grandmother, tolerably young to bear that title. 3. A daughter. +And 4. Two little great-grand, or grandchildren, that may be of the +age of three and one, and belong to a son and daughter who are in +India. The grandfather, who is as proud of his wife as he was +thirty years ago when he married, and pays her compliments still +twice or thrice in a day, and when he leads her into a room looks +round at the persons assembled, and says in his heart, "Here, +gentlemen, here is my wife--show me such another woman in England,"-- +this gentleman had hired a room on the Champs Elysees, for he would +not have his wife catch cold by exposing her to the balconies in the +open air. + +When I came to the street, I found the family assembled in the +following order of march:-- + + +--No. 1, the great-grandmother walking daintily along, supported by +No. 3, her granddaughter. + +--A nurse carrying No. 4 junior, who was sound asleep: and a huge +basket containing saucepans, bottles of milk, parcels of infants' +food, certain dimity napkins, a child's coral, and a little horse +belonging to No. 4 senior. + +--A servant bearing a basket of condiments. + +--No. 2, grandfather, spick and span, clean shaved, hat brushed, +white buckskin gloves, bamboo cane, brown great-coat, walking as +upright and solemn as may be, having his lady on his arm. + +--No. 4, senior, with mottled legs and a tartan costume, who was +frisking about between his grandpapa's legs, who heartily wished him +at home. + + +"My dear," his face seemed to say to his lady, "I think you might +have left the little things in the nursery, for we shall have to +squeeze through a terrible crowd in the Champs Elysees." + +The lady was going out for a day's pleasure, and her face was full +of care: she had to look first after her old mother who was walking +ahead, then after No. 4 junior with the nurse--he might fall into +all sorts of danger, wake up, cry, catch cold; nurse might slip +down, or heaven knows what. Then she had to look her husband in the +face, who had gone to such expense and been so kind for her sake, +and make that gentleman believe she was thoroughly happy; and, +finally, she had to keep an eye upon No. 4 senior, who, as she was +perfectly certain, was about in two minutes to be lost for ever, or +trampled to pieces in the crowd. + +These events took place in a quiet little street leading into the +Champs Elysees, the entry of which we had almost reached by this +time. The four detachments above described, which had been +straggling a little in their passage down the street, closed up at +the end of it, and stood for a moment huddled together. No. 3, Miss +X--, began speaking to her companion the great-grandmother. + +"Hush, my dear," said that old lady, looking round alarmed at her +daughter. "SPEAK FRENCH." And she straightway began nervously to +make a speech which she supposed to be in that language, but which +was as much like French as Iroquois. The whole secret was out: you +could read it in the grandmother's face, who was doing all she could +to keep from crying, and looked as frightened as she dared to look. +The two elder ladies had settled between them that there was going +to be a general English slaughter that day, and had brought the +children with them, so that they might all be murdered in company. + +God bless you, O women, moist-eyed and tender-hearted! In those +gentle silly tears of yours there is something touches one, be they +never so foolish. I don't think there were many such natural drops +shed that day as those which just made their appearance in the +grandmother's eyes, and then went back again as if they had been +ashamed of themselves, while the good lady and her little troop +walked across the road. Think how happy she will be when night +comes, and there has been no murder of English, and the brood is all +nestled under her wings sound asleep, and she is lying awake +thanking God that the day and its pleasures and pains are over. +Whilst we were considering these things, the grandfather had +suddenly elevated No. 4 senior upon his left shoulder, and I saw the +tartan hat of that young gentleman, and the bamboo cane which had +been transferred to him, high over the heads of the crowd on the +opposite side through which the party moved. + + +After this little procession had passed away--you may laugh at it, +but upon my word and conscience, Miss Smith, I saw nothing in the +course of the day which affected me more--after this little +procession had passed away, the other came, accompanied by gun- +banging, flag-waving, incense-burning, trumpets pealing, drums +rolling, and at the close, received by the voice of six hundred +choristers, sweetly modulated to the tones of fifteen score of +fiddlers. Then you saw horse and foot, jack-boots and bear-skin, +cuirass and bayonet, National Guard and Line, marshals and generals +all over gold, smart aides-de-camp galloping about like mad, and +high in the midst of all, riding on his golden buckler, Solomon in +all his glory, forsooth--Imperial Caesar, with his crown over his +head, laurels and standards waving about his gorgeous chariot, and a +million of people looking on in wonder and awe. + +His Majesty