The Second Funeral of Napoleon
Page: 14

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."