It was cold on the morning of December 10, 1840. However, tens of thousands of people gathered along the banks of the Seine in Rouen. « We are talking about 100 000 people », underlines Jean-Marc Auger, regional delegate of Napoleonic Remembrance. The city is decked out for the passage of the boat carrying the ashes of Napoleon I to Paris, who died almost twenty years earlier. For three days, six hundred workers have been at work day and night to dress the suspension bridge located at the current site of the William the Conqueror Bridge. The cold is so bitter that work must be interrupted during the night of 8 to 9: the workers’ hands are sticking to the frozen cables.
Never mind, the portico of the bridge is transformed in time into a large triumphal arch nearly 30 m high and 40 m wide, « covered with purple hangings dotted with golden bees and crowned N’s », tells Nicétas Périaux, author from Rouen who witnessed the events. A large tent was erected for the authorities, a 15m banner floats on the spire of the cathedral, as well as 24 tricolor flags. « Six infantry battalions are also mobilized and the grognards, the former members of the Grand Army, have taken their places under the Arc de Triomphe and navigation is prohibited on the river, » specifies Jean-Marc Auger. Traffic is also prohibited on the quays, we fear crowd movements. « Napoleon is popular in Seine-Inférieure which was one of the biggest suppliers of men for the Napoleonic army. The emperor would have said at Austerlitz : “The Normans are there, we will win”. »
–
Edge change
Around 10:30 am, the convoy arrives and as if by magic, the fog dissipates ” and a long ray of that sun which never failed on any of Napoleon’s great days illuminates the river which bears his remains », tells with a very Napoleonic emphasis Nicétas Périaux. The convoy of 14 boats comes to a stop. The Dorade, which carries the emperor’s coffin is moored in front of the officials’ tent. Only thirty minutes, and more on the water, while the municipal authorities would have wanted Rouen to be the first land in France to be affected by the coffin. The event attracts merchants: lithographs, medals, plates and even printed handkerchiefs are published.
The day before, early in the morning, Normandy, a steamer onto which the coffin had been transferred to Cherbourg, arrived at Le Havre. The people of Le Havre are present on the jetty and the beach to see the “imperial” boat. There too, a journalist present lets himself be carried away by his lyricism. « The coffin seemed as if surrounded by a luminous atmosphere (…) We were witnesses of this miraculous chance. Napoleon returned to France surrounded by a luminous halo and it was the sun of Austerlitz which greeted the return of the hero. »
In the afternoon, it is in Val-de-la-Haye that the coffin is transferred again, to The Dorade 3, able to go up the Seine to Paris. « In Val-de-la-Haye, there is room to accommodate the entire flotilla, and this will avoid having to transhipment in Rouen. The authorities fear a Bonapartist rally, or even riots, » underlines Jean-Marc Auger. The town is well aware of having hosted a historic moment and decides to build a monument of remembrance. The construction of the Napoleon column began in 1844, and was inaugurated on Napoleon’s birthday, August 15, 1846. In 1848, eight years after the ashes passed in Rouen, the first election of the President of the Republic took place by universal suffrage. The inhabitants of Rouen vote 80% for the emperor’s nephew, Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte, while Le Havre, little associated with the return of the ashes, prefers its opponent, General Cavaignac. Maybe not a coincidence …
–
From Toulon to Sainte-Hélène, a healthy walk
Political end, it is the president of the Council, Adolphe Thiers, anxious to attract the good graces of the Bonapartists, who imagines to obtain in 1840 the return of the remains of Napoleon. King Louis-Philippe allowed himself to be convinced and Guizot, then ambassador in London, made the request to the British authorities. On July 7, 1840, the
Beautiful hen , escorted by the
Favorite sail from Toulon. The expedition is placed under the command of the Prince de Joinville. The king’s youngest son is in no hurry to reach the 122 km² island in the heart of the South Atlantic, between Africa and South America. The expedition turns into a tourist trip and lasts ninety-three days. The ships anchor in Cadiz, Madeira, Tenerife. In Brazil, the crews celebrate for two weeks. The two ships arrived on October 8 and left on October 18, three days before Thiers resigned. Louis-Philippe does not derive any glory from the return of the ashes either. The population reproaches him for not having been able to pay him enough homage during his ascent to Paris. On December 15, 1840, Napoleon was buried at the Invalides. The monument to his tomb was not completed until 1861.
– .