the Emperor and King reclined on his shield, with his +head a little elevated. His Majesty's skull is voluminous, his +forehead broad and large. We remarked that his Imperial Majesty's +brow was of a yellowish color, which appearance was also visible +about the orbits of the eyes. He kept his eyelids constantly +closed, by which we had the opportunity of observing that the upper +lids were garnished with eyelashes. Years and climate have effected +upon the face of this great monarch only a trifling alteration; we +may say, indeed, that Time has touched his Imperial and Royal +Majesty with the lightest feather in his wing. In the nose of the +Conqueror of Austerlitz we remarked very little alteration: it is of +the beautiful shape which we remember it possessed five-and-twenty +years since, ere unfortunate circumstances induced him to leave us +for a while. The nostril and the tube of the nose appear to have +undergone some slight alteration, but in examining a beloved object +the eye of affection is perhaps too critical. Vive l'Empereur! the +soldier of Marengo is among us again. His lips are thinner, +perhaps, than they were before! how white his teeth are! you can +just see three of them pressing his under lip; and pray remark the +fulness of his cheeks and the round contour of his chin. Oh, those +beautiful white hands! many a time have they patted the cheek of +poor Josephine, and played with the black ringlets of her hair. She +is dead now, and cold, poor creature; and so are Hortense and bold +Eugene, than whom the world never saw a curtier knight," as was said +of King Arthur's Sir Lancelot. What a day would it have been for +those three could they have lived until now, and seen their hero +returning! Where's Ney? His wife sits looking out from M. Flahaut's +window yonder, but the bravest of the brave is not with her. Murat +too is absent: honest Joachim loves the Emperor at heart, and +repents that he was not at Waterloo: who knows but that at the sight +of the handsome swordsman those stubborn English "canaille" would +have given way. A king, Sire, is, you know, the greatest of +slaves--State affairs of consequence--his Majesty the King of Naples +is detained no doubt. When we last saw the King, however, and his +Highness the Prince of Elchingen, they looked to have as good health +as ever they had in their lives, and we heard each of them calmly +calling out "FIRE!" as they have done in numberless battles before. + +Is it possible? can the Emperor forget? We don't like to break it +to him, but has he forgotten all about the farm at Pizzo, and the +garden of the Observatory? Yes, truly: there he lies on his golden +shield, never stirring, never so much as lifting his eyelids, or +opening his lips any wider. + +O vanitas vanitatum! Here is our Sovereign in all his glory, and +they fired a thousand guns at Cherbourg and never woke him! + + +However, we are advancing matters by several hours, and you must +give just as much credence as you please to the subjoined remarks +concerning the Procession, seeing that your humble servant could not +possibly be present at it, being bound for the church elsewhere. + +Programmes, however, have been published of the affair, and your +vivid fancy will not fail to give life to them, and the whole +magnificent train will pass before you. + +Fancy then, that the guns are fired at Neuilly: the body landed at +daybreak from the funereal barge, and transferred to the car; and +fancy the car, a huge Juggernaut of a machine, rolling on four +wheels of an antique shape, which supported a basement adorned with +golden eagles, banners, laurels, and velvet hangings. Above the +hangings stand twelve golden statues with raised arms supporting a +huge shield, on which the coffin lay. On the coffin was the +imperial crown, covered with violet velvet crape, and the whole vast +machine was drawn by horses in superb housings, led by valets in the +imperial livery. + +Fancy at the head of the procession first of all-- + + +The Gendarmerie of the Seine, with their trumpets and Colonel. + +The Municipal Guard (horse), with their trumpets, standard, and +Colonel. + +Two squadrons of the 7th Lancers, with Colonel, standard, and music. + +The Commandant of Paris and his Staff. + +A battalion of Infantry of the Line, with their flag, sappers, +drums, music, and Colonel. + +The Municipal Guard (foot), with flag, drums, and Colonel. + +The Sapper-pumpers, with ditto. + + +Then picture to yourself more squadrons of Lancers and Cuirassiers. +The General of the Division and his Staff; all officers of all arms +employed at Paris, and unattached; the Military School of Saint Cyr, +the Polytechnic School, the School of the Etat-Major; and the +Professors and Staff of each. Go on imagining more battalions of +Infantry, of Artillery, companies of Engineers, squadrons of +Cuirassiers, ditto of the Cavalry, of the National Guard, and the +first and second legions of ditto. + +Fancy a carriage, containing the Chaplain of the St. Helena +expedition, the only clerical gentleman that formed a part of the +procession. + +Fancy you hear the funereal music, and then figure in your mind's +eye-- + +THE EMPEROR'S CHARGER, that