Napoleon by Dwyer Philip;

Author:Dwyer, Philip;
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

Preparations for the exhumation went ahead and were carried out on the night of 14–15 October, so that the coffin would be ready for opening by morning, exactly twenty-five years after Napoleon had arrived on the island. At midnight all the interested parties were huddled around the iron railing in their long overcoats, the fog pierced by a pale light thrown out by oil lamps.74 It took the rest of the night to dig away the earth; it took another few hours to uncover the slab and the cement that had been placed over the coffin.

As the moment approached when the coffin would be revealed, a few of the workers got carried away and started to speak loudly among themselves. They were called to order by the commander of the Royal Engineers, Captain Alexander, who reminded them that only six inches remained between them and the coffin of Napoleon. By the time the slab had been lifted off with ropes and pulleys, it was 9.30 in the morning. Another hour, and the coffin itself was lifted out of the tomb and, in the pouring rain, was carried by twelve British soldiers to a nearby marquee that had been set up to receive it. After some difficulty opening the ‘secret’ lock to the coffin made of ebony, they could now proceed with revealing Napoleon’s remains to the world. ‘The most profound silence reigned within the enclosure where alone those who had been designated were present. And as the work progressed, it took on a more serious and more religious character.’75 It was by now a quarter past twelve. They had been there for twelve hours; three of the caskets had been taken off so that the fourth and final one was about to be revealed.

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