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| author | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:33:43 -0700 |
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| committer | Roger Frank <rfrank@pglaf.org> | 2025-10-15 04:33:43 -0700 |
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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10003-0.txt b/10003-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..86560e0 --- /dev/null +++ b/10003-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,5912 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10003 *** + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr., carlo traverso, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A +FRENCHWOMAN + +[Illustration: Madame Waddington. +From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition, 1878.] + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A +FRENCHWOMAN + +1876-1879 + +BY + +MARY KING WADDINGTON + +ILLUSTRATED + +1914 + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT + II. IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES + III. M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION + IV. THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE + V. A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY + VI. THE EXPOSITION YEAR + VII. THE BERLIN CONGRESS +VIII. GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY + IX. M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER + X. PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS + XI. LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE + +INDEX + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +MADAME WADDINGTON _Frontispiece + From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition_, 1878. + +MONSIEUR THIERS + +MARSHAL MACMAHON + +SITTING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES + +THE FOYER OF THE OPERA + +MEETING OF OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, AND OF +DELEGATES OF THE NEW CHAMBERS, IN THE SALON OF +HERCULES, PALACE OF VERSAILLES + +THEODOR MOMMSEN + +PALACE OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PARIS + +FRANZ LISZT + +WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE + +LORD LYONS + +HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, IN 1876 + +PRINCE HOHENLOHE + +M. WILLIAM WADDINGTON. IN THE UNIFORM HE WORE AS +MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND AT THE BERLIN +CONGRESS, 1878 + +NASR-ED-DIN, SHAH OF PERSIA + +PRINCE BISMARCK + +THE BERLIN CONGRESS + +M. JULES GRÉVY, READING MARSHAL MACMAHON'S LETTER +OF RESIGNATION TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES + +M. JULES GRÉVY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC BY +THE SENATE AND CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES MEETING AS +THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY + +THE ELYSÉE PALACE, PARIS + +HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, ABOUT 1879 + +M. DE FREYCINET + +MME. SADI CARNOT + +PRESIDENT SADI CARNOT + + + + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN + + + + +I + + +WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT + +I was married in Paris in November, 1874, at the French Protestant +Chapel of the rue Taitbout, by Monsieur Bersier, one of the ablest and +most eloquent pastors of the Protestant church. We had just established +ourselves in Paris, after having lived seven years in Rome. We had a +vague idea of going back to America, and Paris seemed a first step in +that direction--was nearer New York than Rome. I knew very little of +France--we had never lived there--merely stayed a few weeks in the +spring and autumn, coming and going from Italy. My husband was a deputy, +named to the National Assembly in Bordeaux in 1871, by his +Department--the Aisne. He had some difficulty in getting to Bordeaux. +Communications and transports were not easy, as the Germans were still +in the country, and, what was more important, he hadn't any +money--couldn't correspond with his banker, in Paris--(he was living in +the country). However, a sufficient amount was found in the country, and +he was able to make his journey. When I married, the Assembly was +sitting at Versailles. Monsieur Thiers, the first President of the +Republic, had been overthrown in May, 1873--Marshal MacMahon named in +his place. W.[1] had had a short ministry (public instruction) under +Monsieur Thiers, but he was so convinced that it would not last that he +never even went to the ministry--saw his directors in his own rooms. I +was plunged at once into absolutely new surroundings. W.'s personal +friends were principally Orleanists and the literary element of +Paris--his colleagues at the Institute. The first houses I was taken to +in Paris were the Ségurs, Remusats, Lasteyries, Casimir Périers, +Gallieras, d'Haussonville, Léon Say, and some of the Protestant +families--Pourtalès, André Bartholdi, Mallet, etc. It was such an +entirely different world from any I had been accustomed to that it took +me some time to feel at home in my new milieu. Political feeling was +very strong--all sorts of fresh, young elements coming to the front. +The Franco-German War was just over--the French very sore and bitter +after their defeat. There was a strong underlying feeling of violent +animosity to the Emperor, who had lost them two of their fairest +provinces, and a passionate desire for the revanche. The feeling was +very bitter between the two branches of the Royalist party, Legitimists +and Orleanists. One night at a party in the Faubourg St. Germain, I saw +a well-known fashionable woman of the extreme Legitimist party turn her +back on the Comtesse de Paris. The receptions and visits were not always +easy nor pleasant, even though I was a stranger and had no ties with any +former government. I remember one of my first visits to a well-known +Legitimist countess in the Faubourg St. Germain; I went on her reception +day, a thing all young women are most particular about in Paris. I found +her with a circle of ladies sitting around her, none of whom I knew. +They were all very civil, only I was astonished at the way the mistress +of the house mentioned my name every time she spoke to me: "Madame +Waddington, êtes-vous allée à l'Opéra hier soir," "Madame Waddington, +vous montez à cheval tous les matins, je crois," "Monsieur Waddington va +tous les vendredis à l'Institut, il me semble," etc. I was rather +surprised and said to W. when I got home, "How curious it is, that way +of saying one's name all the time; I suppose it is an old-fashioned +French custom. Madame de B. must have said 'Waddington' twenty times +during my rather short visit." He was much amused. "Don't you know why? +So that all the people might know who you were and not say awful things +about the 'infecte gouvernement' and the Republic, 'which no gentleman +could serve.'" + +[Footnote 1: "W.," here and throughout this book, refers to Madame +Waddington's husband, M. William Waddington.] + +[Illustration: Monsieur Theirs.] + +The position of the German Embassy in Paris was very difficult, and +unfortunately their first ambassador after the war, Count Arnim, didn't +understand (perhaps didn't care to) how difficult it was for a +high-spirited nation, which until then had always ranked as a great +military power, to accept her humiliation and be just to the victorious +adversary. Arnim was an unfortunate appointment--not at all the man for +such a delicate situation. We had known him in Rome in the old days of +Pio Nono's reign, where he had a great position as Prussian minister to +the Vatican. He and the Countess Arnim received a great deal, and their +beautiful rooms in the Palazzo Caffarelli, on the top of the Capitol +Hill (the two great statues of Castor and Pollux standing by their +horses looking as if they were guarding the entrance) were a brilliant +centre for all the Roman and diplomatic world. He was a thorough man of +the world, could make himself charming when he chose, but he never had a +pleasant manner, was curt, arrogant, with a very strong sense of his own +superiority. From the first moment he came to Paris as ambassador, he +put people's backs up. They never liked him, never trusted him; whenever +he had an unpleasant communication to make, he exaggerated the +unpleasantness, never attenuated, and there is so much in the way things +are said. The French were very hard upon him when he got into trouble, +and certainly his own Government was merciless to him. + +One of my first small difficulties after becoming a Frenchwoman was to +eliminate some of my German friends from my salon. I could not run the +risk of their being treated rudely. I remember so well one night at +home, before I was married, seeing two French officers not in uniform +slip quietly out of the room when one of the German Embassy came in, yet +ours was a neutral house. When my engagement was announced one of my +great friends at the German Embassy (Count Arco) said to me: "This is +the end, I suppose, of our friendship; I can never go to see you when +you are the wife of a French deputy." "Oh, yes, you can still come; not +quite so often, perhaps, but I can't give up my friends." However, we +drifted apart without knowing why exactly. It is curious how long that +hostile feeling toward Germany has lasted in France. + +Every year there is a great review of the Paris garrison (thirty +thousand men) by the President of the Republic, at Longchamp, on the +14th of July, the national fête--the day of the storming of the Bastile. +It is a great day in Paris--one of the sights of the year--and falling +in midsummer the day is generally beautiful and very warm. From early +dawn all the chairs and benches along the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne are +crowded with people waiting patiently for hours to see the show. There +is not a seat to be had at Longchamp. Unless one arrives very early the +tribunes are packed, and the President's box very crowded, as he invites +the diplomatic corps and the ministers and their wives on that day. The +troops are always received with much enthusiasm, particularly the +artillery, dragging their light field-pieces and passing at a +gallop--also the battalion of St. Cyr, the great French military school. +The final charge of the cavalry is very fine. Masses of riders come +thundering over the plain, the general commanding in front, stopping +suddenly as if moved by machinery, just opposite the President's box. +I went very regularly as long as W. was in office, and always enjoyed my +day. There was an excellent buffet in the salon behind the box, and it +was pleasant to have a cup of tea and rest one's eyes while the long +columns of infantry were passing--the regular, continuous movement was +fatiguing. All the ambassadors and foreigners were very keen about the +review, paying great attention to the size of the men and horses and +their general equipment. As long as Marshal MacMahon was President of +the Republic, he always rode home after the review down the +Champs-Elysées--in full uniform, with a brilliant staff of foreign +officers and military attachés. It was a pretty sight and attracted +great attention. Some of the foreign uniforms are very striking and the +French love a military show. + +[Illustration: Marshal MacMahon.] + +For many years after the war the German military attaché returned from +the review unobserved in a _shut_ carriage, couldn't run the risk of an +angry or insulting word from some one in the crowd, and still later, +fifteen years after the war, when W. was ambassador in England, I was +godmother of the daughter of a German-English cousin living in London. +The godfather was Count Herbert Bismarck, son of the famous chancellor. +At the time of the christening I was in France, staying with some +friends in the country. The son of the house had been through the war, +had distinguished himself very much, and they were still very sore over +their reverses and the necessity of submitting to all the little +pin-pricks which came at intervals from Germany. Bismarck sent me a +telegram regretting the absence of the godmother from the ceremony. It +was brought to me just after breakfast, while we were having our coffee. +I opened it and read it out, explaining that it was from Bismarck to +express his regret for my absence. There was a dead silence, and then +the mistress of the house said to me: "C'est très désagréable pour vous, +chère amie, cette association avec Bismarck." + +I didn't see much of W. in the daytime. We usually rode in the morning +in the Bois and immediately after breakfast he started for Versailles in +the parliamentary train. Dinner was always a doubtful meal. Sometimes he +came home very late for nine-o'clock dinner; sometimes he dined at +Versailles and only got home at ten or eleven if the sitting was stormy. +The Hotel des Reservoirs did a flourishing business as long as the +Chambers sat at Versailles. When we were dining out it was very +disagreeable, particularly the first winter when I didn't know many +people. I remember one dinner at the Countess Duchatel's where I went +alone; we were ten women and five men. All the rest were deputies, who +had telegraphed at the last moment they would not come, were kept at +Versailles by an important question. + +One of the most interesting things I saw in 1873, just before my +marriage, was the court-martial of Marshal Bazaine for treachery at +Metz--giving up his army and the city without any attempt to break +through the enemy's lines, or in fact any resistance of any kind. The +court was held at the Grand Trianon, Versailles, a place so associated +with a pleasure-loving court, and the fanciful devices of a gay young +queen, that it was difficult to realise the drama that was being +enacted, when the honour of a Marshal of France--almost an army of +France, was to be judged. It was an impressive scene, the hall packed, +and people at all the doors and entrances clamouring for seats. The +public was curious, a little of everything--members of the National +Assembly, officers all in uniform, pretty women of all categories--the +group of journalists with keen eager faces watching every change of +expression of the marshal's face--some well-known faces, wives of +members or leading political and literary men, a fair amount of the +frailer sisterhood, actresses and demi-mondaines, making a great effect +of waving plumes and diamonds. The court was presided over by the Duc +d'Aumale, who accepted the office after much hesitation. He was a fine, +soldierly figure as he came in, in full uniform, a group of officers +behind him, all with stern, set faces. The impression of the public was +generally hostile to the marshal; one felt it all through the trial. He +was dressed in full uniform, with the grand cordon of the Legion of +Honour. It was melancholy to hear the report of his career when it was +read by his counsel,--long years of active service, many wounds, often +mentioned for brave conduct under fire, having the "Médaille +Militaire"--the grand cordon of the Legion d'Honneur, the baton de +Maréchal de France,--all the honours his country could give him--to end +so miserably, judged not only by the court but by the country, as a +traitor, false to his trust, when his country was in the death-throes of +defeat and humiliation. His attitude at the trial was curious. He sat +very still in his armchair, looking straight before him, only raising +his head and looking at the Duc d'Aumale when some grave accusation was +made against him. His explanation brought the famous reply from the duc, +when he said it was impossible to act or to treat; there was nothing +left in France--no government, no orders--nothing. The due answered: +"Il y avait toujours la France." He didn't look overwhelmed, rather like +some one who was detached from the whole proceedings. I saw his face +quite well; it was neither false nor weak--ordinary. It is difficult to +believe that a French general with a brilliant record behind him should +have been guilty of such treachery, sacrificing his men and his honour. +His friends (they were not many) say he lost his head, was nearly crazy +with the utterly unforeseen defeat of the French, but even a moment of +insanity would hardly account for such extraordinary weakness. W. and +some of his friends were discussing it in the train coming home. They +were all convinced of his guilt, had no doubt as to what the sentence of +the court would be--death and degradation--but thought that physical +fatigue and great depression must have caused a general breakdown. The +end every one knows. He was condemned to be shot and degraded. The first +part of the sentence was cancelled on account of his former services, +but he was degraded, imprisoned, escaped, and finished his life in Spain +in poverty and obscurity, deserted by all his friends and his wife. It +was a melancholy rentrée for the Duc d'Aumale. His thoughts must have +gone back to the far-off days when the gallant young officer, fils de +France, won his first military glory in Algiers, and thought the world +was at his feet. His brilliant exploit, capturing the Smala of +Abd-el-Kader, has been immortalised by Vernet in the great historical +picture that one sees at Versailles. There are always artists copying +parts of it, particularly one group, where a lovely, fair-haired woman +is falling out of a litter backward. Even now, when one thinks of the +King Louis Philippe, with all his tall, strong, young sons (there is a +well-known picture of the King on horseback with all his sons around +him--splendid specimens of young manhood), it seems incredible that they +are not still ruling and reigning at the Tuileries. I wonder if things +would have been very different if Louis Philippe and his family had not +walked out of the Tuileries that day! + +I often asked W. in what way France had gained by being a republic. I +personally was quite impartial, being born an American and never having +lived in France until after the Franco-Prussian War. I had no particular +ties nor traditions, had no grandfather killed on the scaffold, nor +frozen to death in the retreat of "La Grande Armée" from Moscow. They +always told me a republic was in the air--young talents and energy must +come to the front--the people must have a voice in the government. I +think the average Frenchman is intelligent, but I don't think the vote +of the man in the street can have as much value as that of a man who has +had not only a good education but who has been accustomed always to hear +certain principles of law and order held up as rules for the guidance of +his own life as well as other people's. Certainly universal suffrage was +a most unfortunate measure to take from America and apply to France, but +it has been taken and now must stay. I have often heard political men +who deplored and condemned the law say that no minister would dare to +propose a change. + +I went often to the Chamber in the spring--used to drive out and bring +W. home. Versailles was very animated and interesting during all that +time, so many people always about. Quite a number of women followed the +debates. One met plenty of people one knew in the streets, at the +Patissiers, or at some of the bric-à -brac shops, where there were still +bargains to be found in very old furniture, prints, and china. There is +a large garrison. There were always officers riding, squads of soldiers +moving about, bugle-calls in all directions, and continuous arrivals at +the station of deputies and journalists hurrying to the palace, their +black portfolios under their arms. The palace was cold. There was a fine +draught at the entrance and the big stone staircase was always cold, +even in June, but the assembly-room was warm enough and always crowded. +It was rather difficult to get seats. People were so interested in those +first debates after the war, when everything had to be reorganised and +so much of the past was being swept away. + + + + +II + + +IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES + +The sittings of the assembly were very interesting in that wonderful +year when everything was being discussed. All public interest of course +was centred in Versailles, where the National Assembly was trying to +establish some sort of stable government. There were endless discussions +and speeches and very violent language in the Chambers. Gambetta made +some bitter attacks on the Royalists, accusing them of mauvaise foi and +want of patriotism. The Bonapartist leaders tried to persuade themselves +and their friends that they still had a hold on the country and that a +plébiscite would bring back in triumph their prince. The Legitimists, +hoping against hope that the Comte de Chambord would still be the +saviour of the country, made passionate appeals to the old feeling of +loyalty in the nation, and the centre droit, representing the +Orleanists, nervous, hesitating, knowing the position perfectly, +ardently desiring a constitutional monarchy, but feeling that it was +not possible at that moment, yet unwilling to commit themselves to a +final declaration of the Republic, which would make a Royalist +restoration impossible. All the Left confident, determined. + +The Republic was voted on the 30th of January, 1875, by a majority of +one vote, if majority it could be called, but the great step had been +taken, and the struggle began instantly between the moderate +conservative Republicans and the more advanced Left. W. came home late +that day. Some of his friends came in after dinner and the talk was most +interesting. I was so new to it all that most of the names of the rank +and file were unknown to me, and the appreciations of the votes and the +anecdotes and side-lights on the voters said nothing to me. Looking back +after all these years, it seems to me that the moderate Royalists +(centre droit) threw away a splendid chance. They could not stop the +Republican wave (nothing could) but they might have controlled it and +directed it instead of standing aloof and throwing the power into the +hands of the Left. We heard the well-known sayings very often those +days: "La République sera conservatrice ou elle ne sera pas" and "La +République sans Républicains," attributed to M. Thiers and Marshal +MacMahon. The National Assembly struggled on to the end of the year, +making a constitution, a parliament with two houses, senate and chamber +of deputies, with many discussions and contradictions, and hopes and +illusions. + +[Illustration: Sitting of the National Assembly at the palace of +Versailles. From _l'Illustration_, March 11, 1876] + +I went often to Versailles, driving out when the weather was fine. I +liked the stormy sittings best. Some orator would say something that +displeased the public, and in a moment there would be the greatest +uproar, protestations and accusations from all sides, some of the +extreme Left getting up, gesticulating wildly, and shaking their fists +at the speaker--the Right, generally calm and sarcastic, requesting the +speaker to repeat his monstrous statements--the huissiers dressed in +black with silver chains, walking up and down in front of the tribune, +calling out at intervals: "Silence, messieurs, s'il vous plaît,"--the +President ringing his bell violently to call the house to order, and +nobody paying the slightest attention,--the orator sometimes standing +quite still with folded arms waiting until the storm should abate, +sometimes dominating the hall and hurling abuse at his adversaries. W. +was always perfectly quiet; his voice was low, not very strong, and he +could not speak if there were an uproar. When he was interrupted in a +speech he used to stand perfectly still with folded arms, waiting for a +few minutes' silence. The deputies would call out: "Allez! allez!" +interspersed with a few lively criticisms on what he was saying to them; +he was perfectly unmoved, merely replied: "I will go on with pleasure as +soon as you will be quiet enough for me to be heard." Frenchmen +generally have such a wonderful facility of speech, and such a pitiless +logic in discussing a question, that the debates were often very +interesting. The public was interesting too. A great many women of all +classes followed the sittings--several Egerias (not generally in their +first youth) of well-known political men sitting prominently in the +President's box, or in the front row of the journalists' box, following +the discussions with great interest and sending down little slips of +paper to their friends below--members' wives and friends who enjoyed +spending an hour or two listening to the speeches--newspaper +correspondents, literary ladies, diplomatists. It was very difficult to +get places, particularly when some well-known orators were announced to +speak upon an important question. We didn't always know beforehand, and +I remember some dull afternoons with one or two members making long +speeches about purely local matters, which didn't interest any one. We +looked down upon an almost empty hall on those occasions. A great many +of the members had gone out and were talking in the lobbies; those who +remained were talking in groups, writing letters, walking about the +hall, quite unconscious apparently of the speaker at the tribune. I +couldn't understand how the man could go on talking to empty benches, +but W. told me he was quite indifferent to the attention of his +colleagues,--his speech was for his electors and would appear the next +day in the _Journal Officiel_. I remember one man talked for hours about +"allumettes chimiques." + +Léon Say was a delightful speaker, so easy, always finding exactly the +word he wanted. It hardly seemed a speech when he was at the tribune, +more like a causerie, though he told very plain truths sometimes to the +peuple souverain. He was essentially French, or rather Parisian, knew +everybody, and was au courant of all that went on politically and +socially, and had a certain blague, that eminently French quality which +is very difficult to explain. He was a hard worker, and told me once +that what rested him most after a long day was to go to a small +boulevard theatre or to read a rather lively yellowbacked novel. + +I never heard Gambetta speak, which I always regretted--in fact knew +very little of him. He was not a ladies' man, though he had some devoted +women friends, and was always surrounded by a circle of political men +whenever he appeared in public. (In all French parties, immediately +after dinner, the men all congregate together to talk to each +other,--never to the women,--so unless you happen to find yourself +seated next to some well-known man, you never really have a chance of +talking to him.) Gambetta didn't go out much, and as by some curious +chance he was never next to me at dinner, I never had any opportunity of +talking to him. He was not one of W.'s friends, nor an habitué of the +house. His appearance was against him--dark, heavy-looking, with an +enormous head. + +When I had had enough of the speeches and the bad atmosphere, I used to +wander about the terraces and gardens. How many beautiful sunsets I have +seen from the top of the terrace or else standing on the three famous +pink marble steps (so well known to all lovers of poetry through Alfred +de Musset's beautiful verses, "Trois Marches Roses"), seeing in +imagination all the brilliant crowd of courtiers and fair women that +used to people those wonderful gardens in the old days of Versailles! I +went sometimes to the "Reservoirs" for a cup of tea, and very often +found other women who had also driven out to get their husbands. We +occasionally brought back friends who preferred the quiet cool drive +through the Park of St. Cloud to the crowd and dust of the railway. The +Count de St. Vallier (who was not yet senator, but deeply interested in +politics) was frequently at Versailles and came back with us often. He +was a charming, easy talker. I never tired of hearing about the +brilliant days of the last Empire, and the fêtes at the Tuileries, +Compiègne, and St. Cloud. He had been a great deal at the court of +Napoleon III, had seen many interesting people of all kinds, and had a +wonderful memory. He must have had an inner sense or presentiment of +some kind about the future, for I have heard him say often in speaking +of the old days and the glories of the Empire, when everything seemed so +prosperous and brilliant, that he used often to ask himself if it could +be real--Were the foundations as solid as they seemed! He had been a +diplomatist, was in Germany at the time of the Franco-German War, and +like so many of his colleagues scattered over Germany, was quite aware +of the growing hostile feeling in Germany to France and also of +Bismarck's aims and ambitions. He (like so many others) wrote repeated +letters and warnings to the French Foreign Office, which apparently had +no effect. One heard afterward that several letters of that description +from French diplomatists in Germany were found unopened in a drawer at +the ministry. + +It was rather sad, as we drove through the stately alleys of the Park of +St. Cloud, with the setting sun shining through the fine old trees, to +hear of all the fêtes that used to take place there,--and one could +quite well fancy the beautiful Empress appearing at the end of one of +the long avenues, followed by a brilliant suite of ladies and +écuyers,--and the echoes of the cor de chasse in the distance. The +alleys are always there, and fairly well kept, but very few people or +carriages pass. The park is deserted. I don't think the cor de chasse +would awaken an echo or a regret even, so entirely has the Empire and +its glories become a thing of the past. A rendezvous de chasse was a +very pretty sight. + +We went once to Compiègne before I was married, about three years before +the war. We went out and breakfasted at Compiègne with a great friend of +ours, M. de St. M., a chamberlain or equerry of the Emperor. We +breakfasted in a funny old-fashioned little hotel (with a very good +cuisine) and drove in a big open break to the forest. There were a great +many people riding, driving, and walking, officers of the garrison in +uniform, members of the hunt in green and gold, and a fair sprinkling of +red coats. The Empress looked charming, dressed always in the uniform of +the hunt, green with gold braid, and a tricorne on her head,--all her +ladies with the same dress, which was very becoming. One of the most +striking-looking of her ladies was the Princess Anna Murat, the present +Duchesse de Mouchy, who looked very handsome in the tricorne and +beautifully fitting habit. I didn't see the Empress on her horse, as we +lost sight of them very soon. She and her ladies arrived on the field in +an open break. I saw the Emperor quite distinctly as he rode up and gave +some orders. He was very well mounted (there were some beautiful horses) +but stooped slightly, and had rather a sad face. I never saw him again, +and the Empress only long years after at Cowes, when everything had gone +out of her life. + +The President, Marshal MacMahon, was living at the Préfecture at +Versailles and received every Thursday evening. We went there several +times--it was my first introduction to the official world. The first two +or three times we drove out, but it was long (quite an hour and a +quarter) over bad roads--a good deal of pavement. One didn't care to +drive through the Park of St. Cloud at night--it was very lonely and +dark. We should have been quite helpless if we had fallen upon any +enterprising tramps, who could easily have stopped the carriage and +helped themselves to any money or jewels they could lay their hands on. +One evening the Seine had overflowed and we were obliged to walk a long +distance--all around Sèvres--and got to Versailles very late and quite +exhausted with the jolting and general discomfort. After that we went +out by train--which put us at the Préfecture at ten o'clock. It wasn't +very convenient as there was a great rush for carriages when we arrived +at Versailles, still everybody did it. We generally wore black or dark +dresses with a lace veil tied over our heads, and of course only went +when it was fine. The evening was pleasant enough--one saw all the +political men, the marshal's personal friends of the droite went to him +in the first days of his presidency,--(they rather fell off later)--the +Government and Republicans naturally and all the diplomatic corps. There +were not many women, as it really was rather an effort to put one's self +into a low-necked dress and start off directly after dinner to the Gare +St. Lazare, and have rather a rush for places. We were always late, and +just had time to scramble into the last carriage. + +I felt very strange--an outsider--all the first months, but my husband's +friends were very nice to me and after a certain time I was astonished +to find how much politics interested me. I learned a great deal from +merely listening while the men talked at dinner. I suppose I should have +understood much more if I had read the papers regularly, but I didn't +begin to do that until W. had been minister for some time, and then +worked myself into a nervous fever at all the opposition papers said +about him. However, all told, the attacks were never very vicious. He +had never been in public life until after the war when he was named +deputy and joined the Assemblée Nationale at Bordeaux--which was an +immense advantage to him. He had never served any other government, and +was therefore perfectly independent and was bound by no family +traditions or old friendships--didn't mind the opposition papers at +all--not even the caricatures. Some of them were very funny. There was +one very like him, sitting quite straight and correct on the box of a +brougham, "John Cocher Anglais n'a jamais versé, ni accroché" (English +coachman who has never upset nor run into anything). + +There were a few political salons. The Countess de R. received every +evening--but only men--no women were ever asked. The wives rather +demurred at first, but the men went all the same--as one saw every one +there and heard all the latest political gossip. Another hostess was the +Princess Lize Troubetskoi. She was a great friend and admirer of +Thiers--was supposed to give him a great deal of information from +foreign governments. She was very eclectic in her sympathies, and every +one went to her, not only French, but all foreigners of any distinction +who passed through Paris. She gave herself a great deal of trouble for +her friends, but also used them when she wanted anything. One of the +stories which was always told of the Foreign Office was her "petit +paquet," which she wanted to send by the valise to Berlin, when the +Comte de St. Vallier was French ambassador there. He agreed willingly to +receive the package addressed to him, which proved to be a grand piano. + +The privilege of sending packages abroad by the valise of the foreign +affairs was greatly abused when W. became Minister of Foreign Affairs. +He made various changes, one of which was that the valise should be +absolutely restricted to official papers and documents, which really was +perhaps well observed. + +The Countess de Ségur received every Saturday night. It was really an +Orleanist salon, as they were devoted friends of the Orléans family, but +one saw all the moderate Republicans there and the centre gauche (which +struggled so long to keep together and be a moderating influence, but +has long been swallowed up in the ever-increasing flood of radicalism) +and a great many literary men, members of the Institute, Academicians, +etc. They had a fine old house entre cour et jardin, with all sorts of +interesting pictures and souvenirs. Countess de S. also received every +day before three o'clock. I often went and was delighted when I could +find her alone. She was very clever, very original, had known all sorts +of people, and it was most interesting to hear her talk about King Louis +Philippe's court, the Spanish marriages, the death of the Duc d'Orléans, +the Coup d'Etat of Louis Napoléon, etc. When she first began to receive, +during the reign of Louis Philippe, the feeling was very bitter between +the Legitimists (extreme Royalist party) and the Orleanists. The Duc +d'Orléans often came to them on Saturday evenings and always in a good +deal of state, with handsome carriage, aides-de-camp, etc. She warned +her Legitimist friends when she knew he was coming (but she didn't +always know) and said she never had any trouble or disagreeable scenes. +Every one was perfectly respectful to the duke, but the extreme +Legitimists went away at once. + +We went quite often to Monsieur and Madame Thiers, who received every +evening in their big gloomy house in the Place St. Georges. It was a +political centre,--all the Republican party went there, and many of his +old friends, Orleanists, who admired his great intelligence, while +disapproving his politics,--literary men, journalists, all the +diplomatists and distinguished strangers. He had people at dinner every +night and a small reception afterward,--Madame Thiers and her sister, +Mademoiselle Dosne, doing the honours for him. I believe both ladies +were very intelligent, but I can't truthfully say they had any charm of +manner. They never looked pleased to see any one, and each took +comfortable little naps in their armchairs after dinner--the first +comers had sometimes rather embarrassing entrances,--but I am told they +held very much to their receptions. Thiers was wonderful; he was a very +old man when I knew him, but his eyes were very bright and keen, his +voice strong, and he would talk all the evening without any appearance +of fatigue. He slept every afternoon for two hours, and was quite rested +and alert by dinner time. It was an interesting group of men that stood +around the little figure in the drawing-room after dinner. He himself +stood almost always leaning against the mantelpiece. Prince Orloff, +Russian ambassador, was one of the habitués of the salon, and I was +always delighted when he would slip away from the group of men and join +the ladies in Madame Thiers's salon, which was less interesting. He knew +everybody, French and foreign, and gave me most amusing and useful +little sketches of all the celebrities. It was he who told me of old +Prince Gortschakoff's famous phrase when he heard of Thiers's death--(he +died at St. Germain in 1877)--"Encore une lumière éteinte quand il y en +a si peu qui voient clair,"--(still another light extinguished, when +there are so few who see clearly). Many have gone of that +group,--Casimir Périer, Léon Say, Jules Ferry, St. Vallier, Comte Paul +de Ségur, Barthélemy St. Hilaire,--but others remain, younger men who +were then beginning their political careers and were eager to drink in +lessons and warnings from the old statesman, who fought gallantly to +the last. + +I found the first winter in Paris as the wife of a French deputy rather +trying, so different from the easy, pleasant life in Rome. That has +changed, too, of course, with United Italy and Rome the capital, but it +was a small Rome in our days, most informal. I don't ever remember +having written an invitation all the years we lived in Rome. Everybody +led the same life and we saw each other all day, hunting, riding, +driving, in the villas in the afternoon, generally finishing at the +Pincio, where there was music. All the carriages drew up and the young +men came and talked to the women exactly as if they were at the opera or +in a ballroom. When we had music or danced at our house, we used to tell +some well-known man to say "on danse chez Madame King ce soir." That was +all. Paris society is much stiffer, attaches much more importance to +visits and reception days. + +There is very little informal receiving, no more evenings with no +amusement of any kind provided, and a small table at one end of the room +with orangeade and cakes, which I remember when I was first married (and +always in Lent the quartet of the Conservatoire playing classical +symphonies, which of course put a stop to all conversation, as people +listened to the artists of the Conservatoire in a sort of sacred +silence). Now one is invited each time, there is always music or a +comédie, sometimes a conference in Lent, and a buffet in the +dining-room. There is much more luxury, and women wear more jewels. +There were not many tiaras when I first knew Paris society; now every +young woman has one in her corbeille. + +[Illustration: The foyer of the Opéra.] + +One of the first big things I saw in Paris was the opening of the Grand +Opera. It was a pretty sight, the house crowded with women beautifully +dressed and wearing fine jewels which showed very little, the decoration +of the house being very elaborate. There was so much light and gilding +that the diamonds were quite lost. The two great features of the evening +were the young King of Spain (the father of the present King), a slight, +dark, youthful figure, and the Lord Mayor of London, who really made +much more effect than the King. He was dressed in his official robes, +had two sheriffs and a macebearer, and when he stood at the top of the +grand staircase he was an imposing figure and the public was delighted +with him. He was surrounded by an admiring crowd when he walked in the +foyer. Everybody was there and W. pointed out to me the celebrities of +all the coteries. We had a box at the opera and went very regularly. The +opera was never good, never has been since I have known it, but as it is +open all the year round, one cannot expect to have the stars one hears +elsewhere. Still it is always a pleasant evening, one sees plenty of +people to talk to and the music is a cheerful accompaniment to +conversation. It is astounding how they talk in the boxes and how the +public submits. The ballet is always good. Halanzier was director of the +Grand Opera, and we went sometimes to his box behind the scenes, which +was most amusing. He was most dictatorial, occupied himself with every +detail,--was consequently an excellent director. I remember seeing him +inspect the corps de ballet one night, just before the curtain went up. +He passed down the line like a general reviewing his troops, tapping +lightly with a cane various arms and legs which were not in position. He +was perfectly smiling and good-humoured: "Voyons, voyons, mes petites, +ce n'est pas cela,"--but saw everything. + +What W. liked best was the Théâtre Français. We hadn't a box there, but +as so many of our friends had, we went very often. Tuesday was the +fashionable night and the Salle was almost as interesting as the stage, +particularly if it happened to be a première, and all the critics and +journalists were there. Sarah Bernhardt and Croizette were both playing +those first years. They were great rivals and it was interesting to see +them in the same play, both such fine talents yet so totally different. + + + + +III + + +M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION + +In March, 1876, W. was made, for the second time, "Ministre de +l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux Arts," with M. Dufaure Président du +Conseil, Duc Décazes at the Foreign Office, and Léon Say at the +finances. His nomination was a surprise to us. We didn't expect it at +all. There had been so many discussions, so many names put forward. It +seemed impossible to come to an understanding and form a cabinet which +would be equally acceptable to the marshal and to the Chambers. I came +in rather late one afternoon while the negotiations were going on, and +was told by the servants that M. Léon Say was waiting in W.'s library to +see him. W. came a few minutes afterward, and the two gentlemen remained +a long time talking. They stopped in the drawing-room on their way to +the door, and Say said to me: "Eh bien, madame, je vous apporte une +portefeuille et des félicitations." "Before I accept the felicitations, +I would like to know which portfolio." Of course when he said, "Public +instruction," I was pleased, as I knew it was the only one W. cared for. +My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator of the Seine +Inférieure,[1] and one or two friends came to see us in the evening, and +the gentlemen talked late into the night, discussing programmes, +possibilities, etc. All the next day the conferences went on, and when +the new cabinet was presented to the marshal, he received them +graciously if not warmly. W. said both Dufaure and Décazes were quite +wonderful, realising the state of affairs exactly, and knowing the +temper of the house, which was getting more advanced every day and more +difficult to manage. + +[Footnote 1: My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator, died in +June, 1913, some time after these notes were written.] + +W. at once convoked all the officials and staff of the ministry. He made +very few changes, merely taking the young Count de Lasteyrie, now +Marquis de Lasteyrie, grandnephew of the Marquis de Lafayette, son of M. +Jules de Lasteyrie, a senator and devoted friend of the Orléans family, +as his chef de cabinet. Two or three days after the new cabinet was +announced, W. took me to the Elysée to pay my official visit to the +Maréchale de MacMahon. She received us up-stairs in a pretty salon +looking out on the garden. She was very civil, not a particularly +gracious manner--gave me the impression of a very energetic, practical +woman--what most Frenchwomen are. I was very much struck with her +writing-table, which looked most businesslike. It was covered with +quantities of letters, papers, cards, circulars of all kinds--she +attended to all household matters herself. I always heard (though she +did not tell me) that she read every letter that was addressed to her, +and she must have had hundreds of begging letters. She was very +charitable, much interested in all good works, and very kind to all +artists. Whenever a letter came asking for money, she had the case +investigated, and if the story was true, gave practical help at once. I +was dismayed at first with the number of letters received from all over +France asking my intercession with the minister on every possible +subject from a "monument historique" to be restored, to a pension given +to an old schoolmaster no longer able to work, with a large family to +support. It was perfectly impossible for me to answer them. Being a +foreigner and never having lived in France, I didn't really know +anything about the various questions. W. was too busy to attend to such +small matters, so I consulted M. de L., chef de cabinet, and we agreed +that I should send all the correspondence which was not strictly +personal to him, and he would have it examined in the "bureau." The +first few weeks of W.'s ministry were very trying to me--I went to see +so many people,--so many people came to see me,--all strangers with whom +I had nothing in common. Such dreary conversations, never getting beyond +the most ordinary commonplace phrases,--such an absolutely different +world from any I had ever lived in. + +It is very difficult at first for any woman who marries a foreigner to +make her life in her new country. There must be so many things that are +different--better perhaps sometimes--but not what one has been +accustomed to,--and I think more difficult in France than in any other +country. French people are set in their ways, and there is so little +sympathy with anything that is not French. I was struck with that +absence of sympathy at some of the first dinners I went to. The talk was +exclusively French, almost Parisian, very personal, with stories and +allusions to people and things I knew nothing about. No one dreamed of +talking to me about my past life--or America, or any of my early +associations--yet I was a stranger--one would have thought they might +have taken a little more trouble to find some topics of general +interest. Even now, after all these years, the difference of +nationality counts. Sometimes when I am discussing with very intimate +friends some question and I find that I cannot understand their views +and they cannot understand mine, they always come back to the real +difficulty: "Ecoutez, chère amie, vous êtes d'une autre race." I rather +complained to W. after the first three or four dinners--it seemed to me +bad manners, but he said no, I was the wife of a French political +man, and every one took for granted I was interested in the +conversation--certainly no one intended any rudeness. The first big +dinner I went to that year was at the Elysée--the regular official +dinner for the diplomatic corps and the Government. I had Baron von +Zuylen, the Dutch minister, one of our great friends, on one side of me, +Léon Renault, préfet de police, on the other. Léon Renault was very +interesting, very clever--an excellent préfet de police. Some of his +stories were most amusing. The dinner was very good (always were in the +marshal's time), not long, and mercifully the room was not too hot. +Sometimes the heat was terrible. There were quite a number of people in +the evening--the music of the garde républicaine playing, and a buffet +in the dining-room which was always crowded. We never stayed very late, +as W. always had papers to sign when we got home. Sometimes when there +was a great press of work his "signatures" kept him two hours. I don't +think the marshal enjoyed the receptions very much. Like most soldiers +he was an early riser, and the late hours and constant talking +tired him. + +I liked our dinners and receptions at the ministry. All the intelligence +of France passed through our rooms. People generally came early--by ten +o'clock the rooms were quite full. Every one was announced, and it was +most interesting to hear the names of all the celebrities in every +branch of art and science. It was only a fleeting impression, as the +guests merely spoke to me at the door and passed on. In those days, +hardly any one shook hands unless they were fairly intimate--the men +never. They made me low bows some distance off and rarely stopped to +exchange a few words with me. Some of the women, not many, shook hands. +It was a fatiguing evening, as I stood so long, and a procession of +strangers passed before me. The receptions finished early--every one had +gone by eleven o'clock except a few loiterers at the buffet. There are +always a certain number of people at the big official receptions whose +principal object in coming seems to be to make a comfortable meal. The +servants always told me there was nothing left after a big party. There +were no invitations--the reception was announced in the papers, so any +one who felt he had the slightest claim upon the minister appeared at +the party. Some of the dresses were funny, but there was nothing +eccentric--no women in hats, carrying babies in their arms, such as one +used to see in the old days in America at the President's reception at +the White House, Washington--some very simple black silk dresses hardly +low--and of course a great many pretty women very well dressed. Some of +my American friends often came with true American curiosity, wanting to +see a phase of French life which was quite novel to them. + +W. remained two years as Minister of Public Instruction, and my life +became at once very interesting, very full. We didn't live at the +ministry--it was not really necessary. All the work was over before +dinner, except the "signatures," which W. could do just as well in his +library at home. We went over and inspected the Hôtel du Ministère in +the rue de Grenelle before we made our final decision, but it was not +really tempting. There were fine reception-rooms and a pretty garden, +but the living-rooms were small, not numerous, and decidedly gloomy. Of +course I saw much less of W. He never came home to breakfast, except on +Sunday, as it was too far from the rue de Grenelle to the Etoile. The +Arc de Triomphe stands in the Place de l'Etoile at the top of the +Champs-Elysées. All the great avenues, Alma, Jéna, Kléber, and the +adjacent streets are known as the Quartier de l'Etoile. It was before +the days of telephones, so whenever an important communication was to be +made to him when he was at home in the evening, a dragoon galloped up +with his little black bag from which he extracted his papers. It made +quite an excitement in our quiet street the first time he arrived after +ten o'clock. We just managed our morning ride, and then there were often +people waiting to speak to W. before we started, and always when he came +back. There was a great amount of patronage attached to his ministry, +nominations to all the universities, lycées, schools, etc., and, what +was most agreeable to me, boxes at all the government theatres,--the +Grand Opera, Opéra Comique, Français, Odéon, and Conservatoire. Every +Monday morning we received the list for the week, and, after making +our own selection, distributed them to the official world +generally,--sometimes to our own personal friends. The boxes of the +Français, Opéra, and Conservatoire were much appreciated. + +I went very regularly to the Sunday afternoon concerts at the +Conservatoire, where all classical music was splendidly given. They +confined themselves generally to the strictly classic, but were +beginning to play a little Schumann that year. Some of the faces of the +regular habitués became most familiar to me. There were three or four +old men with grey hair sitting in the first row of stalls (most +uncomfortable seats) who followed every note of the music, turning +around and frowning at any unfortunate person in a box who dropped a fan +or an opera-glass. It was funny to hear the hum of satisfaction when any +well-known movement of Beethoven or Mozart was attacked. The orchestra +was perfect, at its best I think in the "scherzos" which they took in +beautiful style--so light and sure. I liked the instrumental part much +better than the singing. French voices, the women's particularly, are +thin, as a rule. I think they sacrifice too much to the +"diction,"--don't bring out the voices enough--but the style and +training are perfect of their kind. + +The Conservatoire is quite as much a social feature as a school of +music. It was the thing to do on Sunday afternoon. No invitation was +more appreciated, as it was almost impossible to have places unless one +was invited by a friend. All the boxes and seats (the hall is small) +belong to subscribers and have done so for one or two generations. Many +marriages are made there. There are very few theatres in Paris to which +girls can be taken, but the Opéra Comique and the Conservatoire are very +favourite resorts. When a marriage is pending the young lady, very well +dressed (always in the simplest tenue de jeune fille) is taken to the +Conservatoire or the Opéra Comique by her father and mother, and very +often her grandmother. She sits in front of the box and the young man in +the stalls, where he can study his future wife without committing +himself. The difference of dress between the jeune fille and the jeune +femme is very strongly marked in France. The French girl never wears +lace or jewels or feathers or heavy material of any kind, quite unlike +her English or American contemporaries, who wear what they like. The +wedding-dress is classic, a simple, very long dress of white satin, and +generally a tulle veil over the face. When there is a handsome lace veil +in the family, the bride sometimes wears it, but no lace on her dress. +The first thing the young married woman does is to wear a very long +velvet dress with feathers in her hair. + +I think on the whole the arranged marriages turn out as well as any +others. They are generally made by people of the same monde, accustomed +to the same way of living, and the fortunes as nearly alike as possible. +Everything is calculated. The young couple usually spend the summer with +parents or parents-in-law, in the château, and I know some cases where +there are curious details about the number of lamps that can be lighted +in their rooms, and the use of the carriage on certain days. I am +speaking of course of purely French marriages. To my American ideas it +seemed very strange when I first came to Europe, but a long residence in +a foreign country certainly modifies one's impressions. Years ago, when +we were living in Rome, four sisters, before any of us were married, a +charming Frenchwoman, Duchesse de B., who came often to the house, was +very worried about this family of girls, all very happy at home and +contented with their lives. It was quite true we danced and hunted and +made a great deal of music, without ever troubling ourselves about the +future. The duchesse couldn't understand it, used often to talk to +mother very seriously. She came one day with a proposal of marriage--a +charming man, a Frenchman, not too young, with a good fortune, a title, +and a château, had seen Madam King's daughters in the ballroom and +hunting-field, and would very much like to be presented and make his +cour. "Which one?" we naturally asked, but the answer was vague. It +sounded so curiously impersonal that we could hardly take it seriously. +However, we suggested that the young man should come and each one of the +four would show off her particular talent. One would play and one would +sing (rather like the song in the children's book, "one could dance and +one could sing, and one could play the violin"), and the third, the +polyglot of the family, could speak several languages. We were rather +puzzled as to what my eldest sister could do, as she was not very +sociable and never spoke to strangers if she could help it, so we +decided she must be very well dressed and preside at the tea-table +behind an old-fashioned silver urn that we always used--looking like a +stately maîtresse de maison receiving her guests. We confided all these +plans to the duchesse, but she was quite put out with us, wouldn't bring +the young man nor tell us his name. We never knew who he was. Since I +have been a Frenchwoman (devant la loi)--I think all Americans remain +American no matter where they marry,--I have interested myself three or +four times in made marriages, which have generally turned out well. +There were very few Americans married in France all those years, now +there are legions of all kinds. I don't remember any in the official +parliamentary world I lived in the first years of my marriage--nor +English either. It was absolutely French, and rather borné French. Very +few of the people, the women especially, had any knowledge or experience +of foreign countries, and didn't care to have,--France was enough +for them. + +W. was very happy at the Ministry of Public Instruction,--all the +educational questions interested him so much and the tournées en +province and visits to the big schools and universities,--some of them, +in the south of France particularly, singularly wanting in the most +elementary details of hygiene and cleanliness, and it was very difficult +to make the necessary changes, giving more light, air, and space. +Routine is a powerful factor in this very conservative country, where so +many things exist simply because they have always existed. Some of his +letters from Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Montpellier were most interesting. +As a rule he was very well received and got on very well, strangely +enough, with the clergy, particularly the haut clergé, bishops and +cardinals. His being a Protestant was rather a help to him; he could +take an impartial view of things. + +At Bordeaux he stayed at the Préfecture, where he was very comfortable, +but the days were fatiguing. He said he hadn't worked so hard for years. +He started at nine in the morning, visiting schools and universities, +came home to breakfast at twelve, and immediately after had a small +reception, rectors, professors, and people connected with the schools he +wanted to talk to, at three started again seeing more schools and going +conscientiously over the buildings from basement to garret,--then visits +to the cardinal, archbishop, general commanding, etc.--a big dinner and +reception in the evening, the cardinal present in his red robes, his +coadjutor in purple, the officers in uniform, and all the people +connected in any way with the university, who were pleased to see their +chief. There was a total absence of Bonapartist senators and deputies +(which was not surprising, as W. had always been in violent opposition +to the Empire), who were rather numerous in these parts. W. was really +quite exhausted when he got back to Paris--said it was absolute luxury +to sit quietly and read in his library, and not talk. It wasn't a luxury +that he enjoyed very much, for whenever he was in the house there was +always some one talking to him in his study and others waiting in the +drawing-room. Every minute of the day he was occupied. People were +always coming to ask for something for themselves or some members of +their family, always candidates for the Institute, anxiously inquiring +what their chances were, and if he had recommended them to his friends. +It is striking even in this country of functionaries (I think there are +more small public employees in France than in any other country) how +many applicants there were always for the most insignificant places--a +Frenchman loves a cap with gold braid and gilt buttons on his coat. + +All the winter of 1876, which saw the end of the National Assembly and +the beginning of a new régime, was an eventful one in parliamentary +circles. I don't know if the country generally was very much excited +about a new constitution and a change of government. I don't think the +country in France (the small farmers and peasants) are ever much excited +about the form of government. As long as the crops are good and there is +no war to take away their sons and able-bodied men, they don't care, +often don't know, whether a king or an emperor is reigning over them. +They say there are some far-off villages half hidden in the forests and +mountains who still believe that a king and a Bourbon is reigning in +France. Something had to be decided; the provisoire could no longer +continue; the country could not go on without a settled government. All +the arguments and negotiations of that period have been so often told, +that I will not go into any details. The two centres, centre droit and +centre gauche, had everything in their hands as the great moderating +elements of the Assembly, but the conflicting claims of the various +parties, Legitimist, Orleanist, Bonapartist, and advanced Left, made the +question a very difficult one. + +W. as a member of the Comité des Trente was very much occupied and +preoccupied. He came back generally very late from Versailles, and, when +he did dine at home, either went out again after dinner to some of the +numerous meetings at different houses or had people at home. I think the +great majority of deputies were honestly trying to do what they thought +best for the country, and when one remembers the names and personalities +on both sides--MacMahon, Broglie, d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Buffet, Dufaure, +and Thiers, Casimir Périer, Léon Say, Jules Simon, Jules Ferry, +Freycinet, and many others, it is impossible to think that any of those +men were animated by any spirit other than love of the country and an +ardent desire to see some stable government restored which would enable +France to take her place again among the great powers. Unfortunately the +difference of opinion as to the form of government made things very +difficult. Some of the young deputies, just fresh from the war and +smarting under a sense of humiliation, were very violent in their abuse +of any Royalist and particularly Bonapartist restoration. + +[Illustration: Meeting of officers of the National Assembly, and of +delegates of the new Chambers, in the salon of Hercules, palace of +Versailles. From _L'Illustration_, March 11. 