QUEEN VICTORIA AT THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON THE GREAT.

New Zealander, Volume 11, Issue 1010, 22 December 1855, Page 1 (Supplement)

QUEEN VICTORIA AT THE TOMB OF NAPOLEON THE GREAT.

Ix an eloquent article on the visit of the Queen to the Emperor Louis Napoleon, the Sydney Empire thus graphically describes how Her Majesty was led to the tomb of the First Napoleon, and of the graceful manner in which the amicable union of the two nations was typified : It was a ten days’ wonderment and gratification to two great and powerful nations, never to be forgotten. All that a polished people could desire to display to those whom they sought to honour, was exhibited to their august visitors. And the latter, in their progress through the marvels that awaited them, in what they looked upon, and in the historical monuments which they visited, must have read many a lesson which will doubtless produce its fruit in due season. The Prince of Wales saw, with his own eyes, how an Emperor can mix with his people and yet lose naught of his dignity by the friction ; and how easily obtained is the popular regard by a spontaneous act of Imperial sympathy : as when Louis Napoleon, catching sight of a crippled voltigeur from Sebastopol, who, on crutches, was trying to make his way onward, stepped forth to meet him, and pulling the Cross of the Legion of Honour from his own breast, transferred it to that of the wounded soldier.

But there was one expression of deep and penetrating regard manifested towards us—evincing a fervent hope that by this visit all enmities shall be acknowledged to have ceased between the rival nations—which, to our thinking, w r as more effective and affecting than the many already showered upon the royal guests : and that at the tomb of the great Napoleon. By the light of numerous torches, the Emperor led her Majesty to the chapel where lie the remains of the god of France’s idolatry. The Queen of Great Britain stood before the sepulchre of that once implacable enemy whom her armies ovcrthrew r . Could the shade of the hero of so many fights have looked down upon that scene, would it not have been avenged—not appeased ? It was appeased, being avenged ; since France would have it so; for now the organ sent forth its holy peals in the National Anthem of England ; and all, before the ashes of Napoleon, murmured in unison with it, “ God save the Queen.” It was a tableau fit for the pencil of Horace Yernet, and which, in honour of the union of the two nations, we feel assured he will be requested to faithfully represent.

The visit of the Queen to the tomb of Napoleon is thus described in the Moniteur:—

The Queen visited the tomb of the Emperor. None other of her visits has produced a more marked impression. As the review had been prolonged till very late, her Majesty was no longer expected at the Hotel des Invalidcs ; but in spite of the advanced hour, she insisted on proceeding there. The Queen arrived, therefore, at nightfall, followed by a numerous staff, and surrounded by veterans of our former wars who had

hastened to the scene on the news of her arrival, and with a noble collectedness ad-

vanced towards the last resting place of him who was the most constant adversary of England. "What a scene! What remembrances, with all the contrasts which they evoke! But when, by the light of torches, with the glitter of uniforms, and amid the tones of the organ, playing ‘ God save the Queen/ her Majesty was led by the Emperor into the chapel in which repose the remains of Napoleon, the effect was striking and immense; the emotions profound; for the idea rose in each mind that this was not a simple tribute to the tomb of a great man, but a solemn act, attesting that the rivalries of the past were forgotten, and that the union between the two peoples had from thenceforth its most striking consecration.”