 | | People watch the marble grave of French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, under the Invalides Dome in Paris, France Friday Aug.16, 2002. |
For decades, the fate of Napoleon Bonaparte has been debated and studied. Now a French historian is locked in an uphill battle against the government over a DNA test he says could end the doubts.Historian Bruno Roy-Henry believes British authorities may have removed Napoleon's remains before his coffin was returned to France in 1840 - and that the body under the gilded dome of Les Invalides is that of another man. But France's Defense Ministry has refused, at least for now, to allow a DNA test, which Roy-Henry contends would put an end to all questions about the identity of the body in Napoleon's Tomb. "I have a feeling that the French authorities are very perturbed," Roy-Henry said. Roy-Henry points to a series of anomalies surrounding Napoleon's death on the South Atlantic island of St. Helena in 1821, and the transfer of his remains to Paris 19 years later. He cites the disappearance of the emperor's silver spurs. These were fastened to Napoleon's boots when he was buried in St. Helena, but missing when the coffin was opened in Paris in 1840. Witnesses to the opening of the coffin said the body appeared well-preserved - not in a state of decomposition that one would expect from a body buried 19 years earlier. To prove his theory, Roy-Henry wrote to France's Defense Ministry last month to request a DNA test on a strand of Napoleon's hair. Doctors took the strand from the body currently lying in Les Invalides just before the coffin arrived in Paris. It was later given to Bonaparte's nephew, Emperor Napoleon III, before being put in a permanent exhibit at the Army Museum in Paris in 1936. "The simplest way to put an end to all of this is a DNA test, but it has been refused," said Roy-Henry. "So I have deduced that there is something to hide." The ministry also told Roy-Henry he must seek the agreement of Napoleon's descendants, some of whom live in Italy and the emperor's birthplace of Corsica, to provide a DNA sample before the case can proceed further. But what would have been the British motive for removing the body? The circumstances surrounding Napoleon's death are a subject of fierce debate. While textbooks say Napoleon died of stomach cancer, claims that the British poisoned him with arsenic are rife. If that were the case, they would have tried to hide the crime, Roy-Henry argued. He concedes that there is no proof for any of those theories. But a DNA test could at least settle the question about who lies in the tomb. (Agencies) | 幾十年來，拿破侖的死因一直是人們爭論和研究的對象。如今，一位法國歷史學家正力圖沖破政府方面的阻力，通過DNA測試來揭開這一歷史之謎。 歷史學家布魯諾·羅伊·亨利認為在1840年拿破侖的棺槨運抵法國之前，英國政府已經偷梁換柱，轉移了他的遺體，而如今擺放在榮軍院金色屋頂下的其實是另一個人的尸體。 盡管亨利稱這項DNA測試能夠確認拿破侖墳墓里那具尸體的身份，使得所有疑問得以真相大白，但是法國國防部卻拒絕進行測試，至少在目前是這樣的。 羅伊·亨利說道："我有一種感覺，法國政府對此感到十分不安。" 亨利指的是當初圍繞拿破侖之死的種種反常的事情：拿破侖1821年在南大西洋圣赫勒那島上溘去，可是他的遺體19年之后才被運回巴黎。 他引用了拿破侖大帝銀馬刺失蹤的證據：當拿破侖在圣赫勒那島下葬的時候，那些馬刺是裝在他的靴子上的。但是當他的棺木1840年在巴黎被打開的時候，那對馬刺卻不翼而飛了。當時在場的人說棺槨里的尸體保存完好，壓根不像已經被埋葬了19年之久的樣子。 為證實自己的理論，七月份羅伊·亨利致信法國國防部，提出要對拿破侖的一縷頭發進行DNA測試。 在棺木到達巴黎榮軍院之前，醫生們從如今被放置在那里的尸體上取下了一縷頭發。1936年巴黎軍事博物館中的拿破侖棺木永久陳列館開放之前，這縷頭發被交到了拿破侖的侄子--拿破侖三世手中。 羅伊·亨利說："得到結論的最簡單方法就是進行DNA測試，但是已經遭到拒絕，所以我斷定這里一定有些事被隱瞞了。" 國防部還告訴羅伊·亨利說，他必須求得一些居住在意大利和其出生地--科西嘉島的拿破侖后裔們的同意，請求他們為進一步的測試提供DNA樣本。 然而英國人轉移拿破侖尸體的動機到底是什么呢？圍繞拿破侖之死所涉及的這些情況仍是一個頗有爭議的論題。 羅伊·亨利稱，盡管教科書上說拿破侖是死于胃癌，但是除此之外還有另一種普遍的說法：拿破侖是被英國人用砒霜毒害的。如果后一種說法屬實的話，英國政府就自然要想方設法掩蓋罪行。 他承認目前還沒有證據證明任何一種推測的真偽。但是如果進行DNA測試的話，至少可以查出躺在拿破侖墳墓里的人到底是誰。 (中國日報網站譯) |
Updated: 2002-08-22 01:00