is, Napoleon's own saddle and bridle +(when First Consul) upon a white horse. The saddle (which has been +kept ever since in the Garde Meuble of the Crown) is of amaranth +velvet, embroidered in gold: the holsters and housings are of the +same rich material. On them you remark the attributes of War, +Commerce, Science, and Art. The bits and stirrups are silver-gilt +chased. Over the stirrups, two eagles were placed at the time of +the empire. The horse was covered with a violet crape embroidered +with golden bees. + +After this came more Soldiers, General Officers, Sub-Officers, +Marshals, and what was said to be the prettiest sight almost of the +whole, the banners of the eighty-six Departments of France. These +are due to the invention of M. Thiers, and were to have been +accompanied by federates from each Department. But the government +very wisely mistrusted this and some other projects of Monsieur +Thiers; and as for a federation, my dear, IT HAS BEEN TRIED. Next +comes-- + +His Royal Highness, the Prince de Joinville. + +The 600 sailors of the "Belle Poule" marching in double file on each +side of + +THE CAR. + +[Hush! the enormous crowd thrills as it passes, and only some few +voices cry Vive l'Empereur! Shining golden in the frosty sun--with +hundreds of thousands of eyes upon it, from houses and housetops, +from balconies, black, purple, and tricolor, from tops of leafless +trees, from behind long lines of glittering bayonets under schakos +and bear-skin caps, from behind the Line and the National Guard +again, pushing, struggling, heaving, panting, eager, the heads of an +enormous multitude stretching out to meet and follow it, amidst long +avenues of columns and statues gleaming white, of standards rainbow- +colored, of golden eagles, of pale funereal urns, of discharging +odors amidst huge volumes of pitch-black smoke, + +THE GREAT IMPERIAL CHARIOT ROLLS MAJESTICALLY ON. + +The cords of the pall are held by two Marshals, an Admiral and +General Bertrand; who are followed by-- + +The Prefects of the Seine and Police, &c. + +The Mayors of Paris, &c. + +The Members of the Old Guard, &c. + +A Squadron of Light Dragoons, &c. + +Lieutenant-General Schneider, &c. + +More cavalry, more infantry, more artillery, more everybody; and as +the procession passes, the Line and the National Guard forming line +on each side of the road fall in and follow it, until it arrives at +the Church of the Invalides, where the last honors are to be paid to +it.] + + +Among the company assembled under the dome of that edifice, the +casual observer would not perhaps have remarked a gentleman of the +name of Michael Angelo Titmarsh, who nevertheless was there. But +as, my dear Miss Smith, the descriptions in this letter, from the +words in page 298, line 20--THE PARTY MOVED--up to the words PAID TO +IT, on this page, have purely emanated from your obedient servant's +fancy, and not from his personal observation (for no being on earth, +except a newspaper reporter, can be in two places at once), permit +me now to communicate to you what little circumstances fell under my +own particular view on the day of the 15th of December. + +As we came out, the air and the buildings round about were tinged +with purple, and the clear sharp half-moon before-mentioned was +still in the sky, where it seemed to be lingering as if it would +catch a peep of the commencement of the famous procession. The Arc +de Triomphe was shining in a keen frosty sunshine, and looking as +clean and rosy as if it had just made its toilette. The canvas or +pasteboard image of Napoleon, of which only the gilded legs had been +erected the night previous, was now visible, body, head, crown, +sceptre and all, and made an imposing show. Long gilt banners were +flaunting about, with the imperial cipher and eagle, and the names +of the battles and victories glittering in gold. The long avenues +of the Champs Elysees had been covered with sand for the convenience +of the great procession that was to tramp across it that day. +Hundreds of people were marching to and fro, laughing, chattering, +singing, gesticulating as happy Frenchmen do. There is no +pleasanter sight than a French crowd on the alert for a festival, +and nothing more catching than their good-humor. As for the notion +which has been put forward by some of the opposition newspapers that +the populace were on this occasion unusually solemn or sentimental, +it would be paying a bad compliment to the natural gayety of the +nation, to say that it was, on the morning at least of the 15th of +December, affected in any such absurd way. Itinerant merchants were +shouting out lustily their commodities of segars and brandy, and the +weather was so bitter cold, that they could not fail to find plenty +of customers. Carpenters and workmen were still making a huge +banging and clattering among the sheds which were built for the +accommodation of the visitors. Some of these sheds were hung with +black, such as one sees before churches in funerals; some were robed +in violet, in compliment to the Emperor whose mourning they put on. +Most of them had fine tricolor hangings with appropriate inscriptions +to the glory of the French arms. + +All along