The Second Funeral of Napoleon
Page: 22

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.