Unlucky circumstances denied him
the power, but he had the will.
Well, beyond this disappointment, the Prince de Joinville had nothing to
complain of during the voyage, which terminated happily by the arrival
of the "Belle Poule" at Cherbourg, on the 30th of November, at five
o'clock in the morning. A telegraph made the glad news known at Paris,
where the Minister of the Interior, Tanneguy-Duchatel (you will read the
name, Madam, in the old Anglo-French wars), had already made "immense
preparations" for receiving the body of Napoleon.
The entry was fixed for the 15th of December.
On the 8th of December at Cherbourg the body was transferred from the
"Belle Poule" frigate to the "Normandie" steamer. On which occasion the
mayor of Cherbourg deposited, in the name of his town, a gold laurel
branch upon the coffin--which was saluted by the forts and dykes of the
place with ONE THOUSAND GUNS! There was a treat for the inhabitants.
There was on board the steamer a splendid receptacle for the coffin:
"a temple with twelve pillars and a dome to cover it from the wet and
moisture, surrounded with velvet hangings and silver fringes.
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