|
The immobilist and repressive policies of the Bourbons during the Second Restoration caused growing unrest among broad layers of French society, despite the fact that the new enthronement represented the conclusion of a twenty-year cycle of wars that had ruined and bled France, placing it under the tutelage of the signatory powers of the new European order at the Congress of Vienna. The return of the nobles meant the dismissal from the army of a large number of officers with long careers behind them who found themselves retired with half pay, confined in many cases to their places of origin and subject to little discreet surveillance by the police. The démi-soldes constituted the first agents of the resurgence of Napoleon's prestige , supported by the upheavals in the working-class neighborhoods due to the collapse of salaries as a consequence of the demobilization of the army and the preference of industrialists to employ women and children as laborers. of cheap labor.
Furthermore, the return of the properties to the emigrants after the Revolution of 1789 caused a decrease in support for the monarchy in rural areas, and the period of Napoleonic government began to be BTC Users Number Data considered by many as a golden age due to the transformations social and economic structures that founded a large part of the revolutionary ideas. For this reason, the Emperor began to be described as “the father of the people.” Furthermore, the industrial and commercial bourgeoisie, enriched during the Empire, whose members had reached positions of responsibility in the administration and the legislative body, saw how their social position suffered from the return of absolutism, especially after the rise to power of Charles X. The colored images of the Napoleonic campaigns and the editions of the Bulletin de la Grande Armée became references that drove the legend and the resurgence of the figure of the Emperor.

Having obtained permission from the British Government, Francis of Orleans, Prince of Joinvi despite his refusal to act as "undertaker", was entrusted with directing the procession that left the port of Tomposed of the frigate La Belle Poule and the corvette La Favorite , and which included generals Bertrand and Gourgaud, Emmenuel de Las Cases, son of the memorialist, and Saint-Denis (Alí), in addition to the surviving Longwood servants. The journey to the South Atlantic was delayed for more than three months due to Joinville's little interest in the mission. When the ships arrived in Saint Helena on October 8, Governor George Middlemmined that the remains would be returned on the 15th. General Clauzel – one of those mentioned by Napoleon in his will – presented the characteristics of the return project to the Chamber, some voices against it were raised, among which The writer and politician Alphonse de Lamarti69) will stand out, who refused the civil canonization of someone he considered an enemy of freedom.
|
|