He was the greatest genius of his time, perhaps of all time, yet he lacked the crown of greatness—that high wisdom born of reflection and introspection which knows its own powers and limitations, and never abuses them; that fine sense of proportion which holds the rights of others in the same solemn reverence it demands for its own.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE SECOND FUNERAL OF NAPOLEON—REMOVAL OF NAPOLEON’S REMAINS FROM ST. HELENA TO THE BANKS OF THE SEINE IN 1840
It is my wish that my ashes may repose on the banks of the Seine, in the midst of the French people, whom I have loved so well.—Testament of Napoleon, 2d Clause.
He wants not this; but France shall feel the want
Of this last consolation, thought so scant;
Her honor, fame, and faith demand his bones,
To rear above a pyramid of thrones;
Or carried onward, in the battle’s van,
To form, like Guesclin’s dust, her talisman.
But be it as it is, the time may come,