1876.] + + + + +IV + + +THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE + +My first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction rather +intimidated me. We were fifty people--I the only lady. I went over to +the ministry in the afternoon to see the table, which was very well +arranged with quantities of flowers, beautiful Sèvres china, not much +silver--there is very little left in France, it having all been melted +at the time of the Revolution. The official dinners are always well done +in Paris. I suppose the traditions of the Empire have been handed down. +We arrived a few minutes before eight, all the staff and directors +already there, and by ten minutes after eight every one had arrived. I +sat between Gérôme, the painter, and Renan, two very different men but +each quite charming,--Gérôme tall, slight, animated, talking very easily +about everything. He told me who a great many of the people were, with a +little commentary on their profession and career which was very useful +to me, as I knew so few of them. Renan was short, stout, with a very +large head, almost unprepossessing-looking, but with a great charm of +manner and the most delightful smile and voice imaginable. He often +dined with us in our own house, en petit comité, and was always +charming. He was one of those happy mortals (there are not many) who +made every subject they discuss interesting. + +After that first experience, I liked the big men's dinners very much. +There was no general conversation; I talked exclusively to my two +neighbours, but as they were always distinguished in some branch of art, +science, or literature, the talk was brilliant, and I found the hour our +dinner lasted a very short one. W. was very particular about not having +long dinners. Later, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where we +sometimes had eighty guests, the dinner was never over an hour. I did +not remain the whole evening at the men's dinners. As soon as they +dispersed to talk and smoke, I came away, leaving W. to entertain his +guests. We often had big receptions with music and comédie. At one of +our first big parties we had several of the Orléans family. I was rather +nervous, as I had never received royalty,--in fact I had never spoken to +a royal prince or princess. I had lived a great deal in Rome, as a girl, +during the last days of Pius IX, and I was never in Paris during the +Empire. When we went back to Rome one winter, after the accession of +King Victor Emmanuel, I found myself for the first time in a room with +royalties, the Prince and Princesse de Piémont. I remember quite well +being so surprised by seeing two of the Roman men we knew very well come +backward into the ballroom where we were sitting. I thought they must be +anticipating the Mardi Gras and were masquerading a little, didn't +realise that every one was standing. I remained sitting for a moment +(much to the horror of one of the English secretaries who was with us +and who thought we were going to make a spread-eagle American +demonstration and remain sitting when royalty appeared). However, by +some sort of instinct, we rose too (perhaps to see what was going on), +just as the princes passed. Princess Marguerite looked charming, dressed +in white, with her splendid pearls and beautiful fair hair. + +When it was decided that we should ask the Orléans princes to our party, +I thought I would go to see the Duc Décazes, the foreign minister, a +charming man and charming colleague, to get some precise information +about my part of the entertainment. He couldn't think what I wanted when +I invaded his cabinet, and was much amused when I stated my case. + +"There is nothing unusual in receiving the princes at a ministry. You +must do as you have always done." + +"But that is just the question, I have _never done_. I have never in my +life exchanged a word with a royal personage." + +"It is not possible!" + +"It is absolutely true; I have never lived anywhere where there was a +court." + +When he saw that I was in earnest he was as nice as possible, told me +_exactly_ what I wanted to know,--that I need not say "Altesse royale" +every time I spoke, merely occasionally, as they all like it,--that I +must speak in the third person, "Madame veut-elle," "Monseigneur veut-il +me permettre," etc., also that I must always be at the door when a +princess arrived and conduct her myself to her seat. + +"But if I am at one end of the long enfilade of rooms taking the +Comtesse de Paris to her seat and another princess (Joinville or +Chartres) should arrive; what has to be done?" + +"Your husband must always be at the door with his chef de cabinet, who +will replace him while he takes the princess to her place." + +The Marquise de L., a charming old lady with white hair, beautiful blue +eyes, and pink cheeks, a great friend of the Orléans family, went with +me when I made my round of visits to thank the royal ladies for +accepting our invitation. We found no one but the Princesse Marguerite, +daughter of the Duc de Nemours, who was living at Neuilly. I had all my +instructions from the marquise, how many courtesies to make, how to +address her, and above all not to speak until the princess spoke to me. +We were shown into a pretty drawing-room, opening on a garden, where the +princess was waiting, standing at one end of the room. Madame de L. +named me, I made my courtesies, the princess shook hands, and then we +remained standing, facing each other. She didn't say anything. I stood +perfectly straight and quiet, waiting. She changed colour, moved her +hands nervously, was evidently overcome with shyness, but didn't utter a +sound. It seemed very long, was really only a few seconds, but I was +getting rather nervous when suddenly a child ran across the garden. That +broke the ice and she asked me the classic royal question, "Avez-vous +des enfants, madame?" I had only one, and he was rather small, but still +his nurse, his teeth, and his food carried me on for a little while and +after that we had some general conversation, but I can't say the visit +was really interesting. As long as I was in public life I regretted +that I had but the one child,--children and nurseries and schoolrooms +were always an unfailing topic of conversation. Frenchwomen of all +classes take much more interest in the details of their nurseries and +the education and bringing-up of their children than we Anglo-Saxons do. +I know several mammas who followed all the course of their sons' studies +when they were preparing their baccalauréat, even to writing the +compositions. The head nurse (English) who takes entire charge of her +nursery, who doesn't like any interference, and brings the children to +their mother at stated hours, doesn't exist in France. + +Our party was very brilliant, all sorts of notabilities of all kinds, +and the leading Paris artists from the Grand Opera, Opéra Comique, and +the Français. As soon as the performance was over W. told me I must go +and thank the artists; he could not leave his princes. I started off to +the last of the long suite of salons where they were all assembled. +Comte de L., W.'s chef de cabinet, went with me, and we were preceded by +a huissier with sword and chain, who piloted us through the crowd. I +felt very shy when I arrived in the greenroom. The artists were drawn up +in two rows, the women on one side, the men on the other, all eyes of +course fixed upon madame la ministresse. Madame Carvalho, Sarah +Bernhardt, and Croizette were standing at the head of the long line of +women; Faure, Talazac, Delaunay, Coquelin, on the other side. I went +first all along the line of women, then came back by the men. I realised +instantly after the first word of thanks and interest how easy it is for +princes, or any one in high places, to give pleasure. They all responded +so smilingly and naturally to everything I said. After the first two or +three words, I didn't mind at all, and found myself discussing +acoustics, the difficulty of playing any well-known part without +costumes, scenery, etc., the inconvenience of having the public so near, +quite easily. We often had music and recitations at our parties, and +that was always a great pleasure to me. I remember so well one evening +when we had the chorus of the Conservatoire and they sang quite +beautifully the old "Plaisirs d'Amour" of our childhood. It had a great +success and they were obliged to repeat it. W. made one great innovation +in the dress of the ladies of the Conservatoire chorus. They were always +dressed in white, which was very well for the young, slight figures, but +was less happy for a stout middle-aged lady. So after much discussion it +was decided to adopt black as the official dress and I must say it was +an enormous improvement. + + + + +THE SOCIAL SIDE + +All sorts of interesting people came to see us at the Ministry of Public +Instruction,--among others the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro de +Bragance, who spent some months in Paris that year with his daughter, +the young Comtesse d'Eu. He was a tall, good-looking man, with a +charming easy manner, very cultivated and very keen about +everything--art, literature, politics. His gentlemen said he had the +energy of a man of twenty-five, and he was well over middle age when he +was in Paris. They were quite exhausted sometimes after a long day of +visits and sightseeing with him. He was an early riser. One of the first +rendezvous he gave W. was at nine o'clock in the morning, which greatly +disturbed that gentleman's habits. He was never an early riser, worked +always very late (said his best despatches were written after midnight), +and didn't care about beginning his day too early. Another interesting +personality was Mommsen, the German historian and savant. He was a +picturesque-looking old man with keen blue eyes and a quantity of white +hair. I don't think anything modern interested him very much. He was an +old man when I first saw him, and looked even older than his age. He and +W. used to plunge into very long, learned discussions over antiquities +and medals. W. said the hours with Mommsen rested him, such a change +from the "shop" talk always mixed with politics in France. + +We often had political breakfasts at home (more breakfasts than +dinners). Our Aisne deputies and senators were not very mondains, didn't +care much to dine out. They were pleasant enough when they talked about +subjects that interested them. Henri Martin, senator of the Aisne, was +an old-fashioned Republican, absolutely convinced that no other +government would ever succeed in France, but he was moderate. St. +Vallier, also a senator from the Aisne, was nervous and easily +discouraged when things didn't go smoothly, but he too thought the +Republic was the only possible government now, whatever his preferences +might have been formerly. + +W.'s ministry came to an end on the famous 16th of May, 1877, when +Marshal MacMahon suddenly took matters in his own hands and dismissed +his cabinet presided over by M. Jules Simon. Things had not been going +smoothly for some time, could not between two men of such absolute +difference of origin, habits, and ideas. Still, the famous letter +written by the marshal to Jules Simon was a thunderclap. I was walking +about the Champs-Elysées and Faubourg St. Honoré on the morning of the +16th of May, and saw all the carriages, our own included, waiting at the +Ministry of the Interior, where the conseil was sitting. I went home to +breakfast, thought W. was later than usual, but never dreamed of what +was happening. When he finally appeared, quite composed and smiling, +with his news, "We are out of office; the marshal has sent us all about +our business," I could hardly believe it, even when he told me all the +details. I had known for a long time that things were not going well, +but there were always so much friction and such opposing elements in the +cabinet that I had not attached much importance to the accounts of +stormy sittings and thought things would settle down. + +[Illustration: Theodor Mommsen. From a painting by Franz von Lenbach.] + +W. said the marshal was very civil to him, but it was evident that he +could not stand Jules Simon any longer and the various measures that he +felt were impending. We had many visitors after breakfast, all much +excited, wondering what the next step would be--if the Chambers would be +dissolved, the marshal trying to impose a cabinet of the Right or +perhaps form another moderate liberal cabinet without Jules Simon, but +retaining some of his ministers. It was my reception afternoon, and +while I was sitting quietly in my drawing-room talking to some of my +friends, making plans for the summer, quite pleased to have W. to +myself again, the butler hurried into the room telling me that the +Maréchale de MacMahon was on the stairs, coming to make me a visit. I +was very much surprised, as she never came to see me. We met very +rarely, except on official occasions, and she made no secret of her +dislike to the official Republican ladies (but she was always absolutely +correct if not enthusiastic). I had just time to get to the head of the +stairs to receive her. She was very amiable, a little embarrassed, took +a cup of tea--said the marshal was very sorry to part with W., he had +never had any trouble or disagreement with him of any kind, but that it +was impossible to go on with a cabinet when neither party had any +confidence in the other. I quite agreed, said it was the fortunes of +war; I hoped the marshal would find another premier who would be more +sympathetic with him, and then we talked of other things. + +My friends were quite amused. One of them, Marquise de T., knew the +Maréchale quite well, and said she was going to ask her if she was +obliged to make visites de condoléance to the wives of all the fallen +ministers. W. was rather astonished when I told him who had come to tea +with me, and thought the conversation must have been difficult. I told +him, not at all, once the necessary phrases about the departing +ministers were over. The piano was open, music littered about; she was +fond of music and she admired very much a portrait of father as a boy in +the Harrow dress, asked who it was and what the dress was. She was a +perfect woman of the world, and no one was uncomfortable. + +It seemed quite strange and very pleasant to take up my old life again +after two years of public life. W. breakfasted at home, went to the +Senate every day and to the Institute on Fridays and we dined with our +friends and had small dinners in our own house instead of official +banquets at all the ministries (usually from Potel and Chabot at so much +a head). Politics were very lively all summer. The Chambers were +dissolved almost at once after the constitution of the new cabinet, +presided over by the Duc de Broglie. It was evident from the first +moment that the new ministry wouldn't, couldn't live. (The Duc de +Broglie was quite aware of the fact. His first words on taking office +were: "On nous a jetés à l'eau, maintenant il faut nager.") He made a +very good fight, but he had that worst of all faults for a leader, he +was unpopular. He was a brilliant, cultured speaker, but had a curt, +dictatorial manner, with an air always of looking down upon his public. +So different from his colleague, the Duc Décazes, whose charming, +courteous manners and nice blue eyes made him friends even among his +adversaries. There is a well-known story told of the two dukes which +shows exactly the personality of the men. Some one, a deputy I think, +wanted something very much which either of the gentlemen could give. He +went first to the Duc Décazes, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, who +received him charmingly, was most kind and courteous, but didn't do what +the man wanted. He then went to the Duc de Broglie, Président du +Conseil, who was busy, received him very curtly, cut short his +explanations, and was in fact extremely disagreeable but did the thing, +and the man loved Décazes and hated de Broglie. All sorts of rumours +were afloat; we used to hear the wildest stories and plans. One day W. +came in looking rather preoccupied. There was an idea that the Right +were going to take most stringent measures, arrest all the ministers, +members of Jules Simon's cabinet, many of the prominent Liberals. He +said it was quite possible and then gave me various instructions. I was +above all to make no fuss if they really came to arrest him. He showed +me where all his keys, papers, and money were, told me to go instantly +to his uncle, Mr. Lutteroth, who lived next door. He was an old +diplomat, knew everybody, and would give me very good advice. I did not +feel very happy, but like so many things that are foretold, nothing +ever happened. + +Another rumour, from the extreme Left this time, was that a large armed +force under the command of a well-known general, very high up in his +career, was to assemble in the north at Lille, a strong contingent of +Republicans were to join them to be ready to act. I remember quite well +two of W.'s friends coming in one morning, full of enthusiasm for this +plan. I don't think they quite knew what they were going to do with +their army. W. certainly did not. He listened to all the details of the +plan; they gave him the name of the general, supposed to have very +Republican sympathies (not generally the case with officers), the number +of regiments, etc., who would march at a given signal, but when he said, +"It is possible, you might get a certain number of men together, but +what would you do with them?" they were rather nonplussed. They hadn't +got any further than a grand patriotic demonstration, with the military, +drums beating, flags flying, and the Marseillaise being howled by an +excited crowd. No such extreme measures, however, were ever carried +out. From the first moment it was evident that a large Republican +majority would be returned; almost all the former deputies were +re-elected and a number of new ones, more advanced in their opinion. In +the country it was the only topic of conversation. + +Parliament was dissolved in June, 1877, but we remained in town until +the end of July. It wasn't very warm and many people remained until the +end of the session. The big schools too only break up on the 15th of +July, and many parents remain in Paris. The Republican campaign had +already begun, and there were numerous little dinners and meetings when +plans and possibilities were discussed. W. got back usually very late +from Versailles. When he knew the sitting would be very late he sent me +word and I used to go and dine with mother, but sometimes he was kept on +there from hour to hour. I had some long waits before we could dine, and +Hubert, the coachman, used to spend hours in the courtyard of the Gare +St. Lazare waiting for his master. We had a big bay mare, a very fast +trotter, which always did the train service, and the two were stationed +there sometimes from six-thirty to nine-thirty, but they never seemed +the worse for it. W., though a very considerate man for his servants +generally, never worried at all about keeping his coachmen and horses +waiting. He said the coachmen were the most warmly dressed men in Paris, +always took care to be well covered, and we never had fancy, +high-stepping horses, but ordinary strong ones, which could wait +patiently. W. said the talk in the Chambers and in the lobbies was quite +wild--every sort of extravagant proposition was made. There were many +conferences with the Duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Duc de Broglie--with +Casimir Périer, Léon Say, Gambetta, Jules Ferry, and Freycinet--where +the best men on both sides tried hard to come to an agreement. W. went +several times in August to see M. Thiers, who was settled at St. +Germain. The old statesman was as keen as ever, receiving every day all +sorts of deputations, advising, warning, encouraging, and quite +confident as to the result of the elections. People were looking to him +as the next President, despite his great age. However, he was not +destined to see the triumph of his ideas. He died suddenly at St. +Germain on the 3d of September. W. said his funeral was a remarkable +sight--thousands of people followed the cortège--all Paris showing a +last respect to the libérateur du territoire (though there were still +clubs where he was spoken of as le sinistre vieillard). In August W. +went to his Conseil-Général at Laon, and I went down to my +brother-in-law's place at St. Léger near Rouen. We were a very happy +cosmopolitan family-party. My mother-in-law was born a Scotch-woman +(Chisholm). She was a fine type of the old-fashioned cultivated lady, +with a charming polite manner, keenly interested in all that was going +on in the world. She was an old lady when I married, and had outlived +almost all her contemporaries, but she had a beautiful old age, +surrounded by children and grandchildren. She had lived through many +vicissitudes from the time of her marriage, when she arrived at the +Château of St. Remy in the Department of Eure-et-Loire (where my +husband, her eldest son, was born), passing through triumphal arches +erected in honour of the young bride, to the last days when the fortunes +of the family were diminished by revolutions and political and business +crises in France. They moved from St. Remy, selling the château, and +built a house on the top of a green hill near Rouen, quite shut in by +big trees, and with a lovely view from the Rond Point--the highest part +of the garden, over Rouen--with the spires of the cathedral in the +distance. I used to find her every morning when I went to her room, +sitting at the window, her books and knitting on a table near--looking +down on the lawn and the steep winding path that came up from the +garden,--where she had seen three generations of her dear ones pass +every day--first her husband, then her sons--now her grandsons. My +sister-in-law, R.'s wife, was also an Englishwoman; the daughter of the +house had married her cousin, de Bunsen, who had been a German +diplomatist, and who had made nearly all his career in Italy, at the +most interesting period of her history, when she was struggling for +emancipation from the Austrian rule and independence. I was an American, +quite a new element in the family circle. We had many and most animated +discussions over all sorts of subjects, in two or three languages, at +the tea-table under the big tree on the lawn. French and English were +always going, and often German, as de Bunsen always spoke to his +daughter in German. My mother-in-law, who knew three or four languages, +did not at all approve of the careless habit we had all got into of +mixing our languages and using French or Italian words when we were +speaking English--if they came more easily. She made a rule that we +should use only one language at meals--she didn't care which one, but we +must keep to it. My brother-in-law was standing for the deputation. We +didn't see much of him in the daytime--his electors and his visits and +speeches and banquets de pompiers took up all his time. The beginning +of his career had been very different. He was educated in England--Rugby +and Woolwich--and served several years in the Royal Artillery in the +British army. His military training was very useful to him during the +Franco-Prussian War, when he equipped and commanded a field battery, +making all the campaign. His English brother officers always remembered +him. Many times when we were living in England at the embassy, I was +asked about him. A curious thing happened in the House of Lords one day, +showing the wonderful memory of princes for faces. R. was staying with +us for a few days, when the annual debate over the bill for marriage of +a deceased wife's sister came up. The Prince of Wales (late King Edward) +and all the other princes were present in the House. R. was there too, +standing where all the strangers do, at the entrance of the lobby. When +the debate was over, the Prince of Wales left. As he passed along, he +shook hands with several gentlemen also standing near the lobby, +including R. He stopped a moment in front of him, saying: "I think this +is Mr. Waddington. The last time I saw you, you wore Her Majesty's +uniform." He hadn't seen him for twenty-five or thirty years. I asked +the prince afterward how he recognised him. He said he didn't know; it +was perhaps noticing an unfamiliar face in the group of men standing +there,--and something recalled his brother, the ambassador. + +In September we went down to Bourneville and settled ourselves there for +the autumn. W. was standing for the Senate with the Count de St. Vallier +and Henri Martin. They all preferred being named in their department, +where everybody knew them and their personal influence could make itself +more easily felt. W.'s campaign was not very arduous. All the people +knew him and liked him--knew that he would do whatever he promised. +Their programme was absolutely Republican, but moderate, and he only +made a few speeches and went about the country a little. I often went +with him when he rode, and some of our visits to the farmers and local +authorities were amusing if not encouraging. We were always very well +received, but it wasn't easy to find out what they really thought (if +they did think about it at all) of the state of affairs. The small +landowners particularly, the men who had one field and a garden, were +very reserved. They listened attentively enough to all W. had to say. He +was never long, never personal, and never abused his adversaries, but +they rarely expressed an opinion. They almost always turned the +conversation upon some local matter or petty grievance. It didn't seem +to me that they took the slightest interest in the extraordinary changes +that were going on in France. A great many people came to see W. and +there would be a curious collection sometimes in his library at the end +of the day. The doctor (who always had precise information--country +doctors always have--they see a great many people and I fancy the women +talk to them and tell them what their men are doing), one or two +farmers, some schoolmasters, the mayors of the nearest villages, the +captains of the firemen and of the archers (they still shoot with bow +and arrow in our part of the country; every Sunday the men practise +shooting at a target)--the gendarmes, very useful these too to bring +news--the notary, and occasionally a sous-préfet, but then he was a +personage, representing the Government, and was treated with more +ceremony than the other visitors. It was evident from all these sources +that the Republicans were coming to the front en masse. + +The Republicans (for once) were marvellously disciplined and kept +together. It was really wonderful when one thought of all the different +elements that were represented in the party. There was quite as much +difference between the quiet moderate men of the Left Centre and the +extreme Left as there was between the Legitimists and any faction of the +Republican party. There was a strong feeling among the Liberals that +they were being coerced, that arbitrary measures, perhaps a coup d'état, +would be sprung upon them, and they were quite determined to resist. I +don't think there was ever any danger of a coup d'état, at least as long +as Marshal MacMahon was the chief of state. He was a fine honourable, +patriotic soldier, utterly incapable of an illegality of any kind. He +didn't like the Republic, honestly thought it would never succeed with +the Republicans (la République sans Républicains was for him its only +chance)--and he certainly had illusions and thought his friends and +advisers would succeed in making and keeping a firm conservative +government. How far that illusion was shared by his entourage it is +difficult to say. They fought their battle well--government pressure +exercised in all ways. Préfets and sous-préfets changed, wonderful +prospects of little work and high pay held out to doubtful electors, and +the same bright illusive promises made to the masses, which all parties +make in all elections and which the people believe each time. The +Republicans were not idle either, and many fiery patriotic speeches +were made or their side. Gambetta always held his public with his +passionate, earnest declamation, and his famous phrase, that the marshal +must "se soumettre ou se démettre," became a password all through +the country. + + + + +V + + +A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY + +The elections took place in October-November, 1877, and gave at once a +great Republican majority. W. and his two colleagues, Count de St. +Vallier and Henri Martin, had an easy victory, but a great many of their +personal friends, moderates, were beaten. The centres were decidedly +weaker in the new Chambers. There was not much hope left of uniting the +two centres, Droite et Gauche, in the famous "fusion" which had been a +dream of the moderate men. + +The new Chambers assembled at Versailles in November. The Broglie +cabinet was out, but a new ministry of the Right faced the new +Parliament. Their life was very short and stormy; they were really dead +before they began to exist and in December the marshal sent for M. +Dufaure and charged him to form a Ministère de Gauche. None of his +personal friends, except General Borel at the War Office, was in the new +combination. W. was named to the Foreign Office. I was rather +disappointed when he came home and told me he had accepted that +portfolio. I thought his old ministry, Public Instruction, suited him so +well, the work interested him, was entirely to his taste. He knew all +the literary and educational world, not only in France but everywhere +else--England, of course, where he had kept up with many of his +Cambridge comrades, and Germany, where he also had literary connections. +However, that wide acquaintance and his perfect knowledge of English and +English people helped him very much at once, not only at the Quai +d'Orsay, but in all the years he was in England as ambassador. + +The new ministry, with Dufaure as President of the Council, Léon Say at +the Finances, M. de Freycinet at Public Works, and W. at the Foreign +Office was announced the 14th of December, 1877. The preliminaries had +been long and difficult--the marshal and his friends on one side--the +Republicans and Gambetta on the other--the moderates trying to keep +things together. Personally, I was rather sorry W. had agreed to be a +member of the cabinet; I was not very keen about official life and +foresaw a great deal that would be disagreeable. Politics played such a +part in social life. All the "society," the Faubourg St. Germain (which +represents the old names and titles of France), was violently opposed to +the Republic. I was astonished the first years of my married life in +France, to see people of certain position and standing give the cold +shoulder to men they had known all their lives because they were +Republicans, knowing them quite well to be honourable, independent +gentlemen, wanting nothing from the Republic--merely trying to do their +best for the country. I only realised by degrees that people held off a +little from me sometimes, as the wife of a Republican deputy. I didn't +care particularly, as I had never lived in France, and knew very few +people, but it didn't make social relations very pleasant, and I should +have been better pleased if W. had taken no active part. However, that +feeling was only temporary. I soon became keenly interested in politics +(I suppose it is in the blood--all the men in my family in America were +politicians) and in the discussion of the various questions which were +rapidly changing France into something quite different. Whether the +change has been for the better it would be hard to say even now, after +more than thirty-five years of the Republic. + +Freycinet was a great strength. He was absolutely Republican, but +moderate--very clever and energetic, a great friend of Gambetta's--and +a beautiful speaker. I have heard men say who didn't care about him +particularly, and who were not at all of his way of thinking, that they +would rather not discuss with him. He was sure to win them over to his +cause with his wonderful, clear persuasive arguments. + +[Illustration: Palace of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris.] + +The first days were very busy ones. W. had to see all his staff (a very +large one) of the Foreign Office, and organise his own cabinet. He was +out all day, until late in the evening, at the Quai d'Orsay; used to go +over there about ten or ten-thirty, breakfast there, and get back for a +very late dinner, and always had a director or secretary working with +him at our own house after dinner. I went over three or four times to +inspect the ministry, as I had a presentiment we should end by living +there. The house is large and handsome, with a fine staircase and large +high rooms. The furniture of course was "ministerial"--stiff and +heavy--gold-backed chairs and sofas standing in rows against the walls. +There were some good pictures, among others the "Congrès de Paris," +which occupies a prominent place in one of the salons, and splendid +tapestries. The most attractive thing was a fine large garden at the +back, but, as the living-rooms were up-stairs, we didn't use it very +much. The lower rooms, which opened on the gardens, were only used as +reception-rooms. The minister's cabinet was also down-stairs, +communicating by a small staircase with his bedroom, just overhead. The +front of the house looks on the Seine; we had always a charming view +from the windows, at night particularly, when all the little steamers +(mouches) were passing with their lights. I had of course to make +acquaintance with all the diplomatic corps. I knew all the ambassadors +and most of the ministers, but there were some representatives of the +smaller powers and South American Republics with whom I had never come +in contact. Again I paid a formal official visit to the Maréchale de +MacMahon as soon as the ministry was announced. She was perfectly polite +and correct, but one felt at once she hadn't the slightest sympathy for +anything Republican, and we never got to know each other any better all +the months we were thrown together. We remained for several weeks at our +own house, and then most reluctantly determined to install ourselves at +the ministry. W. worked always very late after dinner, and he felt it +was not possible to ask his directors, all important men of a certain +age, to come up to the Quartier de l'Etoile at ten o'clock and keep them +busy until midnight. W.'s new chef de cabinet, Comte de Pontécoulant, +was very anxious that we should move, thought everything would be +simplified if W. were living over there. I had never known Pontécoulant +until W. chose him as his chef de cabinet. He was a diplomatist with +some years of service behind him, and was perfectly au courant of all +the routine and habits of the Foreign Office. He paid me a short formal +visit soon after he had accepted the post; we exchanged a few remarks +about the situation, I hoped we would faire bon ménage, and had no +particular impression of him except that he was very French and stiff; I +didn't suppose I should see much of him. It seems curious now to look +back upon that first interview. We all became so fond of him, he was a +loyal, faithful friend, was always ready to help me in any small +difficulties, and I went to him for everything--visits, servants, +horses, etc. W. had no time for any details or amenities of life. We +moved over just before New Year's day. As the gros mobilier was already +there, we only took over personal things, grand piano, screens, tables, +easy chairs, and small ornaments and bibelots. These were all sent off +in a van early one morning, and after luncheon I went over, having given +rendezvous to Pontécoulant and M. Kruft, chef du matériel, an +excellent, intelligent man, who was most useful and devoted to me the +two years I lived at the ministry. I was very depressed when we drove +into the courtyard. I had never lived on that side of the river, and +felt cut off from all my belongings,--the bridge a terror, so cold in +winter, so hot in summer,--I never got accustomed to it, never crossed +it on foot. The sight of the great empty rooms didn't reassure me. The +reception-rooms of course were very handsome. There were a great many +servants, huissiers, and footmen standing about, and people waiting in +the big drawing-room to speak to W. The living-rooms up-stairs were +ghastly--looked bare and uncomfortable in the highest degree. They were +large and high and looked down upon the garden, though that on a bleak +December day was not very cheerful--but there were possibilities. Kruft +was very sympathetic, understood quite well how I felt, and was ready to +do anything in the way of stoves, baths, wardrobes in the lingerie, new +carpets, and curtains, that I wanted. Pontécoulant too was eminently +practical, and I was quite amused to find myself discussing lingeries +and bathrooms with a total stranger whom I had only seen twice in my +life. It took me about a week to get really settled. I went over every +day, returning to my own house to eat and sleep. Kruft did wonders; the +place was quite transformed when I finally moved over. The rooms looked +very bright and comfortable when we arrived in the afternoon of the 31st +of December (New Year's eve). The little end salon, which I made my +boudoir, was hung with blue satin; my piano, screens, and little things +were very well placed--plenty of palms and flowers, bright fires +everywhere--the bedrooms, nursery, and lingeries clean and bright. My +bedroom opened on a large salon, where I received usually, keeping my +boudoir for ourselves and our intimate friends. My special huissier, +Gérard, who sat all day outside of the salon door, was presented to me, +and instantly became a most useful and important member of the +household--never forgot a name or a face, remembered what cards and +notes I had received, whether the notes were answered, or the bills +paid, knew almost all my wardrobe, would bring me down a coat or a wrap +if I wanted one suddenly down-stairs. I had frequent consultations with +Pontécoulant and Kruft to regulate all the details of the various +services before we were quite settled. We took over all our own servants +and found many others who were on the permanent staff of the ministry, +footmen, huissiers, and odd men who attended to all the fires, opened +and shut all the doors, windows, and shutters. It was rather difficult +to organise the regular working service, there was such rivalry between +our own personal servants and the men who belonged to the house, but +after a little while things went pretty smoothly. W. dined out the first +night we slept at the Quai d'Orsay, and about an hour after we had +arrived, while I was still walking about in my hat and coat, feeling +very strange in the big, high rooms, I was told that the lampiste was +waiting my orders (a few lamps had been lit in some of the rooms). I +didn't quite know what orders to give, hadn't mastered yet the number +that would be required; but I sent for him, said I should be alone for +dinner, perhaps one or two lamps in the dining-room and small salon +would be enough. He evidently thought that was not at all sufficient, +wanted something more precise, so I said to light as he had been +accustomed to when the Duc Décazes and his family were dining alone +(which I don't suppose they ever did, nor we either when we once took up +our life). Such a blaze of light met my eyes when I went to dinner that +I was quite bewildered--boudoir, billiard-room, dining-room (very large, +the small round table for one person hardly perceptible), and corridors +all lighted "à giorno." However, it looked very cheerful and kept me +from feeling too dreadfully homesick for my own house and familiar +surroundings. The rooms were so high up that we didn't hear the noise of +the street, but the river looked alive and friendly with the lights on +the bridges, and a few boats still running. + +We had much more receiving and entertaining to do at the Quai d'Orsay +than at any other ministry, and were obliged to go out much more +ourselves. The season in the official world begins with a reception at +the President's on New Year's day. The diplomatic corps and presidents +of the Senate and Chamber go in state to the Elysée to pay their +respects to the chief of state--the ambassadors with all their staff in +uniform in gala carriages. It is a pretty sight, and there are always a +good many people waiting in the Faubourg St. Honoré to see the +carriages. The English carriage is always the best; they understand all +the details of harness and livery so much better than any one else. The +marshal and his family were established at the Elysée. It wasn't +possible for him to remain at Versailles--he couldn't be so far from +Paris, where all sorts of questions were coming up every day, and he was +obliged to receive deputations and reports, and see people of all kinds. +They were already agitating the question of the Parliament coming back +to Paris. The deputies generally were complaining of the loss of time +and the discomfort of the daily journey even in the parliamentary train. +The Right generally was very much opposed to having the Chambers back in +Paris. I never could understand why. I suppose they were afraid that a +stormy sitting might lead to disturbances. In the streets of a big city +there is always a floating population ready to espouse violently any +cause. At Versailles one was away from any such danger, and, except +immediately around the palace, there was nobody in the long, deserted +avenues. They often cited the United States, how no statesman after the +signing of the Declaration of Independence (in Philadelphia) would have +ventured to propose that the Parliament should sit in New York or +Philadelphia, but the reason there was very different; they were obliged +to make a neutral zone, something between the North and the South. The +District of Columbia is a thing apart, belonging to neither side. It has +certainly worked very well in America. Washington is a fine city, with +its splendid old trees and broad avenues. It has a cachet of its own, is +unlike any other city I know in the world. + +The marshal received at the Elysée every Thursday evening--he and his +staff in uniform, also all the officers who came, which made a brilliant +gathering. Their big dinners and receptions were always extremely well +done. Except a few of their personal friends, not many people of society +were present--the diplomatic corps usually very well represented, the +Government and their wives, and a certain number of liberal deputies--a +great many officers. We received every fifteen days, beginning with a +big dinner. It was an open reception, announced in the papers. The +diplomats always mustered very strong, also the Parliament--not many +women. Many of the deputies remained in the country, taking rooms merely +while the Chambers were sitting, and their wives never appeared in +Paris. "Society" didn't come to us much either, except on certain +occasions when we had a royal prince or some very distinguished +foreigners. Besides the big official receptions, we often had small +dinners up-stairs during the week. Some of these I look back to with +much pleasure. I was generally the only lady with eight or ten men, and +the talk was often brilliant. Some of our habitués were the late Lord +Houghton, a delightful talker; Lord Dufferin, then ambassador in St. +Petersburg; Sir Henry Layard, British ambassador in Spain, an +interesting man who had been everywhere and seen and known everybody +worth knowing in the world; Count Schouvaloff, Russian ambassador in +London, a polished courtier, extremely intelligent; he and W. were +colleagues afterward at the Congrès de Berlin, and W. has often told me +how brilliantly he defended his cause; General Ignatieff, Prince Orloff, +the nunzio Monsignor Czascki, quite charming, the type of the prélat +mondain, very large (though very Catholic) in his ideas, but never +aggressive or disagreeable about the Republic, as so many of the clergy +were. He was very fond of music, and went with me sometimes to the +Conservatoire on Sunday; he had a great admiration for the way they +played classical music; used to lean back in his chair in a corner +(would never sit in front of the box) and drink in every sound. + +We sometimes had informal music in my little blue salon. Baron de +Zuylen, Dutch minister, was an excellent musician, also Comte de Beust, +the Austrian ambassador. He was a composer. I remember his playing me +one day a wedding march he had composed for the marriage of one of the +archdukes. It was very descriptive, with bells, cannon, hurrahs, and a +nuptial hymn--rather difficult to render on a piano--but there was a +certain amount of imagination in the composition. The two came often +with me to the Conservatoire. Comte de Beust brought Liszt to me one +day. I wanted so much to see that complex character, made up of +enthusiasms of all kinds, patriotic, religious, musical. He was dressed +in the ordinary black priestly garb, looked like an ascetic with pale, +thin face, which lighted up very much when discussing any subject that +interested him. He didn't say a word about music, either then or on a +subsequent occasion when I lunched with him at the house of a great +friend and admirer, who was a beautiful musician. I hoped he would play +after luncheon. He was a very old man, and played rarely in those days, +but one would have liked to hear him. Madame M. thought he would perhaps +for her, if the party were not too large, and the guests "sympathetic" +to him. I have heard so many artists say it made all the difference to +them when they felt the public was with them--if there were one +unsympathetic or criticising face in the mass of people, it was the only +face they could distinguish, and it affected them very much. The piano +was engagingly open and music littered about, but he apparently didn't +see it. He talked politics, and a good deal about pictures with some +artists who were present. + +[Illustration: Franz Liszt.] + +I did hear him play many years later in London. We were again lunching +together, at the house of a mutual friend, who was not at all musical. +There wasn't even a piano in the house, but she had one brought in for +the occasion. When I arrived rather early, the day of the party, I found +the mistress of the house, aided by Count Hatzfeldt, then German +ambassador to England, busily engaged in transforming her drawing-room. +The grand piano, which had been standing well out toward the middle of +the room, open, with music on it (I dare say some of Liszt's own--but I +didn't have time to examine), was being pushed back into a corner, all +the music hidden away, and the instrument covered with photographs, +vases of flowers, statuettes, heavy books, all the things one doesn't +habitually put on pianos. I was quite puzzled, but Hatzfeldt, who was a +great friend of Liszt's and knew all his peculiarities, when consulted +by Madame A. as to what she could do to induce Liszt to play, had +answered: "Begin by putting the piano in the furthest, darkest corner of +the room, and put all sorts of heavy things on it. Then he won't think +you have asked him in the hope of hearing him play, and perhaps we can +persuade him." The arrangements were just finished as the rest of the +company arrived. We were not a large party, and the talk was pleasant +enough. Liszt looked much older, so colourless, his skin like ivory, +but he seemed just as animated and interested in everything. After +luncheon, when they were smoking (all of us together, no one went into +the smoking-room), he and Hatzfeldt began talking about the Empire and +the beautiful fêtes at Compiègne, where anybody of any distinction in +any branch of art or literature was invited. Hatzfeldt led the +conversation to some evenings when Strauss played his waltzes with an +entrain, a sentiment that no one else has ever attained, and to +Offenbach and his melodies--one evening particularly when he had +improvised a song for the Empress--he couldn't quite remember it. If +there were a piano--he looked about. There was none apparently. "Oh, +yes, in a corner, but so many things upon it, it was evidently never +meant to be opened." He moved toward it, Liszt following, asking +Comtesse A. if it could be opened. The things were quickly removed. +Hatzfeldt sat down and played a few bars in rather a halting fashion. +After a moment Liszt said: "No, no, it is not quite that." Hatzfeldt got +up. Liszt seated himself at the piano, played two or three bits of +songs, or waltzes, then, always talking to Hatzfeldt, let his fingers +wander over the keys and by degrees broke into a nocturne and a wild +Hungarian march. It was very curious; his fingers looked as if they +were made of yellow ivory, so thin and long, and of course there wasn't +any strength or execution in his playing--it was the touch of an old +man, but a master--quite unlike anything I have ever heard. When he got +up, he said: "Oh, well, I didn't think the old fingers had any music +left in them." We tried to thank him, but he wouldn't listen to us, +immediately talked about something else. When he had gone we +complimented the ambassador on the way in which he had managed the +thing. Hatzfeldt was a charming colleague, very clever, very musical, a +thorough man of the world. I was always pleased when he was next to me +at dinner--I was sure of a pleasant hour. He had been many years in +Paris during the brilliant days of the Empire, knew everybody there +worth knowing. He had the reputation, notwithstanding his long stay in +Paris, of being very anti-French. I could hardly judge of that, as he +never talked politics to me. It may very likely have been true, but not +more marked with him than with the generality of Anglo-Saxons and +Northern races, who rather look down upon the Latins, hardly giving them +credit for their splendid dash and pluck--to say nothing of their +brains. I have lived in a great many countries, and always think that as +a people, I mean the uneducated mass, the French are the most +intelligent nation in the world. I have never been thrown with the +Japanese--am told they are extraordinarily intelligent. + +We had a dinner one night for Mr. Gladstone, his wife, and a daughter. +Mr. Gladstone made himself quite charming, spoke French fairly well, and +knew more about every subject discussed than any one else in the room. +He was certainly a wonderful man, such extraordinary versatility and +such a memory. It was rather pretty to see Mrs. Gladstone when her +husband was talking. She was quite absorbed by him, couldn't talk to her +neighbours. They wanted very much to go to the Conciergerie to see the +prison where the unfortunate Marie Antoinette passed the last days of +her unhappy life, and Mr. Gladstone, inspired by the subject, made us a +sort of conférence on the French Revolution and the causes which led up +to it, culminating in the Terror and the execution of the King and +Queen. He spoke in English (we were a little group standing at the +door--they were just going), in beautiful academic language, and it was +most interesting, graphic, and exact. Even W., who knew him well and +admired him immensely, was struck by his brilliant improvisation. + +[Illustration: William E. Gladstone. From a photograph by Samuel A. +Walker, London.] + +We were often asked for permits by our English and American friends to +see all the places of historical interest in Paris, and the two places +which all wanted to see were the Conciergerie and Napoleon's tomb at the +Invalides. When we first came to Paris in 1866, just after the end of +the long struggle between the North and South in America, our first +visits too were for the Conciergerie, Invalides, and Notre Dame, where +my father had not been since he had gone as a very young man with all +Paris to see the flags that had been brought back from Austerlitz. They +were interesting days, those first ones in Paris, so full of memories +for father, who had been there a great deal in his young days, first as +an élève in the Ecole Polytechnique, later when the Allies were in +Paris. He took us one day to the Luxembourg Gardens, to see if he could +find any trace of the spot where in 1815 during the Restoration Marshal +Ney had been shot. He was in Paris at the time, and was in the garden a +few hours after the execution--remembered quite well the wall against +which the marshal stood--and the comments of the crowd, not very +flattering for the Government in executing one of France's bravest and +most brilliant soldiers. + +All the Americans who came to see us at the Quai d'Orsay were much +interested in everything relating to Général Marquis de Lafayette, who +left an undying memory in America, and many pilgrimages were made to the +Château de la Grange, where the Marquis de Lafayette spent the last +years of his life and extended a large and gracious hospitality to all +his friends. It is an interesting old place, with a moat all around it +and high solid stone walls, where one still sees the hole that was made +in the wall by a cannon-ball sent by Maréchal de Turenne as he was +passing with his troops, as a friendly souvenir to the owner, with whom +he was not on good terms. So many Americans and English too are imbued +with the idea that there are no châteaux, no country life in France, +that I am delighted when they can see that there are just as many as in +any other country. A very clever American writer, whose books have been +much read and admired, says that when travelling in France in the +country, he never saw any signs of wealth or gentlemen's property. I +think he didn't want to admire anything French, but I wonder in what +part of France he has travelled. Besides the well-known historic +châteaux of Chaumont, Chenonceaux, Azay-le-Rideau, Maintenon, Dampierre, +Josselin, Valençay, and scores of others, there are quantities of small +Louis XV châteaux and manoirs, half hidden in a corner of a forest, +which the stranger never sees. They are quite charming, built of red +brick with white copings, with stiff old-fashioned gardens, and trees +cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes. Sometimes the parish church +touches the castle on one side, and there is a private entrance for the +seigneurs. The interior arrangements in some of the old ones leave much +to be desired in the way of comfort and modern improvements,--lighting +very bad, neither gas nor electricity, and I should think no baths +anywhere, hardly a tub. On the banks of the Seine and the Loire, near +the great forests, in all the departments near Paris there are +quantities of châteaux--some just on the border of the highroad, +separated from it by high iron gates, through which one sees long +winding alleys with stone benches and vases with red geraniums planted +in them, a sun-dial and stiff formal rows of trees--some less +pretentious with merely an ordinary wooden gate, generally open, and +always flowers of the simplest kind, geraniums, sunflowers, pinks, +dahlias, and chrysanthemums--what we call a jardin de curé, (curate's +garden)--but in great abundance. With very rare exceptions the lawns are +not well kept--one never sees in this country the smooth green turf that +one does in England. + +Some of the old châteaux are very stately--sometimes one enters by a +large quadrangle, quite surrounded by low arcades covered with ivy, a +fountain and good-sized basin in the middle of the courtyard, and a big +clock over the door--sometimes they stand in a moat, one goes over a +drawbridge with massive doors, studded with iron nails and strong iron +bolts and chains which defend the entrance, making one think of old +feudal days, when might was right, and if a man wanted his neighbours +property, he simply took it. Even some of the smaller châteaux have +moats. I think they are more picturesque than comfortable--an +ivy-covered house with a moat around it is a nest for mosquitoes and +insects of all kinds, and I fancy the damp from the water must finish by +pervading the house. French people of all classes love the country and a +garden with bright flowers, and if the poorer ones can combine a rabbit +hutch with the flowers they are quite happy. + +I have heard W. speak sometimes of a fine old château in our +department--(Aisne) belonging to a deputy, who invited his friends to +shoot and breakfast. The cuisine and shooting were excellent, but the +accommodations fantastic. The neighbours said nothing had been renewed +or cleaned since the château was occupied by the Cossacks under the +first Napoleon. + +We got very little country life during those years at the Foreign +Office. Twice a year, in April and August, W. went to Laon for his +Conseil-Général, over which he presided, but he was rarely able to stay +all through the session. He was always present on the opening day, and +at the préfet's dinner, and took that opportunity to make a short +speech, explaining the foreign policy of the Government. I don't think +it interested his colleagues as much as all the local questions--roads, +schools, etc. It is astonishing how much time is wasted and how much +letter-writing is necessitated by the simplest change in a road or +railway crossing in France. We had rather a short narrow turning to get +into our gate at Bourneville, and W. wanted to have the road enlarged +just a little, so as to avoid the sharp angle. It didn't interfere with +any one, as we were several yards from the highroad, but it was months, +more than a year, before the thing was done. Any one of the workmen on +the farm would have finished it in a day's work. + +At one of our small dinners I had such a characteristic answer from an +English diplomatist, who had been ambassador at St. Petersburg. He was +really a charming talker, but wouldn't speak French. That was of no +consequence as long as he only talked to me, but naturally all the +people at the table wanted to talk to him, and when the general +conversation languished, at last, I said to him: "I wish you would speak +French; none of these gentlemen speak any other language." (It was quite +true, the men of my husband's age spoke very rarely any other language +but their own; now almost all the younger generation speak German or +English or both. Almost all my son's friends speak English perfectly.) +"Oh no, I can't," he said; "I haven't enough the habit of speaking +French. I don't say the things I want to say, only the things I can say, +which is very different." "But what did you do in Russia?" "All the +women speak English." "But for affairs, diplomatic negotiations?" "All +the women speak English." I have often heard it said that the Russian +women were much more clever than the men. He evidently had found +it true. + + + + +VI + + +THE EXPOSITION YEAR + +The big political dinners were always interesting. On one occasion we +had a banquet on the 2d of December. My left-hand neighbour, a senator, +said to me casually: "This room looks very different from what it did +the last time I was in it." "Does it? I should have thought a big +official dinner at the Foreign Office would have been precisely the same +under any régime." "A dinner perhaps, but on that occasion we were not +precisely dining. I and a number of my friends had just been arrested, +and we were waiting here in this room strictly guarded, until it was +decided what should be done with us." Then I remembered that it was the +2d of December, the anniversary of Louis Napoléon's coup d'état. He said +they were quite unprepared for it, in spite of warnings. He was sent out +of the country for a little while, but I don't think his exile was a +very terrible one. + +I got my first lesson in diplomatic politeness from Lord Lyons, then +British ambassador in Paris. He was in Paris during the Franco-German +War, knew everybody, and had a great position. He gave very handsome +dinners, liked his guests to be punctual, was very punctual himself, +always arrived on the stroke of eight when he dined with us. We had an +Annamite mission to dine one night and had invited almost all the +ambassadors and ministers to meet them. There had been a stormy sitting +at the Chamber and W. was late. As soon as I was ready I went to his +library and waited for him; I couldn't go down and receive a foreign +mission without him. We were quite seven or eight minutes late and found +all the company assembled (except the Annamites, who were waiting with +their interpreter in another room to make their entry in proper style). +As I shook hands with Lord Lyons (who was doyen of the diplomatic corps) +he said to me: "Ah, Madame Waddington, I see the Republic is becoming +very royal; you don't receive your guests any more, merely come into the +room when all the company is assembled." He said it quite smilingly, but +I understood very well, and of course we ought to have been there when +the first guests arrived. He was very amiable all the same and told me a +great many useful things--for instance, that I must never invite a +cardinal and an ambassador together, as neither of them would yield the +precedence and I would find myself in a very awkward position. + +[Illustration: Lord Lyons.] + +The Annamites were something awful to see. In their country all the men +of a certain standing blacken their teeth, and I suppose the dye makes +their teeth fall out, as they hadn't any apparently, and when they +opened their mouths the black caverns one saw were terrifying. I had +been warned, but notwithstanding it made a most disagreeable impression +on me. They were very richly attired, particularly the first three, who +were très grands seigneurs in Annam,--heavily embroidered silk robes, +feathers, and jewels, and when they didn't open their mouths they were +rather a decorative group,--were tall, powerfully built men. They knew +no French nor English--spoke through the interpreter. My intercourse +with them was very limited. They were not near me at dinner, but +afterward I tried to talk to them a little. They all stood in a group at +one end of the room, flanked by an interpreter--the three principal +chiefs well in front. I don't know what the interpreter said to them +from me, probably embellished my very banal remarks with flowers of +rhetoric, but they were very smiling, opening wide their black mouths +and made me very low bows--evidently appreciated my intention and effort +to be amiable. + +They brought us presents, carpets, carved and inlaid mother-of-pearl +boxes, cabinets, and some curious saddles, also gold-embroidered +cushions and slippers. Some Arab horses were announced with great pomp +from the Sultan's stables. I was rather interested in them, thought it +would be amusing to drive a long-tailed Arab pony in a little cart in +the morning. They were brought one morning to the Quai d'Orsay, and W. +gave rendezvous to Comte de Pontécoulant and some of the sporting men of +the cabinet, in the courtyard. There were also several stablemen, all +much interested in the idea of taming the fiery steeds of the desert. +The first look was disappointing. They were thin, scraggy animals, +apparently all legs and manes. Long tails they had, and small heads, but +anything so tame and sluggish in their movements could hardly be +imagined. One could scarcely get them to canter around the courtyard. We +were all rather disgusted, as sometimes one sees pretty little Arab +horses in Paris. I don't know what became of them; I fancy they were +sent to the cavalry stables. + +Our first great function that winter was the service at the Madeleine +for the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, who died suddenly in the +beginning of January, 1878. France sent a special mission to the +funeral--the old Marshal Canrobert, who took with him the marshal's son, +Fabrice de MacMahon. The Church of the Madeleine was filled with people +of all kinds--the diplomatic corps in uniform, a very large +representation of senators and deputies. There was a slight hesitation +among some of the Left--who were ardent sympathisers with young +Italy--but who didn't care to compromise themselves by taking part in a +religious ceremony. However, as a rule they went. Some of the ladies of +the Right were rather put out at having to go in deep mourning to the +service. I said to one of them: "But you are not correct; you have a +black dress certainly, but I don't think pearl-grey gloves are proper +for such an occasion." "Oh, they express quite sufficiently the grief I +feel on this occasion." + +It was curious that the King should have gone before the old Pope, who +had been failing for some time. Every day we expected to hear of his +death. There were many speculations over the new King of Italy, the +Prince Humbert of our day. As we had lived so many years in Rome, I was +often asked what he was like, but I really had no opinion. One saw him +very little. I remember one day in the hunting-field he got a nasty +fall. His horse put his foot in a hole and fell with him. It looked a +bad accident, as if the horse were going to roll over on him. I, with +one of my friends, was near, and seeing an accident (I didn't know who +it was) naturally stopped to see if our groom could do anything, but an +officer rode hurriedly up and begged us to go on, that the Prince would +be very much annoyed if any one, particularly a woman, should notice his +fall. I saw him later in the day, looking all right on another horse, +and no one made any allusion to the accident. + +About a month after Victor Emmanuel's death the old Pope died, the 8th +of February, 1878, quite suddenly at the end. He was buried of course in +Rome, and it was very difficult to arrange for his funeral in the Rome +of the King of Italy. However, he did lie in state at St. Peter's, the +noble garde in their splendid uniforms standing close around the +catafalque--long lines of Italian soldiers, the bersaglieri with their +waving plumes, on each side of the great aisle. There was a magnificent +service for him at Notre Dame. The Chambers raised their sitting as a +mark of respect to the head of the church, and again there was a great +attendance at the cathedral. There were many discussions in the monde +(society not official) "as to whether one should wear mourning for the +Saint Père." I believe the correct thing is not to wear mourning, but +almost all the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain went about in black +garments for some time. One of my friends put it rather graphically: "Si +on a un ruban rose dans les cheveux on a tout de suite l'air d'être la +maîtresse de Rochefort." + +All Europe was engrossed with the question of the Pope's successor. +Intrigues and undercurrents were going on hard in Rome, and the issue of +the conclave was impatiently awaited. No one could predict any result. +The election of Cardinal Pecci, future Leo XIII, seemed satisfactory, at +least in the beginning. + +My winter passed pleasantly enough; I began to feel more at home in my +new quarters, and saw many interesting people of all kinds. Every now +and then there would be a very lively debate in the Parliament. W. would +come home very late, saying things couldn't go on like that, and we +would surely be out of office in a few weeks. We always kept our house +in the rue Dumont d'Urville, and I went over every week, often thinking +that in a few days we should be back there again. + +One of my great trials was a reception day. W. thought I ought to have +one, so every Friday I was at home from three until six, and very long +afternoons they were. I insisted upon having a tea-table, which was a +novelty in those days, but it broke the stiff semicircle of red and gold +armchairs carefully arranged at one end of the room. Very few men took +tea. It was rather amusing to see some of the deputies who didn't +exactly like to refuse a cup of tea offered to them by the minister's +wife, holding the cup and saucer most carefully in their hands, making a +pretence of sipping the tea and replacing it hastily on the table as +soon as it was possible. I had of course a great many people of +different nationalities, who generally didn't know each other. The +ambassadresses and ministers' wives sat on each side of my sofa--the +smaller people lower down. They were all announced, my huissier, Gérard, +doing it very well, opening the big doors and roaring out the names. +Sometimes, at the end of the day, some of my own friends or some of the +young men from the chancery would come in, and that would cheer me up a +little. There was no conversation, merely an exchange of formal phrases, +but I had some funny experiences. + +One day I had several ladies whom I didn't know at all, wives of +deputies, or small functionaries at some of the ministries. One of my +friends, Comtesse de B., was starting for Italy and Rome for the first +time. She had come to ask me all sorts of questions about clothes, +hotels, people to see, etc. When she went away in a whirl of +preparations and addresses, I turned to one of my neighbours, saying: +"Je crois qu'on est très bien à l'Hôtel de Londres à Rome," quite an +insignificant and inoffensive remark--merely to say something. She +replied haughtily: "Je n'en sais rien, Madame; je n'ai jamais quitté +Paris et je m'en vante." I was so astonished that I had nothing to say, +but was afterward sorry that I had not continued the conversation and +asked her why she was so especially proud of never having left Paris. +Travelling is usually supposed to enlarge one's ideas. Her answer might +have been interesting. W. wouldn't believe it when I told him, but I +said I couldn't really have invented it. I used to go into his cabinet +at the end of the day always, when he was alone with Pontécoulant, and +tell them all my experiences which W. forbid me to mention anywhere +else. I had a good many surprises, but soon learned never to be +astonished and to take everything as a matter of course. + +The great interest of the summer was the Exposition Universelle which +was to take place at the Trocadéro, the new building which had been +built on the Champ de Mars. The opening was announced for the 1st of May +and was to be performed with great pomp by the marshal. All Europe was +represented except Germany, and almost all the great powers were sending +princes to represent their country. We went often to see how the works +were getting on, and I must say it didn't look as if it could possibly +be ready for the 1st of May. There were armies of workmen in every +direction and carts and camions loaded with cases making their way with +difficulty through the mud. Occasionally a light case or bale would fall +off, and quantities of small boys who seemed always on the spot would +precipitate themselves, tumbling over each other to pick up what fell, +and there would be protestations and explanations in every language +under the sun. It was a motley, picturesque crowd--the costumes and +uniforms making so much colour in the midst of the very ordinary dark +clothes the civilised Western world affects. I felt sorry for the +Orientals and people from milder climes--they looked so miserably cold +and wretched shivering under the very fresh April breezes that swept +over the great plain of the Champ de Mars. The machines, particularly +the American ones, attracted great attention. There was always a crowd +waiting when some of the large pieces were swung down into their places +by enormous pulleys. + +The opening ceremony was very brilliant. Happily it was a beautiful warm +day, as all the guests invited by the marshal and the Government were +seated on a platform outside the Trocadéro building. All the diplomatic +corps, foreign royalties, and commissioners of the different nations who +were taking part in the exposition were invited. The view was lovely as +we looked down from our seats. The great enclosure was packed with +people. All the pavilions looked very gay with bright-coloured walls and +turrets, and there were flags, palms, flowers, and fountains +everywhere--the Seine running through the middle with fanciful bridges +and boats. There was a curious collection of people in the tribunes. The +invitations had not been very easy to make. There were three Spanish +sovereigns, Queen Isabella, her husband, Don François d'Assizes, and the +Duc d'Aosta (King Amadée), who had reigned a few stormy months in Spain. +He had come to represent Italy at the exposition. The marshal was rather +preoccupied with his Spanish royalties. He had a reception in the +evening, to which all were invited, and thought it would be wise to take +certain precautions, so he sent one of his aides-de-camp to Queen +Isabella to say that he hoped to have the honour of seeing her in the +evening at the Elysée, but he thought it right to tell her that she +might perhaps have some disagreeable meetings. She replied: "Si c'est +mon mari de qui vous parlez, cela m'est tout à fait égal; si c'est le +Duc d'Aosta, je serai ravie de le voir." + +She came to the reception, but her husband was already gone. The Due +d'Aosta was still there, and she walked straight up to him and kissed +him on both cheeks, not an easy thing to do, for the duke was not at all +the type of the gay lady's man--very much the reverse. He looked a +soldier (like all the princes of the house of Savoy) and at the same +time a monk. One could easily imagine him a crusader in plumed helmet +and breastplate, supporting any privation or fatigue without a murmur. +He was very shy (one saw it was an effort for him every time that any +one was brought up to him and he had to make polite phrases), not in the +least mondain, but simple, charming when one talked to him. + +I saw him often afterward, as he represented his brother, King Humbert, +on various official occasions when I too was present--the coronation of +the Emperor Alexander of Russia, the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. He was +always a striking figure, didn't look as if he belonged to our modern +world at all. The marshal had a series of dinners and receptions which +were most brilliant. There was almost always music or theatricals, with +the best artists in Paris. The Comédie Française was much appreciated. +Their style is so finished and sure. They played just as well at one end +of a drawing-room, with a rampe of flowers only separating them from the +public, as in their own theatre with all the help of scenery, acoustics, +and distance. In a drawing-room naturally the audience is much nearer. + +I remember one charming party at the Elysée for the Austrian crown +prince, the unfortunate Archduke Rudolph. All the stars of the Théâtre +Français were playing--Croizette, Reichemberg, Delaunay, Coquelin. The +prince seemed to enjoy himself. He was very good-looking, with a slight, +elegant figure and charming smile--didn't look like a man whose life +would end so tragically. When I saw him some years later in London, he +was changed, looked older, had lost his gaiety, was evidently bored with +the official entertaining, and used to escape from all the dinners and +receptions as soon as he could. + +The late King Edward (then Prince of Wales) won golden opinions always. +There was certainly something in his personality which had an enormous +attraction for Parisians. He always seemed to enjoy life, never looked +bored, was unfailingly courteous and interested in the people he was +talking to. It was a joy to the French people to see him at some of the +small theatres, amusing himself and understanding all the sous-entendus +and argot quite as well as they did. It would almost seem as if what +some one said were true, that he reminded them of their beloved Henri +IV, who still lives in the heart of the nation. + +His brother-in-law, the Prince of Denmark, was also most amiable. We met +him often walking about the streets with one or two of his gentlemen, +and looking in at the windows like an ordinary provincial. He was tall, +with a slight, youthful figure, and was always recognised. It was a +great satisfaction and pride to Parisians to have so many royalties and +distinguished people among them again. + +Those two months of May and June gave back to Paris the animation and +gaiety of the last days of the Empire. There were many handsome +carriages on the Champs-Elysées, filled with pretty, well-dressed women, +and the opera and all the theatres were packed. Paris was illuminated +the night of the opening of the exposition, the whole city, not merely +the Champs-Elysées and boulevards. As we drove across the bridge on our +way home from the reception at the Elysée, it was a beautiful sight--the +streets full of people waiting to see the foreign royalties pass, and +the view up and down the Seine, with the lights from the high buildings +reflected in the water--like fairy-land. + +[Illustration: His Royal Highness, Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1876. +From a photograph by Lock & Whitfield, London.] + +The dinners and receptions at the Elysée and at all the ministries those +first weeks of the exposition were interesting but so fatiguing. Happily +there were not many lunches nor day entertainments. I used to get a good +drive every afternoon in the open carriage with mother and baby, and +that kept me alive. Occasionally (not often) W. had a man's dinner, and +then I could go with some of my friends and dine at the exposition, +which was very amusing--such a curious collection of people. The rue des +Nations was like a gigantic fair. We met all our friends, and heard +every language under the sun. Among other distinguished foreign guests +that year we had President and Mrs. Grant, who were received everywhere +in Europe (England giving the example) like royalties. When they dined +with us at the Quai d'Orsay W. and I went to the top of the great +staircase to meet them, exactly as we did for the Prince and Princess +of Wales. + +It seems funny to me when I think of the very unceremonious manner in +which not only ex-presidents but actual presidents were treated in +America when I was a child. I remember quite well seeing a president (I +have forgotten which one now) come into the big drawing-room at the old +Cozzen's Hotel at West Point, with two or three gentlemen with him. +There was a certain number of people in the room and nobody moved, or +dreamt of getting up. However, the Grants were very simple--accepted all +the honours shown to them without a pose of any kind. The marshal gave +them a big dinner at the Elysée. We arrived a little late (we always +did) and found a large party assembled. The Grants came in just +after us. + +The Maréchale said to me: "The Chinese ambassador will take you to +dinner, Madame Waddington. He is an interesting, clever man, knows +England and the English well--speaks English remarkably well." Just +before dinner was announced the ambassador was brought up to me. He was +a striking-looking man, tall, broad-shouldered, dignified, very +gorgeously attired in light-blue satin, embroidered in bright-coloured +flowers and gold and silver designs, and a splendid yellow bird of +paradise in his cap. He didn't come quite up to me, made me a low bow +from a certain distance, and then fell back into a group of smaller +satellites, all very splendidly dressed. When dinner was announced the +first couples filed off--the marshal with Mrs. Grant and the Maréchale +with President Grant and W. with his lady. There was a pause; I should +have gone next, but my ambassador wasn't forthcoming. I looked and +wondered. All the aides-de-camp were making frantic signals to me to go +on, and the whole cortège was stopped. I really didn't know what to +do--I felt rather foolish. Presently the ambassador appeared--didn't +offer me his arm, but again made me a low bow, which I returned and +moved a few steps forward. He advanced too and we made a stately +progress to the dining-room side by side. I heard afterward the +explanation. It seemed that in those days (things have changed _now_ I +fancy) no Chinese of rank would touch any woman who didn't belong to +him, and the ambassador would have thought himself dishonoured (as well +as me) if he had offered me his arm. The dinner was anything but banal. + +When we finally got to the table I found myself on the marshal's +left--Mrs. Grant was on his right. The marshal neither spoke nor +understood English. Mrs. Grant spoke no French, so the conversation +didn't seem likely to be very animated. After a few moments Mrs. Grant +naturally wished to say something to her host and she addressed him in +English. "Mr. President, I am so happy to be in your beautiful country," +then the marshal to me: "Madame Waddington je vous en prie, dites à +Madame Grant que je ne puis pas répondre; je ne comprends pas l'anglais; +je ne puis pas parler avec elle." "Mrs. Grant, the marshal begs me to +say to you that he regrets not being able to talk with you, but +unfortunately he does not understand English." Then there was a pause +and Mrs. Grant began again: "What a beautiful palace, Mr. President. It +must be delightful with that charming garden." Again the marshal to me: +"Mais je vous en prie Madame, dites à Madame Grant que je ne puis pas +causer avec elle. Il ne faut pas qu'elle me parle, je ne comprends pas." +"Mrs. Grant, the marshal is distressed that he cannot talk to you, but +he _really_ does not understand any English." It was very trying for +Mrs. Grant. Happily her other neighbour knew a little English and she +could talk to him, but all through dinner, at intervals, she began again +at the marshal. + +After a few moments I turned my attention to my ambassador. I had been +looking at him furtively while I was interpreting for the marshal and +Mrs. Grant. I saw that he _took_ everything that was offered to +him--dishes, wines, sauces--but he never attacked anything without +waiting to see what his neighbours did, when and how they used their +knives and forks,--then did exactly as they did,--never made a mistake. +I saw he was looking at the flowers on the table, which were very well +arranged, so I said to him, speaking very slowly and distinctly, as one +does to a child or a deaf person: "Have you pretty flowers in your +country?" He replied promptly: "Yes, yes, very hot, very cold, very hot, +very cold." I was a little disconcerted, but thought I had perhaps +spoken indistinctly, and after a little while I made another attempt: +"How much the uniforms add to the brilliancy of the fête, and the +Chinese dress is particularly striking and handsome," but to that he +made such a perfectly unintelligible answer that I refrained from any +further conversation and merely smiled at him from time to time, which +he always acknowledged with a little bow. + +We went back to the salons in the same way, side by side, and when the +men had gone into one of the other rooms to talk and smoke, I went to +speak to the Maréchale, who said to me: "I am sure you had a delightful +dinner, Madame Waddington. The Chinese ambassador is such a clever man, +has travelled a great deal, and speaks such wonderful English." +"Wonderful indeed, Madame la Maréchale," and then I repeated our +conversation, which she could hardly believe, and which amused her very +much. She spoke English as well as I did. + +The Grants were very much entertained during their stay in Paris, and we +met them nearly every night. W. liked the general very much and found +him quite talkative when he was alone with him. At the big dinners he +was of course at a disadvantage, neither speaking nor understanding a +word of French. W. acted as interpreter and found that very fatiguing. +There is so much repartee and sous-entendu in all French conversation +that even foreigners who know the language well find it sometimes +difficult to follow everything, and to translate quickly enough to keep +one au courant is almost impossible. When they could they drifted into +English, and W. said he was most interesting--speaking of the war and +all the North had done, without ever putting himself forward. + +We had both of us often to act as interpreters with French and +Anglo-Saxons, neither understanding the other's language, and always +found it difficult. I remember a dinner at Sandringham some years ago +when W. was at the embassy. The Prince of Wales (late King Edward) asked +me to sit next to a foreign ambassador who understood not one word of +English. The dinner was exclusively English--a great many clever +men--the master of Trinity College, Cambridge (asked especially to meet +my husband, who graduated from Trinity College), Lord Goschen, James +Knowles of the _Nineteenth Century_, Froude, the historian, Sir Henry +James, Lord Wolseley, etc. The talk was very animated, very witty. There +were peals of laughter all around the table. My ambassador was very +fidgety and nervous, appealing to me all the time, but by the time I had +laboriously condensed and translated some of the remarks, they were +talking of something quite different, and I am afraid he had very hazy +ideas as to what they were all saying. + +We saw, naturally, all the distinguished strangers who passed through +Paris that year of 1878. Many of our colleagues in the diplomatic corps +had played a great rôle in their own country. Prince Orloff, the Russian +ambassador, was one of our great friends. He gave us very good advice on +one or two occasions. He was a distinguished-looking man--always wore a +black patch over one eye--he had been wounded in the Crimea. He spoke +English as well as I did and was a charming talker. General Cialdini was +at the Italian embassy. He was more of a soldier than a statesman--had +contributed very successfully to the formation of "United Italy" and the +suppression of the Pope's temporal power, and was naturally not exactly +persona grata to the Catholics in France. Prince and Princess Hohenlohe +had succeeded Arnim at the German embassy. Their beginnings were +difficult, as their predecessor had done nothing to make the Germans +popular in France, but their strong personality, tact, and understanding +of the very delicate position helped them enormously. They were +Catholics (the Princess born a Russian--her brother, Prince +Wittgenstein, military attaché at the Russian embassy) and very big +people in their own country, so absolutely sure of themselves and their +position that it was very difficult to slight them in any way. They +would never have perceived it unless some extraordinary rudeness were +shown. The Princess was very striking-looking, tall, with a good figure, +and splendid jewels. When she was in full dress for a ball, or official +reception, she wore three necklaces, one on top of the other, and a big +handsome, high tiara, which added to her height. She was the only lady +of the diplomatic corps whom Madame Grévy ever recognised in the first +weeks of her husband's presidency. Madame Grevy was thrown suddenly not +very young into such an absolutely new milieu, that she was quite +bewildered and couldn't be expected to recognise half the women of the +diplomatic corps, but the German ambassadress impressed her and she knew +her always. The princess was not very mondaine, didn't care about +society and life in a city--preferred the country, with riding and +shooting and any sort of sport. + +We had a very handsome dinner at the German embassy the winter of +1878--given to the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon. After dinner, with +coffee, a bear made its appearance in the drawing-room, a "baby bear" +they said, but I didn't think it looked very small. The princess patted +it, and talked to it just as if it were a dog, and I must say the little +animal was perfectly quiet, and kept close to her. I think the lights +and the quantity of people frightened it. It growled once or twice, and +we all had a feeling of relief when it was taken away. I asked the +Maréchale afterward if she were afraid. "Oui, j'avais très peur, mais je +ne voulais pas le montrer devant ces allemands." (Yes, I was very +frightened, but I would not show it before those Germans.) They had +eventually to send the bear away, back to Germany. It grew wilder as it +grew older, and became quite unmanageable--they couldn't keep it in +the embassy. + +Hohenlohe was always pleasant and easy. I think he had a real sympathy +for France and did his best on various delicate occasions. The year of +the exposition (1878) we dined out every night and almost always with +the same people. Hohenlohe often fell to me. He took me in to dinner ten +times in succession. The eleventh time we were each of us in despair as +we filed out together, so I said to him: "Don't let us even pretend to +talk; you can talk to your other neighbour and I will to mine." However, +we _did_ talk chiffons, curiously enough. I had waited for a dress, +which only came home at the last moment, and when I put it on the +corsage was so tight I could hardly bear it. It was too late to change, +and I had nothing else ready, so most uncomfortable I started for my +dinner. I didn't dare to eat anything, hardly dared move, which +Hohenlohe remarked, after seeing three or four dishes pass me untouched, +and said to me: "I am afraid you are ill; you are eating nothing." "No, +not at all, only very uncomfortable"--and then I explained the situation +to him--that my dress was so tight I could neither move nor eat. He was +most indignant--"How could women be so foolish--why did we want to +have abnormally small waists and be slaves to our dressmakers?