THE CORONATION.
At last, on the 2d of December, came the day which Napoleon had during
many years past longed for within the recesses of his heart; the day
which his ambition had hoped for, the day of his solemn coronation.
And now the victorious soldier was to see all his laurels woven into an
imperial crown--that which Julius Caesar had tried to win, and for which
the republic punished him with death.
But now the republicans were silent: before this new Julius Caesar they
dare not lift up their swords, for the power belonged to him, and that
he knew how to punish had been seen by trembling France not long ago
at the execution of George Cadoudal and his associates, the people
sanctioning those executions.
There was no Brutus there to plunge the dagger into the breast of the
new Cassar. His was the victory, the throne, the crown; and all France
was in joyous excitement at this new triumph, that the pope himself
should come from Rome to Paris so as to place the crown on the head of
an emperor by the grace of the people, and to make of the elect of the
people an elect of God.
The day had scarcely begun to dawn when all the streets of Paris through
which the imperial as well as the papal procession had to move toward
Notre Dame were filled with wave-like masses of human beings, who soon
occupied not only the streets but all the windows and all the roofs of
the houses. Those who were fortunate enough to be provided with cards
of admission into Notre Dame, went at six o’clock in the morning to the
cathedral, for whose adorning during the last fourteen days more than a
thousand workmen had been busy, and who had not yet quite finished their
work, retiring only when the approach of the pope and of his suite was
announced. In the interior of the Tuileries began from the commencement
of the day, on three different sides, a lively movement.
Here, in the apartments which the pope occupied, gathered together the
cardinals, the clergy, and all the church dignitaries who in the pope’s
suite were to proceed to Notre Dame.
There, in the apartments of the emperor, a host of courtiers and
officers waited from early dawn for the moment when the toilet of the
emperor should be completed, and he should go to the great throne-room,
where the empress and the imperial family would await him.
The greatest excitement, however, naturally prevailed in the apartments
of the empress, whose toilet occupied a host of chambermaids and ladies
of the court, and which had already been for months the subject of
thought, labor, and art, for painter and embroiderer, and for all
manner of professions, as well as for the master of ceremonies. For this
imperial toilet-ceremonial was to be in accordance with the traditions
of ancient France, but was not, at the same time, to be a mere imitation
of the coronation-toilet of the Bourbons, whom the revolution had
dethroned, the same revolution which had opened for Napoleon the way to
the throne.
For this important ceremony, therefore, special costumes, somewhat
resembling those of former centuries, had been found. The painter Ingres
had furnished the designs for these costumes, and also plans for the
procession and for the groupings in Notre Dame; he had prepared all this
in pictures of great effect for the emperor’s inspection. But in order
to show to advantage the several costumes, as well as the train of
personages, and the subdivisions of the different groups of the imperial
dignitaries, Ingres had caused small puppets to be dressed in similar
costumes, and arrayed in the order of the procession according to the
prescribed ceremonies for that day; and for weeks the imperial court had
been studying these costumes, and every one’s duty had been to impress
on his mind the position assigned to him for the day of coronation.
[Footnote: Constant, “Memoires,” vol. iii., p. 111.]
The pope’s toilet was the first completed; and at nine o’clock, all
dressed in white, he entered a carriage drawn by eight grays; over it in
gilt bronze were the tiara and the attributes of papacy. In front of the
carriage rode one of his chamberlains upon a white ass, bearing a large
silver cross before God’s vicegerent. Behind it in new carriages came
the cardinals, the prelates, and the Italian officers of the pope’s
palace.
While the papal train was moving slowly on the quays of the Seine toward
the cathedral, amid the sounds of bells, and the unceasing, joyful
shouts of the people, all was yet in motion within the apartments of
the emperor and empress. On all sides hurried along the dignitaries and
officers who were to form a part of the imperial procession.
For this day, Napoleon had been obliged to cast off his plain uniform
and substitute the splendid theatrical costume of imperial magnificence.
