These vessels were piously fitted out to suit the august occasion.
Whatever the motives or influences, seen or unseen, that prompted the
two Governments to carry out this unquestionable act of justice to the
nation, to Napoleon's family, his comrades in arms who were still
living, yea, and to all the peoples of the earth who were possessed of
humane instincts, yet it is pretty certain that fear of a popular
rising suggested the idea, and the genius who thought of the
restoration of the Emperor's ashes as a means of subduing the
gathering storm may be regarded as a public benefactor.

But be all this as it may, it is doubtful if anything so ludicrously
farcical is known to history as the mortal terror of this man's
influence, living or dead. The very name of him, animate or inanimate,
made thrones rock and Ministers shiver. Such was their terror, that
the Allies, as they were called (inspired, as Napoleon believed, by
the British Government--and nothing has transpired to disprove his
theory) banished him to a rock in mid-ocean, caged him up in a house
overrun with rats, put him on strict allowance of rations, and guarded
him with warships, a regiment of soldiers with fixed bayonets, and the
uneasy spirit of Sir Hudson Lowe.

After six years of unspeakable treatment he is said to have died of
cancer in the stomach. Doubtless he did, but it is quite reasonable to
suppose that the conditions under which he was placed in an unhealthy
climate, together with perpetual petty irritations, brought about
premature death, and it is highly probable that the malady might have
been prevented altogether under different circumstances. At any rate,
he was without disease when Captain Cockburn handed him over, and for
some time after. But he knew his own mental and physical make-up; he
knew that in many ways he was differently constituted from other men.