--men +didn't like made-up figures." "Oh, yes, they do; all men admire a +slight, graceful figure." "Yes, when it is natural, but no man +understands nor cares about a fashionably dressed woman--women dress for +each other" (which is perfectly true). + +[Illustration: Prince Hohenlohe. After the painting by F.E. Laszlo.] + +However, he was destined to see other ladies very careful about their +figures. The late Empress of Austria, who was a fine rider, spent some +time one spring in Paris, and rode every morning in the Bois. She was +very handsome, with a beautiful figure, had handsome horses and +attracted great attention. Prince Hohenlohe often rode with her. I was +riding with a friend one morning when we saw handsome horses waiting at +the mounting-block, just inside the gates. We divined they were the +Empress's horses and waited to see her mount. She arrived in a coupé, +her maid with her, and mounted her horse from the block. The body of her +habit was open. When she was settled in her saddle, the maid stepped up +on the block and buttoned her habit, which I must say fitted +beautifully--as if she were melted into it. + +The official receptions were interesting that year, as one still saw a +few costumes. The Chinese, Japanese, Persians, Greeks, and Roumanians +wore their national dress--and much better they look in them than in +the ordinary dress coat and white tie of our men. The Greek dress was +very striking, a full white skirt with high embroidered belt, but it was +only becoming when the wearer was young, with a good figure. I remember +a pretty Roumanian woman with a white veil spangled with gold, most +effective. Now every one wears the ordinary European dress except the +Chinese, who still keep their costume. One could hardly imagine a +Chinese in a frock coat and tall hat. What would he do with his pigtail? + +The entertainments went on pretty well that year until August, almost +all the embassies and ministries receiving. Queen Isabella of Spain was +then living in the big house in the Avenue Kléber, called the "Palais +d'Espagne" (now the Hotel Majestic). We used to meet her often driving +in the Bois. She was a big, stout, rather red-faced woman, didn't make +much effect in a carriage in ordinary street dress, but in her palace, +when she received or gave an audience, she was a very royal lady. I +asked for an audience soon after W. was named to the Foreign Office. We +knew one of her chamberlains very well, Duc de M., and he arranged it +for me. I arrived at the palace on the appointed day a little before +four (the audience was for four). The big gates were open, a tall porter +dressed in red and gold lace and buttons, and a staff in his hand, was +waiting--two or three men in black, and four or five footmen in red +liveries and powder, at the door and in the hall. I was shown at once to +a small room on the ground floor, where four or five ladies, all Spanish +and all fat, were waiting. In a few minutes the duke appeared. We talked +a little (he looking at me to see if I had taken off my veil and my +right-hand glove) and then a man in black appeared at the door, making a +low bow and saying something in Spanish. The duke said would I come, Her +Majesty was ready to receive me. We passed through several salons where +there were footmen and pages (no ladies) until we came to a very large +one quite at the other end of the palace. The big doors were open, and +at the far end I saw the Queen standing, a stately figure (enormous), +dressed in a long black velvet dress, a high diamond tiara on her head, +from which hung a black lace veil, a fan in her hand (I suppose no +Spanish woman of any station ever parts with her fan) and a splendid +string of pearls. I made my curtsey on the threshold, the chamberlain +named me with the usual formula: "I have the honour to present to Your +Majesty, Madame Waddington, the wife of the Minister of Foreign +Affairs," then backed himself out of the room, and I proceeded down the +long room to the Queen. She didn't move, let me make my two curtseys, +one in the middle of the room, one when I came close up to her--and then +shook hands. We remained standing a few minutes and then she sat down on +a sofa (not a very small one) which she quite filled, and motioned me to +take an armchair on one side. She was very amiable, had a charming +smile, spoke French very well but with a strong Spanish accent. She said +she was very glad to see my husband at the Foreign Office, and hoped he +would stay long enough to do some real work--said she was very fond of +France, loved driving in the streets of Paris, there was always so much +to see and the people looked gay. She was very fond of the theatres, +particularly the smaller ones, liked the real Parisian wit and gaiety +better than the measured phrase and trained diction of the Français and +the Odéon. She spoke most warmly of Marshal MacMahon, hoped that he +would remain President of the Republic as long as the Republicans would +let him, was afraid they would make his position impossible--but that +the younger generation always wanted reforms and changes. I said I +thought that was the way of the world everywhere, in families as well +as nations--children could not be expected to see with the eyes of their +parents. Then we talked about the exposition--she said the Spanish show +was very good--told me to look at the tapestries and embroideries, which +were quite wonderful--gold and silver threads worked in with the +tapestries. The interview was pleasant and easy. When I took leave, she +let me back down the whole length of the room, not half turning away as +so many princesses do after the first few steps, so as to curtail that +very inconvenient exit. However, a day dress is never so long and +cumbersome as an evening dress with a train. + +The chamberlain was waiting just outside the door, also two ladies in +waiting, just as fat as the Queen. Certainly the mise en scène was very +effective. The number of servants in red liveries, the solitary standing +figure at the end of the long enfilade of rooms, the high diamond comb +and long veil, quite transformed the very stout, red-faced lady whom I +used to meet often walking in the Bois. + +We dined once or twice at the palace, always a very handsome dinner. One +for the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon was beautifully done--all the +footmen, dozens, in gala liveries, red and yellow, the maître d'hôtel in +very dark blue with gold epaulettes and aiguillettes. The table was +covered with red and yellow flowers and splendid gold plate, and a very +good orchestra of guitars and mandolins played all through dinner, the +musicians singing sometimes when they played a popular song. We were all +assembled in one of the large rooms waiting for the Queen to appear. As +soon as the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon were announced, she came in, +meeting them at the door, making a circle afterward, and shaking hands +with all the ladies. + +Lord Lyons gave a beautiful ball at the embassy that season. The hotel +of the British embassy is one of the best in Paris--fine reception-rooms +opening on a very large garden, and a large courtyard and side exit--so +there was no confusion of carriages. He had need of all his room--Paris +was crowded with English. Besides all the exposition people, there were +many tourists and well-known English people, all expecting to be +entertained at the embassy. All the world was there. The Prince and +Princess of Wales, the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon, the Orléans +princes, Princesse Mathilde, the Faubourg St. Germain, the Government, +and as many foreigners as the house could hold, as he invited a great +many people, once his obligations, English and official, were +satisfied. It was only at an embassy that such a gathering could take +place, and it was amusing to see the people of all the different camps +looking at each other. + +There was a supper up-stairs for all the royalties before the cotillion. +I was told that the Duc d'Aumale would take me to supper. I was very +pleased (as we knew him very well and he was always charming to us) but +much surprised, as the Orléans princes never remained for supper at any +big official function. There would have been questions of place and +precedence which would have been very difficult to settle. When the move +was made for supper, things had to be changed, as the Orléans princes +had gone home. The Crown Prince of Denmark took me. The supper-room was +prettily arranged, two round tables--Lord Lyons with the Princesses of +Wales and Denmark presiding at one--his niece, the Duchesse of Norfolk, +at the other, with the Princes of Wales and Denmark. I sat between the +Princes of Denmark and Sweden. Opposite me, next the Prince of Wales, +sat a lady I didn't know. Every one else at the table did. She was very +attractive-looking, with a charming smile and most animated manner. I +asked the Prince of Denmark in a low voice, who she was--thought it must +be one of the foreign princesses I hadn't yet met. The Prince of Wales +heard my question, and immediately, with his charming tact and ease of +manner, said to me: "You don't know the Princesse Mathilde; do let me +have the pleasure of presenting you to her," naming me at once--in my +official capacity, "wife of the Minister of Foreign Affairs." The +princess was very gracious and smiling, and we talked about all sorts of +things--some of her musical protégées, who were also mine. She asked me +if I liked living at the ministry, Quai d'Orsay; she remembered it as +such a beautiful house. When the party broke up, she shook hands, said +she had not the pleasure of knowing M. Waddington, but would I thank him +from her for what he had done for one of her friends. I tried to find W. +after supper to present him to the princess, but he had already gone, +didn't stay for the cotillion--the princess, too, went away immediately +after supper. I met her once or twice afterward. She was always +friendly, and we had little talks together. Her salon--she received once +a week--was quite a centre--all the Bonapartists of course, the +diplomatic corps, many strangers, and all the celebrities in +literature and art. + +With that exception I never saw nor talked with any member of that +family until I had been some years a widow, when the Empress Eugénie +received me on her yacht at Cowes. When the news came of the awful +tragedy of the Prince Imperial's death in Zululand, W. was Foreign +Minister, and he had invited a large party, with music. W. instantly put +off the party, said there was no question of politics or a Bonapartist +prince--it was a Frenchman killed, fighting bravely in a foreign +country. I always thought the Empress knew about it and appreciated his +act, for during his embassy in London, though we never saw her, she +constantly sent him word through mutual friends of little negotiations +she knew about and thought might interest him, and always spoke very +well of him as a "clear-headed, patriotic statesman." I should have +liked to have seen her in her prime, when she must have been +extraordinarily beautiful and graceful. When I did see her she was no +longer young, but a stately, impressive figure, and had still the +beautiful brow one sees in all her pictures. One of our friends, a very +clever woman and great anti-Bonapartist, told us an amusing story of her +little son. The child was sometimes in the drawing-room when his mother +was receiving, and heard her and all her friends inveighing against the +iniquities of the Imperial Court and the frivolity of the Empress. He +saw the Empress walking one day in the Bois de Boulogne. She was +attracted by the group of children, stopped and talked to them. The boy +was delighted and said to his governess: "Elle est bien jolie, +l'Impératrice, mais il ne faut pas le dire à Maman." (The Empress is +very pretty, but one must not say it to mother.) + + + + +VII + + +THE BERLIN CONGRESS + +Seventy-eight was a most important year for us in many ways. Besides the +interest and fatigues of the exposition and the constant receiving and +official festivities of all kinds, a great event was looming before +us--the Berlin Congress. One had felt it coming for some time. There +were all sorts of new delimitations and questions to be settled since +the war in the Balkans, and Europe was getting visibly nervous. Almost +immediately after the opening of the exposition, the project took shape, +and it was decided that France should participate in the Congress and +send three representatives. It was the first time that France had +asserted herself since the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but it was time +for her now to emerge from her self-imposed effacement, and take her +place in the Congress of nations. There were many discussions, both +public and private, before the plénipotentiaires were named, and a great +unwillingness on the part of many very intelligent and patriotic +Frenchmen to see the country launching itself upon dangerous ground and +a possible conflict with Bismarck. However, the thing was decided, and +the three plenipotentiaries named--Mr. Waddington, Foreign Minister, +first; Comte de St. Vallier, a very clever and distinguished +diplomatist, actual ambassador at Berlin, second; and Monsieur Desprey, +Directeur de la Politique au Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, third. +He was also a very able man, one of the pillars of the ministry, au +courant of every treaty and negotiation for the last twenty years, very +prudent and clear-headed. All W.'s colleagues were most cordial and +charming on his appointment. He made a statement in the House of the +line of policy he intended to adopt--and was absolutely approved and +encouraged. Not a disparaging word of any kind was said, not even the +usual remark of "cet anglais qui nous représente." He started the 10th +of June in the best conditions possible--not an instruction of any kind +from his chief, M. Dufaure, Président du Conseil--very complimentary to +him certainly, but the ministers taking no responsibility +themselves--leaving the door open in case he made any mistakes. It was +evident that the Parliament and Government were nervous. It was rather +amusing, when all the preparations for the departure were going on. W. +took a large suite with him, secretaries, huissiers, etc., and I told +them they were as much taken up with their coats and embroideries and +cocked hats as any pretty woman with her dresses. I wanted very much to +go, but W. thought he would be freer and have more time to think things +over if I were not there. He didn't know Berlin at all, had never seen +Bismarck nor any of the leading German statesmen, and was fully +conscious how his every word and act would be criticised. However, if a +public man is not criticised, it usually means that he is of no +consequence--so attacks and criticisms are rather welcome--act as a +stimulant. I could have gone and stayed unofficially with a cousin, but +he thought that wouldn't do. St. Vallier was a bachelor; it would have +been rather an affair for him to organise at the embassy an apartment +for a lady and her maids, though he was most civil and asked me to come. + +[Illustration: M. William Waddington. In the uniform he wore as Minister +of Foreign Affairs and at the Berlin Congress, 1878] + +I felt rather lonely in the big ministry when they had all gone, and I +was left with baby. W. stayed away just five weeks, and I performed +various official things in his absence--among others the Review of the +14th of July. The distinguished guest on that occasion was the Shah of +Persia, who arrived with the Maréchale in a handsome open carriage, +with outriders and postilions. The marshal of course was riding. The +Shah was not at all a striking figure, short, stout, with a dark skin, +and hard black eyes. He had handsome jewels, a large diamond fastening +the white aigrette of his high black cap, and his sword-hilt incrusted +with diamonds. He gave a stiff little nod in acknowledgment of the bows +and curtseys every one made when he appeared in the marshal's box. He +immediately took his seat on one side of the Maréchale in front of the +box, one of the ambassadresses, Princess Hohenlohe I think, next to him. +The military display seemed to interest him. Every now and then he made +some remark to the Maréchale, but he was certainly not talkative. While +the interminable line of the infantry regiments was passing, there was a +move to the back of the box, where there was a table with ices, +champagne, etc. Madame de MacMahon came up to me, saying: "Madame +Waddington, Sa Majesté demande les nouvelles de M. Waddington," upon +which His Majesty planted himself directly in front of me, so close that +he almost touched me, and asked in a quick, abrupt manner, as if he were +firing off a shot: "Où est votre mari?" (neither Madame, nor M. +Waddington, nor any of the terms that are usually adopted in polite +society). "A Berlin, Sire." "Pourquoi à Berlin?" "Comme +plénipotentiaire Français au Congrès de Berlin." "Oui, oui, je sais, je +sais. Cela l'intéresse?" "Beaucoup; il voit tant de personnes +intéressantes." "Oui, je sais. Il va bien?" always coming closer to me, +so that I was edging back against the wall, with his hard, bright little +eyes fixed on mine, and always the same sharp, jerky tone. "Il va +parfaitement bien, je vous remercie." Then there was a pause and he made +one or two other remarks which I didn't quite understand--I don't think +his French went very far--but I made out something about "jolies femmes" +and pointed out one or two to him, but he still remained staring into my +face and I was delighted when his minister came up to him (timidly--all +his people were afraid of him) and said some personage wanted to be +presented to him. He shook hands with me, said something about "votre +mari revient bientôt," and moved off. The Maréchale asked me if I were +not touched by His Majesty's solicitude for my husband's health, and +wouldn't I like to come to the front of the box and sit next to him, but +I told her I couldn't think of engrossing His Majesty's attention, as +there were various important people who wished to be presented to him. I +watched him a little (from a distance), trying to see if anything made +any impression on him (the crowd, the pretty, well-dressed women, the +march past, the long lines of infantry,--rather fatiguing to see, as one +line regiment looks very like another,--the chasseurs with their small +chestnut horses, the dragoons more heavily mounted, and the guns), but +his face remained absolutely impassive, though I think he saw +everything. They told a funny story of him in London at one of the court +balls. When he had looked on at the dancing for some time, he said to +the Prince of Wales: "Tell those people to stop now, I have seen +enough"--evidently thought it was a ballet performing for his amusement. +Another one, at one of the European courts was funny. The monarch was +very old, his consort also. When the Shah was presented to the royal +lady, he looked hard at her without saying a word, then remarked to her +husband: "Laide, vieille, pourquoi garder?" (Ugly, old; why keep her?) + +[Illustration: Nasr-ed-Din, Shah of Persia.] + +I went to a big dinner and reception at the British Embassy, given for +all the directors and commissioners of the exposition. It was a lovely +warm night, the garden was lighted, everybody walking about, and an +orchestra playing. Many of the officials had their wives and daughters +with them, and some of the toilettes were wonderful. There were a good +many pretty women, Swedes and Danes, the Northern type, very fair hair +and blue eyes, attracting much attention, and a group of Chinese (all in +costume) standing proudly aloof--not the least interested apparently in +the gay scene before them. I wonder what they thought of European +manners and customs! There was no dancing, which I suppose would have +shocked their Eastern morals. Lord Lyons asked me why I wasn't in +Berlin. I said, "For the best of reasons, my husband preferred going +without me--but I hoped he would send for me perhaps at the end of the +Congress." He told me Lady Salisbury was there with her husband. He +seemed rather sceptical as to the peaceful issue of the +negotiations--thought so many unforeseen questions would come up and +complicate matters. + +I went to a ball at the Hôtel de Ville, also given for all the +foreigners and French people connected with the exposition. The getting +there was very long and tiring. The coupe-file did no good, as every one +had one. Comte de Pontécoulant went with me and he protested vigorously, +but one of the head men of the police, whom he knew well, came up to the +carriage to explain that nothing could be done. There was a long line of +diplomatic and official carriages, and we must take our chance with the +rest. Some of our cousins (Americans) never got there at all--sat for +hours in their carriage in the rue du Rivoli, moving an inch at a time. +Happily it was a lovely warm night; and as we got near we saw lots of +people walking who had left their carriages some little distance off, +hopelessly wedged in a crowd of vehicles--the women in light dresses, +with flowers and jewels in their hair. The rooms looked very handsome +when at last we did get in, particularly the staircase, with a Garde +Municipal on every step, and banks of palms and flowers on the landing +in the hall, wherever flowers could be put. The Ville de Paris furnishes +all the flowers and plants for the official receptions, and they always +are very well arranged. Some trophies of flags too of all nations made a +great effect. I didn't see many people I knew--it was impossible to get +through the crowd, but some one got me a chair at the open window giving +on the balcony, and I was quite happy sitting there looking at the +people pass. The whole world was represented, and it was interesting to +see the different types--Southerners, small, slight, dark, impatient, +wriggling through the crowd--the Anglo-Saxons, big, broad, calm, +squaring their shoulders when there came a sudden rush, and waiting +quite patiently a chance to get a little ahead. Some of the women too +pushed well--evidently determined to see all they could. I don't think +any royalties, even minor ones, were there. + +W. wrote pretty regularly from Berlin, particularly the first days, +before the real work of the Congress began. He started rather sooner +than he had at first intended, so as to have a little time to talk +matters over with St. Vallier and make acquaintance with some of his +colleagues. St. Vallier, with all the staff of the embassy, met him at +the station when he arrived in Berlin, also Holstein (our old friend who +was at the German Embassy in Paris with Arnim) to compliment him from +Prince Bismarck, and he had hardly been fifteen minutes at the embassy +when Count Herbert von Bismarck arrived with greetings and compliments +from his father. He went to see Bismarck the next day, found him at +home, and very civil; he was quite friendly, very courteous and +"bonhomme, original, and even amusing in his conversation, but with a +hard look about the eyes which bodes no good to those who cross his +path." He had just time to get back to the embassy and get into his +uniform for his audience with the Crown Prince (late Emperor +Frederick).[1] The Vice Grand-Maitre des Ceremonies came for him in a +court carriage and they drove off to the palace--W. sitting alone on the +back seat, the grand-maître facing him on the front. "I was ushered into +a room where the Prince was standing. He was very friendly and talked +for twenty minutes about all sorts of things, in excellent French, with +a few words of English now and then to show he knew of my English +connection. He spoke of my travels in the East, of the de Bunsens, of +the Emperor's health (the old man is much better and decidedly +recovering)--and of his great wish for peace." All the plenipotentiaries +had not yet arrived. They appeared only on the afternoon of the 12th, +the day before the Congress opened. Prince Bismarck sent out the +invitation for the first sitting: + +[Footnote 1: The Crown Prince represented his father at all the +functions. Some days before the meeting of the Congress the old Emperor +had been wounded in the arm by a nihilist, Nobiling, who Fired from a +window when the Emperor was passing in an open carriage. The wound was +slight, but the old man was much shaken and unable to take any part in +the ceremonies or receive any of the plenipotentiaries.] + + Le Prince de Bismarck + a l'honneur de prévenir Son Excellence, Monsieur Waddington, + que la première réunion du Congrès aura lieu le + 13 juin à deux heures, au Palais du Chancelier de l'Empire, + 77, Wilhelmstrasse. + "Berlin, le 12 juin 1878." + +It was a brilliant assemblage of great names and intelligences that +responded to his invitation--Gortschakoff, Schouvaloff, Andrassy, +Beaconsfield, Salisbury, Karolyi, Hohenlohe, Corti, and many others, +younger men, who acted as secretaries. French was the language spoken, +the only exception being made by Lord Beaconsfield, who always spoke in +English, although it was most evident, W. said, that he understood +French perfectly well. The first day was merely an official opening of +the Congress--every one in uniform--but only for that occasion. After +that they all went in ordinary morning dress, putting on their uniforms +again on the last day only, when they signed the treaty. W. writes: +"Bismarck presides and did his part well to-day; he speaks French fairly +but very slowly, finding his words with difficulty, but he knows what he +means to say and lets every one see that he does." No one else said much +that first day; each man was rather reserved, waiting for his neighbour +to begin. Beaconsfield made a short speech, which was trying for some of +his colleagues, particularly the Turks, who had evidently much +difficulty in understanding English. They were counting upon England's +sympathy, but a little nervous as to a supposed agreement between +England and Russia. The Russians listened most attentively. There seemed +to be a distrust of England on their part and a decided rivalry between +Gortschakoff and Beaconsfield. The Congress dined that first night with +the Crown Prince at the Schloss in the famous white hall--all in uniform +and orders. W. said the heat was awful, but the evening interesting. +There were one hundred and forty guests, no ladies except the royal +princesses, not even the ambassadresses. W. sat on Bismarck's left, who +talked a great deal, intending to make himself agreeable. He had a long +talk after dinner with the Crown Princess (Princess Royal of England) +who spoke English with him. He found her charming--intelligent and +cultivated and so easy--not at all stiff and shy like so many royalties. +He saw her very often during his stay in Berlin, and she was unfailingly +kind to him--and to me also when I knew her later in Rome and London. +She always lives in my memory as one of the most charming women I have +ever met. Her face often comes back to me with her beautiful bright +smile and the saddest eyes I have ever seen. I have known very few like +her. W. also had a talk with Prince Frederick-Charles, father of the +Duchess of Connaught, whom he found rather a rough-looking soldier with +a short, abrupt manner. He left bitter memories in France during the +Franco-German War, was called the "Red Prince," he was so hard and +cruel, always ready to shoot somebody and burn down villages on the +slightest provocation--so different from the Prince Imperial, the "unser +Fritz" of the Germans, who always had a kind word for the fallen foe. + +[Illustration: Prince Bismarck. From a sketch by Anton von Werner, +1880.] + +W.'s days were very full, and when the important sittings began it was +sometimes hard work. The Congress room was very hot (all the colleagues +seemed to have a holy horror of open windows)--and some of the men very +long and tedious in stating their cases. Of course they were at a +disadvantage not speaking their own language (very few of them knew +French well, except the Russians), and they had to go very carefully, +and be quite sure of the exact significance of the words they used. W. +got a ride every morning, as the Congress only met in the afternoon. +They rode usually in the Thiergarten, which is not very large, but the +bridle-paths were good. It was very difficult to get out of Berlin into +the open country without going through a long stretch of suburbs and +sandy roads which were not very tempting. A great many officers rode in +the park, and one morning when he was riding with the military attache +of the embassy, two officers rode up and claimed acquaintance, having +known him in France in '70, the year of the war. They rode a short time +together, and the next day he received an invitation from the officers +of a smart Uhlan regiment to dine at their mess "in remembrance of the +kind hospitality shown to some of their officers who had been quartered +at his place in France during the war." As the hospitality was decidedly +forced, and the presence of the German officers not very agreeable to +the family, the invitation was not very happy. It was well meant, but +was one of those curious instances of German want of tact which one +notices so much if one lives much with Germans. The hours of the various +entertainments were funny. At a big dinner at Prince Bismarck's the +guests were invited at six, and at eight-thirty every one had gone. W. +sat next to Countess Marie, the daughter of the house, found her simple +and inclined to talk, speaking both French and English well. Immediately +after dinner the men all smoked everywhere, in the drawing-room, on the +terrace, some taking a turn in the park with Bismarck. W. found Princess +Bismarck not very femme du monde; she was preoccupied first with her +dinner, then with her husband, for fear he should eat too much, or take +cold going out of the warm dining-room into the evening air. There were +no ladies at the dinner except the family. (The German lady doesn't seem +to occupy the same place in society as the French and English woman +does. In Paris the wives of ambassadors and ministers are always invited +to all official banquets.) + +Amusements of all kinds were provided for the plenipotentiaries. Early +in July W. writes of a "Land-parthie"--the whole Congress (wives too +this time) invited to Potsdam for the day. He was rather dreading a long +day--excursions were not much in his line. However, this one seems to +have been successful. He writes: "Our excursion went off better than +could be expected. The party consisted of the plenipotentiaries and a +certain number of court officers and generals. We started by rail, +stopped at a station called Wannsee, and embarked on board a small +steamer, the Princess Royal receiving the guests as they arrived on +board. We then started for a trip on the lakes, but before long there +came a violent squall which obliged the sailors to take down the awnings +in double-quick time, and drove every one down into the cabins. It +lasted about half an hour, after which it cleared up and every one +reappeared on deck. In course of time we landed near Babelsberg, where +carriages were waiting. I was told off to go in the first with the +Princess Royal, Countess Karolyi (wife of the Austrian ambassador, a +beautiful young woman), and Andrassy. We went over the Château of +Babelsberg, which is a pretty Gothic country-seat, not a palace, and +belongs to the present Emperor. After that we had a longish drive, +through different parks and villages, and finally arrived at Sans Souci, +where we dined. After dinner we strolled through the rooms and were +shown the different souvenirs of Frederick the Great, and got home at +ten-thirty." W. saw a good deal of his cousin, George de Bunsen, a +charming man, very cultivated and cosmopolitan. He had a pretty house in +the new quarter of Berlin, and was most hospitable. He had an +interesting dinner there with some of the literary men and +savants--Mommsen, Leppius, Helmholtz, Curtius, etc., most of them his +colleagues, as he was a member of the Berlin Academy. He found those +evenings a delightful change after the long hot afternoons in the +Wilhelmsstrasse, where necessarily there was so much that was long and +tedious. I think even he got tired of Greek frontiers, notwithstanding +his sympathy for the country. He did what he could for the Greeks, who +were very grateful to him and gave him, in memory of the efforts he made +on their behalf, a fine group in bronze of a female figure--"Greece" +throwing off the bonds of Turkey. Some of the speakers were very +interesting. He found Schouvaloff always a brilliant debater--he spoke +French perfectly, was always good-humoured and courteous, and defended +his cause well. One felt there was a latent animosity between the +English and the Russians. Lord Beaconsfield made one or two strong +speeches--very much to the point, and slightly arrogant, but as they +were always made in English, they were not understood by all the +Assembly. W. was always pleased to meet Prince Hohenlohe, actual German +ambassador to Paris (who had been named the third German +plenipotentiary). He was perfectly au courant of all that went on at +court and in the official world, knew everybody, and introduced W. to +various ladies who received informally, where he could spend an hour or +two quietly, without meeting all his colleagues. Blowitz, of course, +appeared on the scene--the most important person in Berlin (in his own +opinion). I am not quite convinced that he saw all the people he said he +did, or whether all the extraordinary confidences were made to him which +he related to the public, but he certainly impressed people very much, +and I suppose his letters as newspaper correspondent were quite +wonderful. He was remarkably intelligent and absolutely unscrupulous, +didn't hesitate to put into the mouths of people what he wished them to +say, so he naturally had a great pull over the ordinary simple-minded +journalist who wrote simply what he saw and heard. As he was the Paris +correspondent of _The London Times_, he was often at the French Embassy. +W. never trusted him very much, and his flair was right, as he was +anything but true to him. The last days of the Congress were very busy +ones. The negotiations were kept secret enough, but things always leak +out and the papers had to say something. I was rather émue at the tone +of the French press, but W. wrote me not to mind--they didn't really +know anything, and when the treaty was signed France would certainly +come out very honourably. All this has long passed into the domain of +history, and has been told so many times by so many different people +that I will not go into details except to say that the French +protectorate of Tunis (now one of our most flourishing colonies) was +entirely arranged by W. in a long confidential conversation with Lord +Salisbury. The cession of the Island of Cyprus by Turkey to the English +was a most unexpected and disagreeable surprise to W. However, he went +instantly to Lord Salisbury, who was a little embarrassed, as that +negotiation had been kept secret, which didn't seem quite +fair--everything else having been openly discussed around the council +table. He quite understood W.'s feelings in the matter, and was +perfectly willing to make an arrangement about Tunis. The thing was +neither understood nor approved at first by the French Government. W. +returned to Paris, "les mains vides; seulement à chercher dans sa poche +on y eut trouvé les clés de la Tunisie"--as one of his friends defined +the situation some years ago. He was almost disavowed by his Government. +The ministers were timid and unwilling that France should take any +initiative--even his friend, Léon Say, then Minister of Finances, a very +clever man and brilliant politician, said: "Notre collègue Waddington, +contre son habitude, s'est emballé cette fois pour la question de la +Tunisie." (Our colleague Waddington, contrary to his nature, has quite +lost his head this time over the Tunis question.) I think the course of +events has fully justified his action, and now that it has proved such a +success, every one claims to have taken the initiative of the French +protectorate of Tunis. All honours have been paid to those who carried +out the project, and very little is said of the man who originated the +scheme in spite of great difficulties at home and abroad. Some of W.'s +friends know the truth. + +[Illustration: The Berlin Congress. From a painting by Anton von Werner, +1881.] + +There was a great exchange of visits, photographs, and autographs the +last days of the Congress. Among other things which W. brought back from +Berlin, and which will be treasured by his grandsons as a historical +souvenir, was a fan, quite a plain wooden fan, with the signatures of +all the plenipotentiaries--some of them very characteristic. The French +signatures are curiously small and distinct, a contrast to Bismarck's +smudge. W. was quite sorry to say good-bye to some of his colleagues. +Andrassy, with his quick sympathies and instant comprehension of all +sides of a question, attracted him very much. He was a striking +personality, quite the Slav type. W. had little private intercourse with +Prince Gortschakoff--who was already an old man and the type of the +old-fashioned diplomatist--making very long and well-turned phrases +which made people rather impatient. On the whole W. was satisfied. He +writes two or three days before the signing of the treaty: "As far as I +can see at present, no one will be satisfied with the result of the +Congress; it is perhaps the best proof that it is dealing fairly and +equitably with the very exaggerated claims and pretensions of all +parties. Anyhow, France will come out of the whole affair honourably and +having done all that a strictly neutral power can do." The treaty was +signed on July 13 by all the plenipotentiaries in full uniform. W. +said there was a decided feeling of satisfaction and relief that it was +finished. Even Bismarck looked less preoccupied, as if a weight had been +lifted from his shoulders. Of course he was supposed to have had his own +way in everything. Everybody (not only the French) was afraid of him. +With his iron will, and unscrupulous brushing aside, or even +annihilating, everything that came in his way, he was a formidable +adversary. There was a gala dinner at the Schloss, to celebrate the +signing of the treaty. "It was the exact repetition of the first, at the +opening of the Congress. I sat on the left of Bismarck, and had a good +deal of conversation with him. The Crown Prince and Princess were just +opposite, and the Princess talked a great deal with me across the table, +always in English." The Crown Princess could never forget that she was +born Princess Royal of England. Her household was managed on English +principles, her children brought up by English nurses, she herself +always spoke English with them. Of course there must have been many +things in Germany which were distasteful to her,--so many of the small +refinements of life which are absolute necessaries in England were +almost unknown luxuries in Germany,--particularly when she married. Now +there has been a great advance in comfort and even elegance in German +houses and habits. Her English proclivities made her a great many +enemies, and I don't believe the "Iron Chancellor" made things easy for +her. The dinner at the Schloss was as usual at six o'clock, and at nine +W. had to go to take leave of the Empress, who was very French in her +sympathies, and had always been very kind to him. Her daughter, the +Grand Duchess of Baden, was there, and W. had a very pleasant hour with +the two ladies. The Empress asked him a great many questions about the +Congress, and particularly about Bismarck--if he was in a fairly good +temper--when he had his nerves he was simply impossible, didn't care +what people thought of him, and didn't hesitate to show when he was +bored. The Grand Duchess added smilingly: "He is perfectly intolerant, +has no patience with a fool." I suppose most people are of this opinion. +I am not personally. I have some nice, foolish, kindly, happy friends of +both sexes I am always glad to see; I think they are rather resting in +these days of high education and culture and pose. W. finished his +evening at Lady Salisbury's, who had a farewell reception for all the +plenipotentiaries. He took leave of his colleagues, all of whom had been +most friendly. The only one who was a little stiff with him and +expressed no desire to meet him again was Corti, the Italian +plenipotentiary. He suspected of course that something had been arranged +about Tunis, and was much annoyed that he hadn't been able to get +Tripoli for Italy. He was our colleague afterward in London, and there +was always a little constraint and coolness in his manner. W. left +Berlin on the 17th, having been five weeks away. + + + + +VIII + + +GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY + +W. got home on the 17th, and was so busy the first days, with his +colleagues and political friends that I didn't see much more of him than +if he had been in Berlin. He was rather disgusted and discouraged at the +view his colleagues of the cabinet and his friends took of France's +attitude at the Congress. The only man who seemed to be able to look +ahead a little and understand what a future there might be for France in +Tunis was Gambetta. I remember quite well his telling of an interesting +conversation with him. Gambetta was very keen about foreign affairs, +very patriotic, and not at all willing that France should remain +indefinitely a weakened power, still suffering from the defeat of 1870. +There were many fêtes and reunions of all kinds, all through the summer +months, as people had flocked to Paris for the exposition. We remained +in town until the first days of August, then W. went to his +Conseil-Général in the Department of the Aisne, and I went down to +Deauville. He joined me there, and we had a pleasant month--bathing, +driving, and seeing a great many people. We had taken Sir Joseph +Oliffe's villa, one of the best in Deauville. Oliffe, an Englishman, was +one of Emperor Napoleon's physicians, and he and the Duc de Morny were +the founders of Deauville, which was very fashionable as long as Morny +lived and the Empire lasted, but it lost its vogue for some years after +the Franco-German War--fashion and society generally congregating at +Trouville. There were not many villas then, and one rather bad hotel, +but the sea was nearer than it is now and people all went to the beach +in the morning, and fished for shrimps in the afternoon, and led a quiet +out-of-doors life. There was no polo nor golf nor automobiles--not many +carriages, a good tennis-court, where W. played regularly, and races +every Sunday in August, which brought naturally a gay young crowd of all +the sporting world. The train des maris that left Paris every Saturday +evening, brought a great many men. It was quite different from the +Deauville of to-day, which is charming, with quantities of pretty villas +and gardens and sports of all kinds, but the sea is so far off one has +to take quite a long walk to get to it, and the mornings on the beach +and the expeditions to Trouville in the afternoon across the ferry, to +do a little shopping in the rue de Paris, are things of the past. +Curiously enough while I was looking over my notes the other day, I had +a visit from an old friend, the Duc de M., who was one of the inner +circle of the imperial household of the Emperor Napoleon III, and took +an active part in all that went on at court. He had just been hearing +from a friend of the very brilliant season at Deauville this year, and +the streams of gold that flowed into the caisse of the management of the +new hotel and casino. Every possible luxury and every inducement to +spend money, racing, gambling, pretty women of all nationalities and +facile character, beautifully dressed and covered with jewels, side by +side with the bearers of some of the proudest names in France. He said +that just fifty years ago he went to Deauville with the Duc de Morny, +Princesse Metternich, and the Comtesse de Pourtéles to inaugurate the +new watering-place, then of the simplest description. The ladies were +badly lodged in a so-called hotel and he had a room in a +fisherman's hut. + +Marshal MacMahon had a house near Trouville that year, and he came over +occasionally to see W., always on horseback and early in the morning. W. +used to struggle into his clothes when "M. le Marechal" was announced. +I think the marshal preferred his military title very much to his civic +honours. I suppose there never was so unwilling a president of a +republic, except many years later Casimir Périer, who certainly hated +the "prison of the Elysée," but the marshal was a soldier, and his +military discipline helped him through many difficult positions. We had +various visitors who came down for twenty-four hours--one charming visit +from the Marquis de Vogüé, then French ambassador at Vienna, where he +was very much liked, a persona grata in every way. He was very tall, +distinguished-looking, quite the type of the ambassador. When I went to +inspect his room I was rather struck by the shortness of the bed--didn't +think his long legs could ever get into it. The valet assured me it was +all right, the bed was normal, but I doubt if he had a very comfortable +night. He and W. were old friends, had travelled in the East together +and discussed every possible subject during long starlight nights in the +desert. They certainly never thought then that one day they would be +closely associated as ambassador and foreign minister. Vogüé didn't like +the Republic, didn't believe in the capacity or the sincerity of the +Republicans--couldn't understand how W. could. He was a personal friend +of the marshal's, remained at Vienna during the marshal's presidency, +but left with him, much to W.'s regret, who knew what good service he +had done at Vienna and what a difficult post that would be for an +improvised diplomatist. It was then, and I fancy is still, one of the +stiffest courts in Europe. One hears amusing stories from some +diplomatists of the rigid etiquette in court circles, which the +Americans were always infringing. A great friend of mine, an American, +who had lived all her life abroad, and whose husband was a member of the +diplomatic corps in Vienna, was always worrying over the misdemeanours +of the Americans who never paid any attention to rules or court +etiquette. They invaded charmed circles, walked boldly up to archdukes +and duchesses, talking to them cheerfully and easily without waiting to +be spoken to, giving them a great deal of information upon all subjects, +Austrian as well as American, and probably interested the very stiff +Austrian royalties much more than the ordinary trained diplomatist, who +would naturally be more correct in his attitude and conversation. I +think the American nationality is the most convenient in the world. The +Americans do just as they like, and no one is ever surprised. The +explanation is quite simple: "They are Americans." I have often noticed +little faults of manners or breeding, which would shock one in a +representative of an older civilisation, pass quite unnoticed, or merely +provoke a smile of amusement. + +We drove about a great deal--the country at the back of Deauville, going +away from the sea, is lovely--very like England--charming narrow roads +with high banks and hedges on each side--big trees with spreading +branches meeting overhead--stretches of green fields with cows grazing +placidly and horses and colts gambolling about. It is a great grazing +and breeding country. There are many haras (breeding stables) in the +neighbourhood, and the big Norman posters are much in demand. I have +friends who never take their horses to the country. They hire for the +season a pair of strong Norman horses that go all day up and down hill +at the same regular pace and who get over a vast amount of country. We +stopped once or twice when we were a large party, two or three +carriages, and had tea at one of the numerous farmhouses that were +scattered about. Boiling water was a difficulty--milk, cider, good bread +and butter, cheese we could always find--sometimes a galette, but a +kettle and boiling water were entirely out of their habits. They used to +boil the water in a large black pot, and take it out with a big spoon. +However, it amused us, and the water really did boil. + +We had an Italian friend, Count A., who went with us sometimes, and he +was very débrouillard, made himself delightful at once to the fermière +and got whatever he wanted--chairs and tables set out on the grass, with +all the cows and colts and chickens walking about quite undisturbed by +the unusual sights and sounds. It was all very rustic and a delightful +change from the glories of the exposition and official life. It amused +me perfectly to see W. with a straw hat, sitting on a rather rickety +three-legged stool, eating bread and butter and jam. Once or twice some +of W.'s secretaries came down with despatches, and he had a good +morning's work, but on the whole the month passed lazily and pleasantly. + +We went back to Paris about the 10th of September, and remained there +until the end of the exposition. Paris was again crowded with +foreigners--the month of October was beautiful, bright and warm, and the +afternoons at the exposition were delightful at the end of the day, when +the crowd had dispersed a little and the last rays of the setting sun +lingered on the Meudon Hills and the river. The buildings and costumes +lost their tawdry look, and one saw only a mass of moving colour, which +seemed to soften and lose itself in the evening shadows. There were +various closing entertainments. The marshal gave a splendid fête at +Versailles. We drove out and had some difficulty in making our way +through the crowd of carriages, soldiers, police, and spectators that +lined the road. It was a beautiful sight as we got near the palace, +which was a blaze of light. The terraces and gardens were also +illuminated, and the effect of the little lamps hidden away in the +branches of the old trees, cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes, was +quite wonderful. There were not as many people at the entrance of the +palace as we had expected to find, for the invitations had been most +generously given to all nationalities. At first the rooms, which were +brilliantly lighted, looked almost empty. The famous Galerie des Glaces +was quite enchanting, almost too light, if there can be too much light +at a fête. There were very few people in it when we arrived rather +early--so much so that when I said to M. de L., one of the marshal's +aides-de-camp, "How perfectly beautiful it is, even now, empty; what +will it be when all the uniforms and jewels are reflected in the +mirrors," his answer was: "Ah, Madame, I am afraid we shan't have people +enough, the hall is so enormous." + +I thought of him afterward when an angry crowd was battering at the +doors of one of the salons where the royalties were having refreshments. +I don't think they realised, and we certainly didn't, what the noise +meant, but some of the marshal's household, who knew that only a slight +temporary partition was between us and an irate mob, struggling up the +staircase, were green with anxiety. However, the royalties all got away +without any difficulty, and we tried to hurry immediately after them, +but a dense crowd was then pouring into the room at each end, and for a +moment things looked ugly. The gentlemen, my husband and my +brother-in-law, Eugene Schuyler, Lord Lyons, British ambassador (a big +square-shouldered man), and one or two others, put us, my sister +Schuyler and me, in a recess of one of the big windows, with heavy +furniture in front of us, but that was not very pleasant--with the crowd +moving both ways closing in upon us--and the men were getting nervous, +so one of our secretaries squeezed through the crowd and found two or +three huissiers, came back with them, and we made a procession--two big +huissiers in front, with their silver chains and swords, the mark of +official status, which always impresses a French crowd, then Lord Lyons, +my sister, and I, then W. and Schuyler, and two more men behind us--and +with considerable difficulty and a good many angry expostulations, we +made our way out. Happily our carriages and servants with our wraps were +waiting in one of the inner courts, and we got away easily enough, but +the evening was disastrous to most of the company. + +There must have been some misunderstanding between the marshal's +household and the officials at Versailles, as but one staircase (and +there are several) was opened to the public, which was of course +absolutely insufficient. Why others were not opened and lighted will +always be a mystery. Every one got jammed in the one narrow +stairway--people jostled and tumbled over each other--some of the women +fainted and were carried out, borne high aloft over the heads of the +struggling multitudes, and many people never saw their cloaks again. The +vestiaire was taken by storm--satin and lace cloaks lying on the ground, +trampled upon by everybody, and at the end, various men not having been +able to find their coats were disporting themselves in pink satin cloaks +lined with swan's-down--over their shoulders. Quantities of people never +got into the palace--not even on the staircase. The landing was directly +opposite the room where the princes had their buffet--and if they had +succeeded in forcing the door, it would have been a catastrophe. While +we were standing in the window, looking into the park, which looked an +enchanted garden, with the lights and flowers--we wondered if we could +jump or climb down if the crowd pressed too much upon us, but it was too +high and there were no projecting balconies to serve as stepping-stones. +It was a very unpleasant experience. + +We were giving a ball at the Quai d'Orsay a few nights afterward, and +had also asked a great many people--all the ambassadors sent in very +large lists of invitations they wanted for their compatriots, but much +the largest was that sent in by the American minister. The invitations +sent to the United States Legation (as it was then) were something +fabulous. It seemed to me the whole of the United States were in Paris +and expecting to be entertained. It is a very difficult position for the +American representative on these occasions. Everybody can't be invited +to the various entertainments and distinctions are very hard to make. We +had some amusing experiences. W. had a letter from one of his English +friends, Lord H., saying he was coming to Paris for the fêtes, with his +two daughters, and he would like very much to be invited to some of the +parties at the Elysee and the ministries. W. replied, saying he would +do what he could, and added that we were to have two large dinners and +receptions,--one with the Comédie Française afterward and one with +music--which one would they come to. Lord H. promptly replied, "to +both." It was funny, but really didn't make any difference. When you +have a hundred people to dinner you can quite easily have a hundred and +three, and in such large parties, arranged weeks beforehand, some one +always gives out at the last moment. + +We had a great many discussions in W.'s cabinet with two of his +secretaries, who were especially occupied with the invitations for our +ball. The Parliament of course (le peuple souverain) was invited, but it +was a different question for the women, wives of the senators and +deputies. We finally arrived at a solution by inviting only the wives I +knew. We had an indignant response from one gentleman: "M. X., Député, +ne valsant qu'avec sa femme, a l'honneur de renvoyer la carte +d'invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères et Madame +Waddington lui ont adressée pour la soirée du 28...." (Mr. X., Deputy, +who waltzes only with his wife, has the honour to send back the card of +invitation which the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame Waddington +have sent to him for the party of the 28... ) It was unanimously +decided that the couple must be invited--a gentleman who went to balls +only to dance with his wife must be encouraged in such exemplary +behaviour. Another was funny too, in a different style: "Madame K., +étant au ciel depuis quelques années, ne pourrait pas se rendre à la +gracieuse invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères et Madame +Waddington ont bien voulu lui adresser. Monsieur K. s'y rendra avec +plaisir."... (Madame K., being in heaven for some years, cannot accept +the amiable invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame +Waddington. Mr. K. will come with pleasure.) We kept the letters in our +archives with many other curious specimens. The house was given over to +workmen the last two or three days before the ball. With the remembrance +of the staircase at Versailles in our minds, we were most anxious to +have no contretemps of any kind to interfere with our entertainment. +Both entrances were arranged and the old elevator (which had not worked +for years) was put in order. It had been suggested once or twice that I +should use it, but as I always had heard a gruesome tale of Madame +Drouyn de l'Huys, when her husband was Foreign Minister, hanging in +space for four or five hours between the two floors, I was not inclined +to repeat that experience. + +My recollection of the lower entrance and staircase, which we never +used, was of rather a dark, grimy corner, and I was amazed the morning +of the ball to see the transformation. Draperies, tapestries, flags, and +green plants had done wonders--and the elevator looked quite charming +with red velvet hangings and cushions. I don't think any one used it. We +had asked our guests at nine-thirty, as the princes said they would come +at ten. I was ready about nine, and thought I would go down-stairs by +the lower entrance, so as to have a look at the staircase and all the +rooms before any one came. There was already such a crowd in the rooms +that I couldn't get through; even my faithful Gérard could not make a +passage. We were obliged to send for two huissiers, who with some +difficulty made room for me. W. and his staff were already in the salon +réservé, giving final instructions. The servants told us that since +eight o'clock there had been a crowd at the doors, which they opened a +little before nine, and a flood of people poured in. The salon réservé +had a blue ribbon stretched across the entrance from door to door, and +was guarded by huissiers, old hands who knew everybody in the diplomatic +and official world, and would not let any one in who hadn't a right to +penetrate into the charmed circle (which of course became the one room +where every one wanted to go). There were, too, one or two members of +W.'s cabinet always stationed near the doors to see that instructions +were obeyed. + +I don't think the salon réservé exists any more--the blue ribbon +certainly not. The rising flood of democracy and equality wouldn't +submit to any such barrier. I remember quite well one beautiful woman +standing for some time just the wrong side of the ribbon. She was so +beautiful that every one remarked her, but she had no official rank or +claim of any kind to enter the salon réservé--no one knew her, though +every one was asking who she was. She finally made her entrée into the +room on the arm of one of the members of the diplomatic corps, a young +secretary, one of her friends, who could not refuse her what she wanted +so much. She was certainly the handsomest woman in the room with the +exception of the actual Queen Alexandra, who was always the most +beautiful and distinguished wherever she was. + +The royalties didn't dance much. We had the regular quadrille d'honneur +with the Princes and Princesses of Wales, Denmark, Sweden, Countess of +Flanders, and others. None of the French princes came to the ball. +There was a great crowd, but as the distinguished guests remained all +the time in the salon réservé, they were not inconvenienced by it. Just +before supper, which was served at little round tables in a room opening +out of the rotonde, the late King of Denmark, then Crown Prince, brother +of the Princess of Wales, told me he would like to go up-stairs and see +all the rooms; he had always heard that the Palais d'Orsay was a +beautiful house. We made a difficult but stately progress through the +rooms. The staircase was a pretty sight, covered with a red carpet, +tapestries on the walls, and quantities of pretty women of all +nationalities grouped on the steps. We walked through the rooms, where +there were just as many people as there were down-stairs, an orchestra, +supper-room, people dancing--just like another party going on. We halted +a few minutes in my petit salon at the end of the long suite of rooms. +It looked quite charming, with the blue brocade walls and quantities of +pink roses standing in high glass vases. I suggested taking the elevator +to go down, but the prince preferred walking (so did I). It was even +more difficult getting through the crowd down-stairs--we had the whole +length of the house to cross. Several women stood on chairs as we passed +along, in the hope of seeing one of the princesses, but they had wisely +remained in the salon réservé, and were afraid to venture into +the crowd. + +Supper was a serious preoccupation for the young secretaries of the +ministry, who had much difficulty in keeping that room private. Long +before the supper hour some enterprising spirits had discovered that the +royalties were to sup in that room, and finding the secretaries quite +inaccessible to any suggestions of "people who had a right to come +in"--presidents of commissions and various other distinctions--had +recourse to the servants, and various gold pieces circulated, which, +however, did not accomplish their object. The secretaries said that they +had more trouble with the chamberlains of the various princes than with +the princes themselves; they all wanted to sup in the private room, and +were much more tenacious of having a good place, or the place they +thought was due to them, than their royal masters. The supper was very +gay--the Prince of Wales (the late King Edward) perfectly +charming--talking to every one, remembering every one with that +extraordinary gracious manner which made him friends in all classes. +Immediately after supper the princes and distinguished strangers and W. +departed. I remained about an hour longer and went to have a look at +the ballroom. It was still crowded, people dancing hard, and when +finally about two o'clock I retreated to my own quarters, I went to +sleep to the sound of waltzes and dance music played by the two +orchestras. The revelry continued pretty well all through the night. +Whenever I woke I heard strains of music. Supper went on till seven in +the morning. Our faithful Kruft told us that there was absolutely +nothing left on the tables, and they had almost to force the people out, +telling them that an invitation to a ball did not usually extend to +breakfast the next morning. + +There was a grand official closing of the exposition at the end of +November, with a distribution of prizes--the city still very full and +very gay--escorts and uniforms in every direction--the Champs-Elysées +brilliant with soldiers--equipages of all descriptions, and all the +afternoon a crowd of people sitting under the trees, much interested in +all that was going on, particularly when carriages would pass with +people in foreign and striking costumes. The Chinese always wore their +costume; the big yellow birds of paradise became quite a feature of the +afternoon défilé. An Indian princess too, dressed entirely in white--a +soft clinging material, with a white veil, _not_ over her face, and +held in place by a gold band going around the head--was always much +admired. Every now and then there would be a great clatter of +trotting-horses and jingling sabres, when an escort of dragoons would +pass, escorting some foreign prince to the Elysée to pay his formal +visit to the marshal. Everybody looked gay--French people so dearly love +a show--and it was amusing to see the interest every one took in the +steady stream of people, from the fashionable woman driving to the Bois +in her victoria to the workmen, who would stand in groups on the corners +of the streets--some of them occasionally with a child on their +shoulders. Frenchmen of all classes are good to children. On a Sunday or +fête day, when whole families are coming in from a day at the Bois, one +often sees a young husband wheeling a baby-carriage, or carrying a baby +in his arms to let the poor mother have a rest. It was curious at the +end of the exposition to see how quickly everything was removed (many +things had been sold); and in a few days the Champ de Mars took again +the same aspect it had at the beginning of the month of May--heavy carts +and camions everywhere, oceans of mud, lines of black holes where trees +and poles had been planted, and the same groups of small shivering +Southerners, all huddled together, wrapped in wonderful cloaks and +blankets, quite paralysed with cold. I don't know if the exposition was +a financial success--I should think probably not. A great deal of money +came into France (but the French spent enormously in their preparations) +but the moral effect was certainly good--all the world flocked to Paris. +Cabs and river steamers did a flourishing business, as did all the +restaurants and cafés in the suburbs. St. Cloud, Meudon, Versailles, +Robinson, were crowded every night with people who were thirsting for +air and food after long hot days in the dust and struggles of the +exposition. We dined there once or twice, but it was certainly neither +pleasant nor comfortable--even in the most expensive restaurants. They +were all overcrowded, very bad service, badly lighted, and generally bad +food. There were various national repasts--Russian, Italian, etc.--but I +never participated in any of those, except once at the American +restaurant, where I had a very good breakfast one morning, with +delicious waffles made by a negro cook. I was rather glad when the +exhibition was over. One had a feeling that one ought to see as much as +possible, and there were some beautiful things, but it was most +fatiguing struggling through the crowd, and we invariably lost the +carriage and found ourselves at the wrong entrance, and had to wait +hours for a cab. Tiffany had a great success with the French. Many of my +friends bought souvenirs of the exposition from him. His work was very +original, fanciful, and quite different from the rather stiff, heavy, +classic silver that one sees in this country. + + + + +IX + + +M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER + +There had been a respite, a sort of armed truce, in political circles as +long as the exposition lasted, but when the Chambers met again in +November, it was evident that things were not going smoothly. The +Republicans and Radicals were dissatisfied. Every day there were +speeches and insinuations against the marshal and his government, and +one felt that a crisis was impending. There were not loaves and fishes +enough for the whole Radical party. If one listened to them it would +seem as if every préfet and every general were conspiring against the +Republic. There were long consultations in W.'s cabinet, and I went +often to our house in the rue Dumont d'Urville to see if everything was +in order there, as I quite expected to be back there for Christmas. A +climax was reached when the marshal was asked to sign the deposition of +some of the generals. He absolutely refused--the ministers persisted in +their demands. There was not much discussion, the marshal's mind was +made up, and on the 30th of January, 1879, he announced in the Conseil +des Ministres his irrevocable decision, and handed his ministers his +letter of resignation. + +We had a melancholy breakfast--W., Count de P., and I--the last day of +the marshal's presidency. W. was very blue, was quite sure the marshal +would resign, and foresaw all sorts of complications both at home and +abroad. The day was gloomy too, grey and cold, even the big rooms of the +ministry were dark. As soon as they had started for Versailles, I took +baby and went to mother's. As I went over the bridge I wondered how many +more times I should cross it, and whether the end of the week would see +me settled again in my own house. We drove about and had tea together, +and I got back to the Quai d'Orsay about six o'clock. Neither W. nor +Count de P. had got back from Versailles, but there were two +telegrams--the first one to say that the marshal had resigned, the +second one that Grévy was named in his place, with a large majority. + +[Illustration: M. Jules Grevy, reading Marshal MacMahon's letter of +resignation to the Chamber of Deputies. From _L'Illustration_, +February 8. 