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58. 2 May 1897: Article by ECS: Recalled by the Grant Pageant
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^ 137 ••••••••• 58 • Article by ECS [2 May 1897] Recalled by the Grant Pageant. Mrs. Elizabeth Cady Stanton’s Reminiscences of the Last Tribute to Napoleon. The approaching pageant on April 27, in which as a nation we are to pay our last tribute of respect to Gen.Grant, 1 who carried our civil war to a successful termination,recalls to my mind a similar event which took place in Paris fifty-six years ago, when the remains of the great Napoleon arrived there from the island of St. Helena. 2 I was on my wedding trip, having just attended the World’s Anti-Slavery Convention in London, to which Mr. Stanton 3 was a delegate. A party of Friends from Philadelphia, who also attended the convention, were in Paris at the same time. 4 Together we visited the points of interest day after day, and at our hotel in the evening, with “Galignani’s Guide”in hand,planned work for the morrow. 5 We were much amused with the notice taken of the Quaker gentlemen of our party by the soldiers wherever we went. Their coats being of the military cut of the time of George Fox, 6 the founder of their sect, they were supposed to belong to the army of some country, and uniformly received the military salute, much to their embarrassment. Though opposed to war and all its paraphernalia, they took a deep interest in the national excitement and the pageants that heralded the arrival of Napoleon’s remains to his native land. The hearts of that enthusiastic people were stirred to their very depths. We witnessed the busy preparations in the Hôtel des Invalides for the reception, and the wild excitement of the old soldiers who had so long mourned the sad fate of their chief,and we listened with deep interest to the glowing tributes they paid him, so soon to find his last resting place under the same roof with themselves. 7 At that time each soldier had a little patch of ground to decorate as he pleased, in which many scenes from their great battles were illustrated. One represented Napoleon crossing the Alps—the mountains, the cannon, the army, the General on horseback—all perfect in 2 may 1897 138 & miniature. Another represented Napoleon, flag in hand, leading the wild rush across the bridge at Lodi. 8 A third represented a scene among the pyramids in Egypt: Napoleon, seated on his horse, impassively gazing at the Sphinx, seemingly lost in deep thought over some problem of human destiny. But all these scenes in wood and stone have crumbled away, and the ground is used for more prosaic purposes. The old soldiers, too, are all gone; none remains to repeat the stories of these wonderful campaigns. Of all the members of our party who spent so many happy days together I alone remain, and if I live to April 27 I shall probably be the only person in this city who will have been present on both these occasions. Napoleon,in his will,expressed the wish that his last resting place might be in the land and among the people he loved so well. His wish is gratified. He rests on the bank of the Seine, whose waters wash the shores of the greatest city in the French republic. Gen. Grant’s last wish was that his resting place might be in this metropolis ; but wherever it was he wanted room for his wife by his side. 9 In his spacious mausoleum his wish also will be gratified in due time. On the bank of the Hudson, whose waters wash the shores of the greatest city of the American republic, a magnificent monument will point the last resting place of our hero to coming generations who will read the history of our civil war. There is great similarity in some points in these events, as there was in the characters of these silent men. As Gen. Horace Porter 10 has done more than any other one man to push the project for a monument to Gen. Grant to completion, it seems peculiarly fitting that he should be an Ambassador to the French republic just at this time, making him a link, as it were, between two great events in this century. His rare executive ability and persistence in this matter shows a capacity for public responsibilities that may prove serviceable to our Government should any necessity arise for serious international negotiations. U Elizabeth...