Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 2Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
History
Old and New Paris: Its History, Its People, and Its Places, v. 2
Edwards, H. Sutherland (Henry Sutherland)
Paris (France) -- Description and travel; Paris (France) -- History
The assembly voted the following decree: “Art. I. The new edifice of
Sainte-Geneviève shall be used for the reception of the ashes of the
great men belonging to the period of French liberty. Art. II. The
legislative body shall alone decide to whom this honour is to be
awarded. Art. III. Honoré Riquetti Mirabeau is judged worthy to receive
such honour. Art. IV. The legislature shall not, in the future, have
power to decree this honour to any of its members who may die; that is a
question which shall be decided by the succeeding magistracy. Art. V.
Any exceptions which may be made in favour of great men who died before
the Revolution, shall be decided only by the legislative body. Art. VI.
The directory of the department of the Seine shall with promptitude put
the edifice of Sainte-Geneviève into a condition to fulfil its new
functions, and shall cause to be engraved over the pediment these words,
‘To the great men of a grateful country.’ Art. VII. Until the new church
of Sainte-Geneviève is finished the body of Riquetti Mirabeau shall
repose beside the ashes of Descartes, in the vault of the old church.”
The remains of Voltaire were transported to the Panthéon soon after
those of Mirabeau, and with a pomp no less magnificent. On the 30th of
May, 1791, Gossin, deputy for Bar-le-Duc, addressed the Tribune in an
enthusiastic outburst thus: “It was on the 30th of May that the honours
of sepulture were refused to Voltaire, and it is on the same day that
the national gratitude must acquit itself of its duty of reverence
towards one who has prepared men for toleration and liberty.” The
procession which accompanied the relics of Voltaire on their conveyance
to the Panthéon was imposing in the extreme. Representatives of numerous
corporations and professions attended to do homage to his memory, and at
one point in the cortège eight women dressed in white, and carrying a
statue of Liberty which appeared to be pointing to a complete edition of
Voltaire’s works, were borne along in a gilded car. Finally came the
sarcophagus, drawn by twelve white horses. After halts innumerable the
solemn procession drew up before the Panthéon to the flare of torches.
The name of Panthéon, sufficiently heathen in character, had not
hitherto been applied to the church of Sainte-Geneviève; but it appeared
a few days later in a petition demanding the same honours for Rousseau,
and signed by poets, artists, and scholars. The Assembly would willingly
have acceded, but such was the resistance of the inhabitants of
Montmorency, who eagerly requested that the ashes of this great writer
might be left in their midst, that it deferred its decision.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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