the Champs Elysees were urns of plaster-of-Paris destined +to contain funeral incense and flames; columns decorated with huge +flags of blue, red, and white, embroidered with shining crowns, +eagles, and N's in gilt paper, and statues of plaster representing +Nymphs, Triumphs, Victories, or other female personages, painted in +oil so as to represent marble. Real marble could have had no better +effect, and the appearance of the whole was lively and picturesque +in the extreme. On each pillar was a buckler, of the color of +bronze, bearing the name and date of a battle in gilt letters: you +had to walk through a mile-long avenue of these glorious +reminiscences, telling of spots where, in the great imperial days, +throats had been victoriously cut. + +As we passed down the avenue, several troops of soldiers met us: the +garde-muncipale a cheval, in brass helmets and shining jack-boots, +noble-looking men, large, on large horses, the pick of the old army, +as I have heard, and armed for the special occupation of peace- +keeping: not the most glorious, but the best part of the soldier's +duty, as I fancy. Then came a regiment of Carabineers, one of +Infantry--little, alert, brown-faced, good-humored men, their band +at their head playing sounding marches. These were followed by a +regiment or detachment of the Municipals on foot--two or three +inches taller than the men of the Line, and conspicuous for their +neatness and discipline. By-and-by came a squadron or so of +dragoons of the National Guards: they are covered with straps, +buckles, aguillettes, and cartouche-boxes, and make under their +tricolor cock's-plumes a show sufficiently warlike. The point which +chiefly struck me on beholding these military men of the National +Guard and the Line, was the admirable manner in which they bore a +cold that seemed to me as sharp as the weather in the Russian +retreat, through which cold the troops were trotting without +trembling and in the utmost cheerfulness and good-humor. An aide- +de-camp galloped past in white pantaloons. By heavens! it made me +shudder to look at him. + +With this profound reflection, we turned away to the right towards +the hanging-bridge (where we met a detachment of young men of the +Ecole de l'Etat Major, fine-looking lads, but sadly disfigured by +the wearing of stays or belts, that make the waists of the French +dandies of a most absurd tenuity), and speedily passed into the +avenue of statues leading up to the Invalides. All these were +statues of warriors from Ney to Charlemagne, modelled in clay for +the nonce, and placed here to meet the corpse of the greatest +warrior of all. Passing these, we had to walk to a little door at +the back of the Invalides, where was a crowd of persons plunged in +the deepest mourning, and pushing for places in the chapel within. + +The chapel is spacious and of no great architectural pretensions, +but was on this occasion gorgeously decorated in honor of the great +person to whose body it was about to give shelter. + +We had arrived at nine; the ceremony was not to begin, they said, +till two: we had five hours before us to see all that from our +places could be seen. + +We saw that the roof, up to the first lines of architecture, was +hung with violet; beyond this with black. We saw N's, eagles, bees, +laurel wreaths, and other such imperial emblems, adorning every nook +and corner of the edifice. Between the arches, on each side of the +aisle, were painted trophies, on which were written the names of +some of Napoleon's Generals and of their principal deeds of arms-- +and not their deeds of arms alone, pardi, but their coats of arms +too. O stars and garters! but this is too much. What was Ney's +paternal coat, prithee, or honest Junot's quarterings, or the +venerable escutcheon of King Joachim's father, the innkeeper? + +You and I, dear Miss Smith, know the exact value of heraldic +bearings. We know that though the greatest pleasure of all is to +ACT like a gentleman, it is a pleasure, nay a merit, to BE one--to +come of an old stock, to have an honorable pedigree, to be able to +say that centuries back our fathers had gentle blood, and to us +transmitted the same. There IS a good in gentility: the man who +questions it is envious, or a coarse dullard not able to perceive +the difference between high breeding and low. One has in the same +way heard a man brag that he did not know the difference between +wines, not he--give him a good glass of port, and he would pitch all +your claret to the deuce. My love, men often brag about their own +dulness in this way. + +In the matter of gentlemen, democrats cry, "Psha! Give us one of +Nature's gentlemen, and hang your aristocrats." And so indeed +Nature does make SOME gentlemen--a few here and there. But Art +makes most. Good birth, that is, good handsome well-formed fathers +and mothers, nice cleanly nursery-maids, good meals, good physicians, +good education, few cares, pleasant easy habits of life, and +luxuries not too great or enervating, but only refining--a course of +these going on for a few generations are the best gentleman-makers +in the world, and beat Nature hollow. + +If, respected Madam, you say that there is something