Hi ! ( I'm not a native english speaker , pardon any mistakes )

• Le maréchal fut conduit d’Aurillac à Paris par deux officiers de la garde royale ; aux relais, il essuyait les outrages de la foule, et, chose plus pénible encore, les insolences des Wurtembergeois qui occupaient le Nivernais. Ces misérables lancèrent des pierres contre la chaise de poste où l’on emmenait prisonnier le soldat qui les avait tant de fois sabrés. Le 19 août, pendant que Labédoyère tombait dans la plaine de Grenelle, Ney était incarcéré à la Conciergerie.

( Le Maréchal Ney, par M. Welschinger, 1 vol. in-8° ; Plon et C°, 1893. )

In this biography, Welschinger explains that on his way to the trial in Paris, while he was escorted by 2 officers of the royal guard , Marshal Ney was the victim of verbal abuse and some people from Wurtemberg ( the same people he had under his command ) threw stones at him.

I remember reading somewhere that his lawyer claimed that since Ney was born in Saarlouis, which wasn't part of France when he was born, the court was incompetent to judge him to which Ney replied : " I fought all my life for France, I will be judged like a french ! ", thus "self-sabotaging" hiw own defense.

After he was sentenced to death, Ultra royalists were manifesting their happiness chanting in the streets " long live the king, revenge for our king ".

But as you know, the marschal execution remains very famous. It is said that he didn't want to cover his eyes, and his lasts words were :

"Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her ... Soldiers, fire!"

The shifting in the public opinion is quite interesting. The Marshal whose nickname was "the bravest of the brave" became quite a symbol in the eyes of the public. After he was executed, he was not seen as a traitor but remembered and celebrated for his infamous exploits and his bravery/gallantry. On the wall where he was executed was written : " Here died the french Achilles ". Police tried to erase it but without success and soon, the Observatoire's street became a place of pilgrimage in his memory.

In 1830, people from Moselle ( his birthplace ) asked that his remains be transfered to the french Panthéon.

In 1831, a parisian theater wrote a play called "The trial of a French Marshal". The play was censored by the authorities and the public began a riot outside the theater.

In 1834, during a regular trial at the Chamber of Peers, the defense ( General Exelmans ) claimed that the death of the Marshal was a Judicial murder . The President of the chamber ( Pasquier ) replied that he felt offended. This event had such a big repercussion that in the end, the duke of Orleans ( heir to the throne ! ) asked for a retrial of Ney. King Louis Philippe then basically told his son : " Son, wtf are you doing ? " and nothing happened during 12 years, until 1846 when Ney's own son asked for a retrial.

http://www.napoleonprisonnier.com/images/acteurs/ney3.jpg

In 1848, the Government decided to built a statue in his honour, on the exact same place where he was executed years before. A local newspaper wrote : the french people were much faster than the powerful : already hundreds of flowers, trophies, offerings;etc. This is not a tomb, this is a sanctuary ".

Later the french president claimed that this statue was not an " official gesture for an annoying souvenir, but the symbol of a redemption made possible by the public outcry and the collective consciousness".

I hope this make sense because it was a difficult sentence to translate^^

Sources : My memory, Ney's biography , French Senate website