1879.] + +W. was rather depressed when he came home--he had always a great +sympathy and respect for the marshal, and was very sorry to see him +go,--thought his departure would complicate foreign affairs. As long as +the marshal was at the Elysee, foreign governments were not afraid of +coups d'état or revolutions. He was also sorry that Dufaure would not +remain, but he was an old man, had had enough of political life and +party struggles--left the field to younger men. The marshal's letter was +communicated at once to the Parliament, and the houses met in the +afternoon. There was a short session to hear the marshal's letter read +(by Grévy in the Chamber of Deputies) and the two houses, Senate and +Chamber of Deputies, were convoked for a later hour of the same +afternoon. There was not much excitement, two or three names were +pronounced, but every one felt sure that Grévy would be the man. He was +nominated by a large majority, and the Republicans were +jubilant--thought the Republic was at last established on a firm and +proper basis. Grévy was perfectly calm and self-possessed--did not show +much enthusiasm. He must have felt quite sure from the first moment that +he would be named. His first visitor was the marshal, who wished him all +possible success in his new mission, and, if Grévy was pleased to be the +President of the Republic, the marshal was even more pleased not to be, +and to take up his private life again. + +There were many speculations as to who would be charged by Grévy to form +his first cabinet--and almost permanent meetings in all the groups of +the Left. W.'s friends all said he would certainly remain at the Foreign +Office, but that depended naturally upon the choice of the premier. If +he were taken from the more advanced ranks of the Left, W. could not +possibly stay. We were not long in suspense. W. had one or two +interviews with Grévy, which resulted in his remaining at the Foreign +Office, but as prime minister. W. hesitated at first, felt that it would +not be an easy task to keep all those very conflicting elements +together. There were four Protestants in the ministry, W., Léon Say, de +Freycinet, and Le Royer. Jules Ferry, who took the Ministry of Public +Instruction, a very clever man, was practically a freethinker, and the +Parliament was decidedly more advanced. The last elections had given a +strong Republican majority to the Senate. He consulted with his brother, +Richard Waddington, then a deputy, afterward a senator, president of the +Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, and some of his friends, and finally +decided to accept the very honourable, but very onerous position, and +remained at the Foreign Affairs with Grévy, as prime minister. + +If I had seen little of him before, I saw nothing of him now, as his +work was exactly doubled. We did breakfast together, but it was a most +irregular meal--sometimes at twelve o'clock, sometimes at one-thirty, +and very rarely alone. We always dined out or had people dining with us, +so that family life became a dream of the past. We very rarely went +together when we dined out. W. was always late--his coupé waited hours +in the court. I had my carriage and went alone. After eight or ten days +of irregular meals at impossible hours (we often dined at nine-thirty) I +said to Count de P., W.'s chef de cabinet: "Can't you arrange to have +business over a little earlier? It is awful to dine so late and to wait +so long," to which he replied: "Ah, madame, no one can be more desirous +than I to change that order of things, for when the minister dines at +nine-thirty, the chef de cabinet gets his dinner at ten-thirty." We did +manage to get rather more satisfactory hours after a little while, but +it was always difficult to extract W. from his work if it were anything +important. He became absorbed, and absolutely unconscious of time. + +The new President, Grévy, installed himself at once at the Elysée with +his wife and daughter. There was much speculation about Madame Grévy--no +one had ever seen her--she was absolutely unknown. When Grévy was +president of the National Assembly, he gave very pleasant men's +dinners, where Madame Grévy never appeared. Every one (of all opinions) +was delighted to go to him, and the talk was most brilliant and +interesting. Grévy was a perfect host, very cultivated, with a +marvellous memory--quoting pages of the classics, French, and Latin. + +Madame Grévy was always spoken of as a quiet, unpretending +person--occupied with domestic duties, who hated society and never went +anywhere--in fact, no one ever heard her name mentioned. A great many +people didn't know that Grévy had a wife. When her husband became +President of the Republic, there was much discussion as to Madame +Grévy's social status in the official world. I don't think Grévy wanted +her to appear nor to take any part in the new life, and she certainly +didn't want to. Nothing in her former life had prepared her for such a +change, and it was always an effort for her, but both were overruled by +their friends, who thought a woman was a necessary part of the position. +It was some little time before they were settled at the Elysée. W. asked +Grévy once or twice when Madame Waddington might call upon his wife--and +he answered that as soon as they were quite installed I should receive a +notice. One day a communication arrived from the Elysee, saying that +Madame Grévy would receive the diplomatic corps and the ministers' wives +on a fixed day at five o'clock. The message was sent on to the +diplomatic corps, and when I arrived on the appointed day (early, as I +wanted to see the people come in, and also thought I must present the +foreign ladies) there were already several carriages in the court. + +[Illustration: M. Jules Grévy elected President of the Republic by the +Senate and Chamber of Deputies meeting as the National Assembly. From +_l'Illustration_, February 8. 1879.] + +The Elysee looked just as it did in the marshal's time--plenty of +servants in gala liveries--two or three huissiers who knew +everybody--palms, flowers, everywhere. The traditions of the palace are +carried on from one President to another, and a permanent staff of +servants remains. We found Madame Grévy with her daughter and one or two +ladies, wives, I suppose, of the secretaries, seated in the well-known +drawing-room with the beautiful tapestries--Madame Grévy in a large gold +armchair at the end of the room--a row of gilt armchairs on each side of +hers--mademoiselle standing behind her mother. A huissier announced +every one distinctly, but the names and titles said nothing to Madame +Grévy. She was tall, middle-aged, handsomely dressed, and visibly +nervous--made a great many gestures when she talked. It was amusing to +see all the people arrive. I had nothing to do--there were no +introductions--every one was announced, and they all walked straight up +to Madame Grévy, who was very polite, got up for every one, men and +women. It was rather an imposing circle that gathered around +her--Princess Hohenlohe, German ambassadress, sat on one side of +her--Marquise Molins, Spanish ambassadress, on the other. There were not +many men--Lord Lyons, as doyen of the diplomatic corps, the nonce, and a +good many representatives of the South American Republics. Madame Grévy +was perfectly bewildered, and did try to talk to the ladies next to her, +but it was an intimidating function for any one, and she had no one to +help her, as they were all quite new to the work. It was obviously an +immense relief to her when some lady of the official world came in, whom +she had known before. The two ladies plunged at once into a very +animated conversation about their children, husbands, and various +domestic matters--a perfectly natural conversation, but not interesting +to the foreign ladies. + +We didn't make a very long visit--it was merely a matter of form. Lord +Lyons came out with me, and we had quite a talk while I was waiting for +my carriage in the anteroom. He was so sensible always in his +intercourse with the official world, quite realised that the position +was difficult and trying for Madame Grévy--it would have been for any +one thrown at once without any preparation into such perfectly different +surroundings. He had a certain experience of republics and republican +manners, as he had been some years in Washington as British minister, +and had often seen wives of American statesmen and ministers, fresh from +the far West, beginning their career in Washington, quite bewildered by +the novelty of everything and utterly ignorant of all questions of +etiquette--only he said the American women were far more adaptable than +either French or English--or than any others in the world, in fact. He +also said that day, and I have heard him repeat it once or twice since, +that he had _never_ met a stupid American woman.... + +I have always thought it was unnecessary to insist upon Madame Grévy's +presence at the Elysée. It is very difficult for any woman, no longer +very young, to begin an entirely new life in a perfectly different +milieu, and certainly more difficult for a Frenchwoman of the +bourgeoisie than any other. They live in such a narrow circle, their +lives are so cramped and uninteresting--they know so little of society +and foreign ways and manners that they must be often uncomfortable and +make mistakes. It is very different for a man. All the small questions +of dress and manners, etc., don't exist for him. One man in a dress coat +and white cravat looks very like another, and men of all conditions are +polite to a lady. When a man is intelligent, no one notices whether his +coat and waist-coat are too wide or too short and whether his boots +are clumsy. + +Madame Grévy never looked happy at the Elysée. They had a big dinner +every Thursday, with a reception afterward, and she looked so tired when +she was sitting on the sofa, in the diplomatic salon, making +conversation for the foreigners and people of all kinds who came to +their receptions, that one felt really sorry for her. Grévy was always a +striking personality. He had a fine head, a quiet, dignified manner, and +looked very well when he stood at the door receiving his guests. I don't +think he cared very much about foreign affairs--he was essentially +French--had never lived abroad or known any foreigners. He was too +intelligent not to understand that a country must have foreign +relations, and that France must take her place again as a great power, +but home politics interested him much more than anything else. He was a +charming talker--every one wanted to talk to him, or rather to listen to +him. The evenings were pleasant enough in the diplomatic salon. It was +interesting to see the attitude of the different diplomatists. All were +correct, but most of them were visibly antagonistic to the Republic and +the Republicans (which they considered much accentuée since the +nomination of Grévy--the women rather more so than the men). One felt, +if one didn't hear, the criticisms on the dress, deportment, and general +style of the Republican ladies. + +[Illustration: The Elysée Palace, Paris] + +I didn't quite understand their view of the situation. They were all +delighted to come to Paris, and knew perfectly well the state of things, +what an abyss existed between all the Conservative party, Royalists and +Bonapartists, and the Republican, but the absence of a court didn't make +any difference in their position. They went to all the entertainments +given in the Faubourg St. Germain, and all the société came to theirs. +With very few exceptions they did only what was necessary in the way of +intercourse with the official world. I think they made a mistake, both +for themselves and their governments. France was passing through an +entirely new phase; everything was changing, many young intelligent men +were coming to the front, and there were interesting and able +discussions in the Chambers, and in the salons of the Republican +ministers and deputies. I dare say the new theories of liberty and +equality were not sympathetic to the trained representatives of courts, +but the world was advancing, democracy was in the air, and one would +have thought it would have interested foreigners to follow the movement +and to judge for themselves whether the young Republic had any chance of +life. One can hardly imagine a public man not wishing to hear all sides +of a question, but I think, _certainly_ in the beginning, there was such +a deep-rooted distrust and dislike to the Republic, that it was +impossible to see things fairly. I don't know that it mattered very +much. In these days of rapid travelling and telephone, an ambassador's +rôle is much less important than in the old days when an ambassador with +his numerous suite of secretaries and servants, travelling by post, +would be days on the road before reaching his destination, and when all +sorts of things might happen, kingdoms and dynasties be overthrown in +the interval. Now all the great measures and negotiations are discussed +and settled in the various chancelleries--the ambassador merely +transmits his instructions. + +I think the women were rather more uncompromising than the men. One day +in my drawing-room there was a lively political discussion going on, and +one heard all the well-known phrases "le gouvernement infect," "no +gentleman could serve the Republic," etc. I wasn't paying much +attention--never did; I had become accustomed to that style of +conversation, and knew exactly what they were all going to say, when I +heard one of my friends, an American-born, married to a Frenchman of +very good old family, make the following statement: "Toute la canaille +est Républicaine." That was really too much, and I answered: "Vous êtes +bien indulgente pour l'Empire." When one thinks of the unscrupulous (not +to use a stronger term) and needy adventurers, who made the Coup d'Etat +and played a great part in the court of the Second Empire, it was really +a little startling to be told that the Republicans enjoyed the monopoly +of the canaille. However, I suppose nothing is so useless as a political +discussion (except perhaps a religious one). No one ever converts any +one else. I have always heard it said that the best political speech +never changed a vote. + +The first person who entertained Grévy was Prince Hohenlohe, the German +ambassador. They had a brilliant reception, rooms crowded, all the +official world and a fair contingent from the Faubourg St. Germain. The +President brought his daughter with him (Madame Grévy never accepted any +invitations) and they walked through the rooms arm-in-arm, mademoiselle +declining the arm of Count Wesdehlen, first secretary of the +German Embassy. + +However, she was finally prevailed upon to abandon the paternal support, +and then Wesdehlen installed her in a small salon where Mollard, +Introducteur des Ambassadeurs, took charge of her and introduced a great +many men to her. No woman would ask to be introduced to an unmarried +woman, and that of course made her position difficult. The few ladies +she had already seen at the Elysée came up to speak to her, but didn't +stay near her, so she was really receiving almost alone with Mollard. +Grévy was in another room, très entouré, as he always was. The +diplomatic corps did not spare their criticisms. Madame Grévy received +every Saturday in the afternoon, and I went often--not every time. It +was a funny collection of people, some queerly dressed women and one or +two men in dress coats and white cravats,--always a sprinkling of +diplomatists. Prince Orloff was often there, and if anybody could have +made that stiff, shy semicircle of women comfortable, he would have done +it, with his extraordinary ease of manner and great habit of the world. +Gambetta was installed in the course of the month at the Palais Bourbon, +next to us. It was brilliantly lighted every night, and my chef told me +one of his friends, an excellent cook, was engaged, and that there would +be a great many dinners. The Palais Bourbon had seen great +entertainments in former days, when the famous Duc de Morny was +Président de la Chambre des Députés. Under Napoleon III his +entertainments were famous. The whole world, fashionable, political, and +diplomatic thronged his salons, and invitations were eagerly sought for +not only by the French people, but by the many foreigners who passed +through Paris at that time. Gambetta must have been a curious contrast +to the Duc de Morny. + +We went to see a first function at the Elysée some time in February, two +Cardinals were to be named and Grévy was to deliver the birettas. +Mollard asked to see me one morning, telling me that the two ablegates +with their suite had arrived, and wished to pay their respects to me. +One of them was Monsignor Cataldi, whom we had known well in Rome when +we were living there. He was a friend of my brother (General Rufus King, +the last United States minister to the Vatican under Pia Nono), and came +often to the house. He was much excited when he found out that Madame +Waddington was the Mary King he had known so well in Rome. He had with +him an English priest, whose name, curiously enough, was English. They +appeared about tea-time and were quite charming, Cataldi just as fat and +cheerful and talkative as I remembered him in the old days in Rome. We +plunged at once into all sorts of memories of old times--the good old +times when Rome was small and black and interesting--something quite +apart and different from any other place in the world. Monsignor English +was much younger and more reserved, the Anglo-Saxon type--a contrast to +the exuberant Southerners. We asked them to dine the next night and were +able to get a few interesting people to meet them, Comte et Comtesse de +Sartiges, and one or two deputies--bien-pensants. Sartiges was formerly +French ambassador in Rome to the Vatican, and a very clever diplomatist. +He was very autocratic, did exactly what he liked. I remember quite well +some of his small dances at the embassy. The invitations were from ten +to twelve, and at twelve precisely the musicians stopped playing--no +matter who was dancing, the ball was over. His wife was an American, +from Boston, Miss Thorndike, who always retained the simple, natural +manner of the well-born American. Their son, the Vicomte de Sartiges, +has followed in his father's footsteps, and is one of the most serious +and intelligent of the young diplomatists. + +Cataldi made himself very agreeable, spoke French perfectly well, though +with a strong Italian accent. He confided to me after dinner that he +would have liked to see some of the more advanced political men, instead +of the very conservative Catholics we had invited to meet them. "I know +what these gentlemen think; I would like to talk to some of the others, +those who think 'le clericalism c'est l'ennemi,' and who are firmly +convinced that the soutane serves as a cloak for all sorts of underhand +and unpatriotic dealings; I can only see them abroad, never in Rome." He +would have talked to them quite easily. Italians have so much natural +tact, in discussing difficult questions, never irritate people +unnecessarily. + +W. enjoyed his evening. He had never been in Rome, nor known many +Romans, and it amused him to see how skilfully Cataldi (who was a +devoted admirer of Leo XIII) avoided all cross-currents and difficult +questions, saying only what he intended to say, and appreciating all +that was said to him. + +Henrietta and I were very anxious to see the ceremony at the Elysée, and +asked Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs and chef du Protocole--a +most important man on all official occasions, if he couldn't put us +somewhere in a corner, where we could see, without taking any part. W. +was of no use to us, as he went officially, in uniform. Madame Grévy was +very amiable, and sent us an invitation to breakfast. We found a small +party assembled in the tapestry salon when we arrived at the Elysée--the +President with all his household, civil and military, Madame and +Mademoiselle Grévy, three or four ladies, wives of the aides-de-camp and +secretaries, also several prominent ecclesiastics, among them Monsignor +Capel, an English priest, a very handsome and attractive man, whom we +had known well in Rome. He was supposed to have made more women converts +to Catholicism than any man of his time; I can quite understand his +influence with women. There was something very natural and earnest about +him--no pose. I had not seen him since I had married and was very +pleased when I recognised him. He told me he had never seen W.--was most +anxious to make his acquaintance. + +While we were talking, W. came in, looking very warm and uncomfortable, +wearing his stiff, gold-embroidered uniform, which changed him very +much. I introduced Capel to him at once. They had quite a talk before +the Archbishops and ablegates arrived. The two future Cardinals, +Monseigneur Pie, Archbishop of Poitiers, and Monseigneur Desprey, +Archbishop of Toulouse, were well known in the Catholic world. The +Pope's choice was generally approved. They were treated with all due +ceremony, as befitted princes of the church. One of the Elysée carriages +(always very well turned out), with an escort of cavalry, went to fetch +them, and they looked very stately and imposing in their robes when they +came into the room where we were waiting. They were very different, +Monseigneur Pie tall, thin, cold, arrogant,--one felt it was a trial for +him to receive his Cardinal's hat from the hands of a Republican +President. Monseigneur Desprey had a kind good expression. I don't think +he liked it much either, but he put a better face on the matter. + +Both Cardinals said exactly what one imagined they would say--that the +traditional fidelity of France to the church should be supported and +encouraged in every way in these troubled days of indifference to +religion, etc. One felt all the time the strong antagonism of the church +to the Republic. Grévy answered extremely well, speaking with much +dignity and simplicity, and assuring the Cardinals that they could +always count upon the constitutional authority of the head of the state, +in favour of the rights of the church. I was quite pleased to see again +the red coats and high boots of the gardes nobles. It is a very showy, +dashing uniform. The two young men were good-looking and wore it very +well. I asked to have them presented to me, and we had a long talk over +old days in Rome when the Pope went out every day to the different +villas, and promenades, and always with an escort of gardes nobles. I +invited them to our reception two or three nights afterward, and they +seemed to enjoy themselves. They were, of course, delighted with their +short stay in Paris, and I think a little surprised at the party at the +Foreign Office under a Republican régime. I don't know if they expected +to find the rooms filled with gentlemen in the traditional red +Garibaldian shirt--and ladies in corresponding simplicity of attire. + +[Illustration: Her Majesty Queen Victoria, about 1879. From a photograph +by Chancellor, Dublin.] + +We saw a great many English at the Quai d'Orsay. Queen Victoria stayed +one or two nights at the British Embassy, passing through Paris on her +way South. She sent for W., who had never seen her since his +undergraduate days at Cambridge. He found her quite charming, very easy, +interested in everything. She began the conversation in French--(he was +announced with all due ceremony as Monsieur le Ministre des Affaires +Etrangères) and W. said she spoke it remarkably well,--then, with her +beautiful smile which lightened up her whole face: "I think I can +speak English with a Cambridge scholar." She was much interested in his +beginnings in England at Rugby and Cambridge--and was evidently +astonished, though she had too much tact to show it, that he had chosen +to make his life and career in France instead of accepting the +proposition made to him by his cousin Waddington, then Dean of Durham, +to remain in England and continue his classic and literary studies under +his guidance. When the interview was over he found the Queen's faithful +Scotch retainer, John Brown, who always accompanied her everywhere, +waiting outside the door, evidently hoping to see the minister. He spoke +a few words with him, as a countryman--W. being half Scotch--his mother +was born Chisholm. They shook hands and John Brown begged him to come to +Scotland, where he would receive a hearty welcome. W. was very pleased +with his reception by the Queen. Lord Lyons told him afterward that she +had been very anxious to see him; she told him later, in speaking of the +interview, that it was very difficult to realise that she was speaking +to a French minister--everything about him was so absolutely English, +figure, colouring, and speech. + +Many old school and college experiences were evoked that year by the +various English who passed through Paris. One night at a big dinner at +the British Embassy I was sitting next to the Prince of Wales (late King +Edward). He said to me: "There is an old friend of your husband's here +to-night, who will be so glad to see him again. They haven't met since +he was his fag at Rugby." After dinner he was introduced to me--Admiral +Glynn--a charming man, said his last recollection of W. was making his +toast for him and getting a good cuff when the toast fell into the fire +and got burnt. The two men talked together for some time in the +smoking-room, recalling all sorts of schoolboy exploits. Another school +friend was Sir Francis Adams, first secretary and "counsellor" at the +British Embassy. When the ambassador took his holiday, Adams replaced +him, and had the rank and title of minister plenipotentiary. He came +every Wednesday, the diplomatic reception day, to the Quai d'Orsay to +talk business. As long as a secretary or a huissier was in the room, +they spoke to each other most correctly in French; as soon as they were +alone, relapsed into easy and colloquial English. We were very fond of +Adams--saw a great deal of him not only in Paris, but when we first +lived in London at the embassy. He died suddenly in Switzerland, and W. +missed him very much. He was very intelligent, a keen observer, had +been all over the world, and his knowledge and appreciation of foreign +countries and ways was often very useful to W. + +We continued our dinners and receptions, which always interested me, we +saw so many people of all kinds. One dinner was for Prince Alexander of +Battenberg, just as he was starting to take possession of the new +principality of Bulgaria. He was one of the handsomest men I have ever +seen,--tall, young, strong. He seemed the type of the dashing young +chief who would inspire confidence in a new independent state. He didn't +speak of his future with much enthusiasm. I wonder if a presentiment was +even then overclouding what seemed a brilliant beginning! He talked a +great deal at dinner. He was just back from Rome, and full of its charm, +which at once made a bond of sympathy between us. Report said he had +left his heart there with a young Roman. He certainly spoke of the happy +days with a shade of melancholy. I suggested that he ought to marry, +that would make his "exile," as he called it, easier to bear. "Ah, yes, +if one could choose." Then after a pause, with an almost boyish +petulance: "They want me to marry Princess X., but I don't want to." "Is +she pretty, will she help you in your new country?" "I don't know; I +don't care; I have never seen her." + +Poor fellow, he had a wretched experience. Some of the "exiles" were +less interesting. A lady asked to see me one day, to enlist my +sympathies for her brother and plead his cause with the minister. He had +been named to a post which he couldn't really accept. I rather demurred, +telling her messenger, one of the secretaries of the Foreign Office, +that it was quite useless, her asking me to interfere. W. was not very +likely to consult me in his choice of nominations--and in fact the small +appointments, secretaries, were generally prepared in the Chancellerie +and followed the usual routine of regular promotion. An ambassador, of +course, was different, and was sometimes taken quite outside the +carrière. The lady persisted and appeared one morning--a pretty, +well-dressed femme du monde whom I had often met without making her +acquaintance. She plunged at once into her subject--her brother's +delicate health, accustomed to all the comforts and what the books call +"higher civilisation" of Europe, able to do good service in courts and +society, as he knew everybody. It was a pity to send him to such an +out-of-the-way place, with an awful climate,--any consul's clerk would +do as well. I supposed he had been named to Caracas, South America, or +some other remote and unhealthy part of the globe, but when she stopped +for a moment, I discovered that the young man was named to Washington. I +was really surprised, didn't know what to say at once, when the +absurdity of the thing struck me and I answered that Washington was far, +perhaps across the ocean, but there were compensations--but she took up +her argument again, such an impossible place, everything so primitive, I +really think she thought the youth was going to an Indian settlement, +all squaws and wigwams and tomahawks. I declined any interference with +the minister's appointments, assuring her I had no influence whatever, +and she took leave of me very icily. I heard the sequel afterward--the +young man refused the post as quite unworthy of him. There were several +others ready and pleased to take it, and M. de X. was put en +disponibilité. + +We saw too that year for the first time the Grand Duke Alexander of +Russia (later Emperor Alexander III, whose coronation we went to at +Moscow) and the Grande Duchesse Marie. Prince Orloff arranged the +interview, as he was very anxious that the Grand Duke should have some +talk with W. They were in Paris for three or four days, staying at the +Hotel Bristol, where they received us. He was a tall, handsome man, +with a blond beard and blue eyes, quite the Northern type. She recalled +her sister (Queen Alexandra), not quite so tall, but with the same +gracious manner and beautiful eyes. The Grand Duke talked a great deal, +principally politics, to W. He expressed himself very doubtfully about +the stability of the Republic, and was evidently worried over the +possibility of a general amnesty, "a very dangerous measure which no +government should sanction." W. assured him there would be no general +amnesty, but he seemed sceptical, repeated several times: "Soyez stable, +soyez ferme." The Grande Duchesse talked to me about Paris, the streets +were so gay, the shops so tempting, and all the people so smiling and +happy. I suppose the contrast struck her, coming from Russia where the +people look sad and listless. I was much impressed with their sad, +repressed look when we were in Russia for the coronation--one never +heard people laugh or sing in the streets--and yet we were there at a +time of great national rejoicings, amusements of all kinds provided for +the people. Their national melodies, volklieder (songs of the people), +have always a strain of sadness running through them. Our conversation +was in French, which both spoke very well. + +The winter months went by quickly enough with periodical alarms in the +political world when some new measure was discussed which aroused +everybody's passions and satisfied neither side. I made weekly visits to +my own house, which was never dismantled, as I always felt our stay at +the Quai d'Orsay would not last much longer. One of our colleagues, +Madame Léon Say, an intelligent, charming woman, took matters more +philosophically than I did. Her husband had been in and out of office so +often that she was quite indifferent to sudden changes of residence. +They too kept their house open and she said she had always a terrine de +crise ready in her larders. + +The diplomatic appointments, the embassies particularly, were a +difficulty. Admiral Pothnau went to London. He was a very gallant +officer and had served with the English in the Crimea--had the order of +the Bath, and exactly that stand-off, pompous manner which suits English +people. General Chanzy went to St. Petersburg. It has been the tradition +almost always to send a soldier to Russia. There is so little +intercourse between the Russian Emperor and any foreigner, even an +ambassador, that an ordinary diplomatist, no matter how intelligent or +experienced he might be, would have very few opportunities to talk to +the Emperor; whereas an officer, with the various reviews and +manoeuvres that are always going on in Russia, would surely approach him +more easily. I was so struck when we were in Russia with the immense +distance that separated the princes from the ordinary mortals. They seem +like demigods on a different plane (in Russia I mean; of course when +they come to Paris their godlike attributes disappear, unfortunately for +themselves). + +Chanzy was very happy in Russia, where he was extremely well received. +He dined with us one night, when he was at home on leave, and was most +enthusiastic about everything in Russia--their finances, their army--the +women of all classes so intelligent, so patriotic. He was evidently +quite sous le charme. When he had gone, M. Desprey, then Directeur de la +Politique, a very clever man, who had seen many ambassadors come and go +from all the capitals of Europe, said: + +"It is curious how all the ambassadors who go to Russia have that same +impression. I have never known it to fail. It is the Russian policy to +be delightful to the ambassadors--make life very easy for them--show +them all that is brilliant and interesting--open all doors (society, +etc.) and keep all sordid and ugly questions in the background." + +St. Vallier remained at Berlin. His name had been mentioned for Foreign +Minister when Dufaure was making his cabinet, but he hadn't the health +for it--and I think preferred being in Berlin. He knew Germany well and +had a good many friends in Berlin. + +W. of course had a great many men's dinners, from which I was excluded. +I dined often with some of my friends, not of the official world, and I +used to ask myself sometimes if the Quai d'Orsay and these houses could +be in the same country. It was an entirely different world, every point +of view different, not only politics--that one would expect, as the +whole of society was anti-Republican, Royalist, or Bonapartist--but +every question discussed wore a different aspect. Once or twice there +was a question of Louis XIV and what he would have done in certain +cases,--the religious question always a passionate one. That of course I +never discussed, being a Protestant, and knowing quite well that the +real fervent Catholics think Protestants have no religion. + +I was out driving with a friend one morning in Lent (Holy Week), +Thursday I think--and said I could not be out late, as I must go to +church--perhaps she would drop me at the Protestant Chapel in the Avenue +de la Grand Armée. She was so absolutely astonished that it was almost +funny, though I was half angry too. "You are going to church on Holy +Thursday. I didn't know Protestants ever kept Lent, or Holy Week or any +saint's day." "Don't you think we ever go to church?" "Oh, yes, to a +conference or sermon on Sundays, but you are not pratiquant like us." I +was really put out, and tried another day, when she was sitting with me, +to show her our prayerbook, and explained that the Creed and the Lord's +Prayer, to say nothing of various other prayers, were just the same as +in her livre de Messe, but I didn't make any impression upon her--her +only remark being, "I suppose you do believe in God,"--yet she was a +clever, well-educated woman--knew her French history well, and must have +known what a part the French Protestants played at one time in France, +when many of the great nobles were Protestants. + +Years afterward, with the same friend, we were discussing the proposed +marriage of the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the late King Edward VII +of England, who wanted very much to marry Princess Hélène d'Orléans, +daughter of the Comte de Paris, now Duchesse d'Aosta. It was impossible +for the English prince, heir to the throne, to marry a Catholic +princess--it seemed equally impossible for the French princess to become +a Protestant. The Pope was consulted and very strong influence brought +to bear on the question, but the Catholic Church was firm. We were in +London at the time, and of course heard the question much discussed. It +was an interesting case, as the two young people were much in love with +each other. I said to my friend: + +"If I were in the place of the Princess Hélène I should make myself a +Protestant. It is a big bait for the daughter of an exiled prince to be +Queen of England." + +"But it couldn't be; no Catholic could change her religion or make +herself Protestant." + +"Yet there is a precedent in your history. Your King Henri IV of beloved +memory, a Protestant, didn't hesitate to make himself a Catholic to be +King of France." + +"Ah, but that is quite different." + +"For you perhaps, chère amie, but not for us." + +However, the poor young prince died suddenly of pneumonia, so the +sacrifice would have been in vain. + +All the autumn of '79 was very agitated. We were obliged to curtail our +stay at Bourneville, our country home. Even though the Chambers were not +sitting, every description of political intrigue was going on. Every day +W. had an immense courrier and every second day a secretary came down +from the Quai d'Orsay with despatches and papers to sign. Telegrams came +all day long. W. had one or two shooting breakfasts and the long tramps +in the woods rested him. The guests were generally the notabilities of +the small towns and villages of his circumscription,--mayors, farmers, +and small landowners. They all talked politics and W. was surprised to +see how in this quiet agricultural district the fever of democracy had +mounted. Usually the well-to-do farmer is very conservative, looks +askance at the very advanced opinions of the young radicals, but a +complete change had come over them. They seemed to think the Republic, +founded at last upon a solid basis, supported by honest Republicans, +would bring untold prosperity not only to the country, but to each +individual, and many very modest, unpretending citizens of the small +towns saw themselves conseilleurs généraux, deputies, perhaps even +ministers. It was a curious change. However, on the whole, the people in +our part of the world were reasonable. I was sorry to go back to town. I +liked the last beautiful days of September in the country. The trees +were just beginning to turn, and the rides in the woods were delightful, +the roads so soft and springy. The horses seemed to like the brisk +canter as much as we did. We disturbed all the forest life as we +galloped along--hares and rabbits scuttled away--we saw their white +tails disappearing into holes, and when we crossed a bit of plain, +partridges a long distance off would rise and take their crooked flight +across the fields. It was so still, always is in the woods, that the +horses' feet could be heard a long way off. It was getting colder (all +the country folk predicted a very cold winter) and the wood-fire looked +very cheerful and comfortable in my little salon when we came in. + +However, everything must end, and W. had to go back to the fight, which +promised to be lively. In Paris we found people wearing furs and +preparing for a cold winter. The house of the Quai d'Orsay was +comfortable, well warmed, calorifères and big fires in all the rooms, +and whenever there was any sun it poured into the rooms from the garden. +I didn't take up my official afternoon receptions. The session had not +begun, and, as it seemed extremely unlikely that the coming year would +see us still at the Quai d'Orsay, it was not worth while to embark upon +that dreary function. I was at home every afternoon after five--had tea +in my little blue salon, and always had two or three people to keep me +company. Prince Hohenlohe came often, settled himself in an armchair +with his cup of tea, and talked easily and charmingly about everything. +He was just back from Germany and reported Bismarck and the Emperor (I +should have said, perhaps, the Emperor and Bismarck) as rather worried +over the rapid strides France was making in radicalism. He reassured +them, told them Grévy was essentially a man of peace, and, as long as +moderate men like W., Léon Say, and their friends remained in office, +things would go quietly. "Yes, if they remain. I have an idea we shan't +stay much longer, and report says Freycinet will be the next premier." +He evidently had heard the same report, and spoke warmly of +Freycinet,--intelligent, energetic, and such a precise mind. If W. were +obliged to resign, which he personally would regret, he thought +Freycinet was the coming man--unless Gambetta wanted to be premier. He +didn't think he did, was not quite ready yet, but his hand might be +forced by his friends, and of course if he wanted it, he would be the +next Président du Conseil. He also told me a great many things that +Blowitz had said to him--he had a great opinion of him--said he was so +marvellously well-informed of all that was going on. It was curious to +see how a keen, clever man like Prince Hohenlohe attached so much +importance to anything that Blowitz said. The nuncio, Monseigneur +Czaski, came too sometimes at tea-time. He was a charming talker, but I +always felt as if he were saying exactly what he meant to and what he +wanted me to repeat to W. I am never quite sure with Italians. There is +always a certain reticence under their extremely natural, rather +exuberant manner. Monseigneur Czaski was not an Italian by birth--a +Pole, but I don't know that they inspire much more confidence. + + + + +X + + +PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS + +The question of the return of the Parliament to Paris had at last been +solved after endless discussions. All the Republicans were in favour of +it, and they were masters of the situation. The President, Grévy, too +wanted it very much. If the Chambers continued to sit at Versailles, he +would be obliged to establish himself there, which he didn't want to do. +Many people were very unwilling to make the change, were honestly +nervous about possible disturbances in the streets, and, though they +grumbled too at the loss of time, the draughty carriages of the +parliamentary train, etc., they still preferred those discomforts to any +possibility of rioting and street fights, and the invasion of the +Chamber of Deputies by a Paris mob. W. was very anxious for the change. + +He didn't in the least anticipate any trouble--his principal reason for +wanting the Parliament back was the loss of time, and also to get rid of +the conversations in the train, which tired him very much. He never +could make himself heard without an effort, as his voice was low, had no +"timbre," and he didn't hear his neighbours very well in the noise of +the train. He always arrived at the station at the last minute, and got +into the last carriage, hoping to be undisturbed, and have a quiet +half-hour with his papers, but he was rarely left alone. If any deputy +who wanted anything recognised him, he of course got in the same +carriage, because he knew he was sure of a half-hour to state his case, +as the minister couldn't get away from him. The Chambers met, after a +short vacation in November, at last in Paris, and already there were so +many interpellations announced on every possible subject, so many +criticisms on the policy of the cabinet, and so many people wanting +other people's places, that the session promised to be very lively--the +Senate at the Palais du Luxembourg, the Deputies at the Palais Bourbon. + +W. and I went over to the Luxembourg one morning early in October, to +see the arrangements that had been made for the Senate. He wanted too to +choose his seat. I hadn't been there in the daytime for years--I had +dined once or twice at the Petit Palais with various presidents of the +Senate, but my only impression was a very long drive (from the Barrière +de l'Etoile where we lived) and fine high rooms with heavy gilt +furniture and tapestries. The palace was built by Maria de' Medici, wife +of Henri IV. After the death of that very chivalrous but very undomestic +monarch, she retired to the Luxembourg, and from there as regent (her +son Louis XIII was only ten years old when his father died) for some +years directed the policy of France under the guidance of her favourite, +the Italian Concini, and his wife. + +The palace recalls very much the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, with its +solid masonry and rather severe heavy architecture. It must have been a +gloomy residence, notwithstanding the beautiful gardens with their broad +alleys and great open spaces. The gardens are stiff, very Italian, with +statues, fountains, and marble balustrades--not many flowers, except +immediately around the palace, but they were flooded with sunshine that +day, and the old grey pile seemed to rise out of a parterre of bright +flowers. The palace has been slightly modernised, but the general +architecture remains the same. Many people of all kinds have lived there +since it was built--several royal princes, and the Emperor Napoleon when +he was First Consul. He went from there to the Tuileries. The Luxembourg +Palace has always been associated with the history of France. During +the Revolution it was a prison, and many of the curious scenes one reads +of at that period took place in those old walls--the grandes dames so +careful of their dress and their manners, the grands seigneurs so brave +and gallant, striving in every way by their witty conversation and their +music (for they sang and played in the prisons all through that awful +time) to distract the women and make them forget the terrible doom that +was hanging over them. Many well-known people went straight from the +palace to the scaffold. It seemed a fitting place for the sittings of +the Senate and the deliberations of a chosen body of men, who were +supposed to bring a maturer judgment and a wider experience in the +discussion of all the burning questions of the day than the ardent young +deputies so eager to have done with everything connected with the old +régime and start fresh. + +After we had inspected the palace we walked about the gardens, which +were charming that bright October morning,--the sun really too strong. +We found a bench in the shade, and sat there very happy, W. smoking and +wondering what the next turn of the wheel would bring us. A great many +people were walking about and sitting under the trees. It was quite a +different public from what one saw anywhere else, many students of both +sexes carrying books, small easels, and campstools,--some of the men +such evident Bohemians, with long hair, sweeping moustache, and soft +felt hat,--quite the type one sees in the pictures or plays of "La Vie +de Bohême." Their girl companions looked very trim and neat, dressed +generally in black, their clothes fitting extremely well--most of them +bareheaded, but some had hats of the simplest description--none of the +flaunting feathers and bright flowers one sees on the boulevards. They +are a type apart, the modern grisettes, so quiet and well-behaved as to +be almost respectable. One always hears that the Quartier Latin doesn't +exist any more--the students are more serious, less turbulent, and that +the hardworking little grisette, quite content with her simple life and +pleasure, has degenerated into the danseuse of the music-halls and +barrière theatres. I don't think so. A certain class of young, +impecunious students will always live in that quarter and will always +amuse themselves, and they will also always find girls quite ready and +happy to enjoy life a little while they are young enough to live in the +present, and have no cares for the future. Children were playing about +in the alleys and broad, open spaces, and climbing on the fountains +when the keepers of the garden were not anywhere near--their nurses +sitting in a sunny corner with their work. It was quite another world, +neither the Champs-Elysées nor Montmartre. All looked perfectly +respectable, and the couples sitting on out-of-the-way benches, in most +affectionate attitudes, were too much taken up with each other to heed +the passer-by. + +I went back there several times afterward, taking Francis with me, and +it was curious how out of the world one felt. Paris, our Paris, might +have been miles away. I learned to know some of the habitués quite +well--a white-haired old gentleman who always brought bread for the +birds; they knew him perfectly and would flutter down to the Square as +soon as he appeared--a handsome young man with a tragic face, always +alone, walking up and down muttering and talking to himself--he may have +been an aspirant for the Odéon or some of the theatres in the +neighbourhood--a lame man on crutches, a child walking beside him +looking wistfully at the children playing about but not daring to leave +her charge--groups of students hurrying through the gardens on their way +to the Sorbonne, their black leather serviettes under their +arms--couples always everywhere. I don't think there were many +foreigners or tourists,--I never heard anything but French spoken. Even +the most disreputable-looking old beggar at the gate who sold +shoe-laces, learned to know us, and would run to open the door of +the carriage. + +With the contrariety of human nature, some people would say of feminine +nature, now that I felt I was not going to live much longer on the rive +gauche I was getting quite fond of it. Life was so quiet and restful in +those long, narrow streets, some even with grass growing on the +pavement--no trams, no omnibuses, very little passing, glimpses +occasionally of big houses standing well back from the street, a +good-sized courtyard in front and garden at the back--the classic +Faubourg St. Germain hotel entre cour et jardin. I went to tea sometimes +with a friend who lived in a big, old-fashioned house in the rue de +Varenne. She lived on the fourth floor--one went up a broad, bare, cold +stone staircase (which always reminded me of some of the staircases in +the Roman palaces). Her rooms were large, very high ceilings, very +little furniture in them, very little fire in winter, fine old family +portraits on the walls, but from the windows one looked down on a lovely +garden where the sun shone and the birds sang all day. It was just like +being in the country, so extraordinarily quiet. A very respectable man +servant in an old-fashioned brown livery, with a great many brass +buttons, who looked as old as the house itself and as if he were part of +it, always opened the door. Her husband was a literary man who made +conférences at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France, and they lived +entirely in that quarter--came very rarely to our part of Paris. He was +an old friend of W.'s, and they came sometimes to dine with us. He +deplored W.'s having gone to the Foreign Office--thought the Public +Instruction was so much more to his tastes and habits. She had an +English grandmother, knew English quite well, and read English reviews +and papers. She had once seen Queen Victoria and was very interested in +all that concerned her. Queen Victoria had a great prestige in France. +People admired not only the wise sovereign who had weathered +successfully so many changes, but the beautiful woman's life as wife and +mother. She was always spoken of with the greatest respect, even by +people who were not sympathetic to England as a nation. + +Another of my haunts was the Convent and Maison de Santé of the Soeurs +Augustines du Saint Coeur de Marie in the rue de la Santé. It was +curious to turn out of the broad, busy, populous avenue, crowded with +trams, omnibuses, and camions, into the narrow, quiet street, which +seemed all stone walls and big doors. There was another hospital and a +prison in the street, which naturally gave it rather a gloomy aspect, +but once inside the courtyard of the Convent there was a complete +transformation. One found one's self in a large, square, open court with +arcades and buildings all around--the chapel just opposite the entrance. +On one side of the court were the rooms for the patients, on the other +nice rooms and small apartments which were let to invalids or old +ladies, and which opened on a garden, really a park of thirteen or +fourteen acres. The doors were always open, and one had a lovely view of +green fields and trees. The moment you put your foot inside the court, +you felt the atmosphere of peace and cheerfulness, though it was a +hospital. The nuns all looked happy and smiling--they always do, and I +always wonder why. Life in a cloister seems to me so narrow and +monotonous and unsatisfying unless one has been bred in a convent and +knows nothing of life but what the teachers tell. + +I have a friend who always fills me with astonishment--a very clever, +cultivated woman, no longer very young, married to a charming man, +accustomed to life in its largest sense. She was utterly wretched when +her husband died, but after a time she took up her life again and +seemed to find interest and pleasure in the things they had done +together. Suddenly she announced her intention of becoming a nun--sold +her house and lovely garden, where she had spent so many happy hours +with her flowers and her birds, distributed her pretty things among her +friends, and accepted all the small trials of strict convent life--no +bath, nor mirror, coarse underlinen and sheets--no fire, no lights, no +privacy, the regular irksome routine of a nun's life, and is perfectly +happy--never misses the intellectual companionship and the refinement +and daintiness of her former life,--likes the commonplace routine of the +convent--the books they read to each other in "recreation," simple +stories one would hardly give to a child of twelve or fourteen,--the +fêtes on the "mother's" birthday, when the nuns make a cake and put a +wreath of roses on the mother's head. + +The Soeurs Augustines are very happy in their lives, but they see a +great deal more of the outside world. They always have patients in the +hospital, and people in the apartments, which are much in demand. The +care and attendance is very good. The ladies are very comfortable and +have as many visitors as they like in the afternoon at stated hours, and +the rooms are very tempting with white walls and furniture, and +scrupulously clean. The cuisine is very good, everything very daintily +served. All day one saw black-robed figures moving quietly across the +court, carrying all kinds of invalid paraphernalia--cushions, rugs, cups +of bouillon--but there was never any noise--no sound of talking or +laughing. When they spoke, the voices were low, like people accustomed +to a sick-room. No men were allowed in the Convent, except the doctors +of course, and visitors at stated hours. + +I spent many days there one spring, as C. was there for some weeks for a +slight operation. She had a charming room and dressing-room, with +windows giving on a garden or rather farmyard, for the soeurs had their +cows and chickens. Sometimes in the evening we would see one of the +sisters, her black skirt tucked up and a blue apron over it, bringing +the cows back to their stables. No man could have a room in the house. +F. wanted very much to be with his wife at night, as he was a busy man +and away all day, and I tried to get a room for him, but the mother +superior, a delightful old lady, wouldn't hear of it. However, the night +before-and the night after the operation, he was allowed to remain with +her,--no extra bed was put in the room--he slept on the sofa. + +Often when C. was sleeping or tired, I would take my book and establish +myself in the garden. Paris might have been miles away, though only a +few yards off there was a busy, crowded boulevard, but no noise seemed +to penetrate the thick walls. Occasionally at the end of a quiet path I +would see a black figure pacing backward and forward, with eyes fixed on +a breviary. Once or twice a soeur jardinière with a big, flat straw hat +over her coiffe and veil tending the flowers (there were not many) or +weeding the lawn, sometimes convalescents or old ladies seated in +armchairs under the trees, but there was never any sound of voices or of +life. It was very reposeful (when one felt one could get away for a +little while), but I think the absolute calm and monotony would pall +upon one, and the "Call of the World"--the struggling, living, joyous +world outside the walls--would be an irresistible temptation. + +I walked about a good deal in my quarter in the morning, and made +acquaintance with many funny little old squares and shops, merceries, +flower and toy shops which had not yet been swallowed up by the enormous +establishments like the Louvre, the Bon Marché, and the big bazaars. I +don't know how they existed; there was never any one in the shops, and +of course their choice was limited, but they were so grateful, their +things were so much cheaper, and they were so anxious to get anything +one wanted, that it was a pleasure to deal with them. Everything was +much cheaper on that side--flowers, cakes, writing-paper, rents, +servants' wages, stable equipment, horses' food. We bought some toys one +year for one of our Christmas trees in the country from a poor old lame +woman who had a tiny shop in one of the small streets running out of the +rue du Bac. Her grandson, a boy of about twelve or fourteen, helped her +in the shop, and they were so pleased and excited at having such a large +order that they were quite bewildered. We did get what we wanted, but it +took time and patience,--their stock was small and not varied. We had to +choose piece by piece--horses, dolls, drums, etc.--and the writing down +of the items and making up the additions was long and trying. I meant to +go back after we left the Quai d'Orsay, but I never did, and I am afraid +the poor old woman with her petit commerce shared the fate of all the +others and could not hold out against the big shops. + +One gets lazy about shopping. The first years we lived in the country we +used to go ourselves to the big shops and bazaars in Paris for our +Christmas shopping, but the heat and the crowd and the waiting were so +tiring that we finally made arrangements with the woman who sold toys in +the little town, La Ferté-Milon. She went to Paris and brought back +specimens of all the new toys. We went into town one afternoon--all the +toys were spread out on tables in her little parlour at the back of the +shop (her little girl attending to the customers, who were consumed with +curiosity as to why our carriage was waiting so long at the door) and we +made our selection. She was a great help to us, as she knew all the +children, their ages, and what they would like. She was very pleased to +execute the commission--it made her of importance in the town, having +the big boxes come down from Paris addressed to her, and she paid her +journey and made a very good profit by charging two or three sous more +on each article. We were quite willing to pay the few extra francs to be +saved the fatigue of the long day's shopping in Paris. It also settled +another difficult question--what to buy in a small country town. Once we +had exhausted the butcher and the baker and the small groceries, there +was not much to buy. + +From the beginning of my life in the country, W. always wanted me to buy +as much as possible in the town, and I was often puzzled. Now the shops +in all the small country towns have improved. They have their things +straight from Paris, with very good catalogues, so that one can order +fairly well. The things are more expensive of course, but I think it is +right to give what help one can to the people of the country. One cold +winter at Bourneville, when we had our house full of people, there was a +sudden call for blankets. I thought my "lingerie" was pretty well +stocked, but one gentleman wanted four blankets on his bed, three over +him and one under the sheet. A couple wanted the same, only one more, a +blanket for a big armchair near the fire. I went in to La Ferté to see +what I could find--no white blankets anywhere--some rather nice red +ones--and plenty of the stiff (not at all warm) grey blankets they give +to the soldiers. Those naturally were out of the question, but I took +three or four red ones, which of course could not go in the guests' +rooms, but were distributed on the beds of the family, their white ones +going to the friends. After that experience I always had a reserve of +blankets, but I was never asked for so many again. Living in the +country, with people constantly staying in the house, gives one much +insight into other people's way of living and what are the necessities +of life for them. I thought our house was pretty well provided for. We +were a large family party, and had all we wanted, but some of the +demands were curious, varying of course with the nationalities. + +The Chambers met in Paris at the end of November and took possession of +their respective houses without the slightest disturbance of any kind. +Up to the last moment some people were nervous and predicting all sorts +of trouble and complications. We spent the Toussaint in the country with +some friends, and their views of the future were so gloomy that it was +almost contagious. One afternoon when we were all assembled in the +drawing-room for tea, after a beautiful day's shooting, the conversation +(generally retrospective) was so melancholy that I was rather impressed +by it,--"The beginning of the end,--the culpable weakness of the +Government and Moderate men, giving way entirely to the Radicals, an +invitation to the Paris rabble to interfere with the sittings of the +Chambers," and a variety of similar remarks. + +It would have been funny if one hadn't felt that the speakers were +really in earnest and anxious. However, nothing happened. The first few +days there was a small, perfectly quiet, well-behaved crowd, also a very +strong police force, at the Palais Bourbon, but I think more from +curiosity and the novelty of seeing deputies again at the Palais Bourbon +than from any other reason. If it were quiet outside, one couldn't say +the same of the inside of the Chamber. The fight began hotly at once. +Speeches and interpellations and attacks on the Government were the +order of the day. The different members of the cabinet made statements +explaining their policy, but apparently they had satisfied nobody on +either side, and it was evident that the Chamber was not only +dissatisfied but actively hostile. + +W. and his friends were very discouraged and disgusted. They had gone as +far as they could in the way of concessions. W., at any rate, would do +no more, and it was evident that the Chamber would seize the first +pretext to overthrow the ministry. W. saw Grévy very often. He was +opposed to any change, didn't want W. to go, said his presence at the +Foreign Office gave confidence to Europe,--he might perhaps remain at +the Foreign Office and resign as Premier, but that, naturally, he +wouldn't do. He was really sick of the whole thing. + +Grévy was a thorough Republican but an old-fashioned Republican,--not in +the least enthusiastic, rather sceptical--didn't at all see the ideal +Republic dreamed of by the younger men--where all men were alike--and +nothing but honesty and true patriotism were the ruling motives. I +don't know if he went as far as a well-known diplomatist, Prince +Metternich, I think, who said he was so tired of the word fraternité +that if he had a brother he would call him "cousin." Grévy was certainly +very unwilling to see things pass into the hands of the more advanced +Left. I don't think he could have done anything--they say no +constitutional President (or King either) can. + +There was a great rivalry between him and Gambetta. Both men had such a +strong position in the Republican party that it was a pity they couldn't +understand each other. I suppose they were too unlike--Gambetta lived in +an atmosphere of flattery and adulation. His head might well have been +turned--all his familiars were at his feet, hanging upon his words, +putting him on a pinnacle as a splendid patriot. Grévy's entourage was +much calmer, recognising his great ability and his keen legal mind, not +so enthusiastic but always wanting to have his opinion, and relying a +good deal upon his judgment. There were of course all sorts of meetings +and conversations at our house, with Léon Say, Jules Ferry, Casimir +Périer, and others. St. Vallier came on from Berlin, where he was still +ambassador. He was very anxious about the state of affairs in +France--said Bismarck was very worried at the great step the Radicals +had made in the new Parliament--was afraid the Moderate men would have +no show. _I_ believe he was pleased and hoped that a succession of +incapable ministries and internal quarrels would weaken France still +more--and prevent her from taking her place again as a great power. He +wasn't a generous victor. + +As long as W. was at the Foreign Office things went very smoothly. He +and St. Vallier thought alike on most subjects, home politics and +foreign--and since the Berlin Congress, where W. had come in touch with +all the principal men in Germany, it was of course much easier for them +to work together. We dined generally with my mother on Sunday +night--particularly at this time of the year, when the official banquets +had not begun and our Sundays were free. The evenings were always +interesting, as we saw so many people, English and Americans always, and +in fact all nationalities. We had lived abroad so much that we knew +people all over the world,--it was a change from the eternal politics +and "shop" talk we heard everywhere else. Some of them, English +particularly (I don't think the Americans cared much about foreign +politics), were most interested and curious over what was going on, and +the probable fall of the cabinet. An English lady said to me: "How +dreadful it will be for you when your husband is no longer minister; +your life will be so dull and you will be of so much less importance." +The last part of the sentence was undoubtedly true--any functionary's +wife has a certain importance in France, and when your husband has been +Foreign Minister and Premier, you fall from a certain height, but I +couldn't accept the first part, that my life would be necessarily dull +because I was no longer what one of my friends said in Italy, speaking +of a minister's wife, a donna publica. I began to explain that I really +had some interest in life outside of politics, but she was so convinced +of the truth of her observation that it was quite useless to pursue the +conversation, and I naturally didn't care. Another one, an American this +time, said to me: "I hope you don't mind my never having been to see you +since you were married, but I never could remember your name; I only +knew it began with W. and one sees it very often in the papers." + +Arthur Sullivan, the English composer, was there one night. He had come +over to Paris to hear one of his symphonies played at the Conservatoire, +and was very much pleased with the way it had been received by that very +critical audience. He was quite surprised to find the Parisians so +enthusiastic--had always heard the Paris Salle was so cold. + +Miss Kellogg, the American prima donna, was there too that evening, and +we made a great deal of music, she singing and Sullivan accompanying by +heart. Mrs. Freeman, wife of one of the English secretaries, told W. +that Queen Victoria had so enjoyed her talk with him--"quite as if I +were talking with one of my own ministers." She had found Grévy rather +stiff and reserved--said their conversation was absolutely banal. They +spoke in French, and as Grévy knew nothing of England or the English, +the interview couldn't have been interesting. + +We saw a great many people that last month, dined with all our +colleagues of the diplomatic corps. They were already dîners d'adieux, +as every day in the papers the fall of the ministry was announced, and +the names of the new ministers published. I think the diplomatists were +sorry to see W. go, but of course they couldn't feel very strongly on +the subject. Their business is to be on good terms with all the foreign +ministers, and to get as much as they can out of them. They are, with +rare exceptions, birds of passage, and don't trouble themselves much +about changing cabinets. However, they were all very civil, not too +diffuse, and one had the impression that they would be just as civil to +our successor and to his successor. It must be so; there is no +profession so absolutely banal as diplomacy. All diplomatists, from the +ambassador to the youngest secretary, must follow their instructions, +and if by any chance an ambassador does take any initiative, profiting +by being on the spot, and knowing the character of the people, he is +promptly disowned by his chief. + +I had grown very philosophical, was quite ready to go or to stay, didn't +mind the fight any more nor the attacks on W., which were not very +vicious, but so absurd that no one who knew him could attach the least +importance to them. He didn't care a pin. He had always been a +Protestant, with an English name, educated in England, so the +reiteration of these facts, very much exaggerated and leading up to the +conclusion that on account of his birth and education he couldn't be a +convinced French Republican, didn't affect him very much. He had always +promised me a winter in Italy when he left office. He had never been in +Rome, and I was delighted at the prospect of seeing that lovely land +again, all blue sky and bright sun and smiling faces. + +We dined often with M.L., W.'s uncle, who kept us au courant of all (and +it was little) that was going on in the Royalist camp, but that was not +of importance. The advanced Republicans were having it all their own +way, and it was evident that the days of conciliatory measures and +moderate men were over. W. was not a club man, went very rarely to his +club, but his uncle went every afternoon before dinner, and gave us all +the potins (gossip) of that world, very hostile to the Republic, and +still quite believing that their turn would come. His uncle was not of +that opinion. He was a very clever man, a diplomatist who had lived in a +great many places and known a great many people, and was entirely on the +Royalist side, but he thought their cause was a lost one, at least for a +time. He often asked some of his friends to meet us at dinner, said it +was a good thing for W. to hear what men on the other side thought, and +W. was quite pleased to meet them. They were all absolutely opposed to +him in politics, and discussion sometimes ran high, but there was never +anything personal--all were men of the world, had seen many changes in +France in their lives; many had played a part in politics under the +former régimes. It seemed to me that they underrated the intelligence +and the strength of the Republican party. + +One of the regular habitués was the Marquis de N., a charming man, +fairly broad-minded (given the atmosphere he lived in) and sceptical to +the highest degree. He was a great friend of Marshal MacMahon, and had +been préfet at Pau, where he had a great position. He was very +dictatorial, very outspoken, but was a great favourite, particularly +with the English colony, which is large there in the hunting-season. He +had accepted to dine one night with an English family, who lived in a +villa a little out of town. They had an accident en route, which delayed +them very much, and when he and the marquise arrived the party was at +table. He instantly had his carriage called back and left the house in +spite of all the explanations and apologies of his host, saying that +when "one had the honour of receiving the Marquis de N. one waited +dinner for him." + +We saw always a great deal of him, as his daughter married the Comte de +F., who was for some time in W.'s cabinet at the Quai d'Orsay, and +afterward with us the ten years we were at the London Embassy, where +they were quite part of the family. They were both perfectly fitted for +diplomatic life, particularly in England. Both spoke English well, knew +everybody, and remembered all the faces and all the names, no easy thing +in England, where the names and titles change so often. I know several +Englishwomen who have had four different names. Lady Holland was also a +friend of "Oncle Alphonse" and dined there often. She was +delicate-looking, rather quiet in general conversation, though she spoke +French easily, but was interesting when she was talking to one or two +people. We went often to her beautiful house in London, the first years +we were at the embassy, and always met interesting people. Her salon was +very cosmopolitan--every one who came to London wanted to go to Holland +House, which was a museum filled with beautiful things. + +Another lady who was often at my uncle's was quite a different type, +Mademoiselle A., an old pupil of the Conservatoire, who had made a short +career at the Comédie Française many years before. She was really +charming, and her stories of the coulisses and the jalousies between the +authors and the actors, particularly the stars (who hardly accepted the +slightest observation from the writer of the play), were most amusing. +Once the piece was accepted it passed into the domain of the theatre, +and the actors