The stockings were of silk, wrought with gold, embroidered round the
edge with imperial crowns; the shoes were of white velvet, worked and
embroidered with gold; short breeches of white velvet, embroidered with
gold at the hips, and with buttons and buckles of diamonds in the shape
of garters; the vest also was of white velvet, embroidered with gold and
having diamond buttons; the coat was of crimson velvet, with facings of
white velvet along all the seams above and around, and sparkling with
gold; the half-mantle was also crimson, lined with white satin, and
hanging over the left shoulder, while on the right shoulder and upon
the breast it was fastened with a pair of diamond clasps. Sleeves of the
most costly lace fell about the arms; the cravat was of Indian muslin,
the collar likewise of lace; the cap, of black velvet, was adorned with
two plumes and surrounded by a coronet of diamonds, which “the regent”
used as a clasp. Such was the costume which the emperor wore in the
procession from the Tuileries to Notre Dame. In the vestry of the
cathedral he put on the ample state-robes, that is to say, the robe and
mantle of emperor. [Footnote: Constant, “Memoires,” vol. ii., p. 212.]
The toilet of the empress was no less splendid and brilliant. It
consisted of an elaborate robe with a long train; this robe was of
silver brocade, with gold bees scattered all over; in front it was
embroidered into a maze of gold-leaves; at the lower edge was a gold
fringe; the shoulders alone were bare; long armlets of wrought gold, and
adorned at the upper part with diamonds, enclosed the arm and covered
one-half of the hand. It required all the art and grace of Josephine
to carry this robe, it being without any waist, and, according to the
fashion of the times, extremely narrow, and yet in wearing it to lose
naught of her elegance or condescending dignity. At the upper part of
the dress rose a collar a la Medicis of lace worked in with gold, and
which Josephine had been constrained to wear, so as at least, through
some historic details, to make her toilet correspond to the costume
of the renaissance worn by Napoleon. A gold girdle, adorned with
thirty-nine diamond rosettes, fastened under the breast her tunic-like
dress. In her fondness for the antique, Josephine, instead of diamonds
and pearls, had preferred for bracelets, ear-rings, and necklace,
some choice stones of rare workmanship. Her beautiful thick hair was
encircled and held together by a splendid diadem, a masterpiece of
modern art. This toilet was to be completed, like that of Napoleon,
before the solemn entrance into the cathedral, by putting on the
imperial mantle, which was fastened on the shoulders with gold buckles
and diamond clasps.
At last the imperial toilets were completed; all the dignitaries, as
well as the imperial family, gathered together in the throne-room,
ready for the procession. Holding Josephine by the hand, her countenance
expressing deep emotion, and her eye obscured by the tears shed as a
price for the solemn marriage of that night, Napoleon appeared in
the midst of his brilliant courtiers, and received the impressive,
heart-felt wishes of his family, his brothers and sisters, who pressed
around him and the empress, and who at this moment, forgetting all envy
and jealousy, had only words of thankfulness and assurances of love,
devotedness, and loyalty.
Napoleon replied to them all in the short, comprehensive words which he
addressed to his brother Joseph, whilst with his naming eyes he examined
his brothers and sisters in the brilliant costumes of their dignity and
glory:
“Joseph,” said he, “could our father see us now!” [Footnote: Meneval,
“Souvenirs,” vol. i., p. 204.]
From the pomp and solemnity of this important moment the thoughts of the
emperor, for whom the pope was waiting in Notre Dame, wandered far
away to the gloomy, quiet death-bed of his father, whose last hour was
embittered by the tormenting thought of leaving his family unprotected
and with but little means.
The thundering roar of cannon and the chimes of bells proclaimed that
the emperor and empress, with their train, were now leaving the palace
to ascend into the wonderful carriage made of gold and glass, and which
was waiting for them at the Pavilion de l’Horloge to proceed toward the
cathedral.
This carriage, prepared expressly for this day’s celebration, was of
enormous size and breadth, with windows on all sides, and entirely alike
in its front and back seats. It therefore happened that their imperial
majesties, on entering the carriage, not thinking of the direction to be
taken, sat down on the front instead of the back seat.