BETTER than +gentility in this wicked world, and that honesty and personal wealth +are more valuable than all the politeness and high-breeding that +ever wore red-heeled pumps, knights' spurs, or Hoby's boots, +Titmarsh for one is never going to say you nay. If you even go so +far as to say that the very existence of this super-genteel society +among us, from the slavish respect that we pay to it, from the +dastardly manner in which we attempt to imitate its airs and ape its +vices, goes far to destroy honesty of intercourse, to make us meanly +ashamed of our natural affections and honest, harmless usages, and +so does a great deal more harm than it is possible it can do good by +its example--perhaps, Madam, you speak with some sort of reason. +Potato myself, I can't help seeing that the tulip yonder has the +best place in the garden, and the most sunshine, and the most water, +and the best tending--and not liking him over well. But I can't +help acknowledging that Nature has given him a much finer dress than +ever I can hope to have, and of this, at least, must give him the +benefit. + +Or say, we are so many cocks and hens, my dear (sans arriere +pensee), with our crops pretty full, our plumes pretty sleek, decent +picking here and there in the straw-yard, and tolerable snug +roosting in the barn: yonder on the terrace, in the sun, walks +Peacock, stretching his proud neck, squealing every now and then in +the most pert fashionable voice and flaunting his great supercilious +dandified tail. Don't let us be too angry, my dear, with the +useless, haughty, insolent creature, because he despises us. +SOMETHING is there about Peacock that we don't possess. Strain your +neck ever so, you can't make it as long or as blue as his--cock your +tail as much as you please, and it will never be half so fine to +look at. But the most absurd, disgusting, contemptible sight in the +world would you and I be, leaving the barn-door for my lady's +flower-garden, forsaking our natural sturdy walk for the peacock's +genteel rickety stride, and adopting the squeak of his voice in the +place of our gallant lusty cock-a-doodle-dooing. + +Do you take the allegory? I love to speak in such, and the above +types have been presented to my mind while sitting opposite a +gimcrack coat-of-arms and coronet that are painted in the Invalides +Church, and assigned to one of the Emperor's Generals. + +Ventrebleu! Madam, what need have THEY of coats-of-arms and +coronets, and wretched imitations of old exploded aristocratic +gewgaws that they had flung out of the country--with the heads of +the owners in them sometimes, for indeed they were not particular--a +score of years before? What business, forsooth, had they to be +meddling with gentility and aping its ways, who had courage, merit, +daring, genius sometimes, and a pride of their own to support, if +proud they were inclined to be? A clever young man (who was not of +high family himself, but had been bred up genteelly at Eton and the +university)--young Mr. George Canning, at the commencement of the +French Revolution, sneered at "Roland the Just, with ribbons in his +shoes," and the dandies, who then wore buckles, voted the sarcasm +monstrous killing. It was a joke, my dear, worthy of a lackey, or +of a silly smart parvenu, not knowing the society into which his +luck had cast him (God help him! in later years, they taught him +what they were!), and fancying in his silly intoxication that +simplicity was ludicrous and fashion respectable. See, now, fifty +years are gone, and where are shoebuckles? Extinct, defunct, kicked +into the irrevocable past off the toes of all Europe! + +How fatal to the parvenu, throughout history, has been this respect +for shoebuckles. Where, for instance, would the Empire of Napoleon +have been, if Ney and Lannes had never sported such a thing as a +coat-of-arms, and had only written their simple names on their +shields, after the fashion of Desaix's scutcheon yonder?--the bold +Republican who led the crowning charge at Marengo, and sent the best +blood of the Holy Roman Empire to the right-about, before the +wretched misbegotten imperial heraldry was born, that was to prove +so disastrous to the father of it. It has always been so. They +won't amalgamate. A country must be governed by the one principle +or the other. But give, in a republic, an aristocracy ever so +little chance, and it works and plots and sneaks and bullies and +sneers itself into place, and you find democracy out of doors. Is +it good that the aristocracy should so triumph?--that is a question +that you may settle according to your own notions and taste; and +permit me to say, I do not care twopence how you settle it. Large +books have been written upon the subject in a variety of languages, +and coming to a variety of conclusions. Great statesmen are there +in our country, from Lord Londonderry down to Mr. Vincent, each in +his degree maintaining his different opinion. But here, in the +matter of Napoleon, is a simple fact: he founded a great, glorious, +strong, potent republic, able to cope with the best aristocracies in +the world, and perhaps to beat them all; he converts his republic +into a monarchy, and surrounds his monarchy with what he calls +aristocratic institutions; and you know what becomes of him. The +people estranged, the aristocracy faithless (when did they ever +pardon one who was not of themselves?)