respect glory, genius, and greatness may visit in "reverential
tranquillity." Henceforth, by Royal Proclamation, history is to know
him as an Emperor and a King. He is to have a tomb as durable as his
memory, and his tomb and fame are to belong to his country for
evermore. The legitimate heir of Napoleon's glory is the author of one
of the finest panegyrics that has ever been written; a political move,
if you will, but none the less the document is glowing with the
artistic phrasing that appeals to the perceptions of an emotional
race.

But the real sincerity was obviously not so much in the author of the
document as in the great masses, who were intoxicated with the desire
to have the remains of their great hero brought home to the people he
had loved so well. It may easily be imagined how superfluously the
French King and his Government patted each other on the back in
self-adoration for the act of funereal restoration which they took
credit for having instituted. If they took too much credit it was only
natural. But not an item of what is their due should be taken from
them. The world must be grateful to whoever took a part in so noble a
deed. At the same time the world will not exonerate the two official
contracting parties from being exactly free from interested motives.
The one desired to maintain domestic harmony, and this could only be
assured by recalling the days of their nation's glory; and the other,
_i.e._, the British Government, had their eye on some Eastern business
which Palmerston desired to go smoothly, and so the dead Emperor was
made the medium of tranquillity, and, it may be, expediency, in both
cases.

In short, Prince Joinville was despatched from Toulon in feverish
haste with the frigate _Bellespoule_ and the corvette _Favorite_.