felt at liberty to interpret the rôles according to their +ideas and traditions. She had a perfect diction; it was a delight to +hear her. She recited one night one of Alphonse Daudet's little contes, +"Lettres de Mon Moulin," I think, beginning--"Qui n'a pas vu Avignon du +temps des Papes n'a rien vu." One couldn't hear anything more charming, +in a perfectly trained voice, and so easily and naturally said. + +I suppose no one would listen to it in these days. Bridge has suppressed +all conversation or music or artistic enjoyment of any kind. It must +come to an end some day like all crazes, but at the present moment it +has destroyed society. It has been a godsend to many people of no +particular importance or position who have used it as a stepping-stone +to get into society. If people play a good game of bridge, they are +welcome guests in a great many houses which formerly would have been +closed to them, and it is a great resource to ladies no longer very +young, widows and spinsters, who find their days long and don't know +what to do with their lives. + +Notwithstanding his preoccupations, W. managed to get a few days' +shooting in November. He shot several times at Rambouillet with Grévy, +who was an excellent shot, and his shooting breakfasts were very +pleasant. There was plenty of game, everything very well organised, and +the company agreeable. He always asked the ministers, ambassadors, and +many of the leading political men and very often some of his old +friends, lawyers and men of various professions whom W. was delighted +to meet. Their ideas didn't run in grooves like most of the men he lived +with, and it was a pleasure to hear talk that wasn't political nor +personal. The vicious attacks upon persons were so trying those first +days of the Republic. Every man who was a little more prominent than his +neighbour seemed a target for every kind of insinuation and criticism. + +We went for two days to "Pout," Casimir Périer's fine place in the +département de l'Aube, where we had capital shooting. It was already +extremely cold for the season--the big pond in the court was frozen +hard, and the wind whistled about our ears when we drove in an open +carriage to join the shooters at breakfast. Even I, who don't usually +feel the cold, was thankful to be well wrapped up in furs. The Pavillon +d'Hiver looked very inviting as we drove up--an immense fire was blazing +in the chimney, another just outside, where the soup and ragout for the +army of beaters were being prepared. We all had nice little foot-warmers +under our chairs, and were as comfortable as possible. It was too warm +in fact when the shooters came in and we sat down to breakfast. We were +obliged to open the door. The talk was entirely "shop" at breakfast, +every man telling what he had killed, or missed, and the minute they +had finished breakfast, they started off again. We followed one or two +battues (pheasants), but it was really too cold, and we were glad to +walk home to get warm. + +The dinner and evening were pleasant--everybody talking--most of them +criticising the Government freely. W. didn't mind, they were all +friends. He defended himself sometimes, merely asking what they would +have done in his place--he was quite ready to receive any +suggestions--but nothing practical ever came out of the discussions. I +think the most delightful political position in the world must be +"leader of the opposition"--you have no responsibilities, can +concentrate all your energies in pointing out the weak spots in your +adversary's armour, and have always your work cut out for you, for as +soon as one ministry falls, you can set to work to demolish its +successor, which seems the most interesting occupation possible. + +The great question which was disturbing the Chambers and the country was +the general amnesty. That, of course, W. would never agree to. There +might be exceptions. Some of the men who took part in the Commune were +so young, little more than lads, carried away by the example of their +elders and the excitement of the moment, and there were fiery patriotic +articles in almost all the Republican papers inviting France to make the +beau geste of la mère patrie and open her arms to her misguided +children, and various sensible experienced men really thought it would +be better to wipe out everything and start again with no dark memories +to cast a shadow on the beginnings of the young Republic. How many +brilliant, sanguine, impossible theories I heard advanced all those +days, and how the few remaining members of the Centre Gauche tried to +reason with the most liberal men of the Centre Droit and to persuade +them frankly to face the fact that the country had sent a strong +Republican majority to Parliament and to make the best of the fait +accompli. I suppose it was asking too much of them to go back on the +traditions of their lives, but after all they were Frenchmen, their +country was just recovering from a terrible disaster, and had need of +all her children. During the Franco-Prussian War all party feeling was +forgotten. Every man was first a Frenchman in the face of a foreign foe, +and if they could have stood firmly together in those first days after +the war the strength of the country would have been wonderful. All +Europe was astounded at the way in which France paid her milliards,--no +one more so than Bismarck, who is supposed to have said that, if he +could have dreamed that France could pay that enormous sum so quickly, +he would have asked much more. + +December was very cold, snow and ice everywhere, and very hard frosts, +which didn't give way at all when the sun came out occasionally in the +middle of the day. Everybody was skating, not only at the clubs of the +Bois de Boulogne, but on the lakes, which happens very rarely, as the +water is fairly deep. The Seine was full of large blocks of ice, which +got jammed up against the bridges and made a jarring ugly sound as they +knocked against each other. The river steamers had stopped running, and +there were crowds of flaneurs loitering on the quais and bridges +wondering if the cold would last long enough for the river to be quite +frozen over. + +W. and I went two or three times to the Cercle des Patineurs at the Bois +de Boulogne, and had a good skate. The women didn't skate as well then +as they do now, but they looked very pretty in their costumes of velvet +and sables. It was funny to see them stumbling over the ice with a man +supporting them on each side. However, they enjoyed it very much. It was +beautiful winter weather, very cold but no wind, and it was very good +exercise. All the world was there, and the afternoons passed quickly +enough. I had not skated for years, having spent all my winters in +Italy, but on the principle that you never forget anything that you know +well, I thought I would try, and will say that the first half-hour was +absolute suffering. It was in the old days when one still wore a strap +over the instep, which naturally was drawn very tight. My feet were like +lumps of ice, as heavy as lead, and I didn't seem able to lift them from +the ground. I went back to the dressing-room to take my skates off for a +few minutes, and when the blood began to circulate again, I could have +cried with the pain. A friend of mine, a beginner, who was sitting near +waiting to have her skates put on, was rather discouraged, and said to +me: "You don't look as if you were enjoying yourself. I don't think I +will try." "Oh yes you must,--'les commencements sont toujours +difficiles,' and you will learn. I shall be all right as soon as I start +again." She looked rather doubtful, but I saw her again later in the +day, when I had forgotten all about my sufferings, and she was skating +as easily as I did when I was a girl. I think one must learn young. +After all, it is more or less a question of balance. When one is young +one doesn't mind a fall. + +W., who had retired to a corner to practise a little by himself, told me +that one of his friends, Comte de Pourtalès, not at all of his way of +thinking in politics, an Imperialist, was much pleased with a little jeu +d'esprit he had made at his expense. W. caught the top of his skate in a +crevice in the ice, and came down rather heavily in a sitting posture. +Comte de Pourtalès, who was standing near on the bank, saw the fall and +called out instantly, "Est-ce possible que je voie le Président du +Conseil par terre?" (Is it possible that the President du Conseil has +fallen?) The little joke was quite de bonne guerre and quite +appropriate, as the cabinet was tottering and very near its fall. It +amused W. quite as much as it did the bystanders. + +The cold was increasing every day, the ground was frozen hard, the +streets very slippery, and going very difficult. All our horses were +rough shod, but even with that we made very slow progress. Some of the +omnibuses were on runners, and one or two of the young men of the +ministry had taken off the wheels of their light carriages and put them +on runners, but one didn't see many real sleighs or sledges, as they +call them here. I fancy "sleigh" is entirely an American expression. The +Seine was at last completely taken, and the public was allowed on the +ice, which was very thick. It was a very pretty, animated sight, many +booths like those one sees on the Boulevard during the Christmas +holidays were installed on the ice close to the banks, and the river was +black with people. They couldn't skate much, as the ice was rough and +there were too many people, but they ran and slid and shouted and +enjoyed themselves immensely. I wanted to cross one day with my boy, +that he might say he had crossed the Seine on foot, but W. was rather +unwilling. However, the préfet de la Seine, whom he consulted, told him +there was absolutely no danger--the ice was several inches thick, so I +started off one afternoon, one of the secretaries going with me. He was +much astonished and rather nervous at seeing me in my ordinary boots. He +had nails in his, and one of our friends whom we met on the ice had +woollen socks over his boots. They were sure I would slip and perhaps +get a bad fall. "But no one could slip on that ice; it is quite rough, +might almost be a ploughed field,"--but they were uncomfortable, and +were very pleased when I landed safely on the other side and got into +the carriage. Just in the middle the boys had swept a path on the ice to +make a glissade. They were racing up and down in bands, and the constant +passing had made it quite level and very slippery. We saw three or four +unwary pedestrians get a fall, but if one kept on the outside near the +bank there was no danger of slipping. + +The extreme cold lasting so long brought many discomforts. Many trains +with wood and provisions couldn't get to Paris. The railroads were all +blocked and the Parisians were getting uneasy, fearing they might run +short of food and fuel. We were very comfortable in the big rooms of the +ministry. There were roaring fires everywhere, and two or three +calorifères. The view from the windows on the Quai was charming as long +as the great cold lasted, particularly at night, when the river was +alive with people, lights and coloured lanterns, and music. Every now +and then there would be a ronde or a farandole,--the farandole forcing +its way through the crowd, every one carrying a lantern and looking like +a brilliant snake winding in and out. + +We had some people dining one night, and they couldn't keep away from +the windows. Some of the young ones (English) wanted to go down and have +a lark on the ice, but it wasn't possible. The crowd, though thoroughly +good-humoured, merely bent on enjoying themselves, had degenerated into +a rabble. One would have been obliged to have a strong escort of police, +and besides in evening dress, even with fur cloaks and the fur and +woollen boots every one wore over their thin shoes, one would certainly +have risked getting a bad attack of pneumonia. One of our great friends, +Sir Henry Hoare, was dining that night, but he didn't want to go down, +preferred smoking his cigar in a warm room and talking politics to W. He +had been a great deal in Paris, knew everybody, and was a member of the +Jockey Club. He was much interested in French politics and au fond was +very liberal, quite sympathised with W. and his friends and shared their +opinions on most subjects, though as he said, "I don't air those +opinions at the Jockey Club." He came often to our big receptions, liked +to see all the people. He too used to tell me all that was said in his +club about the Republic and the Government, but he was a shrewd +observer, had been a long time an M.P. in England, and had come to the +conclusion that the talk at the clubs was chiefly a "pose,"--they didn't +really have many illusions about the restoration of the monarchy, +couldn't have, when even the Duc de Broglie with his intelligence and +following (the Faubourg St. Germain followed him blindly) could do +nothing but make a constitutional Republic with Marshal MacMahon at +its head. + +It was always said too that the women were more uncompromising than the +men. I went one afternoon to a concert at the Austrian Embassy, given in +aid of some inundations, which had been a catastrophe for that country, +hundreds of houses, and people and cattle swept away! The French public +had responded most generously, as they always do, to the urgent appeal +made by the ambassador in the name of the Emperor, and the Government +had contributed largely to the fund. Count Beust the Austrian ambassador +was obliged of course to invite the Government and Madame Grévy to the +entertainment, as well as his friends of the Faubourg St. Germain. +Neither Madame nor Mademoiselle Grévy came, but some of the ministers' +wives did, and it was funny to see the ladies of society looking at the +Republican ladies, as if they were denizens of a different planet, +strange figures they were not accustomed to see. It is curious to think +of all that now, when relations are much less strained. I remember not +very long ago at a party at one of the embassies, seeing many of the +society women having themselves presented to the wife of the then +Minister of Foreign Affairs, with whom they certainly had nothing in +common, neither birth, breeding, nor mode of life. I was talking to +Casimir Périer (late President of the Republic) and it amused us very +much to see the various introductions and the great empressement of the +ladies, all of whom were asking to be presented to Madame R. "What can +all those women want?" I asked him. He replied promptly, "Embassies for +their husbands." It would have been better, I think, in a worldly point +of view, if more embassies had been given to the bearers of some of the +great names of France--but there were so many candidates for every +description of function in France just then, from an ambassador to a +gendarme, that anybody who had anything to give found himself in a +difficult position. + + + + +XI + + +LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE + +The end of December was detestable. We were en pleine crise for ten +days. Every day W. went to the Chamber of Deputies expecting to be +beaten, and every evening came home discouraged and disgusted. The +Chamber was making the position of the ministers perfectly +untenable--all sorts of violent and useless propositions were discussed, +and there was an undercurrent of jealousy and intrigue everywhere. One +day, just before Christmas, about the 20th, W. and his chef de cabinet, +Comte de P., started for the house, after breakfast--W. expecting to be +beaten by a coalition vote of the extreme Left, Bonapartists and +Legitimists. It was an insane policy on the part of the two last, as +they knew perfectly well they wouldn't gain anything by upsetting the +actual cabinet. They would only get another one much more advanced and +more masterful. I suppose their idea was to have a succession of radical +inefficient ministers, which in the end would disgust the country and +make a "saviour," a prince (which one?) or general, possible. How wise +their reasoning was time has shown! I wanted to go to the Chamber to +hear the debate, but W. didn't want me. He would be obliged to speak, +and said it would worry him if I were in the gallery listening to all +the attacks made upon him. (It is rather curious that I never heard him +speak in public, either in the house or in the country, where he often +made political speeches, in election times.) He was so sure that the +ministry would fall that we had already begun cleaning and making fires +in our own house, so on that afternoon, as I didn't want to sit at home +waiting for telegrams, I went up to the house with Henrietta. The +caretaker had already told us that the stock of wood and coal was giving +out, and she couldn't get any more in the quarter, and if she couldn't +make fires the pipes would burst, which was a pleasant prospect with the +thermometer at I don't remember how many degrees below zero. We found a +fine cleaning going on--doors and windows open all over the house--and +women scrubbing stairs, floors, and windows, rather under difficulties, +with little fire and little water. It looked perfectly dreary and +comfortless--not at all tempting. All the furniture was piled up in the +middle of the rooms, and W.'s library was a curiosity. Books and +pamphlets accumulated rapidly with us, W. was a member of many literary +societies of all kinds all over the world, and packages and boxes of +unopened books quite choked up the room. H. and I tried to arrange +things a little, but it was hopeless that day, and, besides, the house +was bitterly cold. It didn't feel as if a fire could make any +impression. + +As we could do nothing there, we went back to the ministry. No telegrams +had come, but Kruft, our faithful and efficient chef du matériel, was +waiting for me for last instructions about a Christmas tree. Some days +before I had decided to have a Christmas tree, about the end of the +month. W. then thought the ministry would last over the holidays, the +trêve des confiseurs, and was quite willing I should have a Christmas +party as a last entertainment. He had been too occupied the last days to +think about any such trifles, and Kruft, not having had any contrary +instructions, had ordered the presents and decorations. He was rather +depressed, because W. had told him that morning that we surely would not +be at the Quai d'Orsay on the 29th, the day we had chosen for our party. +However, I reassured him, and told him we would have the Christmas tree +all the same, only at my house instead of at the ministry. We went to +look at his presents, which were all spread out on a big table in one of +the drawing-rooms. He really was a wonderful man, never forgot anything, +and had remembered that at the last tree, the year before, one or two +nurses had had no presents, and several who had were not pleased with +what was given to them. He had made a very good selection for those +ladies,--lace scarfs and rabats and little tours de cou of fur,--really +very pretty. I believe they were satisfied this time. The young men of +the Chancery sent me up two telegrams: "rien de nouveau,"--"ministère +debout." + +[Illustration: M. de Freyeinet. After a photograph by M. Nadaz, Paris] + +W. came home late, very tired and much disgusted with politics in +general and his party in particular. The cabinet still lived, but merely +to give Grévy time to make another. W. had been to the Elysée and had a +long conversation with Grévy. He found him very preoccupied, very +unwilling to make a change, and he again urged W. very much to keep the +Foreign Office, if Freycinet should succeed in making a ministry. That +W. would not agree to--he was sick of the whole thing. He told Grévy he +was quite right to send for Freycinet--if any man could save the +situation he could. We had one or two friends, political men, to dinner, +and they discussed the situation from every point of view, always +ending with the same conclusion, that W. was right to go. His policy +wasn't the policy of the Chamber (I don't say of the country, for I +think the country knew little and cared less about what was going on in +Parliament), hardly the policy of all his own colleagues. There was +really no use to continue worrying himself to death and doing no good. +W. said his conversation with Grévy was interesting, but he was much +more concerned with home politics and the sweeping changes the +Republicans wanted to make in all the administrations than with foreign +policy. He said Europe was quiet and France's first duty was to +establish herself firmly, which would only be done by peace and +prosperity at home. I told W. I had spent a very cold and uncomfortable +hour at the house, and I was worried about the cold, thought I might, +perhaps, send the boy to mother, but he had taken his precautions and +arranged with the Minister of War to have a certain amount of wood +delivered at the house. They always had reserves of wood at the various +ministries. We had ours directly from our own woods in the country, and +it was en route, but a flotilla of boats was frozen up in the Canal de +l'Ourcq, and it might be weeks before the wood could be delivered. + +We dined one night at the British Embassy, while all these pourparlers +were going on, en petit comité, all English, Lord and Lady Reay, Lord +Edmond Fitz-Maurice, and one or two members of Parliament whose names I +have forgotten. Both Lord and Lady Reay were very keen about politics, +knew France well, and were much interested in the phase she was passing +through. Lord Lyons was charming, so friendly and sensible, said he +wasn't surprised at W.'s wanting to go--still hoped this crisis would +pass like so many others he had seen in France; that certainly W.'s +presence at the Foreign Office during the last year had been a help to +the Republic--said also he didn't believe his retirement would last very +long. It was frightfully cold when we came out of the embassy--very few +carriages out, all the coachmen wrapped up in mufflers and fur caps, and +the Place de la Concorde a sea of ice so slippery I thought we should +never get across and over the bridge. I went to the opera one night that +week, got there in an entr'acte, when people were walking about and +reading the papers. As I passed several groups of men, I heard W.'s name +mentioned, also that of Léon Say and Freycinet, but just in passing by +quickly I could not hear any comments. I fancy they were not favourable +in that milieu. It was very cold in the house--almost all the women had +their cloaks on--and the coming out was something awful, crossing that +broad perron in the face of a biting wind. + +I began my packing seriously this time, as W.'s mind was quite made up. +He had thought the matter well over, and had a final talk with +Freycinet, who would have liked to keep both W. and Léon Say, but it +wasn't easy to manage the new element that Freycinet brought with him. +The new members were much more advanced in their opinions. W. couldn't +have worked with them, and they certainly didn't want to work with him. +The autumn session came to a turbulent end on the 26th of December, and +the next day the papers announced that the ministers had given their +resignations to the President, who had accepted them and had charged M. +de Freycinet to form a cabinet. We dined with mother on Christmas day, a +family party, with the addition of Comte de P. and one or two stray +Americans who were at hotels and were of course delighted not to dine on +Christmas day at a table d'hôte or café. W. was rather tired; the +constant talking and seeing so many people of all kinds was very +fatiguing, for, as long as his resignation was not official, announced +in the _Journal Officiel_, he was still Minister of Foreign Affairs. +One of the last days, when they were hoping to come to an agreement, he +was obliged to come home early to receive the mission from Morocco. I +saw them arrive; they were a fine set of men, tall, powerfully built, +their skin a red-brown, not black, entirely dressed in white from +turbans to sandals. None of them spoke any French--all the conversation +took place through an interpreter. Notwithstanding our worries, we had a +very pleasant evening and W. was very cheerful--looking forward to our +Italian trip with quite as much pleasure as I did. + +W. made over the ministry to Freycinet on Monday, the 28th, the +transmission des pouvoirs. Freycinet was very nice and friendly, +regretted that he and W. were no longer colleagues. He thought his +ministry was strong and was confident he would manage the Chamber. W. +told him he could settle himself as soon as he liked at the Quai +d'Orsay, as we should go at once, and would sleep at our house on +Wednesday night. Freycinet said Madame de Freycinet (whom I knew well +and liked very much) would come and see me on Wednesday, and would like +to go over the house with me. I was rather taken aback when W. told me +we must sleep in our own house on Wednesday night. The actual packing +was not very troublesome, as I had not brought many of my own things +from the rue Dumont d'Urville. There was scarcely a van-load of small +furniture and boxes, but the getting together of all the small things +was a bore,--books, bibelots, music, cards, and notes (these in +quantities, lettres de condoléance, which had to be carefully sorted as +they had all to be answered). The hotel of the Quai d'Orsay was crowded +with people those last two days, all W.'s friends coming to express +their regrets at his departure, some very sincerely sorry to see him go, +as his name and character certainly inspired confidence abroad--and some +delighted that he was no longer a member of such an advanced +cabinet--(some said "de cet infect gouvernement"), where he was obliged +by his mere presence to sanction many things he didn't approve of. He +and Freycinet had a long talk on Wednesday, as W. naturally wanted to be +sure that some provision would be made for his chef de cabinet and +secretaries. Each incoming minister brings his own staff with him. +Freycinet offered W. the London Embassy, but he wouldn't take it, had +had enough of public life for the present. I didn't want it either, I +had never lived much in England, had not many friends there, and was +counting the days until we could get off to Rome. There was one funny +result of W. having declined the London Embassy. Admiral Pothnau, whom +W. had named there, and who was very much liked, came to see him one day +and made a great scene because Freycinet had offered him the London +Embassy. W. said he didn't understand why he made a scene, as he had +refused it. "But it should never have been offered to you over my head." +"Perhaps, but that is not my fault. I didn't ask for it--and don't want +it. If you think you have been treated badly, you should speak to +Freycinet." However, the admiral was very much put out, and was very +cool with us both for a long time. I suppose his idea was that being +recalled would mean that he had not done well in London, which was quite +a mistake, as he was very much liked there. + +We dined alone that last night at the ministry, and sat some time in the +window, looking at the crowds of people amusing themselves on the Seine, +and wondering if we should ever see the Quai d'Orsay again. After all, +we had had two very happy interesting years there--and memories that +would last a lifetime.--Some of the last experiences of the month of +December had been rather disillusioning, but I suppose one must not +bring any sentiment into politics. In the world it is always a case of +donnant--donnant--and--when one is no longer in a position to give a +great deal--people naturally turn to the rising man. Comte de P., chef +de cabinet, came in late as usual, to have a last talk. He too had been +busy, as he had a small apartment and stables in the hotel of the +ministry, and was also very anxious to get away. He told us all the +young men of the cabinet were very sorry to see W. go--at first they had +found him a little cold and reserved--but a two years' experience had +shown them that, if he were not expansive, he was perfectly just, and +always did what he said he would. + +The next day Madame de Freycinet came to see me, and we went over the +house. She didn't care about the living-rooms, as they never lived at +the Quai d'Orsay, remained in their own hotel near the Bois de Boulogne. +Freycinet came every day to the ministry, and she merely on reception +days--or when there was a party. Just as she was going, Madame de +Zuylen, wife of the Dutch minister, a great friend of mine, came in. She +told me she had great difficulty in getting up, as I had forbidden my +door, but my faithful Gérard (I think I missed him as much as anything +else at first) knowing we were friends, thought Madame would like to see +her. She paid me quite a long visit,--I even gave her some tea off +government plate and china,--all mine had been already sent to my own +house. We sat talking for some time. She had heard that W. had refused +the London Embassy, was afraid it was a mistake, and that the winter in +Paris would be a difficult one for him--he would certainly be in +opposition to the Government on all sorts of questions--and if he +remained in Paris he would naturally go to the Senate and vote. I quite +agreed that he couldn't suddenly detach himself from all political +discussions--must take part in them and must vote. The policy of +abstention has always seemed to me the weakest possible line in +politics. If a man, for some reason or another, hasn't the courage of +his opinions, he mustn't take any position where that opinion would +carry weight. I told her we were going to Italy as soon as we could get +off after the holidays. + +While we were talking, a message came up to say that the young men of +the cabinet were all coming up to say good-bye to me. I had seen the +directors earlier in the day, so Madame de Zuylen took her leave, +promising to come to my Christmas tree in the rue Dumont d'Urville. The +young men seemed sorry to say good-bye--I was, too. I had seen a great +deal of them and always found them ready and anxious to help me in +every way. The Comte de Lasteyrie, who was a great friend of ours as +well as a secretary, went about a great deal with us. W. called upon him +very often for all sorts of things, knowing he could trust him +absolutely. He told one of my friends that one of his principal +functions was to accompany Madame Waddington to all the charity sales, +carrying a package of women's chemises under his arm. It was quite true +that I often bought "poor clothes" at the sales. The objects exposed in +the way of screens, pincushions, table-covers, and, in the spring, hats +made by some of the ladies, were so appalling that I was glad to have +poor clothes to fall back upon, but I don't remember his ever carrying +my purchases home with me. + +They were much amused when suddenly Francis burst into the room, having +escaped a moment from his Nonnon, who was busy with her last packing, +his little face flushed and quivering with anger because his toys had +been packed and he was to be taken away from the big house. He kicked +and screamed like a little mad thing, until his nurse came to the +rescue. I made a last turn in the rooms to see that all trace of my +occupation had vanished. Francis, half pacified, was seated on the +billiard-table, an old grey-haired huissier, who was always on duty +up-stairs, taking care of him. The huissiers and house servants were all +assembled in the hall, and the old Pierson, who had been there for +years, was the spokesman, and hoped respectfully that Madame "would soon +come back...." W. didn't come with us, as he still had people to see and +only got home in time for a late dinner. + +We dined that night and for many nights afterward with our uncle +Lutteroth (who had a charming hotel filled with pictures and bibelots +and pretty things) just across the street, as it was some little time +before our kitchen and household got into working order again. The first +few days were, of course, very tiring and uncomfortable--the house +seemed so small after the big rooms at the Quai d'Orsay. I didn't +attempt to do anything with the salons, as we were going away so +soon--carpets and curtains had to be arranged to keep the cold out, but +the big boxes remained in the carriage house--not unpacked. We had a +procession of visitors all day--and tried to make W.'s library +possible--comfortable it wasn't, as there were packages of books and +papers and boxes everywhere. + +I had a good many visits and flowers on New Year's day--which was an +agreeable surprise--Lord Lyons, Orloff, the Sibberns, Comte de Ségur, +M. Alfred André, and others. André, an old friend of W.'s, a very +conservative Protestant banker, was very blue about affairs. André was +the type of the modern French Protestant. They are almost a separate +class in France--are very earnest, religious, honourable, narrow-minded +people. They give a great deal in charity and good works of all kinds. +In Paris the Protestant coterie is very rich. They associate with all +the Catholics, as many of them entertain a great deal, but they live +among themselves and never intermarry. I hardly know a case where a +French Protestant has married a Catholic. I suppose it is a remnant of +their old Huguenot blood, and the memories of all their forefathers +suffered for their religion, which makes them so intolerant. The +ambassadors had paid their usual official visit to the Elysée--said +Grévy was very smiling and amiable, didn't seem at all preoccupied. We +had a family dinner at my uncle's on New Year's night, and all the +family with wonderful unanimity said the best wish they could make for +W. was that 1880 would see him out of politics and leading an +independent if less interesting life. + +An interesting life it certainly was, hearing so many questions +discussed, seeing all sorts of people of all nationalities and living as +it were behind the scenes. The Chamber of Deputies in itself was a +study, with its astounding changes of opinion, with no apparent cause. +One never knew in the morning what the afternoon's session would bring, +for as soon as the Republican party felt themselves firmly established, +they began to quarrel among themselves. I went back to the ministry one +afternoon to pay a formal visit to Madame de Freycinet on her reception +day. I had rather put it off, thinking that the sight of the well-known +rooms and faces would be disagreeable to me and make me regret, perhaps, +the past, but I felt already that all that old life was over--one adapts +one's self so quickly to different surroundings. It did seem funny to be +announced by my own special huissier, Gérard, and to find myself sitting +in the green drawing-room with all the palms and flowers arranged just +as they always were for me, and a semicircle of diplomats saying exactly +the same things to Madame de Freycinet that they had said to me a few +days before, but I fancy that always happens in these days of democracy +and equalising education, and that under certain circumstances, we all +say and do exactly the same thing. I had quite a talk with Sibbern, the +Swedish minister, who was very friendly and sympathetic, not only at our +leaving the Foreign Office, but at the extreme discomfort of moving in +such frightfully cold weather. He was wrapped in furs, as if he were +going to the North Pole. However, I assured him we were quite warm and +comfortable, gradually settling down into our old ways, and I was +already looking back on my two years at the Quai d'Orsay as an agreeable +episode in my life. I had quite a talk too with the Portuguese minister, +Mendes Leal. He was an interesting man, a poet and a dreamer, saw more, +I fancy, of the literary world of Paris than the political. Blowitz was +there, of course--was always everywhere in moments of crisis, talking a +great deal, and letting it be understood that he had pulled a great many +wires all those last weeks. He too regretted that W. had not taken the +London Embassy, assured me that it would have been a very agreeable +appointment in England--was surprised that I hadn't urged it. I replied +that I had not been consulted. Many people asked when they could come +and see me--would I take up my reception day again? That wasn't worth +while, as I was going away so soon, but I said I would be there every +day at five o'clock, and always had visits. + +[Illustration: Mme. Sadi Carnot. From a drawing by Mlle. Amelie +Beaury-Saurel.] + +One day Madame Sadi Carnot sat a long time with me. Her husband had been +named undersecretary at the Ministry of Public Works in the new +cabinet, and she was very pleased. She was a very charming, intelligent, +cultivated woman--read a great deal, was very keen about politics and +very ambitious (as every clever woman should be) for her husband and +sons. I think she was a great help socially to her husband when he +became President of the Republic. He was a grave, reserved man, didn't +care very much for society. I saw her very often and always found her +most attractive. At the Elysée she was amiable and courteous to +everybody and her slight deafness didn't seem to worry her nor make +conversation difficult. She did such a charming womanly thing just after +her husband's assassination. He lay in state for some days at the +Elysée, and M. Casimir Périer, his successor, went to make her a visit. +As he was leaving he said his wife would come the next day to see Madame +Carnot. She instantly answered, "Pray do not let her come; she is young, +beginning her life here at the Elysée. I wouldn't for worlds that she +should have the impression of sadness and gloom that must hang over the +palace as long as the President is lying there. I should like her to +come to the Elysée only when all traces of this tragedy have gone--and +to have no sad associations--on the contrary, with the prospect of a +long happy future before her." + +[Illustration: _Photograph, copyright by Pierre Petit, Paris._ +President Sadi Carnot.] + +W. went the two or three Fridays we were in Paris to the Institute, +where he was most warmly received by his colleagues, who had much +regretted his enforced absences the years he was at the Foreign Office. +He told them he was going to Rome, where he hoped still to find some +treasures in the shape of inscriptions inédites, with the help of his +friend Lanciani. The days passed quickly enough until we started. It was +not altogether a rest, as there were always so many people at the house, +and W. wanted to put order into his papers before he left. Freycinet +made various changes at the Quai d'Orsay. M. Desprey, Directeur de la +Politique (a post he had occupied for years) was named ambassador to +Rome in the place of the Marquis de Gabriac. I don't think he was very +anxious to go. His career had been made almost entirely at the Foreign +Office, and he was much more at home in his cabinet, with all his papers +and books about him, than he would be abroad among strangers. He came to +dinner one night, and we talked the thing over. W. thought the rest and +change would do him good. He was named to the Vatican, where necessarily +there was much less to do in the way of social life than at the +Quirinal. He was perfectly au courant of all the questions between the +Vatican and the French clergy--his son, secretary of embassy, would go +with him. It seemed rather a pleasant prospect. + +W. went once or twice to the Senate, as the houses met on the 12th or +14th of January, but there was nothing very interesting those first +days. The Chamber was taking breath after the holidays and the last +ministerial crisis, and giving the new ministry a chance. I think +Freycinet had his hands full, but he was quite equal to the task. I went +late one afternoon to the Elysée. I had written to Madame Grévy to ask +if she would receive me before I left for Italy. When I arrived, the one +footman at the door told me Madame Grévy was un peu souffrante, would +see me up-stairs. I went up a side staircase, rather dark, preceded by +the footman, who ushered me into Madame Grévy's bedroom. It looked +perfectly uncomfortable--was large, with very high ceilings, stiff gilt +furniture standing against the wall, and the heat something awful,--a +blazing fire in the chimney. Madame Grévy was sitting in an armchair, +near the fire, a grey shawl on her shoulders and a lace fichu on her +head. It was curiously unlike the bedroom I had just left. I had been to +see a friend, who was also souffrante. She was lying under a lace +coverlet lined with pink silk, lace, and embroidered cushions all +around her, flowers, pink lamp-shades, silver flacons, everything most +luxurious and modern. The contrast was striking. Madame Grévy was very +civil, and talkative,--said she was very tired. The big dinners and late +hours she found very fatiguing. She quite understood that I was glad to +get away, but didn't think it was very prudent to travel in such +bitterly cold weather--and Rome was very far, and wasn't I afraid of +fever? I told her I was an old Roman--had lived there for years, knew +the climate well, and didn't think it was worse than any other. She said +the President had had a visit from W. and a very long talk with him, and +that he regretted his departure very much, but that he didn't think +"Monsieur Waddington was au fond de son sac." Grévy was always a good +friend to W.--on one or two occasions, when there was a sort of cabal +against him, Grévy took his part very warmly--and in all questions of +home policy and persons W. found him a very keen, shrewd +observer--though he said very little--rarely expressed an opinion. I +didn't make a very long visit--found my way down-stairs as well as I +could--no servant was visible either on the stairs or in the hall, and +my own footman opened the big doors and let me out. We got off the first +days of February--as, up to the last moment, W. had people to see. We +went for two or three days to Bourneville--I had one or two very cold +tramps in the woods (very dry) which is quite unusual at this time of +the year, but the earth was frozen hard. Inside the woods we were well +sheltered, but when we came out on the plain the cold and icy wind was +awful. The workmen had made fires to burn the roots and rotten wood, and +we were very glad to stop and warm ourselves. Some had their children +with them, who looked half perished with cold, always insufficiently +clad, but they were quite happy roasting potatoes in the ashes. I was so +cold that I tied a woollen scarf around my head, just as the women in +Canada do when they go sleighing or skating. + +We had a breakfast one day for some of W.'s influential men in the +country, who were much disgusted at the turn affairs had taken and that +W. could no longer remain minister, but they were very fairly au courant +of all that was going on in Parliament, and quite understood that for +the moment the moderate, experienced men had no chance. The young +Republic must have its fling. Has the country learned much or gained +much in its forty years of Republic? + + + + +INDEX + + +Adams, Sir Francis, school friend of + M. Waddington +Aisne, deputies and senators of Department + of the +Alexander of Battenberg, Prince +Alexander of Russia, Grand Duke + (Emperor Alexander III), interview + with +Alexandra, Queen +Ambassadors, treatment of, in Russia +Americans, violation of rules of court + etiquette by; good-natured tolerance + of, in European circles; + Lord Lyons's opinion of women + of +Andrassy, Count, at Berlin Congress; + personality of +André, Alfred +Annamites as dinner guests +Aosta, Due d', in Paris at opening of + exposition; author's impressions of +Arab horses presented to M. Waddington +Arco, Count +Arnim, Count, German ambassador + in Paris; succeeded by Prince + Hohenlohe +Aumale, Duc d', president of Bazaine + court-martial; at ball at + British embassy +Austria, description of Empress of, + when in Paris; stiffness of court + etiquette in + + +Baden, Grand Duchess of, M. Waddington's + meeting with +Bazaine, Marshal, court-martial of +Beaconsfield, Lord, at Berlin Congress +Bear as a pet at German embassy +Begging letters received by persons in + public life +Berlin Congress, the; French + plenipotentiaries named to the; + M. Waddington's account of doings at +Berlin Treaty, signing of +Bernhardt, Sarah +Beust, Comte de, as a musician +Bismarck, Count Herbert, story of + telegram from; welcomes M. + Waddington to Berlin +Bismarck, Countess Marie +Bismarck, Prince, account of, at Berlin + Congress; anxiety of, + over French advance in radicalism; + suspicions of sincerity + of, in anxiety for France; + surprise of, over speedy payment of + war indemnity by France +Bismarck, Princess, M. Waddington's + account of +Blowitz, M. de, present during meeting + of Berlin Congress; + M. Waddington's distrust of; + Prince Hohenlohe's high opinion of; + at Madame de Freycinet's +Borel, General +Bourneville, days at; a winter + house-party at; a winter + visit to +Breakfasts, political +Bridge, remarks on +Broglie, Duc de, cabinet of; unpopularity + of; break-up of + cabinet +Brown, John, retainer of Queen Victoria +Bunsen, George de +Bunsen family + + +Canrobert, Marshal +Capel, Monsignor +Cardinals, incidents attending naming of +Carnot, M. Sadi +Carnot, Madame +Carvalho, Madame +Casimir Périer, dislike of, for office of + president; mentioned; + story of Madame Carnot and +Cataldi, Monsignor +Catholics, views of, concerning Protestants +Chanzy, General, appointed ambassador to Russia +Châteaux in France +Children + interest of Frenchwomen in + good treatment of, by French of all classes +Chinese ambassador, experience at dinner with +Cialdini, General, Italian ambassador in Paris +Clarence, Duke of, love affair of, with Catholic princess +Comédie Française, finished style of artists of the +Compiègne, a scene at, during the Empire +Conciergerie + Mr. Gladstone at the + interest of American visitors in the +Conservatoire, + Sunday afternoon concerts at the + marriages made at the + change effected in dress of chorus of the + Monsignor Czascki at the +Convent of the Soeurs Augustines in the rue de la Santé +Corti + Italian plenipotentiary to Congress of Berlin + feeling of, over establishment of Tunisian protectorate by France +Costumes, national, seen in Paris during exposition year +Country people + lack of interest of French, in form of government + attitude of, in election of 1877 + enthusiasm of, aroused over Republic +Croizette, Théâtre Français artist +Cyprus, cession of, to England +Czascki, Monsignor, papal nunzio + + +Deauville, a vacation at +Décazes, Duc + appointed to Foreign Office + advice on social etiquette from + Duc de Broglie contrasted with +Denmark, Crown Prince of + in Paris during exposition + at ball at British embassy + at ball at the Quai d'Orsay +Desprey, Monseigneur, created a Cardinal +Desprey, M. + a plenipotentiary of France at Berlin Congress + quoted on treatment of ambassadors in Russia + named ambassador to Rome +Diplomatists + antagonistic attitude of, toward the Republic + anomalous and mistaken behaviour of + superficiality of majority of +Dufaure, M. + appointed Président du Conseil + now cabinet formed by +Dufferin, Lord + + +Election of 1877 +Elysée, ceremonies attending naming of Cardinals at +English, Monsignor +English visitors to Paris in 1879 +Eugénie, Empress + at Compiègne + description of, and reminiscences concerning +Exposition Universelle of 1878 + closing of + good moral effect of + + +Fan, an autographed, as souvenir of Berlin Congress +Farmers, + usual indifference of French, to form of government + enthusiasm of, over the Republic +Ferry, Jules +Fitz-Maurice, Lord Edmond +France, astonishing rapidity of recovery of, after Franco-Prussian War +Frederick-Charles, Prince +French people + self-centred attitude of + conventions in dress of girls + interest of women in their children + lack of regard for, on part of Northern races + defence of fine qualities of + difficulties of interpreting conversation, + cramped lives of middle-class women + religious question among +Freycinet, M. de + appointed Minister of Public Works + ability displayed by, as a Republican statesman + excellent qualities of + succeeds M. Waddington as premier + official changes made by +Freycinet, Madame de + author's visit to, at Quai d'Orsay + + +Gambetta, Léon, + manners and appearance of + force of oratory of, in campaign of 1877 + mentioned + appreciation by, of value of Tunisian protectorate + comparison of Grévy and +General amnesty, discussion of the. +Germans, want of tact characteristic; + position of women among; + advance in comfort and elegance among. +Germany, feeling in, over radicalism in France, +Gérôme, J. L., as a table companion. +Gladstones, visits from the. +Glynn, Admiral, school friend of M. + Waddington. +Gortschakoff, Prince, quoted on death of Thiers; + at Berlin Congress; + a diplomatist of the old-fashioned type. +Grand Opera in Paris. +Grange, Chateau de la, home of Lafayette. +Grant, President and Mrs., in Paris. +Greek national dress. +Grévy, election of, to presidency; + good figure cut by, in society; + hats bestowed upon two Cardinals by; + disappointment of, in the Republic; + rivalry between Gambetta and; + Queen Victoria's meeting with; + feelings of regard for one another held by M. Waddington and, +Grévy, Madame; + unknown to society upon husband's election to presidency; + first reception held by; + question of necessity of presence of, at the Elysée; + receptions held by; + author's last visit to; +Grévy, Mademoiselle, at Prince Hohenlohe's reception. + + +Halanzier, director of the Grand Opera. +Hatzfeldt, Count, story of Liszt and; + personal charm of, +Hélène d'Orléans, Princess, love affair + of Duke of Clarence and. +Hoare, Sir Henry. +Hohenlohe, Prince, German ambassador to France; + pleasant manners of; + at Berlin Congress; + reception given to President Grévy by; + reports by, concerning feeling in Germany + over French radicalism. +Hohenlohe, Princess, striking personality of; + at Madame Grévy's first reception. +Holland, Lady. +Holland House, London, 236. +Hôtel de Ville, ball at the, in 1878. +Houghton, Lord. +Humbert, King. + + +Ignatieff, General. +Isabella, Queen, at Marshal de MacMahon's reception; + Description of, and account of audience given author by; + Dinner given Marshal and Madame de MacMahon by. +Italians, author's doubts concerning. + + +Japanese, reported intelligence of. +Jockey Club, Paris, political talk at the. + + +Karolyi, at Berlin Congress. +Kellogg, Clara Louise, with the Waddingtons. +King, General Rufus. +Kruft, chef du matériel at Quai d'Orsay. + + +Lafayette, Marquis de, interest of + American visitors in things relating to. +Lasteyrie, Count de. +Layard, Sir Henry. +Leo XIII, election of. +Liszt, meetings with, and stories of. +Longchamp, review of Paris garrison at. +Lord Mayor of London at the Grand Opera, Paris. +Louis Philippe, memories of. +Lutteroth, M., uncle of M. Waddington; + information concerning Royalist circles from; + interesting friends of. +Luxembourg, Palace of the; + gardens of the. +Lyons, Lord, lesson in diplomatic politeness from; + ball given by, during exposition year; + at Madame Grévy's first reception; + memories of Washington ministry by. + + +MacMahon, Fabrice de. +MacMahon, Marshal de, President of French Republic; + at the Longchamp review; + receptions of, at Versailles; + attitude of, toward cabinet of 1876; + official dinner given by, to diplomatic corps + and the Government; + dismissal of cabinet by (May 16,1877); + dislike of, for the Republic and the Republicans; + official receptions and dinners of; + Mrs. Grant and; + visits M. Waddington at Deauville; + dislike of, for office of president; + preference of, for his military title; + fete given by, at Versailles during exposition year; + resignation of; + delight at resumption of private life. +MacMahon, Maréchale de, description of visit to; + visit to Madame Waddington from, upon dismissal of cabinet; + chilly attitude of, toward things Republican. +Madeleine, service at the, for King Victor Emmanuel. +Marguerite de Nemours, Princesse, author's visit to. +Marquis, anecdotes of a dictatorial. +Marriages, made at the Conservatoire or the Opéra Comique; + Favourable criticism of arranged. +Martin, Henri, senator of the Aisne. +Mathilde, Princesse, meeting with; + salon of. +Mendes Leal, Portuguese minister. +Molins, Marquise, Spanish ambassadress. +Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs. +Mommsen, Theodor. +Morny, Duc de, a founder of Deauville; + famous entertainments of. +Morocco, mission from. +Murat, Princess Anna (Duchesse de Mouchy). + + +Napoleon III, Emperor, at Compiègne, +Napoleon's tomb, interest of American visitors in. +National Assembly, description of sittings of. +New Year's day reception at the President's. +Ney, Marshal, execution of, recalled. +Nuns, the life of. + + +Oliffe, Sir Joseph, a founder of Deauville. +Opera Comique, making of marriages at the; + artists of the. +Opposition leader, joys of position of, +Orléans, Due d', at Countess de Ségur's salon, +Orléans family, members of, at official + reception given by the Waddingtons; + members of, at Lord Lyons's ball. +Orloff, Prince, Russian ambassador; + attractive personality of; + at Prince Hohenlohe's reception to President Grévy, + + +Paris, reasons against holding of Parliament in; + gaiety of, during exposition; + return of the Parliament to. +Pedro de Bragance, Emperor of Brazil. +Pie, Monsignor, created a Cardinal, +Piémont, Prince and Princesse de. +Pius IX, death of and funeral observances. +Poles, author's lack of confidence in. +Pontécoulant, Comte de, chef de cabinet + under M. Waddington. +Pothnau, Admiral, appointed ambassador to Great Britain; + Annoyance of, over offer of London embassy to M. Waddington. +Protestants, views of, held by Catholics; + isolated position of the French. + + +Quai d'Orsay, description of house of Foreign Minister at the; + removal of Waddingtons to; + receiving and entertaining at; + large ball given at; + English visitors at; + view from, on cold winter nights; + departure from; + formal visit to Madame de Freycinet at. +Quartier Latin, the modern. + + +Reay, Lord and Lady. +Receptions, customs at official. +Renan, Ernst, description of. +Renault, Léon, préfet de police. +Republic, strength of feeling against the, in Paris "society;" + enthusiasm of farmers over the; + disappointment of statesmen +in the; moderation of + feeling in society circles toward the, at present time. +Republicans, proposed uprising of (1877); + work of, in election of 1877; + victory of. +Reviews at Longchamp. +Rome, early social life in; + Account of reception in, where royalties were present. +Roumanian woman's dress. +Royalties, first social encounters with; + present at opening ceremony of exposition; + experiences with, at ball given by Lord Lyons + at British embassy; + risks run by, at fête at Versailles; + present at the Waddingtons' ball at Quai d'Orsay. +Rudolph, Archduke, crown prince of Austria. +Russia, sadness of people of; + Distance between princes and ordinary mortals in; + pains taken to give ambassadors a pleasant impression of. + + +St. Vallier, Count de; + Senator of the Aisne; + Plenipotentiary to Berlin Congress; + ambassador to Germany; + reports brought from Germany by. +Salisbury, Lord, at Berlin Congress. +Salon réservé, passing of the. +Salons, political. +Sartiges, Comte and Comtesse de. +Sartiges, Vicomte de. +Say, Léon, as a speaker in the National Assembly; + Minister of Finance; + attitude of, toward French protectorate of Tunis. +Say, Madame. +Schouvaloff, Count; + at Berlin Congress. +Ségur, Countess de, political salon of. +Seine, freezing of the. +Shah of Persia, experiences with the. +Shooting expeditions. +Shops, trading at small. +Sibbern, Swedish minister. +Simon, Jules, dismissal of cabinet of. +Singing, comments on French. +Skating experiences in Paris in 1879. +Soeurs Augustines, Convent and Hospital of the. +Sullivan, Arthur, in Paris. + + +Théâtre Français, nights at the. +Thiers, M; + superseded as President of Republic by MacMahon; + receptions at house of; + comment of Prince Gortschakoff upon; + condition in 1877 and sudden death of. +Thiers, Madame. +Thorndike, Miss (Comtesse de Sartiges). +Tiffany, success of, with French, at exposition of 1878. +Travelling, a Frenchwoman's views of. +Troubetskoi, Princess Lize. +Trouville, vogue of, as a watering-place. +Tunis, French protectorate of, arranged by M. Waddington. + + +Versailles, meetings of National Assembly at; + terraces and gardens at; + Marshal de MacMahon's receptions at; + compared with Paris as a meetingplace of Assembly; + badly managed fête given by Marshal de MacMahon at; + removal of Parliament to Paris from. +Victor Emmanuel, death of, and service at the Madeleine for. +Victoria, Princess, charming character of; + strong English proclivities of. +Victoria, Queen, M. Waddington received by, in Paris; + prestige of, in France; + expresses approval of M. Waddington. +Vienna, stiffness of court at. +Vogtio, Marquis de, a visit from, at Deauville. + + +Waddington, Francis, son of Madame Waddington. +Waddington, Richard, senator of the Seine Inférieure; + family life at country home of; + early career of; + story of the Prince of Wales and. +Waddington, Madame Richard. +Waddington, William, marriage of Madame Waddington and; + Deputy to National Assembly from Department of the Aisne; + brief term as Minister of Public Instruction; + method of speaking in National Assembly; + criticisms of, by opposition newspapers; + second appointment as Minister of Public Instruction (1876); + life of, as minister; + dismissal of, from the ministry; + fears of arrest of; + attitude toward proposed Republican uprising; + electoral campaign of; + elected senator in 1877; + named to the Foreign Office in new cabinet formed by Dufaure; + life of, as Foreign Minister; + named plenipotentiary to Berlin Congress; + activities of, at the Congress; + French protectorate of Tunis arranged by; + remains at Foreign Office upon accession of Grévy, + and becomes prime minister; + onerous life of; + reception of, by Queen Victoria; + interview with Grand Duke Alexander of Russia; + determines to quit office; + last days as premier and Foreign Minister; + mild attacks on, by political opponents; + shooting parties at Grévy's and Casimir Périer's; + gives over ministry to Freycinet; + offered the London Embassy, but declines; + President Grévy's regard for. +Waddington, Madame, mother of William Waddington. +Waddington, Madame William, marriage; + early experiences in Paris after Franco-Prussian War; + anecdote of Count Herbert Bismarck's telegram to; + story of early attempt to arrange a marriage for; + at first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction; + first social meetings with royalties; + experience in thanking the artists at reception; + visit of Maréchale de MacMahon to, upon dismissal of cabinet; + feelings on moving into foreign ministry; + trials over reception days; + experience with Chinese ambassador at Marshal de MacMahon's + dinner to General Grant; + audience given to, by Queen Isabella of Spain; + at Lord Lyons's ball, and meeting with Princesse Mathilde; + received by Empress Eugénie; + does not accompany husband to Berlin Congress; + meeting with the Shah of Persia; + in crush at ball at Hôtel de Ville; + exciting adventures at fête at Versailles; + ball given by, at the Quai d'Orsay; + attends Madame Grévy's first reception; + at naming of Cardinals at the Elysée; + conversations of, with Catholic friends; + growing fondness of, for the rive gauche; + skating experiences of; + crosses the Seine on the ice; + visits of farewell received by, upon leaving Quai d'Orsay; + pays formal visit to Madame de Freycinet at Quai d'Orsay; + visit to Madame Grévy; + departure from Paris and short stay at Bourneville. +Wales, Prince of, story of Richard Waddington and; + liking of Parisians for; + Madame Waddington presented to Princesse Mathilde by; + at ball at the Quai d'Orsay. +Washington, D. C., characteristics of; + Lord Lyons's reminiscences of life at; + a French conception of. +William I, Emperor, attempted assassination of. +Winter of 1879, severity and hardships of. +Wittgenstein, Prince. +Women, adaptability of American; + cramped lives of middle-class French; + more uncompromising than men in political views; + ambitions of, for husbands and sons. + + +Zuylen, Baron von, Dutch minister; + as a musician. +Zuylen, Madame von. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My First Years As A Frenchwoman, +1876-1879, by Mary King Waddington + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10003 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..886c05d --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10003 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10003) diff --git a/old/10003-8.txt b/old/10003-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..eb85ceb --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10003-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,6326 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of My First Years As A Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 +by Mary King Waddington + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My First Years As A Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 + +Author: Mary King Waddington + +Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN *** + + + + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr., carlo traverso, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A +FRENCHWOMAN + +[Illustration: Madame Waddington. +From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition, 1878.] + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A +FRENCHWOMAN + +1876-1879 + +BY + +MARY KING WADDINGTON + +ILLUSTRATED + +1914 + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT + II. IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES + III. M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION + IV. THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE + V. A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY + VI. THE EXPOSITION YEAR + VII. THE BERLIN CONGRESS +VIII. GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY + IX. M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER + X. PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS + XI. LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE + +INDEX + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +MADAME WADDINGTON _Frontispiece + From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition_, 1878. + +MONSIEUR THIERS + +MARSHAL MACMAHON + +SITTING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES + +THE FOYER OF THE OPERA + +MEETING OF OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, AND OF +DELEGATES OF THE NEW CHAMBERS, IN THE SALON OF +HERCULES, PALACE OF VERSAILLES + +THEODOR MOMMSEN + +PALACE OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PARIS + +FRANZ LISZT + +WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE + +LORD LYONS + +HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, IN 1876 + +PRINCE HOHENLOHE + +M. WILLIAM WADDINGTON. IN THE UNIFORM HE WORE AS +MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND AT THE BERLIN +CONGRESS, 1878 + +NASR-ED-DIN, SHAH OF PERSIA + +PRINCE BISMARCK + +THE BERLIN CONGRESS + +M. JULES GRÉVY, READING MARSHAL MACMAHON'S LETTER +OF RESIGNATION TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES + +M. JULES GRÉVY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC BY +THE SENATE AND CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES MEETING AS +THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY + +THE ELYSÉE PALACE, PARIS + +HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, ABOUT 1879 + +M. DE FREYCINET + +MME. SADI CARNOT + +PRESIDENT SADI CARNOT + + + + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN + + + + +I + + +WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT + +I was married in Paris in November, 1874, at the French Protestant +Chapel of the rue Taitbout, by Monsieur Bersier, one of the ablest and +most eloquent pastors of the Protestant church. We had just established +ourselves in Paris, after having lived seven years in Rome. We had a +vague idea of going back to America, and Paris seemed a first step in +that direction--was nearer New York than Rome. I knew very little of +France--we had never lived there--merely stayed a few weeks in the +spring and autumn, coming and going from Italy. My husband was a deputy, +named to the National Assembly in Bordeaux in 1871, by his +Department--the Aisne. He had some difficulty in getting to Bordeaux. +Communications and transports were not easy, as the Germans were still +in the country, and, what was more important, he hadn't any +money--couldn't correspond with his banker, in Paris--(he was living in +the country). However, a sufficient amount was found in the country, and +he was able to make his journey. When I married, the Assembly was +sitting at Versailles. Monsieur Thiers, the first President of the +Republic, had been overthrown in May, 1873--Marshal MacMahon named in +his place. W.