--the imperial fabric tumbles +to the ground. If it teaches nothing else, my dear, it teaches one +a great point of policy--namely, to stick by one's party. + +While these thoughts (and sundry others relative to the horrible +cold of the place, the intense dulness of delay, the stupidity of +leaving a warm bed and a breakfast in order to witness a procession +that is much better performed at a theatre)--while these thoughts +were passing in the mind, the church began to fill apace, and you +saw that the hour of the ceremony was drawing near. + +Imprimis, came men with lighted staves, and set fire to at least ten +thousand wax-candles that were hanging in brilliant chandeliers in +various parts of the chapel. Curtains were dropped over the upper +windows as these illuminations were effected, and the church was +left only to the funereal light of the spermaceti. To the right was +the dome, round the cavity of which sparkling lamps were set, that +designed the shape of it brilliantly against the darkness. In the +midst, and where the altar used to stand, rose the catafalque. And +why not? Who is God here but Napoleon? and in him the sceptics have +already ceased to believe; but the people does still somewhat. He +and Louis XIV. divide the worship of the place between them. + +As for the catafalque, the best that I can say for it is that it is +really a noble and imposing-looking edifice, with tall pillars +supporting a grand dome, with innumerable escutcheons, standards, +and allusions military and funereal. A great eagle of course tops +the whole: tripods burning spirits of wine stand round this kind of +dead man's throne, and as we saw it (by peering over the heads of +our neighbors in the front rank), it looked, in the midst of the +black concave, and under the effect of half a thousand flashing +cross-lights, properly grand and tall. The effect of the whole +chapel, however (to speak the jargon of the painting-room), was +spoiled by being CUT UP: there were too many objects for the eye to +rest upon: the ten thousand wax-candles, for instance, in their +numberless twinkling chandeliers, the raw tranchant colors of the +new banners, wreaths, bees, N's, and other emblems dotting the place +all over, and incessantly puzzling, or rather BOTHERING the beholder. + +High overhead, in a sort of mist, with the glare of their original +colors worn down by dust and time, hung long rows of dim ghostly- +looking standards, captured in old days from the enemy. They were, +I thought, the best and most solemn part of the show. + +To suppose that the people were bound to be solemn during the +ceremony is to exact from them something quite needless and +unnatural. The very fact of a squeeze dissipates all solemnity. +One great crowd is always, as I imagine, pretty much like another. +In the course of the last few years I have seen three: that +attending the coronation of our present sovereign, that which went +to see Courvoisier hanged, and this which witnessed the Napoleon +ceremony. The people so assembled for hours together are jocular +rather than solemn, seeking to pass away the weary time with the +best amusements that will offer. There was, to be sure, in all the +scenes above alluded to, just one moment--one particular moment-- +when the universal people feels a shock and is for that second +serious. + +But except for that second of time, I declare I saw no seriousness +here beyond that of ennui. The church began to fill with personages +of all ranks and conditions. First, opposite our seats came a +company of fat grenadiers of the National Guard, who presently, at +the word of command, put their muskets down against benches and +wainscots, until the arrival of the procession. For seven hours +these men formed the object of the most anxious solicitude of all +the ladies and gentlemen seated on our benches: they began to stamp +their feet, for the cold was atrocious, and we were frozen where we +sat. Some of them fell to blowing their fingers; one executed a +kind of dance, such as one sees often here in cold weather--the +individual jumps repeatedly upon one leg, and kicks out the other +violently, meanwhile his hands are flapping across his chest. Some +fellows opened their cartouche-boxes, and from them drew eatables of +various kinds. You can't think how anxious we were to know the +qualities of the same. "Tiens, ce gros qui mange une cuisse de +volaille!"