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RHODE ISLAND AMERICAN And General Advertiser
Providence, Tuesday, September 25, 1821
FROM A LATE LONDON PAPER
BONAPARTE
The following is an extract of a letter from a tradesman of respectability at St. Helena, employed upon the funeral of Bonaparte. It is dated:
"St. Helena, May 20, 1821
You will of course, have heard of Bonaparte's dissolution; but perhaps a few facts from an eye witness, respecting that important event, may not be deemed tedious. Bonaparte had been sick at intervals even since I have been on the island, but never considered languorously so by the faculty until about two months back, when he evidently began to decline, and, of course, every possible attention was paid to him, but without effect.
The same morning I received orders for the coffins for the illustrious deceased, which were of course executed with all possible despatch. The shell was made of one-inch mahogany, lined with tin, and covered with lead outside. The tin was afterwards covered with white satin; pillow and mattress of the same. The outside coffin was made of Spanish mahogany.
Wednesday morning I rode up to Longwood and enclosed the body in the coffin with silver head screws. Enclosed with him in the coffin were a silver urn containing his heart, and another containing his stomach, and all the coins that were issued during his reign; together with a knife, fork, a spoon, and one plate, all of silver.
The pall at the funeral was of purple velvet on which was placed the cloak, or mantle, and sword, which Bonaparte wore at the battle of Waterloo, and on the head of the coffin a cushion and crucifix. The coffin was placed on a hearse drawn by four of his own carriage horses, and the procession (which the writer describes in nearly the same manner as stated in former accounts) moved towards the place of interment, which was his own choice.
Soon after he went to Longwood to reside, he complained of the badness of the water. At that time Madame Bertrand lived at Hutt's Gate, about one mile from Longwood, at the top of a very pretty fertile valley, known here by the name of Sempler Vale. Bonaparte frequently visited Madame Bertrand, and observed how very superior the water which he drank there was to that which he got at Longwood. On being informed that it was procured from a spring down the vale, he expressed a wish to walk and see the well. He went there with Madame Bertrand, and after examining the water he noticed a willow tree growing about ten yards from the well. Viewing it in silence for a few seconds, he said, 'Should I die on this island, I should wish to be buried under that tree; and I will drink no water but from this spring.' When he returned home, he furnished one of his servants, a Chinese, with two silver bottles holding about a gallon each, and sent him immediately to the spring for water. The same Chinese has had no other employment than fetching water in these bottles twice a day for the last five years.
The land where the corpse of this extraordinary man is deposited, belongs to Mr. Tornet, a very respectable shopkeeper in Jamestown. It is now called "Napoleon's Vale," and is very much frequented by the inhabitants. The grave was lined with stone, and covered with a plain slab of the same material."
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-Napoleon Bonaparte
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