The funeral was a political blunder.  It stirred up the embers of Napoleonism.  Ten years later they blazed into a consuming fire.

The procession passed through the Place de la Concorde, beneath the shadow of the obelisk of Luxor, which of old had looked on triumphs and funeral processions in Egypt; then it crossed the Seine.  On the bridge were eight colossal statues, representing prudence, strength, justice, war, agriculture, art commerce, and eloquence.

The statues along the Champs Elysees were Victories, each inscribed with the name of some Napoleonic battle.  Great haste had been required to get them ready.  At the last moment Government had had to order from certain manufactories pairs of wings by the dozen, and bucklers and spears in the same way.  All night the artists had been fixing these emblems on their statues.  A statue of Marshal Ney, which had been ordered among those of the other marshals, was found to be, not of colossal, but of life size.  It had to be hurriedly cut into three parts.  The deficiency in the torso was concealed by flags, and the “bravest of the brave” took his place on a par with his comrades.

On the steps of the Chamber of Deputies was a colossal statue of Immortality, designed for the top of the Pantheon, but pressed into service on this occasion, holding forth a gilded crown as if about to place it on the coffin of the Emperor.

At the gate of the Invalides was another genuine statue, Napoleon in his imperial robes was holding forth the cordon of the Legion of Honor.  This statue had been executed for the Pillar at Boulogne commemorative of the Army of England.  It was surrounded by plaster statues of the departments of France, and was approached through a long line of marshals, statesmen, and the most illustrious of French kings, among them Louis XIV., who would have been much astonished to find himself rendering homage to a soldier of barely gentlemanly birth, born on an island which was not French in his time.

The coffin was borne by sailors into the Chapelle Ardente at the Invalides.  “Sire,” said Prince de Joinville to his father, “I present to you the body of the Emperor Napoleon.”

“I receive it in the name of France,” replied the king.

Then Marshal Soult put the Emperor’s sword into the king’s hand.  “General Bertrand,” said the king, “I charge you to lay it on the coffin of the Emperor.  General Gourgaud, place the Emperor’s hat also on the coffin.”

Then began the appropriate religious ceremonies, and during the following week the public were admitted to view the coffin as it lay in state in the Chapelle Ardente.  The crowd was very great.  Women fainted daily, and many were almost pressed to death against the gilded rails.

After all, there was little to see.  The coffin was enclosed in a sort of immense cage to keep it from intrusion, the air was heavy with incense, and the light was too dimly religious to show anything with distinctness.