CHAPTER I

THE ABODE OF DARKNESS

In Clause 2 of his last will, dated Longwood, April 15, 1821, the Emperor Napoleon states:  “It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people whom I have loved so well.”

At London, September 21, 1821, Count Bertrand and Count Montholon addressed the following letter to the King of England:—­

“Sire,—­We now fulfil a sacred duty imposed on us by the Emperor Napoleon’s last wishes—­we claim his ashes.  Your Ministers, Sire, are aware of his desire to repose in the midst of the people whom he loved so well.  His wishes were communicated to the Governor of St. Helena, but that officer, without paying any regard to our protestations, caused him to be interred in that land of exile.  His mother, listening to nothing but her grief, implores from you, Sire, demands from you, the ashes of her son; she demands from you the feeble consolation of watering his tomb with her tears.  If on his barren rock as when on his throne, he was a terror of the world, when dead, his glory alone should survive him.  We are, with respect, &c, &c,

    (Signed) count Bertrand.

    Count Montholon.”

In reply to this touching act of devotion to their dead chief the English Ambassador at Paris wrote in December, 1821, that the English Government only considered itself the depository of the Emperor’s ashes, and that it would deliver them up to France as soon as the latter Government should express a desire to that effect.  The two Counts immediately applied to the French Ministry, but without result.  On May 1, 1822, a further letter was sent to Louis XVIII., by the grace of God King of France and Navarre, concerning the redepositing of the ashes of Napoleon, Emperor, thrice proclaimed by the grace of the people.

On the accession of Louis Philippe to the throne the rival parties were each struggling for ascendancy.  The glory of the days of the Empire had been stifled by the action of the European Powers and their French allies, but the smouldering embers began to show signs of renewed activity, and a wave of Napoleonic popularity swept over the land.  Philippe and his Ministry were not indifferent to what was going on, and in order to distract attention from the chaos which the new condition of things was creating, the plan of having the “ashes” of the illustrious chief brought to the country and the people whom he “loved so well” was suggested as a means of bringing tranquillity to France and security to the throne.

M. Thiers, the head of a new Ministry, entered into negotiations with the English Government, and M. Guizot addressed an official note to Lord Palmerston, who was then Secretary for Foreign Affairs.