[1] had had a short ministry (public instruction) under +Monsieur Thiers, but he was so convinced that it would not last that he +never even went to the ministry--saw his directors in his own rooms. I +was plunged at once into absolutely new surroundings. W.'s personal +friends were principally Orleanists and the literary element of +Paris--his colleagues at the Institute. The first houses I was taken to +in Paris were the Ségurs, Remusats, Lasteyries, Casimir Périers, +Gallieras, d'Haussonville, Léon Say, and some of the Protestant +families--Pourtalès, André Bartholdi, Mallet, etc. It was such an +entirely different world from any I had been accustomed to that it took +me some time to feel at home in my new milieu. Political feeling was +very strong--all sorts of fresh, young elements coming to the front. +The Franco-German War was just over--the French very sore and bitter +after their defeat. There was a strong underlying feeling of violent +animosity to the Emperor, who had lost them two of their fairest +provinces, and a passionate desire for the revanche. The feeling was +very bitter between the two branches of the Royalist party, Legitimists +and Orleanists. One night at a party in the Faubourg St. Germain, I saw +a well-known fashionable woman of the extreme Legitimist party turn her +back on the Comtesse de Paris. The receptions and visits were not always +easy nor pleasant, even though I was a stranger and had no ties with any +former government. I remember one of my first visits to a well-known +Legitimist countess in the Faubourg St. Germain; I went on her reception +day, a thing all young women are most particular about in Paris. I found +her with a circle of ladies sitting around her, none of whom I knew. +They were all very civil, only I was astonished at the way the mistress +of the house mentioned my name every time she spoke to me: "Madame +Waddington, êtes-vous allée à l'Opéra hier soir," "Madame Waddington, +vous montez à cheval tous les matins, je crois," "Monsieur Waddington va +tous les vendredis à l'Institut, il me semble," etc. I was rather +surprised and said to W. when I got home, "How curious it is, that way +of saying one's name all the time; I suppose it is an old-fashioned +French custom. Madame de B. must have said 'Waddington' twenty times +during my rather short visit." He was much amused. "Don't you know why? +So that all the people might know who you were and not say awful things +about the 'infecte gouvernement' and the Republic, 'which no gentleman +could serve.'" + +[Footnote 1: "W.," here and throughout this book, refers to Madame +Waddington's husband, M. William Waddington.] + +[Illustration: Monsieur Theirs.] + +The position of the German Embassy in Paris was very difficult, and +unfortunately their first ambassador after the war, Count Arnim, didn't +understand (perhaps didn't care to) how difficult it was for a +high-spirited nation, which until then had always ranked as a great +military power, to accept her humiliation and be just to the victorious +adversary. Arnim was an unfortunate appointment--not at all the man for +such a delicate situation. We had known him in Rome in the old days of +Pio Nono's reign, where he had a great position as Prussian minister to +the Vatican. He and the Countess Arnim received a great deal, and their +beautiful rooms in the Palazzo Caffarelli, on the top of the Capitol +Hill (the two great statues of Castor and Pollux standing by their +horses looking as if they were guarding the entrance) were a brilliant +centre for all the Roman and diplomatic world. He was a thorough man of +the world, could make himself charming when he chose, but he never had a +pleasant manner, was curt, arrogant, with a very strong sense of his own +superiority. From the first moment he came to Paris as ambassador, he +put people's backs up. They never liked him, never trusted him; whenever +he had an unpleasant communication to make, he exaggerated the +unpleasantness, never attenuated, and there is so much in the way things +are said. The French were very hard upon him when he got into trouble, +and certainly his own Government was merciless to him. + +One of my first small difficulties after becoming a Frenchwoman was to +eliminate some of my German friends from my salon. I could not run the +risk of their being treated rudely. I remember so well one night at +home, before I was married, seeing two French officers not in uniform +slip quietly out of the room when one of the German Embassy came in, yet +ours was a neutral house. When my engagement was announced one of my +great friends at the German Embassy (Count Arco) said to me: "This is +the end, I suppose, of our friendship; I can never go to see you when +you are the wife of a French deputy." "Oh, yes, you can still come; not +quite so often, perhaps, but I can't give up my friends." However, we +drifted apart without knowing why exactly. It is curious how long that +hostile feeling toward Germany has lasted in France. + +Every year there is a great review of the Paris garrison (thirty +thousand men) by the President of the Republic, at Longchamp, on the +14th of July, the national fête--the day of the storming of the Bastile. +It is a great day in Paris--one of the sights of the year--and falling +in midsummer the day is generally beautiful and very warm. From early +dawn all the chairs and benches along the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne are +crowded with people waiting patiently for hours to see the show. There +is not a seat to be had at Longchamp. Unless one arrives very early the +tribunes are packed, and the President's box very crowded, as he invites +the diplomatic corps and the ministers and their wives on that day. The +troops are always received with much enthusiasm, particularly the +artillery, dragging their light field-pieces and passing at a +gallop--also the battalion of St. Cyr, the great French military school. +The final charge of the cavalry is very fine. Masses of riders come +thundering over the plain, the general commanding in front, stopping +suddenly as if moved by machinery, just opposite the President's box. +I went very regularly as long as W. was in office, and always enjoyed my +day. There was an excellent buffet in the salon behind the box, and it +was pleasant to have a cup of tea and rest one's eyes while the long +columns of infantry were passing--the regular, continuous movement was +fatiguing. All the ambassadors and foreigners were very keen about the +review, paying great attention to the size of the men and horses and +their general equipment. As long as Marshal MacMahon was President of +the Republic, he always rode home after the review down the +Champs-Elysées--in full uniform, with a brilliant staff of foreign +officers and military attachés. It was a pretty sight and attracted +great attention. Some of the foreign uniforms are very striking and the +French love a military show. + +[Illustration: Marshal MacMahon.] + +For many years after the war the German military attaché returned from +the review unobserved in a _shut_ carriage, couldn't run the risk of an +angry or insulting word from some one in the crowd, and still later, +fifteen years after the war, when W. was ambassador in England, I was +godmother of the daughter of a German-English cousin living in London. +The godfather was Count Herbert Bismarck, son of the famous chancellor. +At the time of the christening I was in France, staying with some +friends in the country. The son of the house had been through the war, +had distinguished himself very much, and they were still very sore over +their reverses and the necessity of submitting to all the little +pin-pricks which came at intervals from Germany. Bismarck sent me a +telegram regretting the absence of the godmother from the ceremony. It +was brought to me just after breakfast, while we were having our coffee. +I opened it and read it out, explaining that it was from Bismarck to +express his regret for my absence. There was a dead silence, and then +the mistress of the house said to me: "C'est très désagréable pour vous, +chère amie, cette association avec Bismarck." + +I didn't see much of W. in the daytime. We usually rode in the morning +in the Bois and immediately after breakfast he started for Versailles in +the parliamentary train. Dinner was always a doubtful meal. Sometimes he +came home very late for nine-o'clock dinner; sometimes he dined at +Versailles and only got home at ten or eleven if the sitting was stormy. +The Hotel des Reservoirs did a flourishing business as long as the +Chambers sat at Versailles. When we were dining out it was very +disagreeable, particularly the first winter when I didn't know many +people. I remember one dinner at the Countess Duchatel's where I went +alone; we were ten women and five men. All the rest were deputies, who +had telegraphed at the last moment they would not come, were kept at +Versailles by an important question. + +One of the most interesting things I saw in 1873, just before my +marriage, was the court-martial of Marshal Bazaine for treachery at +Metz--giving up his army and the city without any attempt to break +through the enemy's lines, or in fact any resistance of any kind. The +court was held at the Grand Trianon, Versailles, a place so associated +with a pleasure-loving court, and the fanciful devices of a gay young +queen, that it was difficult to realise the drama that was being +enacted, when the honour of a Marshal of France--almost an army of +France, was to be judged. It was an impressive scene, the hall packed, +and people at all the doors and entrances clamouring for seats. The +public was curious, a little of everything--members of the National +Assembly, officers all in uniform, pretty women of all categories--the +group of journalists with keen eager faces watching every change of +expression of the marshal's face--some well-known faces, wives of +members or leading political and literary men, a fair amount of the +frailer sisterhood, actresses and demi-mondaines, making a great effect +of waving plumes and diamonds. The court was presided over by the Duc +d'Aumale, who accepted the office after much hesitation. He was a fine, +soldierly figure as he came in, in full uniform, a group of officers +behind him, all with stern, set faces. The impression of the public was +generally hostile to the marshal; one felt it all through the trial. He +was dressed in full uniform, with the grand cordon of the Legion of +Honour. It was melancholy to hear the report of his career when it was +read by his counsel,--long years of active service, many wounds, often +mentioned for brave conduct under fire, having the "Médaille +Militaire"--the grand cordon of the Legion d'Honneur, the baton de +Maréchal de France,--all the honours his country could give him--to end +so miserably, judged not only by the court but by the country, as a +traitor, false to his trust, when his country was in the death-throes of +defeat and humiliation. His attitude at the trial was curious. He sat +very still in his armchair, looking straight before him, only raising +his head and looking at the Duc d'Aumale when some grave accusation was +made against him. His explanation brought the famous reply from the duc, +when he said it was impossible to act or to treat; there was nothing +left in France--no government, no orders--nothing. The due answered: +"Il y avait toujours la France." He didn't look overwhelmed, rather like +some one who was detached from the whole proceedings. I saw his face +quite well; it was neither false nor weak--ordinary. It is difficult to +believe that a French general with a brilliant record behind him should +have been guilty of such treachery, sacrificing his men and his honour. +His friends (they were not many) say he lost his head, was nearly crazy +with the utterly unforeseen defeat of the French, but even a moment of +insanity would hardly account for such extraordinary weakness. W. and +some of his friends were discussing it in the train coming home. They +were all convinced of his guilt, had no doubt as to what the sentence of +the court would be--death and degradation--but thought that physical +fatigue and great depression must have caused a general breakdown. The +end every one knows. He was condemned to be shot and degraded. The first +part of the sentence was cancelled on account of his former services, +but he was degraded, imprisoned, escaped, and finished his life in Spain +in poverty and obscurity, deserted by all his friends and his wife. It +was a melancholy rentrée for the Duc d'Aumale. His thoughts must have +gone back to the far-off days when the gallant young officer, fils de +France, won his first military glory in Algiers, and thought the world +was at his feet. His brilliant exploit, capturing the Smala of +Abd-el-Kader, has been immortalised by Vernet in the great historical +picture that one sees at Versailles. There are always artists copying +parts of it, particularly one group, where a lovely, fair-haired woman +is falling out of a litter backward. Even now, when one thinks of the +King Louis Philippe, with all his tall, strong, young sons (there is a +well-known picture of the King on horseback with all his sons around +him--splendid specimens of young manhood), it seems incredible that they +are not still ruling and reigning at the Tuileries. I wonder if things +would have been very different if Louis Philippe and his family had not +walked out of the Tuileries that day! + +I often asked W. in what way France had gained by being a republic. I +personally was quite impartial, being born an American and never having +lived in France until after the Franco-Prussian War. I had no particular +ties nor traditions, had no grandfather killed on the scaffold, nor +frozen to death in the retreat of "La Grande Armée" from Moscow. They +always told me a republic was in the air--young talents and energy must +come to the front--the people must have a voice in the government. I +think the average Frenchman is intelligent, but I don't think the vote +of the man in the street can have as much value as that of a man who has +had not only a good education but who has been accustomed always to hear +certain principles of law and order held up as rules for the guidance of +his own life as well as other people's. Certainly universal suffrage was +a most unfortunate measure to take from America and apply to France, but +it has been taken and now must stay. I have often heard political men +who deplored and condemned the law say that no minister would dare to +propose a change. + +I went often to the Chamber in the spring--used to drive out and bring +W. home. Versailles was very animated and interesting during all that +time, so many people always about. Quite a number of women followed the +debates. One met plenty of people one knew in the streets, at the +Patissiers, or at some of the bric-à-brac shops, where there were still +bargains to be found in very old furniture, prints, and china. There is +a large garrison. There were always officers riding, squads of soldiers +moving about, bugle-calls in all directions, and continuous arrivals at +the station of deputies and journalists hurrying to the palace, their +black portfolios under their arms. The palace was cold. There was a fine +draught at the entrance and the big stone staircase was always cold, +even in June, but the assembly-room was warm enough and always crowded. +It was rather difficult to get seats. People were so interested in those +first debates after the war, when everything had to be reorganised and +so much of the past was being swept away. + + + + +II + + +IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES + +The sittings of the assembly were very interesting in that wonderful +year when everything was being discussed. All public interest of course +was centred in Versailles, where the National Assembly was trying to +establish some sort of stable government. There were endless discussions +and speeches and very violent language in the Chambers. Gambetta made +some bitter attacks on the Royalists, accusing them of mauvaise foi and +want of patriotism. The Bonapartist leaders tried to persuade themselves +and their friends that they still had a hold on the country and that a +plébiscite would bring back in triumph their prince. The Legitimists, +hoping against hope that the Comte de Chambord would still be the +saviour of the country, made passionate appeals to the old feeling of +loyalty in the nation, and the centre droit, representing the +Orleanists, nervous, hesitating, knowing the position perfectly, +ardently desiring a constitutional monarchy, but feeling that it was +not possible at that moment, yet unwilling to commit themselves to a +final declaration of the Republic, which would make a Royalist +restoration impossible. All the Left confident, determined. + +The Republic was voted on the 30th of January, 1875, by a majority of +one vote, if majority it could be called, but the great step had been +taken, and the struggle began instantly between the moderate +conservative Republicans and the more advanced Left. W. came home late +that day. Some of his friends came in after dinner and the talk was most +interesting. I was so new to it all that most of the names of the rank +and file were unknown to me, and the appreciations of the votes and the +anecdotes and side-lights on the voters said nothing to me. Looking back +after all these years, it seems to me that the moderate Royalists +(centre droit) threw away a splendid chance. They could not stop the +Republican wave (nothing could) but they might have controlled it and +directed it instead of standing aloof and throwing the power into the +hands of the Left. We heard the well-known sayings very often those +days: "La République sera conservatrice ou elle ne sera pas" and "La +République sans Républicains," attributed to M. Thiers and Marshal +MacMahon. The National Assembly struggled on to the end of the year, +making a constitution, a parliament with two houses, senate and chamber +of deputies, with many discussions and contradictions, and hopes and +illusions. + +[Illustration: Sitting of the National Assembly at the palace of +Versailles. From _l'Illustration_, March 11, 1876] + +I went often to Versailles, driving out when the weather was fine. I +liked the stormy sittings best. Some orator would say something that +displeased the public, and in a moment there would be the greatest +uproar, protestations and accusations from all sides, some of the +extreme Left getting up, gesticulating wildly, and shaking their fists +at the speaker--the Right, generally calm and sarcastic, requesting the +speaker to repeat his monstrous statements--the huissiers dressed in +black with silver chains, walking up and down in front of the tribune, +calling out at intervals: "Silence, messieurs, s'il vous plaît,"--the +President ringing his bell violently to call the house to order, and +nobody paying the slightest attention,--the orator sometimes standing +quite still with folded arms waiting until the storm should abate, +sometimes dominating the hall and hurling abuse at his adversaries. W. +was always perfectly quiet; his voice was low, not very strong, and he +could not speak if there were an uproar. When he was interrupted in a +speech he used to stand perfectly still with folded arms, waiting for a +few minutes' silence. The deputies would call out: "Allez! allez!" +interspersed with a few lively criticisms on what he was saying to them; +he was perfectly unmoved, merely replied: "I will go on with pleasure as +soon as you will be quiet enough for me to be heard." Frenchmen +generally have such a wonderful facility of speech, and such a pitiless +logic in discussing a question, that the debates were often very +interesting. The public was interesting too. A great many women of all +classes followed the sittings--several Egerias (not generally in their +first youth) of well-known political men sitting prominently in the +President's box, or in the front row of the journalists' box, following +the discussions with great interest and sending down little slips of +paper to their friends below--members' wives and friends who enjoyed +spending an hour or two listening to the speeches--newspaper +correspondents, literary ladies, diplomatists. It was very difficult to +get places, particularly when some well-known orators were announced to +speak upon an important question. We didn't always know beforehand, and +I remember some dull afternoons with one or two members making long +speeches about purely local matters, which didn't interest any one. We +looked down upon an almost empty hall on those occasions. A great many +of the members had gone out and were talking in the lobbies; those who +remained were talking in groups, writing letters, walking about the +hall, quite unconscious apparently of the speaker at the tribune. I +couldn't understand how the man could go on talking to empty benches, +but W. told me he was quite indifferent to the attention of his +colleagues,--his speech was for his electors and would appear the next +day in the _Journal Officiel_. I remember one man talked for hours about +"allumettes chimiques." + +Léon Say was a delightful speaker, so easy, always finding exactly the +word he wanted. It hardly seemed a speech when he was at the tribune, +more like a causerie, though he told very plain truths sometimes to the +peuple souverain. He was essentially French, or rather Parisian, knew +everybody, and was au courant of all that went on politically and +socially, and had a certain blague, that eminently French quality which +is very difficult to explain. He was a hard worker, and told me once +that what rested him most after a long day was to go to a small +boulevard theatre or to read a rather lively yellowbacked novel. + +I never heard Gambetta speak, which I always regretted--in fact knew +very little of him. He was not a ladies' man, though he had some devoted +women friends, and was always surrounded by a circle of political men +whenever he appeared in public. (In all French parties, immediately +after dinner, the men all congregate together to talk to each +other,--never to the women,--so unless you happen to find yourself +seated next to some well-known man, you never really have a chance of +talking to him.) Gambetta didn't go out much, and as by some curious +chance he was never next to me at dinner, I never had any opportunity of +talking to him. He was not one of W.'s friends, nor an habitué of the +house. His appearance was against him--dark, heavy-looking, with an +enormous head. + +When I had had enough of the speeches and the bad atmosphere, I used to +wander about the terraces and gardens. How many beautiful sunsets I have +seen from the top of the terrace or else standing on the three famous +pink marble steps (so well known to all lovers of poetry through Alfred +de Musset's beautiful verses, "Trois Marches Roses"), seeing in +imagination all the brilliant crowd of courtiers and fair women that +used to people those wonderful gardens in the old days of Versailles! I +went sometimes to the "Reservoirs" for a cup of tea, and very often +found other women who had also driven out to get their husbands. We +occasionally brought back friends who preferred the quiet cool drive +through the Park of St. Cloud to the crowd and dust of the railway. The +Count de St. Vallier (who was not yet senator, but deeply interested in +politics) was frequently at Versailles and came back with us often. He +was a charming, easy talker. I never tired of hearing about the +brilliant days of the last Empire, and the fêtes at the Tuileries, +Compiègne, and St. Cloud. He had been a great deal at the court of +Napoleon III, had seen many interesting people of all kinds, and had a +wonderful memory. He must have had an inner sense or presentiment of +some kind about the future, for I have heard him say often in speaking +of the old days and the glories of the Empire, when everything seemed so +prosperous and brilliant, that he used often to ask himself if it could +be real--Were the foundations as solid as they seemed! He had been a +diplomatist, was in Germany at the time of the Franco-German War, and +like so many of his colleagues scattered over Germany, was quite aware +of the growing hostile feeling in Germany to France and also of +Bismarck's aims and ambitions. He (like so many others) wrote repeated +letters and warnings to the French Foreign Office, which apparently had +no effect. One heard afterward that several letters of that description +from French diplomatists in Germany were found unopened in a drawer at +the ministry. + +It was rather sad, as we drove through the stately alleys of the Park of +St. Cloud, with the setting sun shining through the fine old trees, to +hear of all the fêtes that used to take place there,--and one could +quite well fancy the beautiful Empress appearing at the end of one of +the long avenues, followed by a brilliant suite of ladies and +écuyers,--and the echoes of the cor de chasse in the distance. The +alleys are always there, and fairly well kept, but very few people or +carriages pass. The park is deserted. I don't think the cor de chasse +would awaken an echo or a regret even, so entirely has the Empire and +its glories become a thing of the past. A rendezvous de chasse was a +very pretty sight. + +We went once to Compiègne before I was married, about three years before +the war. We went out and breakfasted at Compiègne with a great friend of +ours, M. de St. M., a chamberlain or equerry of the Emperor. We +breakfasted in a funny old-fashioned little hotel (with a very good +cuisine) and drove in a big open break to the forest. There were a great +many people riding, driving, and walking, officers of the garrison in +uniform, members of the hunt in green and gold, and a fair sprinkling of +red coats. The Empress looked charming, dressed always in the uniform of +the hunt, green with gold braid, and a tricorne on her head,--all her +ladies with the same dress, which was very becoming. One of the most +striking-looking of her ladies was the Princess Anna Murat, the present +Duchesse de Mouchy, who looked very handsome in the tricorne and +beautifully fitting habit. I didn't see the Empress on her horse, as we +lost sight of them very soon. She and her ladies arrived on the field in +an open break. I saw the Emperor quite distinctly as he rode up and gave +some orders. He was very well mounted (there were some beautiful horses) +but stooped slightly, and had rather a sad face. I never saw him again, +and the Empress only long years after at Cowes, when everything had gone +out of her life. + +The President, Marshal MacMahon, was living at the Préfecture at +Versailles and received every Thursday evening. We went there several +times--it was my first introduction to the official world. The first two +or three times we drove out, but it was long (quite an hour and a +quarter) over bad roads--a good deal of pavement. One didn't care to +drive through the Park of St. Cloud at night--it was very lonely and +dark. We should have been quite helpless if we had fallen upon any +enterprising tramps, who could easily have stopped the carriage and +helped themselves to any money or jewels they could lay their hands on. +One evening the Seine had overflowed and we were obliged to walk a long +distance--all around Sèvres--and got to Versailles very late and quite +exhausted with the jolting and general discomfort. After that we went +out by train--which put us at the Préfecture at ten o'clock. It wasn't +very convenient as there was a great rush for carriages when we arrived +at Versailles, still everybody did it. We generally wore black or dark +dresses with a lace veil tied over our heads, and of course only went +when it was fine. The evening was pleasant enough--one saw all the +political men, the marshal's personal friends of the droite went to him +in the first days of his presidency,--(they rather fell off later)--the +Government and Republicans naturally and all the diplomatic corps. There +were not many women, as it really was rather an effort to put one's self +into a low-necked dress and start off directly after dinner to the Gare +St. Lazare, and have rather a rush for places. We were always late, and +just had time to scramble into the last carriage. + +I felt very strange--an outsider--all the first months, but my husband's +friends were very nice to me and after a certain time I was astonished +to find how much politics interested me. I learned a great deal from +merely listening while the men talked at dinner. I suppose I should have +understood much more if I had read the papers regularly, but I didn't +begin to do that until W. had been minister for some time, and then +worked myself into a nervous fever at all the opposition papers said +about him. However, all told, the attacks were never very vicious. He +had never been in public life until after the war when he was named +deputy and joined the Assemblée Nationale at Bordeaux--which was an +immense advantage to him. He had never served any other government, and +was therefore perfectly independent and was bound by no family +traditions or old friendships--didn't mind the opposition papers at +all--not even the caricatures. Some of them were very funny. There was +one very like him, sitting quite straight and correct on the box of a +brougham, "John Cocher Anglais n'a jamais versé, ni accroché" (English +coachman who has never upset nor run into anything). + +There were a few political salons. The Countess de R. received every +evening--but only men--no women were ever asked. The wives rather +demurred at first, but the men went all the same--as one saw every one +there and heard all the latest political gossip. Another hostess was the +Princess Lize Troubetskoi. She was a great friend and admirer of +Thiers--was supposed to give him a great deal of information from +foreign governments. She was very eclectic in her sympathies, and every +one went to her, not only French, but all foreigners of any distinction +who passed through Paris. She gave herself a great deal of trouble for +her friends, but also used them when she wanted anything. One of the +stories which was always told of the Foreign Office was her "petit +paquet," which she wanted to send by the valise to Berlin, when the +Comte de St. Vallier was French ambassador there. He agreed willingly to +receive the package addressed to him, which proved to be a grand piano. + +The privilege of sending packages abroad by the valise of the foreign +affairs was greatly abused when W. became Minister of Foreign Affairs. +He made various changes, one of which was that the valise should be +absolutely restricted to official papers and documents, which really was +perhaps well observed. + +The Countess de Ségur received every Saturday night. It was really an +Orleanist salon, as they were devoted friends of the Orléans family, but +one saw all the moderate Republicans there and the centre gauche (which +struggled so long to keep together and be a moderating influence, but +has long been swallowed up in the ever-increasing flood of radicalism) +and a great many literary men, members of the Institute, Academicians, +etc. They had a fine old house entre cour et jardin, with all sorts of +interesting pictures and souvenirs. Countess de S. also received every +day before three o'clock. I often went and was delighted when I could +find her alone. She was very clever, very original, had known all sorts +of people, and it was most interesting to hear her talk about King Louis +Philippe's court, the Spanish marriages, the death of the Duc d'Orléans, +the Coup d'Etat of Louis Napoléon, etc. When she first began to receive, +during the reign of Louis Philippe, the feeling was very bitter between +the Legitimists (extreme Royalist party) and the Orleanists. The Duc +d'Orléans often came to them on Saturday evenings and always in a good +deal of state, with handsome carriage, aides-de-camp, etc. She warned +her Legitimist friends when she knew he was coming (but she didn't +always know) and said she never had any trouble or disagreeable scenes. +Every one was perfectly respectful to the duke, but the extreme +Legitimists went away at once. + +We went quite often to Monsieur and Madame Thiers, who received every +evening in their big gloomy house in the Place St. Georges. It was a +political centre,--all the Republican party went there, and many of his +old friends, Orleanists, who admired his great intelligence, while +disapproving his politics,--literary men, journalists, all the +diplomatists and distinguished strangers. He had people at dinner every +night and a small reception afterward,--Madame Thiers and her sister, +Mademoiselle Dosne, doing the honours for him. I believe both ladies +were very intelligent, but I can't truthfully say they had any charm of +manner. They never looked pleased to see any one, and each took +comfortable little naps in their armchairs after dinner--the first +comers had sometimes rather embarrassing entrances,--but I am told they +held very much to their receptions. Thiers was wonderful; he was a very +old man when I knew him, but his eyes were very bright and keen, his +voice strong, and he would talk all the evening without any appearance +of fatigue. He slept every afternoon for two hours, and was quite rested +and alert by dinner time. It was an interesting group of men that stood +around the little figure in the drawing-room after dinner. He himself +stood almost always leaning against the mantelpiece. Prince Orloff, +Russian ambassador, was one of the habitués of the salon, and I was +always delighted when he would slip away from the group of men and join +the ladies in Madame Thiers's salon, which was less interesting. He knew +everybody, French and foreign, and gave me most amusing and useful +little sketches of all the celebrities. It was he who told me of old +Prince Gortschakoff's famous phrase when he heard of Thiers's death--(he +died at St. Germain in 1877)--"Encore une lumière éteinte quand il y en +a si peu qui voient clair,"--(still another light extinguished, when +there are so few who see clearly). Many have gone of that +group,--Casimir Périer, Léon Say, Jules Ferry, St. Vallier, Comte Paul +de Ségur, Barthélemy St. Hilaire,--but others remain, younger men who +were then beginning their political careers and were eager to drink in +lessons and warnings from the old statesman, who fought gallantly to +the last. + +I found the first winter in Paris as the wife of a French deputy rather +trying, so different from the easy, pleasant life in Rome. That has +changed, too, of course, with United Italy and Rome the capital, but it +was a small Rome in our days, most informal. I don't ever remember +having written an invitation all the years we lived in Rome. Everybody +led the same life and we saw each other all day, hunting, riding, +driving, in the villas in the afternoon, generally finishing at the +Pincio, where there was music. All the carriages drew up and the young +men came and talked to the women exactly as if they were at the opera or +in a ballroom. When we had music or danced at our house, we used to tell +some well-known man to say "on danse chez Madame King ce soir." That was +all. Paris society is much stiffer, attaches much more importance to +visits and reception days. + +There is very little informal receiving, no more evenings with no +amusement of any kind provided, and a small table at one end of the room +with orangeade and cakes, which I remember when I was first married (and +always in Lent the quartet of the Conservatoire playing classical +symphonies, which of course put a stop to all conversation, as people +listened to the artists of the Conservatoire in a sort of sacred +silence). Now one is invited each time, there is always music or a +comédie, sometimes a conference in Lent, and a buffet in the +dining-room. There is much more luxury, and women wear more jewels. +There were not many tiaras when I first knew Paris society; now every +young woman has one in her corbeille. + +[Illustration: The foyer of the Opéra.] + +One of the first big things I saw in Paris was the opening of the Grand +Opera. It was a pretty sight, the house crowded with women beautifully +dressed and wearing fine jewels which showed very little, the decoration +of the house being very elaborate. There was so much light and gilding +that the diamonds were quite lost. The two great features of the evening +were the young King of Spain (the father of the present King), a slight, +dark, youthful figure, and the Lord Mayor of London, who really made +much more effect than the King. He was dressed in his official robes, +had two sheriffs and a macebearer, and when he stood at the top of the +grand staircase he was an imposing figure and the public was delighted +with him. He was surrounded by an admiring crowd when he walked in the +foyer. Everybody was there and W. pointed out to me the celebrities of +all the coteries. We had a box at the opera and went very regularly. The +opera was never good, never has been since I have known it, but as it is +open all the year round, one cannot expect to have the stars one hears +elsewhere. Still it is always a pleasant evening, one sees plenty of +people to talk to and the music is a cheerful accompaniment to +conversation. It is astounding how they talk in the boxes and how the +public submits. The ballet is always good. Halanzier was director of the +Grand Opera, and we went sometimes to his box behind the scenes, which +was most amusing. He was most dictatorial, occupied himself with every +detail,--was consequently an excellent director. I remember seeing him +inspect the corps de ballet one night, just before the curtain went up. +He passed down the line like a general reviewing his troops, tapping +lightly with a cane various arms and legs which were not in position. He +was perfectly smiling and good-humoured: "Voyons, voyons, mes petites, +ce n'est pas cela,"--but saw everything. + +What W. liked best was the Théâtre Français. We hadn't a box there, but +as so many of our friends had, we went very often. Tuesday was the +fashionable night and the Salle was almost as interesting as the stage, +particularly if it happened to be a première, and all the critics and +journalists were there. Sarah Bernhardt and Croizette were both playing +those first years. They were great rivals and it was interesting to see +them in the same play, both such fine talents yet so totally different. + + + + +III + + +M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION + +In March, 1876, W. was made, for the second time, "Ministre de +l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux Arts," with M. Dufaure Président du +Conseil, Duc Décazes at the Foreign Office, and Léon Say at the +finances. His nomination was a surprise to us. We didn't expect it at +all. There had been so many discussions, so many names put forward. It +seemed impossible to come to an understanding and form a cabinet which +would be equally acceptable to the marshal and to the Chambers. I came +in rather late one afternoon while the negotiations were going on, and +was told by the servants that M. Léon Say was waiting in W.'s library to +see him. W. came a few minutes afterward, and the two gentlemen remained +a long time talking. They stopped in the drawing-room on their way to +the door, and Say said to me: "Eh bien, madame, je vous apporte une +portefeuille et des félicitations." "Before I accept the felicitations, +I would like to know which portfolio." Of course when he said, "Public +instruction," I was pleased, as I knew it was the only one W. cared for. +My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator of the Seine +Inférieure,[1] and one or two friends came to see us in the evening, and +the gentlemen talked late into the night, discussing programmes, +possibilities, etc. All the next day the conferences went on, and when +the new cabinet was presented to the marshal, he received them +graciously if not warmly. W. said both Dufaure and Décazes were quite +wonderful, realising the state of affairs exactly, and knowing the +temper of the house, which was getting more advanced every day and more +difficult to manage. + +[Footnote 1: My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator, died in +June, 1913, some time after these notes were written.] + +W. at once convoked all the officials and staff of the ministry. He made +very few changes, merely taking the young Count de Lasteyrie, now +Marquis de Lasteyrie, grandnephew of the Marquis de Lafayette, son of M. +Jules de Lasteyrie, a senator and devoted friend of the Orléans family, +as his chef de cabinet. Two or three days after the new cabinet was +announced, W. took me to the Elysée to pay my official visit to the +Maréchale de MacMahon. She received us up-stairs in a pretty salon +looking out on the garden. She was very civil, not a particularly +gracious manner--gave me the impression of a very energetic, practical +woman--what most Frenchwomen are. I was very much struck with her +writing-table, which looked most businesslike. It was covered with +quantities of letters, papers, cards, circulars of all kinds--she +attended to all household matters herself. I always heard (though she +did not tell me) that she read every letter that was addressed to her, +and she must have had hundreds of begging letters. She was very +charitable, much interested in all good works, and very kind to all +artists. Whenever a letter came asking for money, she had the case +investigated, and if the story was true, gave practical help at once. I +was dismayed at first with the number of letters received from all over +France asking my intercession with the minister on every possible +subject from a "monument historique" to be restored, to a pension given +to an old schoolmaster no longer able to work, with a large family to +support. It was perfectly impossible for me to answer them. Being a +foreigner and never having lived in France, I didn't really know +anything about the various questions. W. was too busy to attend to such +small matters, so I consulted M. de L., chef de cabinet, and we agreed +that I should send all the correspondence which was not strictly +personal to him, and he would have it examined in the "bureau." The +first few weeks of W.'s ministry were very trying to me--I went to see +so many people,--so many people came to see me,--all strangers with whom +I had nothing in common. Such dreary conversations, never getting beyond +the most ordinary commonplace phrases,--such an absolutely different +world from any I had ever lived in. + +It is very difficult at first for any woman who marries a foreigner to +make her life in her new country. There must be so many things that are +different--better perhaps sometimes--but not what one has been +accustomed to,--and I think more difficult in France than in any other +country. French people are set in their ways, and there is so little +sympathy with anything that is not French. I was struck with that +absence of sympathy at some of the first dinners I went to. The talk was +exclusively French, almost Parisian, very personal, with stories and +allusions to people and things I knew nothing about. No one dreamed of +talking to me about my past life--or America, or any of my early +associations--yet I was a stranger--one would have thought they might +have taken a little more trouble to find some topics of general +interest. Even now, after all these years, the difference of +nationality counts. Sometimes when I am discussing with very intimate +friends some question and I find that I cannot understand their views +and they cannot understand mine, they always come back to the real +difficulty: "Ecoutez, chère amie, vous êtes d'une autre race." I rather +complained to W. after the first three or four dinners--it seemed to me +bad manners, but he said no, I was the wife of a French political +man, and every one took for granted I was interested in the +conversation--certainly no one intended any rudeness. The first big +dinner I went to that year was at the Elysée--the regular official +dinner for the diplomatic corps and the Government. I had Baron von +Zuylen, the Dutch minister, one of our great friends, on one side of me, +Léon Renault, préfet de police, on the other. Léon Renault was very +interesting, very clever--an excellent préfet de police. Some of his +stories were most amusing. The dinner was very good (always were in the +marshal's time), not long, and mercifully the room was not too hot. +Sometimes the heat was terrible. There were quite a number of people in +the evening--the music of the garde républicaine playing, and a buffet +in the dining-room which was always crowded. We never stayed very late, +as W. always had papers to sign when we got home. Sometimes when there +was a great press of work his "signatures" kept him two hours. I don't +think the marshal enjoyed the receptions very much. Like most soldiers +he was an early riser, and the late hours and constant talking +tired him. + +I liked our dinners and receptions at the ministry. All the intelligence +of France passed through our rooms. People generally came early--by ten +o'clock the rooms were quite full. Every one was announced, and it was +most interesting to hear the names of all the celebrities in every +branch of art and science. It was only a fleeting impression, as the +guests merely spoke to me at the door and passed on. In those days, +hardly any one shook hands unless they were fairly intimate--the men +never. They made me low bows some distance off and rarely stopped to +exchange a few words with me. Some of the women, not many, shook hands. +It was a fatiguing evening, as I stood so long, and a procession of +strangers passed before me. The receptions finished early--every one had +gone by eleven o'clock except a few loiterers at the buffet. There are +always a certain number of people at the big official receptions whose +principal object in coming seems to be to make a comfortable meal. The +servants always told me there was nothing left after a big party. There +were no invitations--the reception was announced in the papers, so any +one who felt he had the slightest claim upon the minister appeared at +the party. Some of the dresses were funny, but there was nothing +eccentric--no women in hats, carrying babies in their arms, such as one +used to see in the old days in America at the President's reception at +the White House, Washington--some very simple black silk dresses hardly +low--and of course a great many pretty women very well dressed. Some of +my American friends often came with true American curiosity, wanting to +see a phase of French life which was quite novel to them. + +W. remained two years as Minister of Public Instruction, and my life +became at once very interesting, very full. We didn't live at the +ministry--it was not really necessary. All the work was over before +dinner, except the "signatures," which W. could do just as well in his +library at home. We went over and inspected the Hôtel du Ministère in +the rue de Grenelle before we made our final decision, but it was not +really tempting. There were fine reception-rooms and a pretty garden, +but the living-rooms were small, not numerous, and decidedly gloomy. Of +course I saw much less of W. He never came home to breakfast, except on +Sunday, as it was too far from the rue de Grenelle to the Etoile. The +Arc de Triomphe stands in the Place de l'Etoile at the top of the +Champs-Elysées. All the great avenues, Alma, Jéna, Kléber, and the +adjacent streets are known as the Quartier de l'Etoile. It was before +the days of telephones, so whenever an important communication was to be +made to him when he was at home in the evening, a dragoon galloped up +with his little black bag from which he extracted his papers. It made +quite an excitement in our quiet street the first time he arrived after +ten o'clock. We just managed our morning ride, and then there were often +people waiting to speak to W. before we started, and always when he came +back. There was a great amount of patronage attached to his ministry, +nominations to all the universities, lycées, schools, etc., and, what +was most agreeable to me, boxes at all the government theatres,--the +Grand Opera, Opéra Comique, Français, Odéon, and Conservatoire. Every +Monday morning we received the list for the week, and, after making +our own selection, distributed them to the official world +generally,--sometimes to our own personal friends. The boxes of the +Français, Opéra, and Conservatoire were much appreciated. + +I went very regularly to the Sunday afternoon concerts at the +Conservatoire, where all classical music was splendidly given. They +confined themselves generally to the strictly classic, but were +beginning to play a little Schumann that year. Some of the faces of the +regular habitués became most familiar to me. There were three or four +old men with grey hair sitting in the first row of stalls (most +uncomfortable seats) who followed every note of the music, turning +around and frowning at any unfortunate person in a box who dropped a fan +or an opera-glass. It was funny to hear the hum of satisfaction when any +well-known movement of Beethoven or Mozart was attacked. The orchestra +was perfect, at its best I think in the "scherzos" which they took in +beautiful style--so light and sure. I liked the instrumental part much +better than the singing. French voices, the women's particularly, are +thin, as a rule. I think they sacrifice too much to the +"diction,"--don't bring out the voices enough--but the style and +training are perfect of their kind. + +The Conservatoire is quite as much a social feature as a school of +music. It was the thing to do on Sunday afternoon. No invitation was +more appreciated, as it was almost impossible to have places unless one +was invited by a friend. All the boxes and seats (the hall is small) +belong to subscribers and have done so for one or two generations. Many +marriages are made there. There are very few theatres in Paris to which +girls can be taken, but the Opéra Comique and the Conservatoire are very +favourite resorts. When a marriage is pending the young lady, very well +dressed (always in the simplest tenue de jeune fille) is taken to the +Conservatoire or the Opéra Comique by her father and mother, and very +often her grandmother. She sits in front of the box and the young man in +the stalls, where he can study his future wife without committing +himself. The difference of dress between the jeune fille and the jeune +femme is very strongly marked in France. The French girl never wears +lace or jewels or feathers or heavy material of any kind, quite unlike +her English or American contemporaries, who wear what they like. The +wedding-dress is classic, a simple, very long dress of white satin, and +generally a tulle veil over the face. When there is a handsome lace veil +in the family, the bride sometimes wears it, but no lace on her dress. +The first thing the young married woman does is to wear a very long +velvet dress with feathers in her hair. + +I think on the whole the arranged marriages turn out as well as any +others. They are generally made by people of the same monde, accustomed +to the same way of living, and the fortunes as nearly alike as possible. +Everything is calculated. The young couple usually spend the summer with +parents or parents-in-law, in the château, and I know some cases where +there are curious details about the number of lamps that can be lighted +in their rooms, and the use of the carriage on certain days. I am +speaking of course of purely French marriages. To my American ideas it +seemed very strange when I first came to Europe, but a long residence in +a foreign country certainly modifies one's impressions. Years ago, when +we were living in Rome, four sisters, before any of us were married, a +charming Frenchwoman, Duchesse de B., who came often to the house, was +very worried about this family of girls, all very happy at home and +contented with their lives. It was quite true we danced and hunted and +made a great deal of music, without ever troubling ourselves about the +future. The duchesse couldn't understand it, used often to talk to +mother very seriously. She came one day with a proposal of marriage--a +charming man, a Frenchman, not too young, with a good fortune, a title, +and a château, had seen Madam King's daughters in the ballroom and +hunting-field, and would very much like to be presented and make his +cour. "Which one?" we naturally asked, but the answer was vague. It +sounded so curiously impersonal that we could hardly take it seriously. +However, we suggested that the young man should come and each one of the +four would show off her particular talent. One would play and one would +sing (rather like the song in the children's book, "one could dance and +one could sing, and one could play the violin"), and the third, the +polyglot of the family, could speak several languages. We were rather +puzzled as to what my eldest sister could do, as she was not very +sociable and never spoke to strangers if she could help it, so we +decided she must be very well dressed and preside at the tea-table +behind an old-fashioned silver urn that we always used--looking like a +stately maîtresse de maison receiving her guests. We confided all these +plans to the duchesse, but she was quite put out with us, wouldn't bring +the young man nor tell us his name. We never knew who he was. Since I +have been a Frenchwoman (devant la loi)--I think all Americans remain +American no matter where they marry,--I have interested myself three or +four times in made marriages, which have generally turned out well. +There were very few Americans married in France all those years, now +there are legions of all kinds. I don't remember any in the official +parliamentary world I lived in the first years of my marriage--nor +English either. It was absolutely French, and rather borné French. Very +few of the people, the women especially, had any knowledge or experience +of foreign countries, and didn't care to have,--France was enough +for them. + +W. was very happy at the Ministry of Public Instruction,--all the +educational questions interested him so much and the tournées en +province and visits to the big schools and universities,--some of them, +in the south of France particularly, singularly wanting in the most +elementary details of hygiene and cleanliness, and it was very difficult +to make the necessary changes, giving more light, air, and space. +Routine is a powerful factor in this very conservative country, where so +many things exist simply because they have always existed. Some of his +letters from Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Montpellier were most interesting. +As a rule he was very well received and got on very well, strangely +enough, with the clergy, particularly the haut clergé, bishops and +cardinals. His being a Protestant was rather a help to him; he could +take an impartial view of things. + +At Bordeaux he stayed at the Préfecture, where he was very comfortable, +but the days were fatiguing. He said he hadn't worked so hard for years. +He started at nine in the morning, visiting schools and universities, +came home to breakfast at twelve, and immediately after had a small +reception, rectors, professors, and people connected with the schools he +wanted to talk to, at three started again seeing more schools and going +conscientiously over the buildings from basement to garret,--then visits +to the cardinal, archbishop, general commanding, etc.--a big dinner and +reception in the evening, the cardinal present in his red robes, his +coadjutor in purple, the officers in uniform, and all the people +connected in any way with the university, who were pleased to see their +chief. There was a total absence of Bonapartist senators and deputies +(which was not surprising, as W. had always been in violent opposition +to the Empire), who were rather numerous in these parts. W. was really +quite exhausted when he got back to Paris--said it was absolute luxury +to sit quietly and read in his library, and not talk. It wasn't a luxury +that he enjoyed very much, for whenever he was in the house there was +always some one talking to him in his study and others waiting in the +drawing-room. Every minute of the day he was occupied. People were +always coming to ask for something for themselves or some members of +their family, always candidates for the Institute, anxiously inquiring +what their chances were, and if he had recommended them to his friends. +It is striking even in this country of functionaries (I think there are +more small public employees in France than in any other country) how +many applicants there were always for the most insignificant places--a +Frenchman loves a cap with gold braid and gilt buttons on his coat. + +All the winter of 1876, which saw the end of the National Assembly and +the beginning of a new régime, was an eventful one in parliamentary +circles. I don't know if the country generally was very much excited +about a new constitution and a change of government. I don't think the +country in France (the small farmers and peasants) are ever much excited +about the form of government. As long as the crops are good and there is +no war to take away their sons and able-bodied men, they don't care, +often don't know, whether a king or an emperor is reigning over them. +They say there are some far-off villages half hidden in the forests and +mountains who still believe that a king and a Bourbon is reigning in +France. Something had to be decided; the provisoire could no longer +continue; the country could not go on without a settled government. All +the arguments and negotiations of that period have been so often told, +that I will not go into any details. The two centres, centre droit and +centre gauche, had everything in their hands as the great moderating +elements of the Assembly, but the conflicting claims of the various +parties, Legitimist, Orleanist, Bonapartist, and advanced Left, made the +question a very difficult one. + +W. as a member of the Comité des Trente was very much occupied and +preoccupied. He came back generally very late from Versailles, and, when +he did dine at home, either went out again after dinner to some of the +numerous meetings at different houses or had people at home. I think the +great majority of deputies were honestly trying to do what they thought +best for the country, and when one remembers the names and personalities +on both sides--MacMahon, Broglie, d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Buffet, Dufaure, +and Thiers, Casimir Périer, Léon Say, Jules Simon, Jules Ferry, +Freycinet, and many others, it is impossible to think that any of those +men were animated by any spirit other than love of the country and an +ardent desire to see some stable government restored which would enable +France to take her place again among the great powers. Unfortunately the +difference of opinion as to the form of government made things very +difficult. Some of the young deputies, just fresh from the war and +smarting under a sense of humiliation, were very violent in their abuse +of any Royalist and particularly Bonapartist restoration. + +[Illustration: Meeting of officers of the National Assembly, and of +delegates of the new Chambers, in the salon of Hercules, palace of +Versailles. From _L'Illustration_, March 11. 1876.] + + + + +IV + + +THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE + +My first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction rather +intimidated me. We were fifty people--I the only lady. I went over to +the ministry in the afternoon to see the table, which was very well +arranged with quantities of flowers, beautiful Sèvres china, not much +silver--there is very little left in France, it having all been melted +at the time of the Revolution. The official dinners are always well done +in Paris. I suppose the traditions of the Empire have been handed down. +We arrived a few minutes before eight, all the staff and directors +already there, and by ten minutes after eight every one had arrived. I +sat between Gérôme, the painter, and Renan, two very different men but +each quite charming,--Gérôme tall, slight, animated, talking very easily +about everything. He told me who a great many of the people were, with a +little commentary on their profession and career which was very useful +to me, as I knew so few of them. Renan was short, stout, with a very +large head, almost unprepossessing-looking, but with a great charm of +manner and the most delightful smile and voice imaginable. He often +dined with us in our own house, en petit comité, and was always +charming. He was one of those happy mortals (there are not many) who +made every subject they discuss interesting. + +After that first experience, I liked the big men's dinners very much. +There was no general conversation; I talked exclusively to my two +neighbours, but as they were always distinguished in some branch of art, +science, or literature, the talk was brilliant, and I found the hour our +dinner lasted a very short one. W. was very particular about not having +long dinners. Later, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where we +sometimes had eighty guests, the dinner was never over an hour. I did +not remain the whole evening at the men's dinners. As soon as they +dispersed to talk and smoke, I came away, leaving W. to entertain his +guests. We often had big receptions with music and comédie. At one of +our first big parties we had several of the Orléans family. I was rather +nervous, as I had never received royalty,--in fact I had never spoken to +a royal prince or princess. I had lived a great deal in Rome, as a girl, +during the last days of Pius IX, and I was never in Paris during the +Empire. When we went back to Rome one winter, after the accession of +King Victor Emmanuel, I found myself for the first time in a room with +royalties, the Prince and Princesse de Piémont. I remember quite well +being so surprised by seeing two of the Roman men we knew very well come +backward into the ballroom where we were sitting. I thought they must be +anticipating the Mardi Gras and were masquerading a little, didn't +realise that every one was standing. I remained sitting for a moment +(much to the horror of one of the English secretaries who was with us +and who thought we were going to make a spread-eagle American +demonstration and remain sitting when royalty appeared). However, by +some sort of instinct, we rose too (perhaps to see what was going on), +just as the princes passed. Princess Marguerite looked charming, dressed +in white, with her splendid pearls and beautiful fair hair. + +When it was decided that we should ask the Orléans princes to our party, +I thought I would go to see the Duc Décazes, the foreign minister, a +charming man and charming colleague, to get some precise information +about my part of the entertainment. He couldn't think what I wanted when +I invaded his cabinet, and was much amused when I stated my case. + +"There is nothing unusual in receiving the princes at a ministry. You +must do as you have always done." + +"But that is just the question, I have _never done_. I have never in my +life exchanged a word with a royal personage." + +"It is not possible!" + +"It is absolutely true; I have never lived anywhere where there was a +court." + +When he saw that I was in earnest he was as nice as possible, told me +_exactly_ what I wanted to know,--that I need not say "Altesse royale" +every time I spoke, merely occasionally, as they all like it,--that I +must speak in the third person, "Madame veut-elle," "Monseigneur veut-il +me permettre," etc., also that I must always be at the door when a +princess arrived and conduct her myself to her seat. + +"But if I am at one end of the long enfilade of rooms taking the +Comtesse de Paris to her seat and another princess (Joinville or +Chartres) should arrive; what has to be done?" + +"Your husband must always be at the door with his chef de cabinet, who +will replace him while he takes the princess to her place." + +The Marquise de L., a charming old lady with white hair, beautiful blue +eyes, and pink cheeks, a great friend of the Orléans family, went with +me when I made my round of visits to thank the royal ladies for +accepting our invitation. We found no one but the Princesse Marguerite, +daughter of the Duc de Nemours, who was living at Neuilly. I had all my +instructions from the marquise, how many courtesies to make, how to +address her, and above all not to speak until the princess spoke to me. +We were shown into a pretty drawing-room, opening on a garden, where the +princess was waiting, standing at one end of the room. Madame de L. +named me, I made my courtesies, the princess shook hands, and then we +remained standing, facing each other. She didn't say anything. I stood +perfectly straight and quiet, waiting. She changed colour, moved her +hands nervously, was evidently overcome with shyness, but didn't utter a +sound. It seemed very long, was really only a few seconds, but I was +getting rather nervous when suddenly a child ran across the garden. That +broke the ice and she asked me the classic royal question, "Avez-vous +des enfants, madame?" I had only one, and he was rather small, but still +his nurse, his teeth, and his food carried me on for a little while and +after that we had some general conversation, but I can't say the visit +was really interesting. As long as I was in public life I regretted +that I had but the one child,--children and nurseries and schoolrooms +were always an unfailing topic of conversation. Frenchwomen of all +classes take much more interest in the details of their nurseries and +the education and bringing-up of their children than we Anglo-Saxons do. +I know several mammas who followed all the course of their sons' studies +when they were preparing their baccalauréat, even to writing the +compositions. The head nurse (English) who takes entire charge of her +nursery, who doesn't like any interference, and brings the children to +their mother at stated hours, doesn't exist in France. + +Our party was very brilliant, all sorts of notabilities of all kinds, +and the leading Paris artists from the Grand Opera, Opéra Comique, and +the Français. As soon as the performance was over W. told me I must go +and thank the artists; he could not leave his princes. I started off to +the last of the long suite of salons where they were all assembled. +Comte de L., W.'s chef de cabinet, went with me, and we were preceded by +a huissier with sword and chain, who piloted us through the crowd. I +felt very shy when I arrived in the greenroom. The artists were drawn up +in two rows, the women on one side, the men on the other, all eyes of +course fixed upon madame la ministresse. Madame Carvalho, Sarah +Bernhardt, and Croizette were standing at the head of the long line of +women; Faure, Talazac, Delaunay, Coquelin, on the other side. I went +first all along the line of women, then came back by the men. I realised +instantly after the first word of thanks and interest how easy it is for +princes, or any one in high places, to give pleasure. They all responded +so smilingly and naturally to everything I said. After the first two or +three words, I didn't mind at all, and found myself discussing +acoustics, the difficulty of playing any well-known part without +costumes, scenery, etc., the inconvenience of having the public so near, +quite easily. We often had music and recitations at our parties, and +that was always a great pleasure to me. I remember so well one evening +when we had the chorus of the Conservatoire and they sang quite +beautifully the old "Plaisirs d'Amour" of our childhood. It had a great +success and they were obliged to repeat it. W. made one great innovation +in the dress of the ladies of the Conservatoire chorus. They were always +dressed in white, which was very well for the young, slight figures, but +was less happy for a stout middle-aged lady. So after much discussion it +was decided to adopt black as the official dress and I must say it was +an enormous improvement. + + + + +THE SOCIAL SIDE + +All sorts of interesting people came to see us at the Ministry of Public +Instruction,--among others the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro de +Bragance, who spent some months in Paris that year with his daughter, +the young Comtesse d'Eu. He was a tall, good-looking man, with a +charming easy manner, very cultivated and very keen about +everything--art, literature, politics. His gentlemen said he had the +energy of a man of twenty-five, and he was well over middle age when he +was in Paris. They were quite exhausted sometimes after a long day of +visits and sightseeing with him. He was an early riser. One of the first +rendezvous he gave W. was at nine o'clock in the morning, which greatly +disturbed that gentleman's habits. He was never an early riser, worked +always very late (said his best despatches were written after midnight), +and didn't care about beginning his day too early. Another interesting +personality was Mommsen, the German historian and savant. He was a +picturesque-looking old man with keen blue eyes and a quantity of white +hair. I don't think anything modern interested him very much. He was an +old man when I first saw him, and looked even older than his age. He and +W. used to plunge into very long, learned discussions over antiquities +and medals. W. said the hours with Mommsen rested him, such a change +from the "shop" talk always mixed with politics in France. + +We often had political breakfasts at home (more breakfasts than +dinners). Our Aisne deputies and senators were not very mondains, didn't +care much to dine out. They were pleasant enough when they talked about +subjects that interested them. Henri Martin, senator of the Aisne, was +an old-fashioned Republican, absolutely convinced that no other +government would ever succeed in France, but he was moderate. St. +Vallier, also a senator from the Aisne, was nervous and easily +discouraged when things didn't go smoothly, but he too thought the +Republic was the only possible government now, whatever his preferences +might have been formerly. + +W.'s ministry came to an end on the famous 16th of May, 1877, when +Marshal MacMahon suddenly took matters in his own hands and dismissed +his cabinet presided over by M. Jules Simon. Things had not been going +smoothly for some time, could not between two men of such absolute +difference of origin, habits, and ideas. Still, the famous letter +written by the marshal to Jules Simon was a thunderclap. I was walking +about the Champs-Elysées and Faubourg St. Honoré on the morning of the +16th of May, and saw all the carriages, our own included, waiting at the +Ministry of the Interior, where the conseil was sitting. I went home to +breakfast, thought W. was later than usual, but never dreamed of what +was happening. When he finally appeared, quite composed and smiling, +with his news, "We are out of office; the marshal has sent us all about +our business," I could hardly believe it, even when he told me all the +details. I had known for a long time that things were not going well, +but there were always so much friction and such opposing elements in the +cabinet that I had not attached much importance to the accounts of +stormy sittings and thought things would settle down. + +[Illustration: Theodor Mommsen. From a painting by Franz von Lenbach.] + +W. said the marshal was very civil to him, but it was evident that he +could not stand Jules Simon any longer and the various measures that he +felt were impending. We had many visitors after breakfast, all much +excited, wondering what the next step would be--if the Chambers would be +dissolved, the marshal trying to impose a cabinet of the Right or +perhaps form another moderate liberal cabinet without Jules Simon, but +retaining some of his ministers. It was my reception afternoon, and +while I was sitting quietly in my drawing-room talking to some of my +friends, making plans for the summer, quite pleased to have W. to +myself again, the butler hurried into the room telling me that the +Maréchale de MacMahon was on the stairs, coming to make me a visit. I +was very much surprised, as she never came to see me. We met very +rarely, except on official occasions, and she made no secret of her +dislike to the official Republican ladies (but she was always absolutely +correct if not enthusiastic). I had just time to get to the head of the +stairs to receive her. She was very amiable, a little embarrassed, took +a cup of tea--said the marshal was very sorry to part with W., he had +never had any trouble or disagreement with him of any kind, but that it +was impossible to go on with a cabinet when neither party had any +confidence in the other. I quite agreed, said it was the fortunes of +war; I hoped the marshal would find another premier who would be more +sympathetic with him, and then we talked of other things. + +My friends were quite amused. One of them, Marquise de T., knew the +Maréchale quite well, and said she was going to ask her if she was +obliged to make visites de condoléance to the wives of all the fallen +ministers. W. was rather astonished when I told him who had come to tea +with me, and thought the conversation must have been difficult. I told +him, not at all, once the necessary phrases about the departing +ministers were over. The piano was open, music littered about; she was +fond of music and she admired very much a portrait of father as a boy in +the Harrow dress, asked who it was and what the dress was. She was a +perfect woman of the world, and no one was uncomfortable. + +It seemed quite strange and very pleasant to take up my old life again +after two years of public life. W. breakfasted at home, went to the +Senate every day and to the Institute on Fridays and we dined with our +friends and had small dinners in our own house instead of official +banquets at all the ministries (usually from Potel and Chabot at so much +a head). Politics were very lively all summer. The Chambers were +dissolved almost at once after the constitution of the new cabinet, +presided over by the Duc de Broglie. It was evident from the first +moment that the new ministry wouldn't, couldn't live. (The Duc de +Broglie was quite aware of the fact. His first words on taking office +were: "On nous a jetés à l'eau, maintenant il faut nager.") He made a +very good fight, but he had that worst of all faults for a leader, he +was unpopular. He was a brilliant, cultured speaker, but had a curt, +dictatorial manner, with an air always of looking down upon his public. +So different from his colleague, the Duc Décazes, whose charming, +courteous manners and nice blue eyes made him friends even among his +adversaries. There is a well-known story told of the two dukes which +shows exactly the personality of the men. Some one, a deputy I think, +wanted something very much which either of the gentlemen could give. He +went first to the Duc Décazes, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, who +received him charmingly, was most kind and courteous, but didn't do what +the man wanted. He then went to the Duc de Broglie, Président du +Conseil, who was busy, received him very curtly, cut short his +explanations, and was in fact extremely disagreeable but did the thing, +and the man loved Décazes and hated de Broglie. All sorts of rumours +were afloat; we used to hear the wildest stories and plans. One day W. +came in looking rather preoccupied. There was an idea that the Right +were going to take most stringent measures, arrest all the ministers, +members of Jules Simon's cabinet, many of the prominent Liberals. He +said it was quite possible and then gave me various instructions. I was +above all to make no fuss if they really came to arrest him. He showed +me where all his keys, papers, and money were, told me to go instantly +to his uncle, Mr. Lutteroth, who lived next door. He was an old +diplomat, knew everybody, and would give me very good advice. I did not +feel very happy, but like so many things that are foretold, nothing +ever happened. + +Another rumour, from the extreme Left this time, was that a large armed +force under the command of a well-known general, very high up in his +career, was to assemble in the north at Lille, a strong contingent of +Republicans were to join them to be ready to act. I remember quite well +two of W.'s friends coming in one morning, full of enthusiasm for this +plan. I don't think they quite knew what they were going to do with +their army. W. certainly did not. He listened to all the details of the +plan; they gave him the name of the general, supposed to have very +Republican sympathies (not generally the case with officers), the number +of regiments, etc., who would march at a given signal, but when he said, +"It is possible, you might get a certain number of men together, but +what would you do with them?" they were rather nonplussed. They hadn't +got any further than a grand patriotic demonstration, with the military, +drums beating, flags flying, and the Marseillaise being howled by an +excited crowd. No such extreme measures, however, were ever carried +out. From the first moment it was evident that a large Republican +majority would be returned; almost all the former deputies were +re-elected and a number of new ones, more advanced in their opinion. In +the country it was the only topic of conversation. + +Parliament was dissolved in June, 1877, but we remained in town until +the end of July. It wasn't very warm and many people remained until the +end of the session. The big schools too only break up on the 15th of +July, and many parents remain in Paris. The Republican campaign had +already begun, and there were numerous little dinners and meetings when +plans and possibilities were discussed. W. got back usually very late +from Versailles. When he knew the sitting would be very late he sent me +word and I used to go and dine with mother, but sometimes he was kept on +there from hour to hour. I had some long waits before we could dine, and +Hubert, the coachman, used to spend hours in the courtyard of the Gare +St. Lazare waiting for his master. We had a big bay mare, a very fast +trotter, which always did the train service, and the two were stationed +there sometimes from six-thirty to nine-thirty, but they never seemed +the worse for it. W., though a very considerate man for his servants +generally, never worried at all about keeping his coachmen and horses +waiting. He said the coachmen were the most warmly dressed men in Paris, +always took care to be well covered, and we never had fancy, +high-stepping horses, but ordinary strong ones, which could wait +patiently. W. said the talk in the Chambers and in the lobbies was quite +wild--every sort of extravagant proposition was made. There were many +conferences with the Duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Duc de Broglie--with +Casimir Périer, Léon Say, Gambetta, Jules Ferry, and Freycinet--where +the best men on both sides tried hard to come to an agreement. W. went +several times in August to see M. Thiers, who was settled at St. +Germain. The old statesman was as keen as ever, receiving every day all +sorts of deputations, advising, warning, encouraging, and quite +confident as to the result of the elections. People were looking to him +as the next President, despite his great age. However, he was not +destined to see the triumph of his ideas. He died suddenly at St. +Germain on the 3d of September. W. said his funeral was a remarkable +sight--thousands of people followed the cortège--all Paris showing a +last respect to the libérateur du territoire (though there were still +clubs where he was spoken of as le sinistre vieillard). In August W. +went to his Conseil-Général at Laon, and I went down to my +brother-in-law's place at St. Léger near Rouen. We were a very happy +cosmopolitan family-party. My mother-in-law was born a Scotch-woman +(Chisholm). She was a fine type of the old-fashioned cultivated lady, +with a charming polite manner, keenly interested in all that was going +on in the world. She was an old lady when I married, and had outlived +almost all her contemporaries, but she had a beautiful old age, +surrounded by children and grandchildren. She had lived through many +vicissitudes from the time of her marriage, when she arrived at the +Château of St. Remy in the Department of Eure-et-Loire (where my +husband, her eldest son, was born), passing through triumphal arches +erected in honour of the young bride, to the last days when the fortunes +of the family were diminished by revolutions and political and business +crises in France. They moved from St. Remy, selling the château, and +built a house on the top of a green hill near Rouen, quite shut in by +big trees, and with a lovely view from the Rond Point--the highest part +of the garden, over Rouen--with the spires of the cathedral in the +distance. I used to find her every morning when I went to her room, +sitting at the window, her books and knitting on a table near--looking +down on the lawn and the steep winding path that came up from the +garden,--where she had seen three generations of her dear ones pass +every day--first her husband, then her sons--now her grandsons. My +sister-in-law, R.'s wife, was also an Englishwoman; the daughter of the +house had married her cousin, de Bunsen, who had been a German +diplomatist, and who had made nearly all his career in Italy, at the +most interesting period of her history, when she was struggling for +emancipation from the Austrian rule and independence. I was an American, +quite a new element in the family circle. We had many and most animated +discussions over all sorts of subjects, in two or three languages, at +the tea-table under the big tree on the lawn. French and English were +always going, and often German, as de Bunsen always spoke to his +daughter in German. My mother-in-law, who knew three or four languages, +did not at all approve of the careless habit we had all got into of +mixing our languages and using French or Italian words when we were +speaking English--if they came more easily. She made a rule that we +should use only one language at meals--she didn't care which one, but we +must keep to it. My brother-in-law was standing for the deputation. We +didn't see much of him in the daytime--his electors and his visits and +speeches and banquets de pompiers took up all his time. The beginning +of his career had been very different. He was educated in England--Rugby +and Woolwich--and served several years in the Royal Artillery in the +British army. His military training was very useful to him during the +Franco-Prussian War, when he equipped and commanded a field battery, +making all the