The National Register. — London, England, 1815-01-29 00:00:00

....R: • with -breeches of :grey silk, and atoekinp of rise same colour W , , f 014, bautoreatr and myself) rte the vespers, and rceittd all the u.nal players fir the burial of 'indeed ; and I can say with truth, that the et; y tame populace, who INA latelymade•the air resound with their vociferation*, listen ed to the prayers for the soul of his Majesty in. solemn silence. But before the body was let doviu into tlu grave. *Lich was stunt 10 feet distant from the wall of the churchyard, a layer of quieklime wax thrown into the grave by order of the ixeen- ; tire. The corpse was than covered with a similar layer of quicklime, and mxt a quantity of earth was thrown in, and the whole beaten ' down several times. We rethed in silence after this too painful cerc- ' mony ; and as far as I can recollect, a minute of the whole was drawn up by the justice of peace. which was signed by the two-neon hers of the department, and the two of the commune. On return ing to the church I enterr 4 the burial in a rcvister, which was after- , wards carried off by the no-mbers of the Revolutionary Committee, when the church was s h ut op." There is also the declaiation of Dominique Lanjou, late • Advocate. It states that he witnessed the interment of both Louis tine XVI. and his Queen ; that the head of the King, separated from the body, was placed between his legs; that he never lost sight of the spot, which be regarded as sacred i and that when his father•in-law purchased the ground, he had the spot where the bodies of their Majesties rested in closed, and there planted 'soine willows and cypresses. Next follows the minute of the proceedings for the disin terment of the remains of the Queen. The Commissioners for this purpose were—the Chancellor Dambray, the Count De Blacas, the Bail i De Crussol the Bishop of Nancy, and M. Distel, the king's surgesn. It is dated the 18th ofJa nuary. We proceeded at eight in the morning to what was lately the burial ground of the 'Magdalen, in the Rcu &Anjou St. licnore. Having entered the house to which the burial ground is now attached as a garden, and which house is oc cupied by the Sieur Deseloseau, wbo had formerly purchased the said burial ground, in order to watch over the precious remains there deposited ; we there found the said Des - closeaux and several persons of his family, who conducted us into what was the burial-ground, and pointed out to us the spot where they had every reason to believe the remains of their Majesties woure deposited. We began the researches prescribed to us, for . the body of the Queen. After hay ing, by means of some workmen, one of whom was pre i,.•nt at the Queen's interment, opened the ground t 6 an ex teat of ten feet in length by five or six in breadth, and to the • (ftpth of about five feet, we came to a layer of lime from ten to eleven inches. in thickness, which we caused to be carefully iemoved, aid under which we found a very distinct itupres ion of a coffin, of about five feet and a half, or thereabouts, • in length, which iinpre,sion was traced out amidst a thick layer of lime, and along which there were found various frag ments of plank still untouched..: We found within this out line formed by the coffin a great number of .hones, which • we carefully collected; some were, however, wanting, which - doubtless had been reduced to dust: but we found the head entire, and the position iu which it was placed shcwcd in contcitably that it bad been detached from the trunk. We also found some fiaginents of clothing—in. particular two elastic garters, in tolerable preservation, which we have brought away, that they may be given to his Majesty, as well as two ftagtnents of the coffin. We then respectfully placed the remains iu a box which we brought with us, in order to their being deposited in the leaden coffin which we have or dered. We also separated and placed, in another bat the earth and lime found with the bona, and *which Are to be deposited in the tame coffin. This . operation finiabed, we caused the spot to be coveted with strong planks. and pro ceeded search, however, on this disy - was unsucctssful, and was put an end to by the approach of night. j THE N A TION AL REfillTEß.,,_ - JAN • •• The report then,. proce.eds.:-r-We. therefore left the burial ground, with the workmen . whom we bad brought; we care fully locked the gate, takitag with the key, and placed the two above mentioned chists in the salt , so of the Sieur Des eloseaux, after having sealed them with the m modal seal of France. The said chests were then covered with a pall, and surrounded by wax-lielsts, and several ecclesiastics of his Ma jesty's Chapel. in order to recite during the night the prayers of the church around these precious remains. [The report concludes with stating. that a guard was placed at the gate and around the butimi ground, and the Comniissioners ad- journed till next more ng.] The following is the account of the discovery pc the body of the King:— The workmen opened in our presence a trench of seven feet in depth, a little below the tomb of the Queen, and nearer the wall on the side of the street d'Anjou. We dis covered some earth mixed with time, and some small frag ments of boards, indicative of a wooden coffin. We ordered them to continue to dig with more caution but instead of finding a bed of pure lime, as round the coffin of the Queen, we perceived that the earth and the lime had been designedly mingled, in such a manner, however, that the lime greatly predominated in the mixmixture,but had not the same consistence as that found in yesterday's operation ; in the middle•of this lime, and of this earth, we discovered the bones of a human hody, most of which, being thoroughly corroded, were ready to fall to dust : the bead was covered with lime, and it was ' found placed betwixt two leg bones, a circumstance which appeared to us the more remarkable, as this had been pointed out as the situation of the head of Louis XVI. in the infor mation we had received on the 22d of last Nfay. We searched carefully for the remains of any trace of clothing, without being. able to discover any, no doubt be cause the quantity of lime being much more considerable, had produced-a greater effect. We collected all the relics which we could collect in this confused mass of earth and lime, and placed them together in a large sheet prepared.for the purpose, as also many pieces of the lime yet entire. Although this place - where. the body was discovered was that whet e many eye witnesses of the interment had declared to us that the body of his Majesty was deposited, and although the situation of the head left no doubt as to the result of our operation, we, however, took care to cause ten or twelve feet of earth to be dug up at a distance of about 25 feet, to ex amine whether there existed a complete het of lime, which might point out to us the burying place of the King as pi e cisely as that of the Queen. 'But this superabundant 111°4 convinced us still more completely that we were in posse sion of the sacred relics. We inclosed them with respect in a large box, which we had fastened and scaled with the signet of the arms of France : we then carried this box into the same chamber where the. '•rern2ins of the Queen were deposited yesterday, in or der that the ecclesiastics already assembled might continue round tlia two bodies the prayers of the church, till the time which shall be fixed by the King fur placing them in leaden coffins, aid for conveying these coEns to the' oyal church of St. Denis. Of all which we .have compiled and written this present statement. which has. been signed by the same commissionets and witnesses as in the sitting of yesterday, and besides, by the Duke of Darers, Peer of France, first gentleman of the Chamber of the King; by the Marquis of Dreux•Breze, g•and-mwter of the ceremonies of France, who assisted in the operatbms of this day; and. by the Abbe Dastros, Vicar ' General of the church of Paris, brie of the ministers of the ~e ~