The empress noticed the mistake, and when she laughingly called the
emperor’s attention to it, they both took the back seat without a
suspicion that this little error was a bad omen.
Another little mishap occurred before they entered Notre Dame, which
threw a gloom of sad forebodings and fear over the heart of the empress.
Whilst alighting out of the carriage, the empress, whose hand was
occupied in the holding and carrying her robe and mantle, let slip
from her fingers the imperial ring which the pope had brought her for a
present, and which before the coronation he was to bless, according to
the accustomed ceremonial, and then place it on her finger as a token of
remembrance of the holy consecration. This made Josephine tremble, and
her cheeks turned pale, especially as the ring could nowhere be found.
It had rolled a considerable distance from the carriage, and only after
some minutes did Eugene Beauharnais find it and bring it to his mother,
to her great delight and satisfaction. [Footnote: Aubenas, “Histoire de
l’Imperatrice Josephine,” vol. ii., p. 283.]
At last the procession entered Notre Dame, and the brilliant solemnity
began. It is not our purpose to describe here again the ceremony which
has been in all its details portrayed in so many works, and to repeat
the solemn addresses and the different events of this great and
memorable day. It is with Josephine we have to do, and with what
concerns her individual destiny--that alone claims our attentive
consideration.
One event, however, is to be mentioned. At the moment the emperor took
from the altar the so-called crown of Charles the Great, and with firm
hand placed it on his head--at the moment when he assumed the place of
the ancient Kings of France, a small stone, which had detached itself
from the cupola, fell down, touched his head, leaped on his shoulder,
slipped down his imperial mantle, and rolled over the altar-steps near
to the pope’s throne, where it remained still until an Italian priest
picked it up. [Footnote: Abrantes. “Memoires,” vol. vii., p. 258.]
At the moment of his loftiest grandeur the destiny of his future aimed
its first stone at him, and marked him as the one upon whom its anger
was to fall.
This was the third evil omen of the day; but fortunately Josephine had
not noticed it. Her whole soul was absorbed in the sacred rites; and,
after the emperor had crowned himself, her heart trembled with deep
emotion and agitation, for now the moment had come when she was to take
her part in the solemnity.
The Duchess d’Abrantes, who was quite near Josephine, and an immediate
witness of the whole celebration, depicts the next scene in the
following words: “The moment when the greatest number of eyes were fixed
upon the altar-steps where the emperor stood, was when Josephine was
crowned by him, and was solemnly consecrated Empress of the French. What
a moment! ... what a homage! What a proof of love manifested to her from
him who so much loved her!
“David’s painting, and many other pictures taken during the coronation,
at the very spot and time, have well represented the empress at the
feet of Napoleon, who crowns her; then the pope, the priests, and
even persons who were four hundred miles away--as, for instance, the
emperor’s mother, who was then in Rome, but whom David nevertheless
brings into his picture. But nothing, however, can give us a true
description, or even an approximate idea, of this alike touching and
lofty scene, where a great man by his own efforts ascends a throne, for
on this occasion he was full of gratitude and emotion.
“When the moment had come for Josephine to take her part in the great
drama, the empress rose from the throne and approached the altar, where
the emperor was waiting for her; she was followed by the ladies of the
palace and by her whole court, while the Princesses Caroline, Julie (the
wife of Joseph), the Princess Elise, and Louis Bonaparte, carried the
trail of her robe. One of the most admirable features in the beauty of
the Empress Josephine was not her fine, graceful figure, but the bearing
of her head--the gracious and noble manner in which she moved and
walked. I have had the honor to be introduced to many ‘real princesses,’
as they are termed, in the Faubourg St. Germain, and I can in all
sincerity say that I have never seen one who appeared to me so imposing
as the Empress Josephine. In her, grace and majesty were blended. When
she put on the grand imperial robes there was no woman whose appearance
could be more royal in demeanor, and, in reality, none who understood
the art of occupying a throne as well as she, though she never had been
instructed in it.