campaign. His English brother officers always remembered +him. Many times when we were living in England at the embassy, I was +asked about him. A curious thing happened in the House of Lords one day, +showing the wonderful memory of princes for faces. R. was staying with +us for a few days, when the annual debate over the bill for marriage of +a deceased wife's sister came up. The Prince of Wales (late King Edward) +and all the other princes were present in the House. R. was there too, +standing where all the strangers do, at the entrance of the lobby. When +the debate was over, the Prince of Wales left. As he passed along, he +shook hands with several gentlemen also standing near the lobby, +including R. He stopped a moment in front of him, saying: "I think this +is Mr. Waddington. The last time I saw you, you wore Her Majesty's +uniform." He hadn't seen him for twenty-five or thirty years. I asked +the prince afterward how he recognised him. He said he didn't know; it +was perhaps noticing an unfamiliar face in the group of men standing +there,--and something recalled his brother, the ambassador. + +In September we went down to Bourneville and settled ourselves there for +the autumn. W. was standing for the Senate with the Count de St. Vallier +and Henri Martin. They all preferred being named in their department, +where everybody knew them and their personal influence could make itself +more easily felt. W.'s campaign was not very arduous. All the people +knew him and liked him--knew that he would do whatever he promised. +Their programme was absolutely Republican, but moderate, and he only +made a few speeches and went about the country a little. I often went +with him when he rode, and some of our visits to the farmers and local +authorities were amusing if not encouraging. We were always very well +received, but it wasn't easy to find out what they really thought (if +they did think about it at all) of the state of affairs. The small +landowners particularly, the men who had one field and a garden, were +very reserved. They listened attentively enough to all W. had to say. He +was never long, never personal, and never abused his adversaries, but +they rarely expressed an opinion. They almost always turned the +conversation upon some local matter or petty grievance. It didn't seem +to me that they took the slightest interest in the extraordinary changes +that were going on in France. A great many people came to see W. and +there would be a curious collection sometimes in his library at the end +of the day. The doctor (who always had precise information--country +doctors always have--they see a great many people and I fancy the women +talk to them and tell them what their men are doing), one or two +farmers, some schoolmasters, the mayors of the nearest villages, the +captains of the firemen and of the archers (they still shoot with bow +and arrow in our part of the country; every Sunday the men practise +shooting at a target)--the gendarmes, very useful these too to bring +news--the notary, and occasionally a sous-préfet, but then he was a +personage, representing the Government, and was treated with more +ceremony than the other visitors. It was evident from all these sources +that the Republicans were coming to the front en masse. + +The Republicans (for once) were marvellously disciplined and kept +together. It was really wonderful when one thought of all the different +elements that were represented in the party. There was quite as much +difference between the quiet moderate men of the Left Centre and the +extreme Left as there was between the Legitimists and any faction of the +Republican party. There was a strong feeling among the Liberals that +they were being coerced, that arbitrary measures, perhaps a coup d'état, +would be sprung upon them, and they were quite determined to resist. I +don't think there was ever any danger of a coup d'état, at least as long +as Marshal MacMahon was the chief of state. He was a fine honourable, +patriotic soldier, utterly incapable of an illegality of any kind. He +didn't like the Republic, honestly thought it would never succeed with +the Republicans (la République sans Républicains was for him its only +chance)--and he certainly had illusions and thought his friends and +advisers would succeed in making and keeping a firm conservative +government. How far that illusion was shared by his entourage it is +difficult to say. They fought their battle well--government pressure +exercised in all ways. Préfets and sous-préfets changed, wonderful +prospects of little work and high pay held out to doubtful electors, and +the same bright illusive promises made to the masses, which all parties +make in all elections and which the people believe each time. The +Republicans were not idle either, and many fiery patriotic speeches +were made or their side. Gambetta always held his public with his +passionate, earnest declamation, and his famous phrase, that the marshal +must "se soumettre ou se démettre," became a password all through +the country. + + + + +V + + +A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY + +The elections took place in October-November, 1877, and gave at once a +great Republican majority. W. and his two colleagues, Count de St. +Vallier and Henri Martin, had an easy victory, but a great many of their +personal friends, moderates, were beaten. The centres were decidedly +weaker in the new Chambers. There was not much hope left of uniting the +two centres, Droite et Gauche, in the famous "fusion" which had been a +dream of the moderate men. + +The new Chambers assembled at Versailles in November. The Broglie +cabinet was out, but a new ministry of the Right faced the new +Parliament. Their life was very short and stormy; they were really dead +before they began to exist and in December the marshal sent for M. +Dufaure and charged him to form a Ministère de Gauche. None of his +personal friends, except General Borel at the War Office, was in the new +combination. W. was named to the Foreign Office. I was rather +disappointed when he came home and told me he had accepted that +portfolio. I thought his old ministry, Public Instruction, suited him so +well, the work interested him, was entirely to his taste. He knew all +the literary and educational world, not only in France but everywhere +else--England, of course, where he had kept up with many of his +Cambridge comrades, and Germany, where he also had literary connections. +However, that wide acquaintance and his perfect knowledge of English and +English people helped him very much at once, not only at the Quai +d'Orsay, but in all the years he was in England as ambassador. + +The new ministry, with Dufaure as President of the Council, Léon Say at +the Finances, M. de Freycinet at Public Works, and W. at the Foreign +Office was announced the 14th of December, 1877. The preliminaries had +been long and difficult--the marshal and his friends on one side--the +Republicans and Gambetta on the other--the moderates trying to keep +things together. Personally, I was rather sorry W. had agreed to be a +member of the cabinet; I was not very keen about official life and +foresaw a great deal that would be disagreeable. Politics played such a +part in social life. All the "society," the Faubourg St. Germain (which +represents the old names and titles of France), was violently opposed to +the Republic. I was astonished the first years of my married life in +France, to see people of certain position and standing give the cold +shoulder to men they had known all their lives because they were +Republicans, knowing them quite well to be honourable, independent +gentlemen, wanting nothing from the Republic--merely trying to do their +best for the country. I only realised by degrees that people held off a +little from me sometimes, as the wife of a Republican deputy. I didn't +care particularly, as I had never lived in France, and knew very few +people, but it didn't make social relations very pleasant, and I should +have been better pleased if W. had taken no active part. However, that +feeling was only temporary. I soon became keenly interested in politics +(I suppose it is in the blood--all the men in my family in America were +politicians) and in the discussion of the various questions which were +rapidly changing France into something quite different. Whether the +change has been for the better it would be hard to say even now, after +more than thirty-five years of the Republic. + +Freycinet was a great strength. He was absolutely Republican, but +moderate--very clever and energetic, a great friend of Gambetta's--and +a beautiful speaker. I have heard men say who didn't care about him +particularly, and who were not at all of his way of thinking, that they +would rather not discuss with him. He was sure to win them over to his +cause with his wonderful, clear persuasive arguments. + +[Illustration: Palace of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris.] + +The first days were very busy ones. W. had to see all his staff (a very +large one) of the Foreign Office, and organise his own cabinet. He was +out all day, until late in the evening, at the Quai d'Orsay; used to go +over there about ten or ten-thirty, breakfast there, and get back for a +very late dinner, and always had a director or secretary working with +him at our own house after dinner. I went over three or four times to +inspect the ministry, as I had a presentiment we should end by living +there. The house is large and handsome, with a fine staircase and large +high rooms. The furniture of course was "ministerial"--stiff and +heavy--gold-backed chairs and sofas standing in rows against the walls. +There were some good pictures, among others the "Congrès de Paris," +which occupies a prominent place in one of the salons, and splendid +tapestries. The most attractive thing was a fine large garden at the +back, but, as the living-rooms were up-stairs, we didn't use it very +much. The lower rooms, which opened on the gardens, were only used as +reception-rooms. The minister's cabinet was also down-stairs, +communicating by a small staircase with his bedroom, just overhead. The +front of the house looks on the Seine; we had always a charming view +from the windows, at night particularly, when all the little steamers +(mouches) were passing with their lights. I had of course to make +acquaintance with all the diplomatic corps. I knew all the ambassadors +and most of the ministers, but there were some representatives of the +smaller powers and South American Republics with whom I had never come +in contact. Again I paid a formal official visit to the Maréchale de +MacMahon as soon as the ministry was announced. She was perfectly polite +and correct, but one felt at once she hadn't the slightest sympathy for +anything Republican, and we never got to know each other any better all +the months we were thrown together. We remained for several weeks at our +own house, and then most reluctantly determined to install ourselves at +the ministry. W. worked always very late after dinner, and he felt it +was not possible to ask his directors, all important men of a certain +age, to come up to the Quartier de l'Etoile at ten o'clock and keep them +busy until midnight. W.'s new chef de cabinet, Comte de Pontécoulant, +was very anxious that we should move, thought everything would be +simplified if W. were living over there. I had never known Pontécoulant +until W. chose him as his chef de cabinet. He was a diplomatist with +some years of service behind him, and was perfectly au courant of all +the routine and habits of the Foreign Office. He paid me a short formal +visit soon after he had accepted the post; we exchanged a few remarks +about the situation, I hoped we would faire bon ménage, and had no +particular impression of him except that he was very French and stiff; I +didn't suppose I should see much of him. It seems curious now to look +back upon that first interview. We all became so fond of him, he was a +loyal, faithful friend, was always ready to help me in any small +difficulties, and I went to him for everything--visits, servants, +horses, etc. W. had no time for any details or amenities of life. We +moved over just before New Year's day. As the gros mobilier was already +there, we only took over personal things, grand piano, screens, tables, +easy chairs, and small ornaments and bibelots. These were all sent off +in a van early one morning, and after luncheon I went over, having given +rendezvous to Pontécoulant and M. Kruft, chef du matériel, an +excellent, intelligent man, who was most useful and devoted to me the +two years I lived at the ministry. I was very depressed when we drove +into the courtyard. I had never lived on that side of the river, and +felt cut off from all my belongings,--the bridge a terror, so cold in +winter, so hot in summer,--I never got accustomed to it, never crossed +it on foot. The sight of the great empty rooms didn't reassure me. The +reception-rooms of course were very handsome. There were a great many +servants, huissiers, and footmen standing about, and people waiting in +the big drawing-room to speak to W. The living-rooms up-stairs were +ghastly--looked bare and uncomfortable in the highest degree. They were +large and high and looked down upon the garden, though that on a bleak +December day was not very cheerful--but there were possibilities. Kruft +was very sympathetic, understood quite well how I felt, and was ready to +do anything in the way of stoves, baths, wardrobes in the lingerie, new +carpets, and curtains, that I wanted. Pontécoulant too was eminently +practical, and I was quite amused to find myself discussing lingeries +and bathrooms with a total stranger whom I had only seen twice in my +life. It took me about a week to get really settled. I went over every +day, returning to my own house to eat and sleep. Kruft did wonders; the +place was quite transformed when I finally moved over. The rooms looked +very bright and comfortable when we arrived in the afternoon of the 31st +of December (New Year's eve). The little end salon, which I made my +boudoir, was hung with blue satin; my piano, screens, and little things +were very well placed--plenty of palms and flowers, bright fires +everywhere--the bedrooms, nursery, and lingeries clean and bright. My +bedroom opened on a large salon, where I received usually, keeping my +boudoir for ourselves and our intimate friends. My special huissier, +Gérard, who sat all day outside of the salon door, was presented to me, +and instantly became a most useful and important member of the +household--never forgot a name or a face, remembered what cards and +notes I had received, whether the notes were answered, or the bills +paid, knew almost all my wardrobe, would bring me down a coat or a wrap +if I wanted one suddenly down-stairs. I had frequent consultations with +Pontécoulant and Kruft to regulate all the details of the various +services before we were quite settled. We took over all our own servants +and found many others who were on the permanent staff of the ministry, +footmen, huissiers, and odd men who attended to all the fires, opened +and shut all the doors, windows, and shutters. It was rather difficult +to organise the regular working service, there was such rivalry between +our own personal servants and the men who belonged to the house, but +after a little while things went pretty smoothly. W. dined out the first +night we slept at the Quai d'Orsay, and about an hour after we had +arrived, while I was still walking about in my hat and coat, feeling +very strange in the big, high rooms, I was told that the lampiste was +waiting my orders (a few lamps had been lit in some of the rooms). I +didn't quite know what orders to give, hadn't mastered yet the number +that would be required; but I sent for him, said I should be alone for +dinner, perhaps one or two lamps in the dining-room and small salon +would be enough. He evidently thought that was not at all sufficient, +wanted something more precise, so I said to light as he had been +accustomed to when the Duc Décazes and his family were dining alone +(which I don't suppose they ever did, nor we either when we once took up +our life). Such a blaze of light met my eyes when I went to dinner that +I was quite bewildered--boudoir, billiard-room, dining-room (very large, +the small round table for one person hardly perceptible), and corridors +all lighted "à giorno." However, it looked very cheerful and kept me +from feeling too dreadfully homesick for my own house and familiar +surroundings. The rooms were so high up that we didn't hear the noise of +the street, but the river looked alive and friendly with the lights on +the bridges, and a few boats still running. + +We had much more receiving and entertaining to do at the Quai d'Orsay +than at any other ministry, and were obliged to go out much more +ourselves. The season in the official world begins with a reception at +the President's on New Year's day. The diplomatic corps and presidents +of the Senate and Chamber go in state to the Elysée to pay their +respects to the chief of state--the ambassadors with all their staff in +uniform in gala carriages. It is a pretty sight, and there are always a +good many people waiting in the Faubourg St. Honoré to see the +carriages. The English carriage is always the best; they understand all +the details of harness and livery so much better than any one else. The +marshal and his family were established at the Elysée. It wasn't +possible for him to remain at Versailles--he couldn't be so far from +Paris, where all sorts of questions were coming up every day, and he was +obliged to receive deputations and reports, and see people of all kinds. +They were already agitating the question of the Parliament coming back +to Paris. The deputies generally were complaining of the loss of time +and the discomfort of the daily journey even in the parliamentary train. +The Right generally was very much opposed to having the Chambers back in +Paris. I never could understand why. I suppose they were afraid that a +stormy sitting might lead to disturbances. In the streets of a big city +there is always a floating population ready to espouse violently any +cause. At Versailles one was away from any such danger, and, except +immediately around the palace, there was nobody in the long, deserted +avenues. They often cited the United States, how no statesman after the +signing of the Declaration of Independence (in Philadelphia) would have +ventured to propose that the Parliament should sit in New York or +Philadelphia, but the reason there was very different; they were obliged +to make a neutral zone, something between the North and the South. The +District of Columbia is a thing apart, belonging to neither side. It has +certainly worked very well in America. Washington is a fine city, with +its splendid old trees and broad avenues. It has a cachet of its own, is +unlike any other city I know in the world. + +The marshal received at the Elysée every Thursday evening--he and his +staff in uniform, also all the officers who came, which made a brilliant +gathering. Their big dinners and receptions were always extremely well +done. Except a few of their personal friends, not many people of society +were present--the diplomatic corps usually very well represented, the +Government and their wives, and a certain number of liberal deputies--a +great many officers. We received every fifteen days, beginning with a +big dinner. It was an open reception, announced in the papers. The +diplomats always mustered very strong, also the Parliament--not many +women. Many of the deputies remained in the country, taking rooms merely +while the Chambers were sitting, and their wives never appeared in +Paris. "Society" didn't come to us much either, except on certain +occasions when we had a royal prince or some very distinguished +foreigners. Besides the big official receptions, we often had small +dinners up-stairs during the week. Some of these I look back to with +much pleasure. I was generally the only lady with eight or ten men, and +the talk was often brilliant. Some of our habitués were the late Lord +Houghton, a delightful talker; Lord Dufferin, then ambassador in St. +Petersburg; Sir Henry Layard, British ambassador in Spain, an +interesting man who had been everywhere and seen and known everybody +worth knowing in the world; Count Schouvaloff, Russian ambassador in +London, a polished courtier, extremely intelligent; he and W. were +colleagues afterward at the Congrès de Berlin, and W. has often told me +how brilliantly he defended his cause; General Ignatieff, Prince Orloff, +the nunzio Monsignor Czascki, quite charming, the type of the prélat +mondain, very large (though very Catholic) in his ideas, but never +aggressive or disagreeable about the Republic, as so many of the clergy +were. He was very fond of music, and went with me sometimes to the +Conservatoire on Sunday; he had a great admiration for the way they +played classical music; used to lean back in his chair in a corner +(would never sit in front of the box) and drink in every sound. + +We sometimes had informal music in my little blue salon. Baron de +Zuylen, Dutch minister, was an excellent musician, also Comte de Beust, +the Austrian ambassador. He was a composer. I remember his playing me +one day a wedding march he had composed for the marriage of one of the +archdukes. It was very descriptive, with bells, cannon, hurrahs, and a +nuptial hymn--rather difficult to render on a piano--but there was a +certain amount of imagination in the composition. The two came often +with me to the Conservatoire. Comte de Beust brought Liszt to me one +day. I wanted so much to see that complex character, made up of +enthusiasms of all kinds, patriotic, religious, musical. He was dressed +in the ordinary black priestly garb, looked like an ascetic with pale, +thin face, which lighted up very much when discussing any subject that +interested him. He didn't say a word about music, either then or on a +subsequent occasion when I lunched with him at the house of a great +friend and admirer, who was a beautiful musician. I hoped he would play +after luncheon. He was a very old man, and played rarely in those days, +but one would have liked to hear him. Madame M. thought he would perhaps +for her, if the party were not too large, and the guests "sympathetic" +to him. I have heard so many artists say it made all the difference to +them when they felt the public was with them--if there were one +unsympathetic or criticising face in the mass of people, it was the only +face they could distinguish, and it affected them very much. The piano +was engagingly open and music littered about, but he apparently didn't +see it. He talked politics, and a good deal about pictures with some +artists who were present. + +[Illustration: Franz Liszt.] + +I did hear him play many years later in London. We were again lunching +together, at the house of a mutual friend, who was not at all musical. +There wasn't even a piano in the house, but she had one brought in for +the occasion. When I arrived rather early, the day of the party, I found +the mistress of the house, aided by Count Hatzfeldt, then German +ambassador to England, busily engaged in transforming her drawing-room. +The grand piano, which had been standing well out toward the middle of +the room, open, with music on it (I dare say some of Liszt's own--but I +didn't have time to examine), was being pushed back into a corner, all +the music hidden away, and the instrument covered with photographs, +vases of flowers, statuettes, heavy books, all the things one doesn't +habitually put on pianos. I was quite puzzled, but Hatzfeldt, who was a +great friend of Liszt's and knew all his peculiarities, when consulted +by Madame A. as to what she could do to induce Liszt to play, had +answered: "Begin by putting the piano in the furthest, darkest corner of +the room, and put all sorts of heavy things on it. Then he won't think +you have asked him in the hope of hearing him play, and perhaps we can +persuade him." The arrangements were just finished as the rest of the +company arrived. We were not a large party, and the talk was pleasant +enough. Liszt looked much older, so colourless, his skin like ivory, +but he seemed just as animated and interested in everything. After +luncheon, when they were smoking (all of us together, no one went into +the smoking-room), he and Hatzfeldt began talking about the Empire and +the beautiful fêtes at Compiègne, where anybody of any distinction in +any branch of art or literature was invited. Hatzfeldt led the +conversation to some evenings when Strauss played his waltzes with an +entrain, a sentiment that no one else has ever attained, and to +Offenbach and his melodies--one evening particularly when he had +improvised a song for the Empress--he couldn't quite remember it. If +there were a piano--he looked about. There was none apparently. "Oh, +yes, in a corner, but so many things upon it, it was evidently never +meant to be opened." He moved toward it, Liszt following, asking +Comtesse A. if it could be opened. The things were quickly removed. +Hatzfeldt sat down and played a few bars in rather a halting fashion. +After a moment Liszt said: "No, no, it is not quite that." Hatzfeldt got +up. Liszt seated himself at the piano, played two or three bits of +songs, or waltzes, then, always talking to Hatzfeldt, let his fingers +wander over the keys and by degrees broke into a nocturne and a wild +Hungarian march. It was very curious; his fingers looked as if they +were made of yellow ivory, so thin and long, and of course there wasn't +any strength or execution in his playing--it was the touch of an old +man, but a master--quite unlike anything I have ever heard. When he got +up, he said: "Oh, well, I didn't think the old fingers had any music +left in them." We tried to thank him, but he wouldn't listen to us, +immediately talked about something else. When he had gone we +complimented the ambassador on the way in which he had managed the +thing. Hatzfeldt was a charming colleague, very clever, very musical, a +thorough man of the world. I was always pleased when he was next to me +at dinner--I was sure of a pleasant hour. He had been many years in +Paris during the brilliant days of the Empire, knew everybody there +worth knowing. He had the reputation, notwithstanding his long stay in +Paris, of being very anti-French. I could hardly judge of that, as he +never talked politics to me. It may very likely have been true, but not +more marked with him than with the generality of Anglo-Saxons and +Northern races, who rather look down upon the Latins, hardly giving them +credit for their splendid dash and pluck--to say nothing of their +brains. I have lived in a great many countries, and always think that as +a people, I mean the uneducated mass, the French are the most +intelligent nation in the world. I have never been thrown with the +Japanese--am told they are extraordinarily intelligent. + +We had a dinner one night for Mr. Gladstone, his wife, and a daughter. +Mr. Gladstone made himself quite charming, spoke French fairly well, and +knew more about every subject discussed than any one else in the room. +He was certainly a wonderful man, such extraordinary versatility and +such a memory. It was rather pretty to see Mrs. Gladstone when her +husband was talking. She was quite absorbed by him, couldn't talk to her +neighbours. They wanted very much to go to the Conciergerie to see the +prison where the unfortunate Marie Antoinette passed the last days of +her unhappy life, and Mr. Gladstone, inspired by the subject, made us a +sort of conférence on the French Revolution and the causes which led up +to it, culminating in the Terror and the execution of the King and +Queen. He spoke in English (we were a little group standing at the +door--they were just going), in beautiful academic language, and it was +most interesting, graphic, and exact. Even W., who knew him well and +admired him immensely, was struck by his brilliant improvisation. + +[Illustration: William E. Gladstone. From a photograph by Samuel A. +Walker, London.] + +We were often asked for permits by our English and American friends to +see all the places of historical interest in Paris, and the two places +which all wanted to see were the Conciergerie and Napoleon's tomb at the +Invalides. When we first came to Paris in 1866, just after the end of +the long struggle between the North and South in America, our first +visits too were for the Conciergerie, Invalides, and Notre Dame, where +my father had not been since he had gone as a very young man with all +Paris to see the flags that had been brought back from Austerlitz. They +were interesting days, those first ones in Paris, so full of memories +for father, who had been there a great deal in his young days, first as +an élève in the Ecole Polytechnique, later when the Allies were in +Paris. He took us one day to the Luxembourg Gardens, to see if he could +find any trace of the spot where in 1815 during the Restoration Marshal +Ney had been shot. He was in Paris at the time, and was in the garden a +few hours after the execution--remembered quite well the wall against +which the marshal stood--and the comments of the crowd, not very +flattering for the Government in executing one of France's bravest and +most brilliant soldiers. + +All the Americans who came to see us at the Quai d'Orsay were much +interested in everything relating to Général Marquis de Lafayette, who +left an undying memory in America, and many pilgrimages were made to the +Château de la Grange, where the Marquis de Lafayette spent the last +years of his life and extended a large and gracious hospitality to all +his friends. It is an interesting old place, with a moat all around it +and high solid stone walls, where one still sees the hole that was made +in the wall by a cannon-ball sent by Maréchal de Turenne as he was +passing with his troops, as a friendly souvenir to the owner, with whom +he was not on good terms. So many Americans and English too are imbued +with the idea that there are no châteaux, no country life in France, +that I am delighted when they can see that there are just as many as in +any other country. A very clever American writer, whose books have been +much read and admired, says that when travelling in France in the +country, he never saw any signs of wealth or gentlemen's property. I +think he didn't want to admire anything French, but I wonder in what +part of France he has travelled. Besides the well-known historic +châteaux of Chaumont, Chenonceaux, Azay-le-Rideau, Maintenon, Dampierre, +Josselin, Valençay, and scores of others, there are quantities of small +Louis XV châteaux and manoirs, half hidden in a corner of a forest, +which the stranger never sees. They are quite charming, built of red +brick with white copings, with stiff old-fashioned gardens, and trees +cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes. Sometimes the parish church +touches the castle on one side, and there is a private entrance for the +seigneurs. The interior arrangements in some of the old ones leave much +to be desired in the way of comfort and modern improvements,--lighting +very bad, neither gas nor electricity, and I should think no baths +anywhere, hardly a tub. On the banks of the Seine and the Loire, near +the great forests, in all the departments near Paris there are +quantities of châteaux--some just on the border of the highroad, +separated from it by high iron gates, through which one sees long +winding alleys with stone benches and vases with red geraniums planted +in them, a sun-dial and stiff formal rows of trees--some less +pretentious with merely an ordinary wooden gate, generally open, and +always flowers of the simplest kind, geraniums, sunflowers, pinks, +dahlias, and chrysanthemums--what we call a jardin de curé, (curate's +garden)--but in great abundance. With very rare exceptions the lawns are +not well kept--one never sees in this country the smooth green turf that +one does in England. + +Some of the old châteaux are very stately--sometimes one enters by a +large quadrangle, quite surrounded by low arcades covered with ivy, a +fountain and good-sized basin in the middle of the courtyard, and a big +clock over the door--sometimes they stand in a moat, one goes over a +drawbridge with massive doors, studded with iron nails and strong iron +bolts and chains which defend the entrance, making one think of old +feudal days, when might was right, and if a man wanted his neighbours +property, he simply took it. Even some of the smaller châteaux have +moats. I think they are more picturesque than comfortable--an +ivy-covered house with a moat around it is a nest for mosquitoes and +insects of all kinds, and I fancy the damp from the water must finish by +pervading the house. French people of all classes love the country and a +garden with bright flowers, and if the poorer ones can combine a rabbit +hutch with the flowers they are quite happy. + +I have heard W. speak sometimes of a fine old château in our +department--(Aisne) belonging to a deputy, who invited his friends to +shoot and breakfast. The cuisine and shooting were excellent, but the +accommodations fantastic. The neighbours said nothing had been renewed +or cleaned since the château was occupied by the Cossacks under the +first Napoleon. + +We got very little country life during those years at the Foreign +Office. Twice a year, in April and August, W. went to Laon for his +Conseil-Général, over which he presided, but he was rarely able to stay +all through the session. He was always present on the opening day, and +at the préfet's dinner, and took that opportunity to make a short +speech, explaining the foreign policy of the Government. I don't think +it interested his colleagues as much as all the local questions--roads, +schools, etc. It is astonishing how much time is wasted and how much +letter-writing is necessitated by the simplest change in a road or +railway crossing in France. We had rather a short narrow turning to get +into our gate at Bourneville, and W. wanted to have the road enlarged +just a little, so as to avoid the sharp angle. It didn't interfere with +any one, as we were several yards from the highroad, but it was months, +more than a year, before the thing was done. Any one of the workmen on +the farm would have finished it in a day's work. + +At one of our small dinners I had such a characteristic answer from an +English diplomatist, who had been ambassador at St. Petersburg. He was +really a charming talker, but wouldn't speak French. That was of no +consequence as long as he only talked to me, but naturally all the +people at the table wanted to talk to him, and when the general +conversation languished, at last, I said to him: "I wish you would speak +French; none of these gentlemen speak any other language." (It was quite +true, the men of my husband's age spoke very rarely any other language +but their own; now almost all the younger generation speak German or +English or both. Almost all my son's friends speak English perfectly.) +"Oh no, I can't," he said; "I haven't enough the habit of speaking +French. I don't say the things I want to say, only the things I can say, +which is very different." "But what did you do in Russia?" "All the +women speak English." "But for affairs, diplomatic negotiations?" "All +the women speak English." I have often heard it said that the Russian +women were much more clever than the men. He evidently had found +it true. + + + + +VI + + +THE EXPOSITION YEAR + +The big political dinners were always interesting. On one occasion we +had a banquet on the 2d of December. My left-hand neighbour, a senator, +said to me casually: "This room looks very different from what it did +the last time I was in it." "Does it? I should have thought a big +official dinner at the Foreign Office would have been precisely the same +under any régime." "A dinner perhaps, but on that occasion we were not +precisely dining. I and a number of my friends had just been arrested, +and we were waiting here in this room strictly guarded, until it was +decided what should be done with us." Then I remembered that it was the +2d of December, the anniversary of Louis Napoléon's coup d'état. He said +they were quite unprepared for it, in spite of warnings. He was sent out +of the country for a little while, but I don't think his exile was a +very terrible one. + +I got my first lesson in diplomatic politeness from Lord Lyons, then +British ambassador in Paris. He was in Paris during the Franco-German +War, knew everybody, and had a great position. He gave very handsome +dinners, liked his guests to be punctual, was very punctual himself, +always arrived on the stroke of eight when he dined with us. We had an +Annamite mission to dine one night and had invited almost all the +ambassadors and ministers to meet them. There had been a stormy sitting +at the Chamber and W. was late. As soon as I was ready I went to his +library and waited for him; I couldn't go down and receive a foreign +mission without him. We were quite seven or eight minutes late and found +all the company assembled (except the Annamites, who were waiting with +their interpreter in another room to make their entry in proper style). +As I shook hands with Lord Lyons (who was doyen of the diplomatic corps) +he said to me: "Ah, Madame Waddington, I see the Republic is becoming +very royal; you don't receive your guests any more, merely come into the +room when all the company is assembled." He said it quite smilingly, but +I understood very well, and of course we ought to have been there when +the first guests arrived. He was very amiable all the same and told me a +great many useful things--for instance, that I must never invite a +cardinal and an ambassador together, as neither of them would yield the +precedence and I would find myself in a very awkward position. + +[Illustration: Lord Lyons.] + +The Annamites were something awful to see. In their country all the men +of a certain standing blacken their teeth, and I suppose the dye makes +their teeth fall out, as they hadn't any apparently, and when they +opened their mouths the black caverns one saw were terrifying. I had +been warned, but notwithstanding it made a most disagreeable impression +on me. They were very richly attired, particularly the first three, who +were très grands seigneurs in Annam,--heavily embroidered silk robes, +feathers, and jewels, and when they didn't open their mouths they were +rather a decorative group,--were tall, powerfully built men. They knew +no French nor English--spoke through the interpreter. My intercourse +with them was very limited. They were not near me at dinner, but +afterward I tried to talk to them a little. They all stood in a group at +one end of the room, flanked by an interpreter--the three principal +chiefs well in front. I don't know what the interpreter said to them +from me, probably embellished my very banal remarks with flowers of +rhetoric, but they were very smiling, opening wide their black mouths +and made me very low bows--evidently appreciated my intention and effort +to be amiable. + +They brought us presents, carpets, carved and inlaid mother-of-pearl +boxes, cabinets, and some curious saddles, also gold-embroidered +cushions and slippers. Some Arab horses were announced with great pomp +from the Sultan's stables. I was rather interested in them, thought it +would be amusing to drive a long-tailed Arab pony in a little cart in +the morning. They were brought one morning to the Quai d'Orsay, and W. +gave rendezvous to Comte de Pontécoulant and some of the sporting men of +the cabinet, in the courtyard. There were also several stablemen, all +much interested in the idea of taming the fiery steeds of the desert. +The first look was disappointing. They were thin, scraggy animals, +apparently all legs and manes. Long tails they had, and small heads, but +anything so tame and sluggish in their movements could hardly be +imagined. One could scarcely get them to canter around the courtyard. We +were all rather disgusted, as sometimes one sees pretty little Arab +horses in Paris. I don't know what became of them; I fancy they were +sent to the cavalry stables. + +Our first great function that winter was the service at the Madeleine +for the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, who died suddenly in the +beginning of January, 1878. France sent a special mission to the +funeral--the old Marshal Canrobert, who took with him the marshal's son, +Fabrice de MacMahon. The Church of the Madeleine was filled with people +of all kinds--the diplomatic corps in uniform, a very large +representation of senators and deputies. There was a slight hesitation +among some of the Left--who were ardent sympathisers with young +Italy--but who didn't care to compromise themselves by taking part in a +religious ceremony. However, as a rule they went. Some of the ladies of +the Right were rather put out at having to go in deep mourning to the +service. I said to one of them: "But you are not correct; you have a +black dress certainly, but I don't think pearl-grey gloves are proper +for such an occasion." "Oh, they express quite sufficiently the grief I +feel on this occasion." + +It was curious that the King should have gone before the old Pope, who +had been failing for some time. Every day we expected to hear of his +death. There were many speculations over the new King of Italy, the +Prince Humbert of our day. As we had lived so many years in Rome, I was +often asked what he was like, but I really had no opinion. One saw him +very little. I remember one day in the hunting-field he got a nasty +fall. His horse put his foot in a hole and fell with him. It looked a +bad accident, as if the horse were going to roll over on him. I, with +one of my friends, was near, and seeing an accident (I didn't know who +it was) naturally stopped to see if our groom could do anything, but an +officer rode hurriedly up and begged us to go on, that the Prince would +be very much annoyed if any one, particularly a woman, should notice his +fall. I saw him later in the day, looking all right on another horse, +and no one made any allusion to the accident. + +About a month after Victor Emmanuel's death the old Pope died, the 8th +of February, 1878, quite suddenly at the end. He was buried of course in +Rome, and it was very difficult to arrange for his funeral in the Rome +of the King of Italy. However, he did lie in state at St. Peter's, the +noble garde in their splendid uniforms standing close around the +catafalque--long lines of Italian soldiers, the bersaglieri with their +waving plumes, on each side of the great aisle. There was a magnificent +service for him at Notre Dame. The Chambers raised their sitting as a +mark of respect to the head of the church, and again there was a great +attendance at the cathedral. There were many discussions in the monde +(society not official) "as to whether one should wear mourning for the +Saint Père." I believe the correct thing is not to wear mourning, but +almost all the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain went about in black +garments for some time. One of my friends put it rather graphically: "Si +on a un ruban rose dans les cheveux on a tout de suite l'air d'être la +maîtresse de Rochefort." + +All Europe was engrossed with the question of the Pope's successor. +Intrigues and undercurrents were going on hard in Rome, and the issue of +the conclave was impatiently awaited. No one could predict any result. +The election of Cardinal Pecci, future Leo XIII, seemed satisfactory, at +least in the beginning. + +My winter passed pleasantly enough; I began to feel more at home in my +new quarters, and saw many interesting people of all kinds. Every now +and then there would be a very lively debate in the Parliament. W. would +come home very late, saying things couldn't go on like that, and we +would surely be out of office in a few weeks. We always kept our house +in the rue Dumont d'Urville, and I went over every week, often thinking +that in a few days we should be back there again. + +One of my great trials was a reception day. W. thought I ought to have +one, so every Friday I was at home from three until six, and very long +afternoons they were. I insisted upon having a tea-table, which was a +novelty in those days, but it broke the stiff semicircle of red and gold +armchairs carefully arranged at one end of the room. Very few men took +tea. It was rather amusing to see some of the deputies who didn't +exactly like to refuse a cup of tea offered to them by the minister's +wife, holding the cup and saucer most carefully in their hands, making a +pretence of sipping the tea and replacing it hastily on the table as +soon as it was possible. I had of course a great many people of +different nationalities, who generally didn't know each other. The +ambassadresses and ministers' wives sat on each side of my sofa--the +smaller people lower down. They were all announced, my huissier, Gérard, +doing it very well, opening the big doors and roaring out the names. +Sometimes, at the end of the day, some of my own friends or some of the +young men from the chancery would come in, and that would cheer me up a +little. There was no conversation, merely an exchange of formal phrases, +but I had some funny experiences. + +One day I had several ladies whom I didn't know at all, wives of +deputies, or small functionaries at some of the ministries. One of my +friends, Comtesse de B., was starting for Italy and Rome for the first +time. She had come to ask me all sorts of questions about clothes, +hotels, people to see, etc. When she went away in a whirl of +preparations and addresses, I turned to one of my neighbours, saying: +"Je crois qu'on est très bien à l'Hôtel de Londres à Rome," quite an +insignificant and inoffensive remark--merely to say something. She +replied haughtily: "Je n'en sais rien, Madame; je n'ai jamais quitté +Paris et je m'en vante." I was so astonished that I had nothing to say, +but was afterward sorry that I had not continued the conversation and +asked her why she was so especially proud of never having left Paris. +Travelling is usually supposed to enlarge one's ideas. Her answer might +have been interesting. W. wouldn't believe it when I told him, but I +said I couldn't really have invented it. I used to go into his cabinet +at the end of the day always, when he was alone with Pontécoulant, and +tell them all my experiences which W. forbid me to mention anywhere +else. I had a good many surprises, but soon learned never to be +astonished and to take everything as a matter of course. + +The great interest of the summer was the Exposition Universelle which +was to take place at the Trocadéro, the new building which had been +built on the Champ de Mars. The opening was announced for the 1st of May +and was to be performed with great pomp by the marshal. All Europe was +represented except Germany, and almost all the great powers were sending +princes to represent their country. We went often to see how the works +were getting on, and I must say it didn't look as if it could possibly +be ready for the 1st of May. There were armies of workmen in every +direction and carts and camions loaded with cases making their way with +difficulty through the mud. Occasionally a light case or bale would fall +off, and quantities of small boys who seemed always on the spot would +precipitate themselves, tumbling over each other to pick up what fell, +and there would be protestations and explanations in every language +under the sun. It was a motley, picturesque crowd--the costumes and +uniforms making so much colour in the midst of the very ordinary dark +clothes the civilised Western world affects. I felt sorry for the +Orientals and people from milder climes--they looked so miserably cold +and wretched shivering under the very fresh April breezes that swept +over the great plain of the Champ de Mars. The machines, particularly +the American ones, attracted great attention. There was always a crowd +waiting when some of the large pieces were swung down into their places +by enormous pulleys. + +The opening ceremony was very brilliant. Happily it was a beautiful warm +day, as all the guests invited by the marshal and the Government were +seated on a platform outside the Trocadéro building. All the diplomatic +corps, foreign royalties, and commissioners of the different nations who +were taking part in the exposition were invited. The view was lovely as +we looked down from our seats. The great enclosure was packed with +people. All the pavilions looked very gay with bright-coloured walls and +turrets, and there were flags, palms, flowers, and fountains +everywhere--the Seine running through the middle with fanciful bridges +and boats. There was a curious collection of people in the tribunes. The +invitations had not been very easy to make. There were three Spanish +sovereigns, Queen Isabella, her husband, Don François d'Assizes, and the +Duc d'Aosta (King Amadée), who had reigned a few stormy months in Spain. +He had come to represent Italy at the exposition. The marshal was rather +preoccupied with his Spanish royalties. He had a reception in the +evening, to which all were invited, and thought it would be wise to take +certain precautions, so he sent one of his aides-de-camp to Queen +Isabella to say that he hoped to have the honour of seeing her in the +evening at the Elysée, but he thought it right to tell her that she +might perhaps have some disagreeable meetings. She replied: "Si c'est +mon mari de qui vous parlez, cela m'est tout à fait égal; si c'est le +Duc d'Aosta, je serai ravie de le voir." + +She came to the reception, but her husband was already gone. The Due +d'Aosta was still there, and she walked straight up to him and kissed +him on both cheeks, not an easy thing to do, for the duke was not at all +the type of the gay lady's man--very much the reverse. He looked a +soldier (like all the princes of the house of Savoy) and at the same +time a monk. One could easily imagine him a crusader in plumed helmet +and breastplate, supporting any privation or fatigue without a murmur. +He was very shy (one saw it was an effort for him every time that any +one was brought up to him and he had to make polite phrases), not in the +least mondain, but simple, charming when one talked to him. + +I saw him often afterward, as he represented his brother, King Humbert, +on various official occasions when I too was present--the coronation of +the Emperor Alexander of Russia, the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. He was +always a striking figure, didn't look as if he belonged to our modern +world at all. The marshal had a series of dinners and receptions which +were most brilliant. There was almost always music or theatricals, with +the best artists in Paris. The Comédie Française was much appreciated. +Their style is so finished and sure. They played just as well at one end +of a drawing-room, with a rampe of flowers only separating them from the +public, as in their own theatre with all the help of scenery, acoustics, +and distance. In a drawing-room naturally the audience is much nearer. + +I remember one charming party at the Elysée for the Austrian crown +prince, the unfortunate Archduke Rudolph. All the stars of the Théâtre +Français were playing--Croizette, Reichemberg, Delaunay, Coquelin. The +prince seemed to enjoy himself. He was very good-looking, with a slight, +elegant figure and charming smile--didn't look like a man whose life +would end so tragically. When I saw him some years later in London, he +was changed, looked older, had lost his gaiety, was evidently bored with +the official entertaining, and used to escape from all the dinners and +receptions as soon as he could. + +The late King Edward (then Prince of Wales) won golden opinions always. +There was certainly something in his personality which had an enormous +attraction for Parisians. He always seemed to enjoy life, never looked +bored, was unfailingly courteous and interested in the people he was +talking to. It was a joy to the French people to see him at some of the +small theatres, amusing himself and understanding all the sous-entendus +and argot quite as well as they did. It would almost seem as if what +some one said were true, that he reminded them of their beloved Henri +IV, who still lives in the heart of the nation. + +His brother-in-law, the Prince of Denmark, was also most amiable. We met +him often walking about the streets with one or two of his gentlemen, +and looking in at the windows like an ordinary provincial. He was tall, +with a slight, youthful figure, and was always recognised. It was a +great satisfaction and pride to Parisians to have so many royalties and +distinguished people among them again. + +Those two months of May and June gave back to Paris the animation and +gaiety of the last days of the Empire. There were many handsome +carriages on the Champs-Elysées, filled with pretty, well-dressed women, +and the opera and all the theatres were packed. Paris was illuminated +the night of the opening of the exposition, the whole city, not merely +the Champs-Elysées and boulevards. As we drove across the bridge on our +way home from the reception at the Elysée, it was a beautiful sight--the +streets full of people waiting to see the foreign royalties pass, and +the view up and down the Seine, with the lights from the high buildings +reflected in the water--like fairy-land. + +[Illustration: His Royal Highness, Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1876. +From a photograph by Lock & Whitfield, London.] + +The dinners and receptions at the Elysée and at all the ministries those +first weeks of the exposition were interesting but so fatiguing. Happily +there were not many lunches nor day entertainments. I used to get a good +drive every afternoon in the open carriage with mother and baby, and +that kept me alive. Occasionally (not often) W. had a man's dinner, and +then I could go with some of my friends and dine at the exposition, +which was very amusing--such a curious collection of people. The rue des +Nations was like a gigantic fair. We met all our friends, and heard +every language under the sun. Among other distinguished foreign guests +that year we had President and Mrs. Grant, who were received everywhere +in Europe (England giving the example) like royalties. When they dined +with us at the Quai d'Orsay W. and I went to the top of the great +staircase to meet them, exactly as we did for the Prince and Princess +of Wales. + +It seems funny to me when I think of the very unceremonious manner in +which not only ex-presidents but actual presidents were treated in +America when I was a child. I remember quite well seeing a president (I +have forgotten which one now) come into the big drawing-room at the old +Cozzen's Hotel at West Point, with two or three gentlemen with him. +There was a certain number of people in the room and nobody moved, or +dreamt of getting up. However, the Grants were very simple--accepted all +the honours shown to them without a pose of any kind. The marshal gave +them a big dinner at the Elysée. We arrived a little late (we always +did) and found a large party assembled. The Grants came in just +after us. + +The Maréchale said to me: "The Chinese ambassador will take you to +dinner, Madame Waddington. He is an interesting, clever man, knows +England and the English well--speaks English remarkably well." Just +before dinner was announced the ambassador was brought up to me. He was +a striking-looking man, tall, broad-shouldered, dignified, very +gorgeously attired in light-blue satin, embroidered in bright-coloured +flowers and gold and silver designs, and a splendid yellow bird of +paradise in his cap. He didn't come quite up to me, made me a low bow +from a certain distance, and then fell back into a group of smaller +satellites, all very splendidly dressed. When dinner was announced the +first couples filed off--the marshal with Mrs. Grant and the Maréchale +with President Grant and W. with his lady. There was a pause; I should +have gone next, but my ambassador wasn't forthcoming. I looked and +wondered. All the aides-de-camp were making frantic signals to me to go +on, and the whole cortège was stopped. I really didn't know what to +do--I felt rather foolish. Presently the ambassador appeared--didn't +offer me his arm, but again made me a low bow, which I returned and +moved a few steps forward. He advanced too and we made a stately +progress to the dining-room side by side. I heard afterward the +explanation. It seemed that in those days (things have changed _now_ I +fancy) no Chinese of rank would touch any woman who didn't belong to +him, and the ambassador would have thought himself dishonoured (as well +as me) if he had offered me his arm. The dinner was anything but banal. + +When we finally got to the table I found myself on the marshal's +left--Mrs. Grant was on his right. The marshal neither spoke nor +understood English. Mrs. Grant spoke no French, so the conversation +didn't seem likely to be very animated. After a few moments Mrs. Grant +naturally wished to say something to her host and she addressed him in +English. "Mr. President, I am so happy to be in your beautiful country," +then the marshal to me: "Madame Waddington je vous en prie, dites à +Madame Grant que je ne puis pas répondre; je ne comprends pas l'anglais; +je ne puis pas parler avec elle." "Mrs. Grant, the marshal begs me to +say to you that he regrets not being able to talk with you, but +unfortunately he does not understand English." Then there was a pause +and Mrs. Grant began again: "What a beautiful palace, Mr. President. It +must be delightful with that charming garden." Again the marshal to me: +"Mais je vous en prie Madame, dites à Madame Grant que je ne puis pas +causer avec elle. Il ne faut pas qu'elle me parle, je ne comprends pas." +"Mrs. Grant, the marshal is distressed that he cannot talk to you, but +he _really_ does not understand any English." It was very trying for +Mrs. Grant. Happily her other neighbour knew a little English and she +could talk to him, but all through dinner, at intervals, she began again +at the marshal. + +After a few moments I turned my attention to my ambassador. I had been +looking at him furtively while I was interpreting for the marshal and +Mrs. Grant. I saw that he _took_ everything that was offered to +him--dishes, wines, sauces--but he never attacked anything without +waiting to see what his neighbours did, when and how they used their +knives and forks,--then did exactly as they did,--never made a mistake. +I saw he was looking at the flowers on the table, which were very well +arranged, so I said to him, speaking very slowly and distinctly, as one +does to a child or a deaf person: "Have you pretty flowers in your +country?" He replied promptly: "Yes, yes, very hot, very cold, very hot, +very cold." I was a little disconcerted, but thought I had perhaps +spoken indistinctly, and after a little while I made another attempt: +"How much the uniforms add to the brilliancy of the fête, and the +Chinese dress is particularly striking and handsome," but to that he +made such a perfectly unintelligible answer that I refrained from any +further conversation and merely smiled at him from time to time, which +he always acknowledged with a little bow. + +We went back to the salons in the same way, side by side, and when the +men had gone into one of the other rooms to talk and smoke, I went to +speak to the Maréchale, who said to me: "I am sure you had a delightful +dinner, Madame Waddington. The Chinese ambassador is such a clever man, +has travelled a great deal, and speaks such wonderful English." +"Wonderful indeed, Madame la Maréchale," and then I repeated our +conversation, which she could hardly believe, and which amused her very +much. She spoke English as well as I did. + +The Grants were very much entertained during their stay in Paris, and we +met them nearly every night. W. liked the general very much and found +him quite talkative when he was alone with him. At the big dinners he +was of course at a disadvantage, neither speaking nor understanding a +word of French. W. acted as interpreter and found that very fatiguing. +There is so much repartee and sous-entendu in all French conversation +that even foreigners who know the language well find it sometimes +difficult to follow everything, and to translate quickly enough to keep +one au courant is almost impossible. When they could they drifted into +English, and W. said he was most interesting--speaking of the war and +all the North had done, without ever putting himself forward. + +We had both of us often to act as interpreters with French and +Anglo-Saxons, neither understanding the other's language, and always +found it difficult. I remember a dinner at Sandringham some years ago +when W. was at the embassy. The Prince of Wales (late King Edward) asked +me to sit next to a foreign ambassador who understood not one word of +English. The dinner was exclusively English--a great many clever +men--the master of Trinity College, Cambridge (asked especially to meet +my husband, who graduated from Trinity College), Lord Goschen, James +Knowles of the _Nineteenth Century_, Froude, the historian, Sir Henry +James, Lord Wolseley, etc. The talk was very animated, very witty. There +were peals of laughter all around the table. My ambassador was very +fidgety and nervous, appealing to me all the time, but by the time I had +laboriously condensed and translated some of the remarks, they were +talking of something quite different, and I am afraid he had very hazy +ideas as to what they were all saying. + +We saw, naturally, all the distinguished strangers who passed through +Paris that year of 1878. Many of our colleagues in the diplomatic corps +had played a great rôle in their own country. Prince Orloff, the Russian +ambassador, was one of our great friends. He gave us very good advice on +one or two occasions. He was a distinguished-looking man--always wore a +black patch over one eye--he had been wounded in the Crimea. He spoke +English as well as I did and was a charming talker. General Cialdini was +at the Italian embassy. He was more of a soldier than a statesman--had +contributed very successfully to the formation of "United Italy" and the +suppression of the Pope's temporal power, and was naturally not exactly +persona grata to the Catholics in France. Prince and Princess Hohenlohe +had succeeded Arnim at the German embassy. Their beginnings were +difficult, as their predecessor had done nothing to make the Germans +popular in France, but their strong personality, tact, and understanding +of the very delicate position helped them enormously. They were +Catholics (the Princess born a Russian--her brother, Prince +Wittgenstein, military attaché at the Russian embassy) and very big +people in their own country, so absolutely sure of themselves and their +position that it was very difficult to slight them in any way. They +would never have perceived it unless some extraordinary rudeness were +shown. The Princess was very striking-looking, tall, with a good figure, +and splendid jewels. When she was in full dress for a ball, or official +reception, she wore three necklaces, one on top of the other, and a big +handsome, high tiara, which added to her height. She was the only lady +of the diplomatic corps whom Madame Grévy ever recognised in the first +weeks of her husband's presidency. Madame Grevy was thrown suddenly not +very young into such an absolutely new milieu, that she was quite +bewildered and couldn't be expected to recognise half the women of the +diplomatic corps, but the German ambassadress impressed her and she knew +her always. The princess was not very mondaine, didn't care about +society and life in a city--preferred the country, with riding and +shooting and any sort of sport. + +We had a very handsome dinner at the German embassy the winter of +1878--given to the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon. After dinner, with +coffee, a bear made its appearance in the drawing-room, a "baby bear" +they said, but I didn't think it looked very small. The princess patted +it, and talked to it just as if it were a dog, and I must say the little +animal was perfectly quiet, and kept close to her. I think the lights +and the quantity of people frightened it. It growled once or twice, and +we all had a feeling of relief when it was taken away. I asked the +Maréchale afterward if she were afraid. "Oui, j'avais très peur, mais je +ne voulais pas le montrer devant ces allemands." (Yes, I was very +frightened, but I would not show it before those Germans.) They had +eventually to send the bear away, back to Germany. It grew wilder as it +grew older, and became quite unmanageable--they couldn't keep it in +the embassy. + +Hohenlohe was always pleasant and easy. I think he had a real sympathy +for France and did his best on various delicate occasions. The year of +the exposition (1878) we dined out every night and almost always with +the same people. Hohenlohe often fell to me. He took me in to dinner ten +times in succession. The eleventh time we were each of us in despair as +we filed out together, so I said to him: "Don't let us even pretend to +talk; you can talk to your other neighbour and I will to mine." However, +we _did_ talk chiffons, curiously enough. I had waited for a dress, +which only came home at the last moment, and when I put it on the +corsage was so tight I could hardly bear it. It was too late to change, +and I had nothing else ready, so most uncomfortable I started for my +dinner. I didn't dare to eat anything, hardly dared move, which +Hohenlohe remarked, after seeing three or four dishes pass me untouched, +and said to me: "I am afraid you are ill; you are eating nothing." "No, +not at all, only very uncomfortable"--and then I explained the situation +to him--that my dress was so tight I could neither move nor eat. He was +most indignant--"How could women be so foolish--why did we want to +have abnormally small waists and be slaves to our dressmakers?