--"Il a du jambon, celui-la." "I should like some, too," +growls an Englishman, "for I hadn't a morsel of breakfast," and so +on. This is the way, my dear, that we see Napoleon buried. + +Did you ever see a chicken escape from clown in a pantomime, and hop +over into the pit, or amongst the fiddlers? and have you not seen +the shrieks of enthusiastic laughter that the wondrous incident +occasions? We had our chicken, of course: there never was a public +crowd without one. A poor unhappy woman in a greasy plaid cloak, +with a battered rose-colored plush bonnet, was seen taking her place +among the stalls allotted to the grandees. "Voyez donc l'Anglaise," +said everybody, and it was too true. You could swear that the +wretch was an Englishwoman: a bonnet was never made or worn so in +any other country. Half an hour's delightful amusement did this +lady give us all. She was whisked from seat to seat by the +huissiers, and at every change of place woke a peal of laughter. I +was glad, however, at the end of the day to see the old pink bonnet +over a very comfortable seat, which somebody had not claimed and she +had kept. + +Are not these remarkable incidents? The next wonder we saw was the +arrival of a set of tottering old Invalids, who took their places +under us with drawn sabres. Then came a superb drum-major, a +handsome smiling good-humored giant of a man, his breeches +astonishingly embroidered with silver lace. Him a dozen little +drummer-boys followed--"the little darlings!" all the ladies cried +out in a breath: they were indeed pretty little fellows, and came +and stood close under us: the huge drum-major smiled over his little +red-capped flock, and for many hours in the most perfect contentment +twiddled his moustaches and played with the tassels of his cane. + +Now the company began to arrive thicker and thicker. A whole covey +of Conseillers-d'Etat came in, in blue coats, embroidered with blue +silk, then came a crowd of lawyers in toques and caps, among whom +were sundry venerable Judges in scarlet, purple velvet, and ermine-- +a kind of Bajazet costume. Look there! there is the Turkish +Ambassador in his red cap, turning his solemn brown face about and +looking preternaturally wise. The Deputies walk in in a body. +Guizot is not there: he passed by just now in full ministerial +costume. Presently little Thiers saunters back: what a clear, broad +sharp-eyed face the fellow has, with his gray hair cut down so +demure! A servant passes, pushing through the crowd a shabby wheel- +chair. It has just brought old Moncey the Governor of the Invalids, +the honest old man who defended Paris so stoutly in 1814. He has +been very ill, and is worn down almost by infirmities: but in his +illness he was perpetually asking, "Doctor, shall I live till the +15th? Give me till then, and I die contented." One can't help +believing that the old man's wish is honest, however one may doubt +the piety of another illustrious Marshal, who once carried a candle +before Charles X. in a procession, and has been this morning to +Neuilly to kneel and pray at the foot of Napoleon's coffin. He +might have said his prayers at home, to be sure; but don't let us +ask too much: that kind of reserve is not a Frenchman's +characteristic. + +Bang--bang! At about half-past two a dull sound of cannonading was +heard without the church, and signals took place between the +Commandant of the Invalids, of the National Guards, and the big +drum-major. Looking to these troops (the fat Nationals were +shuffling into line again) the two Commandants tittered, as nearly +as I could catch them, the following words-- + +"HARRUM HUMP!" + +At once all the National bayonets were on the present, and the +sabres of the old Invalids up. The big drum-major looked round at +the children, who began very slowly and solemnly on their drums, +Rub-dub-dub--rub-dub-dub--(count two between each)--rub-dub-dub, and +a great procession of priests came down from the altar. + +First, there was a tall handsome cross-bearer, bearing a long gold +cross, of which the front was turned towards his grace the +Archbishop. Then came a double row of about sixteen incense-boys, +dressed in white surplices: the first boy, about six years old, the +last with whiskers and of the height of a man. Then followed a +regiment of priests in black tippets and white gowns: they had black +hoods, like the moon when she is at her third quarter, wherewith +those who were bald (many were, and fat too) covered themselves. +All the reverend men held their heads meekly down, and affected to +be reading in their breviaries. + +After the Priests came some Bishops of the neighboring districts, in +purple, with crosses sparkling on their episcopal bosoms. + +Then came, after more priests, a set of men whom I have never seen +before--a kind of ghostly heralds, young and handsome men, some of +them in stiff tabards of black and silver, their eyes to the ground, +their hands placed at right angles with their chests. + +Then came two gentlemen bearing remarkable tall candlesticks, with +candles of corresponding size. One was burning brightly, but the +wind (that chartered libertine) had blown out the other, which +nevertheless kept its place in the procession--I wondered to myself +whether the reverend gentleman who carried the extinguished candle, +felt disgusted, humiliated, mortified--perfectly conscious that the +eyes of many thousands of people were bent upon that bit of +refractory wax. We all of us looked at it with intense interest. + +Another cross-bearer, behind whom came a gentleman carrying an +instrument like a bedroom candlestick. + +His Grandeur Monseigneur Affre, Archbishop of Paris: he was in black +and white, his eyes were cast to the earth, his hands were together +at right angles from his chest: on his hands were black gloves, and +on the black gloves sparkled the sacred episcopal--what do I say?