“I read all that I have now said in the eyes of Napoleon. He watched
with delight the empress as she moved toward him; and as she knelt
before him, ... as the tears she could not restrain streamed down her
folded hands, which were lifted up to him more than to God, at that
moment, when Napoleon, or, much more, when Bonaparte was for her the
real and visible Providence, there passed over these two beings one of
those fugitive minutes, unique in its kind, and never to be recalled
in a whole life, and which fills to overflowing the void of many long
years. The emperor performed with an unexcelled grace the most minute
details of every part of the subsequent ceremony, especially when the
moment came to crown the empress.
“This ceremony was to be performed by the emperor himself, who, after
he had received the small closed crown surmounted by a cross, placed it
first on his own head, and then afterward on the head of the empress. He
performed these two movements with a most exquisite slowness, which was
indeed admirable. But at the moment when he was to crown her who was for
him, according to a prophecy, ‘the star of happiness,’ he made himself,
if I dare use the expression, coquettish. He arranged this little crown
which was to stand over her coronet of diamonds, and placed it on her
head, then lifted it up to replace it in another way, as if to promise
her that this crown would be light and pleasant to her.” [Footnote:
Abrantes, “Memoires.”]
After this twofold crowning performed by Napoleon himself, the pope,
surrounded by cardinals and prelates, approached the throne, and
arriving upon the platform pronounced in a loud voice, spreading his
hands over their imperial majesties, the ancient Latin formula of
enthronization: “In hoc solio confirme vos Deus, et in regno aeterno
secum regnare faciat Christus.” (God establish you on this throne, and
Christ make you reign with Him in His everlasting kingdom.) He then
kissed the emperor on the cheeks, and turning himself to the audience,
cried with a loud voice: “Vivat imperator in aeternum!”
The immense cathedral resounded with one glad shout of thousands of
voices: “Long live the emperor! long live the empress!” Napoleon, calm
and reserved, answered this acclamation with a friendly motion of the
head. Josephine stood near him, pale, deeply moved, her eyes, full of
tears, fixed on the emperor, as if she would pray to him, and not to
God, for the prosperity and blessing of the future.
Meanwhile the pope had descended from his throne, and while he
approached the altar, the bands played “Long live the emperor,” which
the Abbe Kose had composed for this solemnity. Then the pope, standing
before the altar, intoned the Te Deum, which was at once executed by
four choirs and two orchestras, and which completed the ecclesiastical
part of the ceremony.
This was followed by a secular one. The emperor took, on the Bible
which Cardinal Fesch presented to him, the oath prescribed in the
constitution, and whereby he pledged himself solemnly to maintain “the
most wise results of the revolution, to defend the integrity of the
territory, and to rule only in the interest of the happiness and glory
of the French people.” After he had taken this oath, a herald approached
the edge of the platform, and, according to ancient custom, cried out in
a loud voice: “The most mighty and glorious Emperor Napoleon, Emperor of
the French, is crowned and enthroned! Long live the emperor!”
A tremendous, prolonged shout of joy followed this proclamation: “Long
live the emperor! Long live the empress!” and then an artillery
salute thundered forth from behind the cathedral, and a similar salute
responded from the Tuileries, and from the Invalides, and proclaimed to
all Paris that France had again found a ruler, that a new dynasty had
been lifted up above the French people.
At this moment from the Place de Carrousel ascended an enormous air
balloon surmounted by an ornamental, gigantic crown, and which, on the
wings of the wind, was to announce to France the same tidings proclaimed
to Paris by bell and cannon: “The republic of France is converted into
an empire! The free republicans are now the subjects of the Emperor
Napoleon I.!”
The gigantic balloon arose amid the joyous shouts of the crowd, and soon
disappeared from the gaze of the spectators. It flew, as a trophy of
victory of Napoleon I., all over France. Thousands saw it and understood
its silent and yet eloquent meaning, but no one could tell where it
had fallen, finally, after many weeks, the emperor, who had often asked
after the balloon’s fate, received the wished-for answer. The balloon
had fallen in Rome, upon Nero’s grave!
Napoleon remained silent a moment at this news: a shadow passed over his
countenance; then his brow brightened again, and he exclaimed: “Well, I
would sooner see it there, than in the dust of the streets!”