Some magnificent religious ceremonies of this nature are at present
taking place in France; and thinking that you might perhaps while away
some long winter evening with an account of them, I have compiled the
following pages for your use. Newspapers have been filled, for some days
past, with details regarding the St. Helena expedition, many pamphlets
have been published, men go about crying little books and broadsheets
filled with real or sham particulars; and from these scarce and valuable
documents the following pages are chiefly compiled.

We must begin at the beginning; premising, in the first place, that
Monsieur Guizot, when French Ambassador at London, waited upon Lord
Palmerston with a request that the body of the Emperor Napoleon should
be given up to the French nation, in order that it might find a final
resting-place in French earth. To this demand the English Government
gave a ready assent; nor was there any particular explosion of sentiment
upon either side, only some pretty cordial expressions of mutual
good-will. Orders were sent out to St. Helena that the corpse should
be disinterred in due time, when the French expedition had arrived in
search of it, and that every respect and attention should be paid to
those who came to carry back to their country the body of the famous
dead warrior and sovereign.

This matter being arranged in very few words (as in England, upon most
points, is the laudable fashion), the French Chambers began to debate
about the place in which they should bury the body when they got it;
and numberless pamphlets and newspapers out of doors joined in the talk.
Some people there were who had fought and conquered and been beaten with
the great Napoleon, and loved him and his memory. Many more were there
who, because of his great genius and valor, felt excessively proud in
their own particular persons, and clamored for the return of their