-- +archiepiscopal ring. On his head was the mitre. It is unlike the +godly coronet that figures upon the coach-panels of our own Right +Reverend Bench. The Archbishop's mitre may be about a yard high: +formed within probably of consecrated pasteboard, it is without +covered by a sort of watered silk of white and silver. On the two +peaks at the top of the mitre are two very little spangled tassels, +that frisk and twinkle about in a very agreeable manner. + +Monseigneur stood opposite to us for some time, when I had the +opportunity to note the above remarkable phenomena. He stood +opposite me for some time, keeping his eyes steadily on the ground, +his hands before him, a small clerical train following after. Why +didn't they move? There was the National Guard keeping on +presenting arms, the little drummers going on rub-dub-dub--rub-dub- +dub--in the same steady, slow way, and the Procession never moved an +inch. There was evidently, to use an elegant phrase, a hitch +somewhere. + +[Enter a fat priest who bustles up to the drum-major.] + +Fat priest--"Taisez-vous." + +Little drummer--Rub-dub-dub--rub-dub-dub--rub-dub-dub, &c. + +Drum-major--"Qu'est-ce donc?" + +Fat priest--"Taisez-vous, dis-je; ce n'est pas le corps. Il +n'arrivera pas--pour une heure." + +The little drums were instantly hushed, the procession turned to the +right-about, and walked back to the altar again, the blown-out +candle that had been on the near side of us before was now on the +off side, the National Guards set down their muskets and began at +their sandwiches again. We had to wait an hour and a half at least +before the great procession arrived. The guns without went on +booming all the while at intervals, and as we heard each, the +audience gave a kind of "ahahah!" such as you hear when the rockets +go up at Vauxhall. + +At last the real Procession came. + +Then the drums began to beat as formerly, the Nationals to get under +arms, the clergymen were sent for and went, and presently--yes, +there was the tall cross-bearer at the head of the procession, and +they came BACK! + +They chanted something in a weak, snuffling, lugubrious manner, to +the melancholy bray of a serpent. + +Crash! however, Mr. Habeneck and the fiddlers in the organ loft +pealed out a wild shrill march, which stopped the reverend +gentlemen, and in the midst of this music-- + +And of a great trampling of feet and clattering, + +And of a great crowd of Generals and Officers in fine clothes, + +With the Prince de Joinville marching quickly at the head of the +procession, + +And while everybody's heart was thumping as hard as possible, + +NAPOLEON'S COFFIN PASSED. + +It was done in an instant. A box covered with a great red cross--a +dingy-looking crown lying on the top of it--Seamen on one side and +Invalids on the other--they had passed in an instant and were up the +aisle. + +A faint snuffling sound, as before, was heard from the officiating +priests, but we knew of nothing more. It is said that old Louis +Philippe was standing at the catafalque, whither the Prince de +Joinville advanced and said, "Sire, I bring you the body of the +Emperor Napoleon." + +Louis Philippe answered, "I receive it in the name of France." +Bertrand put on the body the most glorious victorious sword that +ever has been forged since the apt descendants of the first murderer +learned how to hammer steel; and the coffin was placed in the temple +prepared for it. + +The six hundred singers and the fiddlers now commenced the playing +and singing of a piece of music; and a part of the crew of the +"Belle Poule" skipped into the places that had been kept for them +under us, and listened to the music, chewing tobacco. While the +actors and fiddlers were going on, most of the spirits-of-wine lamps +on altars went out. + +When we arrived in the open air we passed through the court of the +Invalids, where thousands of people had been assembled, but where +the benches were now quite bare. Then we came on to the terrace +before the place: the old soldiers were firing off the great guns, +which made a dreadful stunning noise, and frightened some of us, who +did not care to pass before the cannon and be knocked down even by +the wadding. The guns were fired in honor of the King, who was +going home by a back door. All the forty thousand people who +covered the great stands before the Hotel had gone away too. The +Imperial Barge had been dragged up the river, and was lying lonely +along the Quay, examined by some few shivering people on the shore. + +It was five o'clock when we reached home: the stars were shining +keenly out of the frosty sky, and Francois told me that dinner was +just ready. + +In this manner, my dear Miss Smith, the great Napoleon was buried. + +Farewell. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext The Second Funeral of Napoleon, Thackeray +by William Makepeace Thackeray +Writing as: "Michael Angelo Titmarch." + diff --git a/old/2napf10.zip b/old/2napf10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..6e82849 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/2napf10.zip |