--men +didn't like made-up figures." "Oh, yes, they do; all men admire a +slight, graceful figure." "Yes, when it is natural, but no man +understands nor cares about a fashionably dressed woman--women dress for +each other" (which is perfectly true). + +[Illustration: Prince Hohenlohe. After the painting by F.E. Laszlo.] + +However, he was destined to see other ladies very careful about their +figures. The late Empress of Austria, who was a fine rider, spent some +time one spring in Paris, and rode every morning in the Bois. She was +very handsome, with a beautiful figure, had handsome horses and +attracted great attention. Prince Hohenlohe often rode with her. I was +riding with a friend one morning when we saw handsome horses waiting at +the mounting-block, just inside the gates. We divined they were the +Empress's horses and waited to see her mount. She arrived in a coupé, +her maid with her, and mounted her horse from the block. The body of her +habit was open. When she was settled in her saddle, the maid stepped up +on the block and buttoned her habit, which I must say fitted +beautifully--as if she were melted into it. + +The official receptions were interesting that year, as one still saw a +few costumes. The Chinese, Japanese, Persians, Greeks, and Roumanians +wore their national dress--and much better they look in them than in +the ordinary dress coat and white tie of our men. The Greek dress was +very striking, a full white skirt with high embroidered belt, but it was +only becoming when the wearer was young, with a good figure. I remember +a pretty Roumanian woman with a white veil spangled with gold, most +effective. Now every one wears the ordinary European dress except the +Chinese, who still keep their costume. One could hardly imagine a +Chinese in a frock coat and tall hat. What would he do with his pigtail? + +The entertainments went on pretty well that year until August, almost +all the embassies and ministries receiving. Queen Isabella of Spain was +then living in the big house in the Avenue Kléber, called the "Palais +d'Espagne" (now the Hotel Majestic). We used to meet her often driving +in the Bois. She was a big, stout, rather red-faced woman, didn't make +much effect in a carriage in ordinary street dress, but in her palace, +when she received or gave an audience, she was a very royal lady. I +asked for an audience soon after W. was named to the Foreign Office. We +knew one of her chamberlains very well, Duc de M., and he arranged it +for me. I arrived at the palace on the appointed day a little before +four (the audience was for four). The big gates were open, a tall porter +dressed in red and gold lace and buttons, and a staff in his hand, was +waiting--two or three men in black, and four or five footmen in red +liveries and powder, at the door and in the hall. I was shown at once to +a small room on the ground floor, where four or five ladies, all Spanish +and all fat, were waiting. In a few minutes the duke appeared. We talked +a little (he looking at me to see if I had taken off my veil and my +right-hand glove) and then a man in black appeared at the door, making a +low bow and saying something in Spanish. The duke said would I come, Her +Majesty was ready to receive me. We passed through several salons where +there were footmen and pages (no ladies) until we came to a very large +one quite at the other end of the palace. The big doors were open, and +at the far end I saw the Queen standing, a stately figure (enormous), +dressed in a long black velvet dress, a high diamond tiara on her head, +from which hung a black lace veil, a fan in her hand (I suppose no +Spanish woman of any station ever parts with her fan) and a splendid +string of pearls. I made my curtsey on the threshold, the chamberlain +named me with the usual formula: "I have the honour to present to Your +Majesty, Madame Waddington, the wife of the Minister of Foreign +Affairs," then backed himself out of the room, and I proceeded down the +long room to the Queen. She didn't move, let me make my two curtseys, +one in the middle of the room, one when I came close up to her--and then +shook hands. We remained standing a few minutes and then she sat down on +a sofa (not a very small one) which she quite filled, and motioned me to +take an armchair on one side. She was very amiable, had a charming +smile, spoke French very well but with a strong Spanish accent. She said +she was very glad to see my husband at the Foreign Office, and hoped he +would stay long enough to do some real work--said she was very fond of +France, loved driving in the streets of Paris, there was always so much +to see and the people looked gay. She was very fond of the theatres, +particularly the smaller ones, liked the real Parisian wit and gaiety +better than the measured phrase and trained diction of the Français and +the Odéon. She spoke most warmly of Marshal MacMahon, hoped that he +would remain President of the Republic as long as the Republicans would +let him, was afraid they would make his position impossible--but that +the younger generation always wanted reforms and changes. I said I +thought that was the way of the world everywhere, in families as well +as nations--children could not be expected to see with the eyes of their +parents. Then we talked about the exposition--she said the Spanish show +was very good--told me to look at the tapestries and embroideries, which +were quite wonderful--gold and silver threads worked in with the +tapestries. The interview was pleasant and easy. When I took leave, she +let me back down the whole length of the room, not half turning away as +so many princesses do after the first few steps, so as to curtail that +very inconvenient exit. However, a day dress is never so long and +cumbersome as an evening dress with a train. + +The chamberlain was waiting just outside the door, also two ladies in +waiting, just as fat as the Queen. Certainly the mise en scène was very +effective. The number of servants in red liveries, the solitary standing +figure at the end of the long enfilade of rooms, the high diamond comb +and long veil, quite transformed the very stout, red-faced lady whom I +used to meet often walking in the Bois. + +We dined once or twice at the palace, always a very handsome dinner. One +for the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon was beautifully done--all the +footmen, dozens, in gala liveries, red and yellow, the maître d'hôtel in +very dark blue with gold epaulettes and aiguillettes. The table was +covered with red and yellow flowers and splendid gold plate, and a very +good orchestra of guitars and mandolins played all through dinner, the +musicians singing sometimes when they played a popular song. We were all +assembled in one of the large rooms waiting for the Queen to appear. As +soon as the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon were announced, she came in, +meeting them at the door, making a circle afterward, and shaking hands +with all the ladies. + +Lord Lyons gave a beautiful ball at the embassy that season. The hotel +of the British embassy is one of the best in Paris--fine reception-rooms +opening on a very large garden, and a large courtyard and side exit--so +there was no confusion of carriages. He had need of all his room--Paris +was crowded with English. Besides all the exposition people, there were +many tourists and well-known English people, all expecting to be +entertained at the embassy. All the world was there. The Prince and +Princess of Wales, the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon, the Orléans +princes, Princesse Mathilde, the Faubourg St. Germain, the Government, +and as many foreigners as the house could hold, as he invited a great +many people, once his obligations, English and official, were +satisfied. It was only at an embassy that such a gathering could take +place, and it was amusing to see the people of all the different camps +looking at each other. + +There was a supper up-stairs for all the royalties before the cotillion. +I was told that the Duc d'Aumale would take me to supper. I was very +pleased (as we knew him very well and he was always charming to us) but +much surprised, as the Orléans princes never remained for supper at any +big official function. There would have been questions of place and +precedence which would have been very difficult to settle. When the move +was made for supper, things had to be changed, as the Orléans princes +had gone home. The Crown Prince of Denmark took me. The supper-room was +prettily arranged, two round tables--Lord Lyons with the Princesses of +Wales and Denmark presiding at one--his niece, the Duchesse of Norfolk, +at the other, with the Princes of Wales and Denmark. I sat between the +Princes of Denmark and Sweden. Opposite me, next the Prince of Wales, +sat a lady I didn't know. Every one else at the table did. She was very +attractive-looking, with a charming smile and most animated manner. I +asked the Prince of Denmark in a low voice, who she was--thought it must +be one of the foreign princesses I hadn't yet met. The Prince of Wales +heard my question, and immediately, with his charming tact and ease of +manner, said to me: "You don't know the Princesse Mathilde; do let me +have the pleasure of presenting you to her," naming me at once--in my +official capacity, "wife of the Minister of Foreign Affairs." The +princess was very gracious and smiling, and we talked about all sorts of +things--some of her musical protégées, who were also mine. She asked me +if I liked living at the ministry, Quai d'Orsay; she remembered it as +such a beautiful house. When the party broke up, she shook hands, said +she had not the pleasure of knowing M. Waddington, but would I thank him +from her for what he had done for one of her friends. I tried to find W. +after supper to present him to the princess, but he had already gone, +didn't stay for the cotillion--the princess, too, went away immediately +after supper. I met her once or twice afterward. She was always +friendly, and we had little talks together. Her salon--she received once +a week--was quite a centre--all the Bonapartists of course, the +diplomatic corps, many strangers, and all the celebrities in +literature and art. + +With that exception I never saw nor talked with any member of that +family until I had been some years a widow, when the Empress Eugénie +received me on her yacht at Cowes. When the news came of the awful +tragedy of the Prince Imperial's death in Zululand, W. was Foreign +Minister, and he had invited a large party, with music. W. instantly put +off the party, said there was no question of politics or a Bonapartist +prince--it was a Frenchman killed, fighting bravely in a foreign +country. I always thought the Empress knew about it and appreciated his +act, for during his embassy in London, though we never saw her, she +constantly sent him word through mutual friends of little negotiations +she knew about and thought might interest him, and always spoke very +well of him as a "clear-headed, patriotic statesman." I should have +liked to have seen her in her prime, when she must have been +extraordinarily beautiful and graceful. When I did see her she was no +longer young, but a stately, impressive figure, and had still the +beautiful brow one sees in all her pictures. One of our friends, a very +clever woman and great anti-Bonapartist, told us an amusing story of her +little son. The child was sometimes in the drawing-room when his mother +was receiving, and heard her and all her friends inveighing against the +iniquities of the Imperial Court and the frivolity of the Empress. He +saw the Empress walking one day in the Bois de Boulogne. She was +attracted by the group of children, stopped and talked to them. The boy +was delighted and said to his governess: "Elle est bien jolie, +l'Impératrice, mais il ne faut pas le dire à Maman." (The Empress is +very pretty, but one must not say it to mother.) + + + + +VII + + +THE BERLIN CONGRESS + +Seventy-eight was a most important year for us in many ways. Besides the +interest and fatigues of the exposition and the constant receiving and +official festivities of all kinds, a great event was looming before +us--the Berlin Congress. One had felt it coming for some time. There +were all sorts of new delimitations and questions to be settled since +the war in the Balkans, and Europe was getting visibly nervous. Almost +immediately after the opening of the exposition, the project took shape, +and it was decided that France should participate in the Congress and +send three representatives. It was the first time that France had +asserted herself since the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but it was time +for her now to emerge from her self-imposed effacement, and take her +place in the Congress of nations. There were many discussions, both +public and private, before the plénipotentiaires were named, and a great +unwillingness on the part of many very intelligent and patriotic +Frenchmen to see the country launching itself upon dangerous ground and +a possible conflict with Bismarck. However, the thing was decided, and +the three plenipotentiaries named--Mr. Waddington, Foreign Minister, +first; Comte de St. Vallier, a very clever and distinguished +diplomatist, actual ambassador at Berlin, second; and Monsieur Desprey, +Directeur de la Politique au Ministère des Affaires Etrangères, third. +He was also a very able man, one of the pillars of the ministry, au +courant of every treaty and negotiation for the last twenty years, very +prudent and clear-headed. All W.'s colleagues were most cordial and +charming on his appointment. He made a statement in the House of the +line of policy he intended to adopt--and was absolutely approved and +encouraged. Not a disparaging word of any kind was said, not even the +usual remark of "cet anglais qui nous représente." He started the 10th +of June in the best conditions possible--not an instruction of any kind +from his chief, M. Dufaure, Président du Conseil--very complimentary to +him certainly, but the ministers taking no responsibility +themselves--leaving the door open in case he made any mistakes. It was +evident that the Parliament and Government were nervous. It was rather +amusing, when all the preparations for the departure were going on. W. +took a large suite with him, secretaries, huissiers, etc., and I told +them they were as much taken up with their coats and embroideries and +cocked hats as any pretty woman with her dresses. I wanted very much to +go, but W. thought he would be freer and have more time to think things +over if I were not there. He didn't know Berlin at all, had never seen +Bismarck nor any of the leading German statesmen, and was fully +conscious how his every word and act would be criticised. However, if a +public man is not criticised, it usually means that he is of no +consequence--so attacks and criticisms are rather welcome--act as a +stimulant. I could have gone and stayed unofficially with a cousin, but +he thought that wouldn't do. St. Vallier was a bachelor; it would have +been rather an affair for him to organise at the embassy an apartment +for a lady and her maids, though he was most civil and asked me to come. + +[Illustration: M. William Waddington. In the uniform he wore as Minister +of Foreign Affairs and at the Berlin Congress, 1878] + +I felt rather lonely in the big ministry when they had all gone, and I +was left with baby. W. stayed away just five weeks, and I performed +various official things in his absence--among others the Review of the +14th of July. The distinguished guest on that occasion was the Shah of +Persia, who arrived with the Maréchale in a handsome open carriage, +with outriders and postilions. The marshal of course was riding. The +Shah was not at all a striking figure, short, stout, with a dark skin, +and hard black eyes. He had handsome jewels, a large diamond fastening +the white aigrette of his high black cap, and his sword-hilt incrusted +with diamonds. He gave a stiff little nod in acknowledgment of the bows +and curtseys every one made when he appeared in the marshal's box. He +immediately took his seat on one side of the Maréchale in front of the +box, one of the ambassadresses, Princess Hohenlohe I think, next to him. +The military display seemed to interest him. Every now and then he made +some remark to the Maréchale, but he was certainly not talkative. While +the interminable line of the infantry regiments was passing, there was a +move to the back of the box, where there was a table with ices, +champagne, etc. Madame de MacMahon came up to me, saying: "Madame +Waddington, Sa Majesté demande les nouvelles de M. Waddington," upon +which His Majesty planted himself directly in front of me, so close that +he almost touched me, and asked in a quick, abrupt manner, as if he were +firing off a shot: "Où est votre mari?" (neither Madame, nor M. +Waddington, nor any of the terms that are usually adopted in polite +society). "A Berlin, Sire." "Pourquoi à Berlin?" "Comme +plénipotentiaire Français au Congrès de Berlin." "Oui, oui, je sais, je +sais. Cela l'intéresse?" "Beaucoup; il voit tant de personnes +intéressantes." "Oui, je sais. Il va bien?" always coming closer to me, +so that I was edging back against the wall, with his hard, bright little +eyes fixed on mine, and always the same sharp, jerky tone. "Il va +parfaitement bien, je vous remercie." Then there was a pause and he made +one or two other remarks which I didn't quite understand--I don't think +his French went very far--but I made out something about "jolies femmes" +and pointed out one or two to him, but he still remained staring into my +face and I was delighted when his minister came up to him (timidly--all +his people were afraid of him) and said some personage wanted to be +presented to him. He shook hands with me, said something about "votre +mari revient bientôt," and moved off. The Maréchale asked me if I were +not touched by His Majesty's solicitude for my husband's health, and +wouldn't I like to come to the front of the box and sit next to him, but +I told her I couldn't think of engrossing His Majesty's attention, as +there were various important people who wished to be presented to him. I +watched him a little (from a distance), trying to see if anything made +any impression on him (the crowd, the pretty, well-dressed women, the +march past, the long lines of infantry,--rather fatiguing to see, as one +line regiment looks very like another,--the chasseurs with their small +chestnut horses, the dragoons more heavily mounted, and the guns), but +his face remained absolutely impassive, though I think he saw +everything. They told a funny story of him in London at one of the court +balls. When he had looked on at the dancing for some time, he said to +the Prince of Wales: "Tell those people to stop now, I have seen +enough"--evidently thought it was a ballet performing for his amusement. +Another one, at one of the European courts was funny. The monarch was +very old, his consort also. When the Shah was presented to the royal +lady, he looked hard at her without saying a word, then remarked to her +husband: "Laide, vieille, pourquoi garder?" (Ugly, old; why keep her?) + +[Illustration: Nasr-ed-Din, Shah of Persia.] + +I went to a big dinner and reception at the British Embassy, given for +all the directors and commissioners of the exposition. It was a lovely +warm night, the garden was lighted, everybody walking about, and an +orchestra playing. Many of the officials had their wives and daughters +with them, and some of the toilettes were wonderful. There were a good +many pretty women, Swedes and Danes, the Northern type, very fair hair +and blue eyes, attracting much attention, and a group of Chinese (all in +costume) standing proudly aloof--not the least interested apparently in +the gay scene before them. I wonder what they thought of European +manners and customs! There was no dancing, which I suppose would have +shocked their Eastern morals. Lord Lyons asked me why I wasn't in +Berlin. I said, "For the best of reasons, my husband preferred going +without me--but I hoped he would send for me perhaps at the end of the +Congress." He told me Lady Salisbury was there with her husband. He +seemed rather sceptical as to the peaceful issue of the +negotiations--thought so many unforeseen questions would come up and +complicate matters. + +I went to a ball at the Hôtel de Ville, also given for all the +foreigners and French people connected with the exposition. The getting +there was very long and tiring. The coupe-file did no good, as every one +had one. Comte de Pontécoulant went with me and he protested vigorously, +but one of the head men of the police, whom he knew well, came up to the +carriage to explain that nothing could be done. There was a long line of +diplomatic and official carriages, and we must take our chance with the +rest. Some of our cousins (Americans) never got there at all--sat for +hours in their carriage in the rue du Rivoli, moving an inch at a time. +Happily it was a lovely warm night; and as we got near we saw lots of +people walking who had left their carriages some little distance off, +hopelessly wedged in a crowd of vehicles--the women in light dresses, +with flowers and jewels in their hair. The rooms looked very handsome +when at last we did get in, particularly the staircase, with a Garde +Municipal on every step, and banks of palms and flowers on the landing +in the hall, wherever flowers could be put. The Ville de Paris furnishes +all the flowers and plants for the official receptions, and they always +are very well arranged. Some trophies of flags too of all nations made a +great effect. I didn't see many people I knew--it was impossible to get +through the crowd, but some one got me a chair at the open window giving +on the balcony, and I was quite happy sitting there looking at the +people pass. The whole world was represented, and it was interesting to +see the different types--Southerners, small, slight, dark, impatient, +wriggling through the crowd--the Anglo-Saxons, big, broad, calm, +squaring their shoulders when there came a sudden rush, and waiting +quite patiently a chance to get a little ahead. Some of the women too +pushed well--evidently determined to see all they could. I don't think +any royalties, even minor ones, were there. + +W. wrote pretty regularly from Berlin, particularly the first days, +before the real work of the Congress began. He started rather sooner +than he had at first intended, so as to have a little time to talk +matters over with St. Vallier and make acquaintance with some of his +colleagues. St. Vallier, with all the staff of the embassy, met him at +the station when he arrived in Berlin, also Holstein (our old friend who +was at the German Embassy in Paris with Arnim) to compliment him from +Prince Bismarck, and he had hardly been fifteen minutes at the embassy +when Count Herbert von Bismarck arrived with greetings and compliments +from his father. He went to see Bismarck the next day, found him at +home, and very civil; he was quite friendly, very courteous and +"bonhomme, original, and even amusing in his conversation, but with a +hard look about the eyes which bodes no good to those who cross his +path." He had just time to get back to the embassy and get into his +uniform for his audience with the Crown Prince (late Emperor +Frederick).[1] The Vice Grand-Maitre des Ceremonies came for him in a +court carriage and they drove off to the palace--W. sitting alone on the +back seat, the grand-maître facing him on the front. "I was ushered into +a room where the Prince was standing. He was very friendly and talked +for twenty minutes about all sorts of things, in excellent French, with +a few words of English now and then to show he knew of my English +connection. He spoke of my travels in the East, of the de Bunsens, of +the Emperor's health (the old man is much better and decidedly +recovering)--and of his great wish for peace." All the plenipotentiaries +had not yet arrived. They appeared only on the afternoon of the 12th, +the day before the Congress opened. Prince Bismarck sent out the +invitation for the first sitting: + +[Footnote 1: The Crown Prince represented his father at all the +functions. Some days before the meeting of the Congress the old Emperor +had been wounded in the arm by a nihilist, Nobiling, who Fired from a +window when the Emperor was passing in an open carriage. The wound was +slight, but the old man was much shaken and unable to take any part in +the ceremonies or receive any of the plenipotentiaries.] + + Le Prince de Bismarck + a l'honneur de prévenir Son Excellence, Monsieur Waddington, + que la première réunion du Congrès aura lieu le + 13 juin à deux heures, au Palais du Chancelier de l'Empire, + 77, Wilhelmstrasse. + "Berlin, le 12 juin 1878." + +It was a brilliant assemblage of great names and intelligences that +responded to his invitation--Gortschakoff, Schouvaloff, Andrassy, +Beaconsfield, Salisbury, Karolyi, Hohenlohe, Corti, and many others, +younger men, who acted as secretaries. French was the language spoken, +the only exception being made by Lord Beaconsfield, who always spoke in +English, although it was most evident, W. said, that he understood +French perfectly well. The first day was merely an official opening of +the Congress--every one in uniform--but only for that occasion. After +that they all went in ordinary morning dress, putting on their uniforms +again on the last day only, when they signed the treaty. W. writes: +"Bismarck presides and did his part well to-day; he speaks French fairly +but very slowly, finding his words with difficulty, but he knows what he +means to say and lets every one see that he does." No one else said much +that first day; each man was rather reserved, waiting for his neighbour +to begin. Beaconsfield made a short speech, which was trying for some of +his colleagues, particularly the Turks, who had evidently much +difficulty in understanding English. They were counting upon England's +sympathy, but a little nervous as to a supposed agreement between +England and Russia. The Russians listened most attentively. There seemed +to be a distrust of England on their part and a decided rivalry between +Gortschakoff and Beaconsfield. The Congress dined that first night with +the Crown Prince at the Schloss in the famous white hall--all in uniform +and orders. W. said the heat was awful, but the evening interesting. +There were one hundred and forty guests, no ladies except the royal +princesses, not even the ambassadresses. W. sat on Bismarck's left, who +talked a great deal, intending to make himself agreeable. He had a long +talk after dinner with the Crown Princess (Princess Royal of England) +who spoke English with him. He found her charming--intelligent and +cultivated and so easy--not at all stiff and shy like so many royalties. +He saw her very often during his stay in Berlin, and she was unfailingly +kind to him--and to me also when I knew her later in Rome and London. +She always lives in my memory as one of the most charming women I have +ever met. Her face often comes back to me with her beautiful bright +smile and the saddest eyes I have ever seen. I have known very few like +her. W. also had a talk with Prince Frederick-Charles, father of the +Duchess of Connaught, whom he found rather a rough-looking soldier with +a short, abrupt manner. He left bitter memories in France during the +Franco-German War, was called the "Red Prince," he was so hard and +cruel, always ready to shoot somebody and burn down villages on the +slightest provocation--so different from the Prince Imperial, the "unser +Fritz" of the Germans, who always had a kind word for the fallen foe. + +[Illustration: Prince Bismarck. From a sketch by Anton von Werner, +1880.] + +W.'s days were very full, and when the important sittings began it was +sometimes hard work. The Congress room was very hot (all the colleagues +seemed to have a holy horror of open windows)--and some of the men very +long and tedious in stating their cases. Of course they were at a +disadvantage not speaking their own language (very few of them knew +French well, except the Russians), and they had to go very carefully, +and be quite sure of the exact significance of the words they used. W. +got a ride every morning, as the Congress only met in the afternoon. +They rode usually in the Thiergarten, which is not very large, but the +bridle-paths were good. It was very difficult to get out of Berlin into +the open country without going through a long stretch of suburbs and +sandy roads which were not very tempting. A great many officers rode in +the park, and one morning when he was riding with the military attache +of the embassy, two officers rode up and claimed acquaintance, having +known him in France in '70, the year of the war. They rode a short time +together, and the next day he received an invitation from the officers +of a smart Uhlan regiment to dine at their mess "in remembrance of the +kind hospitality shown to some of their officers who had been quartered +at his place in France during the war." As the hospitality was decidedly +forced, and the presence of the German officers not very agreeable to +the family, the invitation was not very happy. It was well meant, but +was one of those curious instances of German want of tact which one +notices so much if one lives much with Germans. The hours of the various +entertainments were funny. At a big dinner at Prince Bismarck's the +guests were invited at six, and at eight-thirty every one had gone. W. +sat next to Countess Marie, the daughter of the house, found her simple +and inclined to talk, speaking both French and English well. Immediately +after dinner the men all smoked everywhere, in the drawing-room, on the +terrace, some taking a turn in the park with Bismarck. W. found Princess +Bismarck not very femme du monde; she was preoccupied first with her +dinner, then with her husband, for fear he should eat too much, or take +cold going out of the warm dining-room into the evening air. There were +no ladies at the dinner except the family. (The German lady doesn't seem +to occupy the same place in society as the French and English woman +does. In Paris the wives of ambassadors and ministers are always invited +to all official banquets.) + +Amusements of all kinds were provided for the plenipotentiaries. Early +in July W. writes of a "Land-parthie"--the whole Congress (wives too +this time) invited to Potsdam for the day. He was rather dreading a long +day--excursions were not much in his line. However, this one seems to +have been successful. He writes: "Our excursion went off better than +could be expected. The party consisted of the plenipotentiaries and a +certain number of court officers and generals. We started by rail, +stopped at a station called Wannsee, and embarked on board a small +steamer, the Princess Royal receiving the guests as they arrived on +board. We then started for a trip on the lakes, but before long there +came a violent squall which obliged the sailors to take down the awnings +in double-quick time, and drove every one down into the cabins. It +lasted about half an hour, after which it cleared up and every one +reappeared on deck. In course of time we landed near Babelsberg, where +carriages were waiting. I was told off to go in the first with the +Princess Royal, Countess Karolyi (wife of the Austrian ambassador, a +beautiful young woman), and Andrassy. We went over the Château of +Babelsberg, which is a pretty Gothic country-seat, not a palace, and +belongs to the present Emperor. After that we had a longish drive, +through different parks and villages, and finally arrived at Sans Souci, +where we dined. After dinner we strolled through the rooms and were +shown the different souvenirs of Frederick the Great, and got home at +ten-thirty." W. saw a good deal of his cousin, George de Bunsen, a +charming man, very cultivated and cosmopolitan. He had a pretty house in +the new quarter of Berlin, and was most hospitable. He had an +interesting dinner there with some of the literary men and +savants--Mommsen, Leppius, Helmholtz, Curtius, etc., most of them his +colleagues, as he was a member of the Berlin Academy. He found those +evenings a delightful change after the long hot afternoons in the +Wilhelmsstrasse, where necessarily there was so much that was long and +tedious. I think even he got tired of Greek frontiers, notwithstanding +his sympathy for the country. He did what he could for the Greeks, who +were very grateful to him and gave him, in memory of the efforts he made +on their behalf, a fine group in bronze of a female figure--"Greece" +throwing off the bonds of Turkey. Some of the speakers were very +interesting. He found Schouvaloff always a brilliant debater--he spoke +French perfectly, was always good-humoured and courteous, and defended +his cause well. One felt there was a latent animosity between the +English and the Russians. Lord Beaconsfield made one or two strong +speeches--very much to the point, and slightly arrogant, but as they +were always made in English, they were not understood by all the +Assembly. W. was always pleased to meet Prince Hohenlohe, actual German +ambassador to Paris (who had been named the third German +plenipotentiary). He was perfectly au courant of all that went on at +court and in the official world, knew everybody, and introduced W. to +various ladies who received informally, where he could spend an hour or +two quietly, without meeting all his colleagues. Blowitz, of course, +appeared on the scene--the most important person in Berlin (in his own +opinion). I am not quite convinced that he saw all the people he said he +did, or whether all the extraordinary confidences were made to him which +he related to the public, but he certainly impressed people very much, +and I suppose his letters as newspaper correspondent were quite +wonderful. He was remarkably intelligent and absolutely unscrupulous, +didn't hesitate to put into the mouths of people what he wished them to +say, so he naturally had a great pull over the ordinary simple-minded +journalist who wrote simply what he saw and heard. As he was the Paris +correspondent of _The London Times_, he was often at the French Embassy. +W. never trusted him very much, and his flair was right, as he was +anything but true to him. The last days of the Congress were very busy +ones. The negotiations were kept secret enough, but things always leak +out and the papers had to say something. I was rather émue at the tone +of the French press, but W. wrote me not to mind--they didn't really +know anything, and when the treaty was signed France would certainly +come out very honourably. All this has long passed into the domain of +history, and has been told so many times by so many different people +that I will not go into details except to say that the French +protectorate of Tunis (now one of our most flourishing colonies) was +entirely arranged by W. in a long confidential conversation with Lord +Salisbury. The cession of the Island of Cyprus by Turkey to the English +was a most unexpected and disagreeable surprise to W. However, he went +instantly to Lord Salisbury, who was a little embarrassed, as that +negotiation had been kept secret, which didn't seem quite +fair--everything else having been openly discussed around the council +table. He quite understood W.'s feelings in the matter, and was +perfectly willing to make an arrangement about Tunis. The thing was +neither understood nor approved at first by the French Government. W. +returned to Paris, "les mains vides; seulement à chercher dans sa poche +on y eut trouvé les clés de la Tunisie"--as one of his friends defined +the situation some years ago. He was almost disavowed by his Government. +The ministers were timid and unwilling that France should take any +initiative--even his friend, Léon Say, then Minister of Finances, a very +clever man and brilliant politician, said: "Notre collègue Waddington, +contre son habitude, s'est emballé cette fois pour la question de la +Tunisie." (Our colleague Waddington, contrary to his nature, has quite +lost his head this time over the Tunis question.) I think the course of +events has fully justified his action, and now that it has proved such a +success, every one claims to have taken the initiative of the French +protectorate of Tunis. All honours have been paid to those who carried +out the project, and very little is said of the man who originated the +scheme in spite of great difficulties at home and abroad. Some of W.'s +friends know the truth. + +[Illustration: The Berlin Congress. From a painting by Anton von Werner, +1881.] + +There was a great exchange of visits, photographs, and autographs the +last days of the Congress. Among other things which W. brought back from +Berlin, and which will be treasured by his grandsons as a historical +souvenir, was a fan, quite a plain wooden fan, with the signatures of +all the plenipotentiaries--some of them very characteristic. The French +signatures are curiously small and distinct, a contrast to Bismarck's +smudge. W. was quite sorry to say good-bye to some of his colleagues. +Andrassy, with his quick sympathies and instant comprehension of all +sides of a question, attracted him very much. He was a striking +personality, quite the Slav type. W. had little private intercourse with +Prince Gortschakoff--who was already an old man and the type of the +old-fashioned diplomatist--making very long and well-turned phrases +which made people rather impatient. On the whole W. was satisfied. He +writes two or three days before the signing of the treaty: "As far as I +can see at present, no one will be satisfied with the result of the +Congress; it is perhaps the best proof that it is dealing fairly and +equitably with the very exaggerated claims and pretensions of all +parties. Anyhow, France will come out of the whole affair honourably and +having done all that a strictly neutral power can do." The treaty was +signed on July 13 by all the plenipotentiaries in full uniform. W. +said there was a decided feeling of satisfaction and relief that it was +finished. Even Bismarck looked less preoccupied, as if a weight had been +lifted from his shoulders. Of course he was supposed to have had his own +way in everything. Everybody (not only the French) was afraid of him. +With his iron will, and unscrupulous brushing aside, or even +annihilating, everything that came in his way, he was a formidable +adversary. There was a gala dinner at the Schloss, to celebrate the +signing of the treaty. "It was the exact repetition of the first, at the +opening of the Congress. I sat on the left of Bismarck, and had a good +deal of conversation with him. The Crown Prince and Princess were just +opposite, and the Princess talked a great deal with me across the table, +always in English." The Crown Princess could never forget that she was +born Princess Royal of England. Her household was managed on English +principles, her children brought up by English nurses, she herself +always spoke English with them. Of course there must have been many +things in Germany which were distasteful to her,--so many of the small +refinements of life which are absolute necessaries in England were +almost unknown luxuries in Germany,--particularly when she married. Now +there has been a great advance in comfort and even elegance in German +houses and habits. Her English proclivities made her a great many +enemies, and I don't believe the "Iron Chancellor" made things easy for +her. The dinner at the Schloss was as usual at six o'clock, and at nine +W. had to go to take leave of the Empress, who was very French in her +sympathies, and had always been very kind to him. Her daughter, the +Grand Duchess of Baden, was there, and W. had a very pleasant hour with +the two ladies. The Empress asked him a great many questions about the +Congress, and particularly about Bismarck--if he was in a fairly good +temper--when he had his nerves he was simply impossible, didn't care +what people thought of him, and didn't hesitate to show when he was +bored. The Grand Duchess added smilingly: "He is perfectly intolerant, +has no patience with a fool." I suppose most people are of this opinion. +I am not personally. I have some nice, foolish, kindly, happy friends of +both sexes I am always glad to see; I think they are rather resting in +these days of high education and culture and pose. W. finished his +evening at Lady Salisbury's, who had a farewell reception for all the +plenipotentiaries. He took leave of his colleagues, all of whom had been +most friendly. The only one who was a little stiff with him and +expressed no desire to meet him again was Corti, the Italian +plenipotentiary. He suspected of course that something had been arranged +about Tunis, and was much annoyed that he hadn't been able to get +Tripoli for Italy. He was our colleague afterward in London, and there +was always a little constraint and coolness in his manner. W. left +Berlin on the 17th, having been five weeks away. + + + + +VIII + + +GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY + +W. got home on the 17th, and was so busy the first days, with his +colleagues and political friends that I didn't see much more of him than +if he had been in Berlin. He was rather disgusted and discouraged at the +view his colleagues of the cabinet and his friends took of France's +attitude at the Congress. The only man who seemed to be able to look +ahead a little and understand what a future there might be for France in +Tunis was Gambetta. I remember quite well his telling of an interesting +conversation with him. Gambetta was very keen about foreign affairs, +very patriotic, and not at all willing that France should remain +indefinitely a weakened power, still suffering from the defeat of 1870. +There were many fêtes and reunions of all kinds, all through the summer +months, as people had flocked to Paris for the exposition. We remained +in town until the first days of August, then W. went to his +Conseil-Général in the Department of the Aisne, and I went down to +Deauville. He joined me there, and we had a pleasant month--bathing, +driving, and seeing a great many people. We had taken Sir Joseph +Oliffe's villa, one of the best in Deauville. Oliffe, an Englishman, was +one of Emperor Napoleon's physicians, and he and the Duc de Morny were +the founders of Deauville, which was very fashionable as long as Morny +lived and the Empire lasted, but it lost its vogue for some years after +the Franco-German War--fashion and society generally congregating at +Trouville. There were not many villas then, and one rather bad hotel, +but the sea was nearer than it is now and people all went to the beach +in the morning, and fished for shrimps in the afternoon, and led a quiet +out-of-doors life. There was no polo nor golf nor automobiles--not many +carriages, a good tennis-court, where W. played regularly, and races +every Sunday in August, which brought naturally a gay young crowd of all +the sporting world. The train des maris that left Paris every Saturday +evening, brought a great many men. It was quite different from the +Deauville of to-day, which is charming, with quantities of pretty villas +and gardens and sports of all kinds, but the sea is so far off one has +to take quite a long walk to get to it, and the mornings on the beach +and the expeditions to Trouville in the afternoon across the ferry, to +do a little shopping in the rue de Paris, are things of the past. +Curiously enough while I was looking over my notes the other day, I had +a visit from an old friend, the Duc de M., who was one of the inner +circle of the imperial household of the Emperor Napoleon III, and took +an active part in all that went on at court. He had just been hearing +from a friend of the very brilliant season at Deauville this year, and +the streams of gold that flowed into the caisse of the management of the +new hotel and casino. Every possible luxury and every inducement to +spend money, racing, gambling, pretty women of all nationalities and +facile character, beautifully dressed and covered with jewels, side by +side with the bearers of some of the proudest names in France. He said +that just fifty years ago he went to Deauville with the Duc de Morny, +Princesse Metternich, and the Comtesse de Pourtéles to inaugurate the +new watering-place, then of the simplest description. The ladies were +badly lodged in a so-called hotel and he had a room in a +fisherman's hut. + +Marshal MacMahon had a house near Trouville that year, and he came over +occasionally to see W., always on horseback and early in the morning. W. +used to struggle into his clothes when "M. le Marechal" was announced. +I think the marshal preferred his military title very much to his civic +honours. I suppose there never was so unwilling a president of a +republic, except many years later Casimir Périer, who certainly hated +the "prison of the Elysée," but the marshal was a soldier, and his +military discipline helped him through many difficult positions. We had +various visitors who came down for twenty-four hours--one charming visit +from the Marquis de Vogüé, then French ambassador at Vienna, where he +was very much liked, a persona grata in every way. He was very tall, +distinguished-looking, quite the type of the ambassador. When I went to +inspect his room I was rather struck by the shortness of the bed--didn't +think his long legs could ever get into it. The valet assured me it was +all right, the bed was normal, but I doubt if he had a very comfortable +night. He and W. were old friends, had travelled in the East together +and discussed every possible subject during long starlight nights in the +desert. They certainly never thought then that one day they would be +closely associated as ambassador and foreign minister. Vogüé didn't like +the Republic, didn't believe in the capacity or the sincerity of the +Republicans--couldn't understand how W. could. He was a personal friend +of the marshal's, remained at Vienna during the marshal's presidency, +but left with him, much to W.'s regret, who knew what good service he +had done at Vienna and what a difficult post that would be for an +improvised diplomatist. It was then, and I fancy is still, one of the +stiffest courts in Europe. One hears amusing stories from some +diplomatists of the rigid etiquette in court circles, which the +Americans were always infringing. A great friend of mine, an American, +who had lived all her life abroad, and whose husband was a member of the +diplomatic corps in Vienna, was always worrying over the misdemeanours +of the Americans who never paid any attention to rules or court +etiquette. They invaded charmed circles, walked boldly up to archdukes +and duchesses, talking to them cheerfully and easily without waiting to +be spoken to, giving them a great deal of information upon all subjects, +Austrian as well as American, and probably interested the very stiff +Austrian royalties much more than the ordinary trained diplomatist, who +would naturally be more correct in his attitude and conversation. I +think the American nationality is the most convenient in the world. The +Americans do just as they like, and no one is ever surprised. The +explanation is quite simple: "They are Americans." I have often noticed +little faults of manners or breeding, which would shock one in a +representative of an older civilisation, pass quite unnoticed, or merely +provoke a smile of amusement. + +We drove about a great deal--the country at the back of Deauville, going +away from the sea, is lovely--very like England--charming narrow roads +with high banks and hedges on each side--big trees with spreading +branches meeting overhead--stretches of green fields with cows grazing +placidly and horses and colts gambolling about. It is a great grazing +and breeding country. There are many haras (breeding stables) in the +neighbourhood, and the big Norman posters are much in demand. I have +friends who never take their horses to the country. They hire for the +season a pair of strong Norman horses that go all day up and down hill +at the same regular pace and who get over a vast amount of country. We +stopped once or twice when we were a large party, two or three +carriages, and had tea at one of the numerous farmhouses that were +scattered about. Boiling water was a difficulty--milk, cider, good bread +and butter, cheese we could always find--sometimes a galette, but a +kettle and boiling water were entirely out of their habits. They used to +boil the water in a large black pot, and take it out with a big spoon. +However, it amused us, and the water really did boil. + +We had an Italian friend, Count A., who went with us sometimes, and he +was very débrouillard, made himself delightful at once to the fermière +and got whatever he wanted--chairs and tables set out on the grass, with +all the cows and colts and chickens walking about quite undisturbed by +the unusual sights and sounds. It was all very rustic and a delightful +change from the glories of the exposition and official life. It amused +me perfectly to see W. with a straw hat, sitting on a rather rickety +three-legged stool, eating bread and butter and jam. Once or twice some +of W.'s secretaries came down with despatches, and he had a good +morning's work, but on the whole the month passed lazily and pleasantly. + +We went back to Paris about the 10th of September, and remained there +until the end of the exposition. Paris was again crowded with +foreigners--the month of October was beautiful, bright and warm, and the +afternoons at the exposition were delightful at the end of the day, when +the crowd had dispersed a little and the last rays of the setting sun +lingered on the Meudon Hills and the river. The buildings and costumes +lost their tawdry look, and one saw only a mass of moving colour, which +seemed to soften and lose itself in the evening shadows. There were +various closing entertainments. The marshal gave a splendid fête at +Versailles. We drove out and had some difficulty in making our way +through the crowd of carriages, soldiers, police, and spectators that +lined the road. It was a beautiful sight as we got near the palace, +which was a blaze of light. The terraces and gardens were also +illuminated, and the effect of the little lamps hidden away in the +branches of the old trees, cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes, was +quite wonderful. There were not as many people at the entrance of the +palace as we had expected to find, for the invitations had been most +generously given to all nationalities. At first the rooms, which were +brilliantly lighted, looked almost empty. The famous Galerie des Glaces +was quite enchanting, almost too light, if there can be too much light +at a fête. There were very few people in it when we arrived rather +early--so much so that when I said to M. de L., one of the marshal's +aides-de-camp, "How perfectly beautiful it is, even now, empty; what +will it be when all the uniforms and jewels are reflected in the +mirrors," his answer was: "Ah, Madame, I am afraid we shan't have people +enough, the hall is so enormous." + +I thought of him afterward when an angry crowd was battering at the +doors of one of the salons where the royalties were having refreshments. +I don't think they realised, and we certainly didn't, what the noise +meant, but some of the marshal's household, who knew that only a slight +temporary partition was between us and an irate mob, struggling up the +staircase, were green with anxiety. However, the royalties all got away +without any difficulty, and we tried to hurry immediately after them, +but a dense crowd was then pouring into the room at each end, and for a +moment things looked ugly. The gentlemen, my husband and my +brother-in-law, Eugene Schuyler, Lord Lyons, British ambassador (a big +square-shouldered man), and one or two others, put us, my sister +Schuyler and me, in a recess of one of the big windows, with heavy +furniture in front of us, but that was not very pleasant--with the crowd +moving both ways closing in upon us--and the men were getting nervous, +so one of our secretaries squeezed through the crowd and found two or +three huissiers, came back with them, and we made a procession--two big +huissiers in front, with their silver chains and swords, the mark of +official status, which always impresses a French crowd, then Lord Lyons, +my sister, and I, then W. and Schuyler, and two more men behind us--and +with considerable difficulty and a good many angry expostulations, we +made our way out. Happily our carriages and servants with our wraps were +waiting in one of the inner courts, and we got away easily enough, but +the evening was disastrous to most of the company. + +There must have been some misunderstanding between the marshal's +household and the officials at Versailles, as but one staircase (and +there are several) was opened to the public, which was of course +absolutely insufficient. Why others were not opened and lighted will +always be a mystery. Every one got jammed in the one narrow +stairway--people jostled and tumbled over each other--some of the women +fainted and were carried out, borne high aloft over the heads of the +struggling multitudes, and many people never saw their cloaks again. The +vestiaire was taken by storm--satin and lace cloaks lying on the ground, +trampled upon by everybody, and at the end, various men not having been +able to find their coats were disporting themselves in pink satin cloaks +lined with swan's-down--over their shoulders. Quantities of people never +got into the palace--not even on the staircase. The landing was directly +opposite the room where the princes had their buffet--and if they had +succeeded in forcing the door, it would have been a catastrophe. While +we were standing in the window, looking into the park, which looked an +enchanted garden, with the lights and flowers--we wondered if we could +jump or climb down if the crowd pressed too much upon us, but it was too +high and there were no projecting balconies to serve as stepping-stones. +It was a very unpleasant experience. + +We were giving a ball at the Quai d'Orsay a few nights afterward, and +had also asked a great many people--all the ambassadors sent in very +large lists of invitations they wanted for their compatriots, but much +the largest was that sent in by the American minister. The invitations +sent to the United States Legation (as it was then) were something +fabulous. It seemed to me the whole of the United States were in Paris +and expecting to be entertained. It is a very difficult position for the +American representative on these occasions. Everybody can't be invited +to the various entertainments and distinctions are very hard to make. We +had some amusing experiences. W. had a letter from one of his English +friends, Lord H., saying he was coming to Paris for the fêtes, with his +two daughters, and he would like very much to be invited to some of the +parties at the Elysee and the ministries. W. replied, saying he would +do what he could, and added that we were to have two large dinners and +receptions,--one with the Comédie Française afterward and one with +music--which one would they come to. Lord H. promptly replied, "to +both." It was funny, but really didn't make any difference. When you +have a hundred people to dinner you can quite easily have a hundred and +three, and in such large parties, arranged weeks beforehand, some one +always gives out at the last moment. + +We had a great many discussions in W.'s cabinet with two of his +secretaries, who were especially occupied with the invitations for our +ball. The Parliament of course (le peuple souverain) was invited, but it +was a different question for the women, wives of the senators and +deputies. We finally arrived at a solution by inviting only the wives I +knew. We had an indignant response from one gentleman: "M. X., Député, +ne valsant qu'avec sa femme, a l'honneur de renvoyer la carte +d'invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères et Madame +Waddington lui ont adressée pour la soirée du 28...." (Mr. X., Deputy, +who waltzes only with his wife, has the honour to send back the card of +invitation which the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame Waddington +have sent to him for the party of the 28... ) It was unanimously +decided that the couple must be invited--a gentleman who went to balls +only to dance with his wife must be encouraged in such exemplary +behaviour. Another was funny too, in a different style: "Madame K., +étant au ciel depuis quelques années, ne pourrait pas se rendre à la +gracieuse invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangères et Madame +Waddington ont bien voulu lui adresser. Monsieur K. s'y rendra avec +plaisir."... (Madame K., being in heaven for some years, cannot accept +the amiable invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame +Waddington. Mr. K. will come with pleasure.) We kept the letters in our +archives with many other curious specimens. The house was given over to +workmen the last two or three days before the ball. With the remembrance +of the staircase at Versailles in our minds, we were most anxious to +have no contretemps of any kind to interfere with our entertainment. +Both entrances were arranged and the old elevator (which had not worked +for years) was put in order. It had been suggested once or twice that I +should use it, but as I always had heard a gruesome tale of Madame +Drouyn de l'Huys, when her husband was Foreign Minister, hanging in +space for four or five hours between the two floors, I was not inclined +to repeat that experience. + +My recollection of the lower entrance and staircase, which we never +used, was of rather a dark, grimy corner, and I was amazed the morning +of the ball to see the transformation. Draperies, tapestries, flags, and +green plants had done wonders--and the elevator looked quite charming +with red velvet hangings and cushions. I don't think any one used it. We +had asked our guests at nine-thirty, as the princes said they would come +at ten. I was ready about nine, and thought I would go down-stairs by +the lower entrance, so as to have a look at the staircase and all the +rooms before any one came. There was already such a crowd in the rooms +that I couldn't get through; even my faithful Gérard could not make a +passage. We were obliged to send for two huissiers, who with some +difficulty made room for me. W. and his staff were already in the salon +réservé, giving final instructions. The servants told us that since +eight o'clock there had been a crowd at the doors, which they opened a +little before nine, and a flood of people poured in. The salon réservé +had a blue ribbon stretched across the entrance from door to door, and +was guarded by huissiers, old hands who knew everybody in the diplomatic +and official world, and would not let any one in who hadn't a right to +penetrate into the charmed circle (which of course became the one room +where every one wanted to go). There were, too, one or two members of +W.'s cabinet always stationed near the doors to see that instructions +were obeyed. + +I don't think the salon réservé exists any more--the blue ribbon +certainly not. The rising flood of democracy and equality wouldn't +submit to any such barrier. I remember quite well one beautiful woman +standing for some time just the wrong side of the ribbon. She was so +beautiful that every one remarked her, but she had no official rank or +claim of any kind to enter the salon réservé--no one knew her, though +every one was asking who she was. She finally made her entrée into the +room on the arm of one of the members of the diplomatic corps, a young +secretary, one of her friends, who could not refuse her what she wanted +so much. She was certainly the handsomest woman in the room with the +exception of the actual Queen Alexandra, who was always the most +beautiful and distinguished wherever she was. + +The royalties didn't dance much. We had the regular quadrille d'honneur +with the Princes and Princesses of Wales, Denmark, Sweden, Countess of +Flanders, and others. None of the French princes came to the ball. +There was a great crowd, but as the distinguished guests remained all +the time in the salon réservé, they were not inconvenienced by it. Just +before supper, which was served at little round tables in a room opening +out of the rotonde, the late King of Denmark, then Crown Prince, brother +of the Princess of Wales, told me he would like to go up-stairs and see +all the rooms; he had always heard that the Palais d'Orsay was a +beautiful house. We made a difficult but stately progress through the +rooms. The staircase was a pretty sight, covered with a red carpet, +tapestries on the walls, and quantities of pretty women of all +nationalities grouped on the steps. We walked through the rooms, where +there were just as many people as there were down-stairs, an orchestra, +supper-room, people dancing--just like another party going on. We halted +a few minutes in my petit salon at the end of the long suite of rooms. +It looked quite charming, with the blue brocade walls and quantities of +pink roses standing in high glass vases. I suggested taking the elevator +to go down, but the prince preferred walking (so did I). It was even +more difficult getting through the crowd down-stairs--we had the whole +length of the house to cross. Several women stood on chairs as we passed +along, in the hope of seeing one of the princesses, but they had wisely +remained in the salon réservé, and were afraid to venture into +the crowd. + +Supper was a serious preoccupation for the young secretaries of the +ministry, who had much difficulty in keeping that room private. Long +before the supper hour some enterprising spirits had discovered that the +royalties were to sup in that room, and finding the secretaries quite +inaccessible to any suggestions of "people who had a right to come +in"--presidents of commissions and various other distinctions--had +recourse to the servants, and various gold pieces circulated, which, +however, did not accomplish their object. The secretaries said that they +had more trouble with the chamberlains of the various princes than with +the princes themselves; they all wanted to sup in the private room, and +were much more tenacious of having a good place, or the place they +thought was due to them, than their royal masters. The supper was very +gay--the Prince of Wales (the late King Edward) perfectly +charming--talking to every one, remembering every one with that +extraordinary gracious manner which made him friends in all classes. +Immediately after supper the princes and distinguished strangers and W. +departed. I remained about an hour longer and went to have a look at +the ballroom. It was still crowded, people dancing hard, and when +finally about two o'clock I retreated to my own quarters, I went to +sleep to the sound of waltzes and dance music played by the two +orchestras. The revelry continued pretty well all through the night. +Whenever I woke I heard strains of music. Supper went on till seven in +the morning. Our faithful Kruft told us that there was absolutely +nothing left on the tables, and they had almost to force the people out, +telling them that an invitation to a ball did not usually extend to +breakfast the next morning. + +There was a grand official closing of the exposition at the end of +November, with a distribution of prizes--the city still very full and +very gay--escorts and uniforms in every direction--the Champs-Elysées +brilliant with soldiers--equipages of all descriptions, and all the +afternoon a crowd of people sitting under the trees, much interested in +all that was going on, particularly when carriages would pass with +people in foreign and striking costumes. The Chinese always wore their +costume; the big yellow birds of paradise became quite a feature of the +afternoon défilé. An Indian princess too, dressed entirely in white--a +soft clinging material, with a white veil, _not_ over her face, and +held in place by a gold band going around the head--was always much +admired. Every now and then there would be a great clatter of +trotting-horses and jingling sabres, when an escort of dragoons would +pass, escorting some foreign prince to the Elysée to pay his formal +visit to the marshal. Everybody looked gay--French people so dearly love +a show--and it was amusing to see the interest every one took in the +steady stream of people, from the fashionable woman driving to the Bois +in her victoria to the workmen, who would stand in groups on the corners +of the streets--some of them occasionally with a child on their +shoulders. Frenchmen of all classes are good to children. On a Sunday or +fête day, when whole families are coming in from a day at the Bois, one +often sees a young husband wheeling a baby-carriage, or carrying a baby +in his arms to let the poor mother have a rest. It was curious at the +end of the exposition to see how quickly everything was removed (many +things had been sold); and in a few days the Champ de Mars took again +the same aspect it had at the beginning of the month of May--heavy carts +and camions everywhere, oceans of mud, lines of black holes where trees +and poles had been planted, and the same groups of small shivering +Southerners, all huddled together, wrapped in wonderful cloaks and +blankets, quite paralysed with cold. I don't know if the exposition was +a financial success--I should think probably not. A great deal of money +came into France (but the French spent enormously in their preparations) +but the moral effect was certainly good--all the world flocked to Paris. +Cabs and river steamers did a flourishing business, as did all the +restaurants and cafés in the suburbs. St. Cloud, Meudon, Versailles, +Robinson, were crowded every night with people who were thirsting for +air and food after long hot days in the dust and struggles of the +exposition. We dined there once or twice, but it was certainly neither +pleasant nor comfortable--even in the most expensive restaurants. They +were all overcrowded, very bad service, badly lighted, and generally bad +food. There were various national repasts--Russian, Italian, etc.--but I +never participated in any of those, except once at the American +restaurant, where I had a very good breakfast one morning, with +delicious waffles made by a negro cook. I was rather glad when the +exhibition was over. One had a feeling that one ought to see as much as +possible, and there were some beautiful things, but it was most +fatiguing struggling through the crowd, and we invariably lost the +carriage and found ourselves at the wrong entrance, and had to wait +hours for a cab. Tiffany had a great success with the French. Many of my +friends bought souvenirs of the exposition from him. His work was very +original, fanciful, and quite different from the rather stiff, heavy, +classic silver that one sees in this country. + + + + +IX + + +M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER + +There had been a respite, a sort of armed truce, in political circles as +long as the exposition lasted, but when the Chambers met again in +November, it was evident that things were not going smoothly. The +Republicans and Radicals were dissatisfied. Every day there were +speeches and insinuations against the marshal and his government, and +one felt that a crisis was impending. There were not loaves and fishes +enough for the whole Radical party. If one listened to them it would +seem as if every préfet and every general were conspiring against the +Republic. There were long consultations in W.'s cabinet, and I went +often to our house in the rue Dumont d'Urville to see if everything was +in order there, as I quite expected to be back there for Christmas. A +climax was reached when the marshal was asked to sign the deposition of +some of the generals. He absolutely refused--the ministers persisted in +their demands. There was not much discussion, the marshal's mind was +made up, and on the 30th of January, 1879, he announced in the Conseil +des Ministres his irrevocable decision, and handed his ministers his +letter of resignation. + +We had a melancholy breakfast--W., Count de P., and I--the last day of +the marshal's presidency. W. was very blue, was quite sure the marshal +would resign, and foresaw all sorts of complications both at home and +abroad. The day was gloomy too, grey and cold, even the big rooms of the +ministry were dark. As soon as they had started for Versailles, I took +baby and went to mother's. As I went over the bridge I wondered how many +more times I should cross it, and whether the end of the week would see +me settled again in my own house. We drove about and had tea together, +and I got back to the Quai d'Orsay about six o'clock. Neither W. nor +Count de P. had got back from Versailles, but there were two +telegrams--the first one to say that the marshal had resigned, the +second one that Grévy was named in his place, with a large majority. + +[Illustration: M. Jules Grevy, reading Marshal MacMahon's letter of +resignation to the Chamber of Deputies. From _L'Illustration_, +February 8. 1879.] + +W. was rather depressed when he came home--he had always a great +sympathy and respect for the marshal, and was very sorry to see him +go,--thought his departure would complicate foreign affairs. As long as +the marshal was at the Elysee, foreign governments were not afraid of +coups d'état or revolutions. He was also sorry that Dufaure would not +remain, but he was an old man, had had enough of political life and +party struggles--left the field to younger men. The marshal's letter was +communicated at once to the Parliament, and the houses met in the +afternoon. There was a short session to hear the marshal's letter read +(by Grévy in the Chamber of Deputies) and the two houses, Senate and +Chamber of Deputies, were convoked for a later hour of the same +afternoon. There was not much excitement, two or three names were +pronounced, but every one felt sure that Grévy would be the man. He was +nominated by a large majority, and the Republicans were +jubilant--thought the Republic was at last established on a firm and +proper basis. Grévy was perfectly calm and self-possessed--did not show +much enthusiasm. He must have felt quite sure from the first moment that +he would be named. His first visitor was the marshal, who wished him all +possible success in his new mission, and, if Grévy was pleased to be the +President of the Republic, the marshal was even more pleased not to be, +and to take up his private life again. + +There were many speculations as to who would be charged by Grévy to form +his first cabinet--and almost permanent meetings in all the groups of +the Left. W.'s friends all said he would certainly remain at the Foreign +Office, but that depended naturally upon the choice of the premier. If +he were taken from the more advanced ranks of the Left, W. could not +possibly stay. We were not long in suspense. W. had one or two +interviews with Grévy, which resulted in his remaining at the Foreign +Office, but as prime minister. W. hesitated at first, felt that it would +not be an easy task to keep all those very conflicting elements +together. There were four Protestants in the ministry, W., Léon Say, de +Freycinet, and Le Royer. Jules Ferry, who took the Ministry of Public +Instruction, a very clever man, was practically a freethinker, and the +Parliament was decidedly more advanced. The last elections had given a +strong Republican majority to the Senate. He consulted with his brother, +Richard Waddington, then a deputy, afterward a senator, president of the +Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, and some of his friends, and finally +decided to accept the very honourable, but very onerous position, and +remained at the Foreign Affairs with Grévy, as prime minister. + +If I had seen little of him before, I saw nothing of him now, as his +work was exactly doubled. We did breakfast together, but it was a most +irregular meal--sometimes at twelve o'clock, sometimes at one-thirty, +and very rarely alone. We always dined out or had people dining with us, +so that family life became a dream of the past. We very rarely went +together when we dined out. W. was always late--his coupé waited hours +in the court. I had my carriage and went alone. After eight or ten days +of irregular meals at impossible hours (we often dined at nine-thirty) I +said to Count de P., W.'s chef de cabinet: "Can't you arrange to have +business over a little earlier? It is awful to dine so late and to wait +so long," to which he replied: "Ah, madame, no one can be more desirous +than I to change that order of things, for when the minister dines at +nine-thirty, the chef de cabinet gets his dinner at ten-thirty." We did +manage to get rather more satisfactory hours after a little while, but +it was always difficult to extract W. from his work if it were anything +important. He became absorbed, and absolutely unconscious of time. + +The new President, Grévy, installed himself at once at the Elysée with +his wife and daughter. There was much speculation about Madame Grévy--no +one had ever seen her--she was absolutely unknown. When Grévy was +president of the National Assembly, he gave very pleasant men's +dinners, where Madame Grévy never appeared. Every one (of all opinions) +was delighted to go to him, and the talk was most brilliant and +interesting. Grévy was a perfect host, very cultivated, with a +marvellous memory--quoting pages of the classics, French, and Latin. + +Madame Grévy was always spoken of as a quiet, unpretending +person--occupied with domestic duties, who hated society and never went +anywhere--in fact, no one ever heard her name mentioned. A great many +people didn't know that Grévy had a wife. When her husband became +President of the Republic, there was much discussion as to Madame +Grévy's social status in the official world. I don't think Grévy wanted +her to appear nor to take any part in the new life, and she certainly +didn't want to. Nothing in her former life had prepared her for such a +change, and it was always an effort for her, but both were overruled by +their friends, who thought a woman was a necessary part of the position. +It was some little time before they were settled at the Elysée. W. asked +Grévy once or twice when Madame Waddington might call upon his wife--and +he answered that as soon as they were quite installed I should receive a +notice. One day a communication arrived from the Elysee, saying that +Madame Grévy would receive the diplomatic corps and the ministers' wives +on a fixed day at five o'clock. The message was sent on to the +diplomatic corps, and when I arrived on the appointed day (early, as I +wanted to see the people come in, and also thought I must present the +foreign ladies) there were already several carriages in the court. + +[Illustration: M. Jules Grévy elected President of the Republic by the +Senate and Chamber of Deputies meeting as the National Assembly. From +_l'Illustration_, February 8. 1879.] + +The Elysee looked just as it did in the marshal's time--plenty of +servants in gala liveries--two or three huissiers who knew +everybody--palms, flowers, everywhere. The traditions of the palace are +carried on from one President to another, and a permanent staff of +servants remains. We found Madame Grévy with her daughter and one or two +ladies, wives, I suppose, of the secretaries, seated in the well-known +drawing-room with the beautiful tapestries--Madame Grévy in a large gold +armchair at the end of the room--a row of gilt armchairs on each side of +hers--mademoiselle standing behind her mother. A huissier announced +every one distinctly, but the names and titles said nothing to Madame +Grévy. She was tall, middle-aged, handsomely dressed, and visibly +nervous--made a great many gestures when she talked. It was amusing to +see all the people arrive. I had nothing to do--there were no +introductions--every one was announced, and they all walked straight up +to Madame Grévy, who was very polite, got up for every one, men and +women. It was rather an imposing circle that gathered around +her--Princess Hohenlohe, German ambassadress, sat on one side of +her--Marquise Molins, Spanish ambassadress, on the other. There were not +many men--Lord Lyons, as doyen of the diplomatic corps, the nonce, and a +good many representatives of the South American Republics. Madame Grévy +was perfectly bewildered, and did try to talk to the ladies next to her, +but it was an intimidating function for any one, and she had no one to +help her, as they were all quite new to the work. It was obviously an +immense relief to her when some lady of the official world came in, whom +she had known before. The two ladies plunged at once into a very +animated conversation about their children, husbands, and various +domestic matters--a perfectly natural conversation, but not interesting +to the foreign ladies. + +We didn't make a very long visit--it was merely a matter of form. Lord +Lyons came out with me, and we had quite a talk while I was waiting for +my carriage in the anteroom. He was so sensible always in his +intercourse with the official world, quite realised that the position +was difficult and trying for Madame Grévy--it would have been for any +one thrown at once without any preparation into such perfectly different +surroundings. He had a certain experience of republics and republican +manners, as he had been some years in Washington as British minister, +and had often seen wives of American statesmen and ministers, fresh from +the far West, beginning their career in Washington, quite bewildered by +the novelty of everything and utterly ignorant of all questions of +etiquette--only he said the American women were far more adaptable than +either French or English--or than any others in the world, in fact. He +also said that day, and I have heard him repeat it once or twice since, +that he had _never_ met a stupid American woman.... + +I have always thought it was unnecessary to insist upon Madame Grévy's +presence at the Elysée. It is very difficult for any woman, no longer +very young, to begin an entirely new life in a perfectly different +milieu, and certainly more difficult for a Frenchwoman of the +bourgeoisie than any other. They live in such a narrow circle, their +lives are so cramped and uninteresting--they know so little of society +and foreign ways and manners that they must be often uncomfortable and +make mistakes. It is very different for a man. All the small questions +of dress and manners, etc., don't exist for him. One man in a dress coat +and white cravat looks very like another, and men of all conditions are +polite to a lady. When a man is intelligent, no one notices whether his +coat and waist-coat are too wide or too short and whether his boots +are clumsy. + +Madame Grévy never looked happy at the Elysée. They had a big dinner +every Thursday, with a reception afterward, and she looked so tired when +she was sitting on the sofa, in the diplomatic salon, making +conversation for the foreigners and people of all kinds who came to +their receptions, that one felt really sorry for her. Grévy was always a +striking personality. He had a fine head, a quiet, dignified manner, and +looked very well when he stood at the door receiving his guests. I don't +think he cared very much about foreign affairs--he was essentially +French--had never lived abroad or known any foreigners. He was too +intelligent not to understand that a country must have foreign +relations, and that France must take her place again as a great power, +but home politics interested him much more than anything else. He was a +charming talker--every one wanted to talk to him, or rather to listen to +him. The evenings were pleasant enough in the diplomatic salon. It was +interesting to see the attitude of the different diplomatists. All were +correct, but most of them were visibly antagonistic to the Republic and +the Republicans (which they considered much accentuée since the +nomination of Grévy--the women rather more so than the men). One felt, +if one didn't hear, the criticisms on the dress, deportment, and general +style of the Republican ladies. + +[Illustration: The Elysée Palace, Paris] + +I didn't quite understand their view of the situation. They were all +delighted to come to Paris, and knew perfectly well the state of things, +what an abyss existed between all the Conservative party, Royalists and +Bonapartists, and the Republican, but the absence of a court didn't make +any difference in their position. They went to all the entertainments +given in the Faubourg St. Germain, and all the société came to theirs. +With very few exceptions they did only what was necessary in the way of +intercourse with the official world. I think they made a mistake, both +for themselves and their governments. France was passing through an +entirely new phase; everything was changing, many young intelligent men +were coming to the front, and there were interesting and able +discussions in the Chambers, and in the salons of the Republican +ministers and deputies. I dare say the new theories of liberty and +equality were not sympathetic to the trained representatives of courts, +but the world was advancing, democracy was in the air, and one would +have thought it would have interested foreigners to follow the movement +and to judge for themselves whether the young Republic had any chance of +life. One can hardly imagine a public man not wishing to hear all sides +of a question, but I think, _certainly_ in the beginning, there was such +a deep-rooted distrust and dislike to the Republic, that it was +impossible to see things fairly. I don't know that it mattered very +much. In these days of rapid travelling and telephone, an ambassador's +rôle is much less important than in the old days when an ambassador with +his numerous suite of secretaries and servants, travelling by post, +would be days on the road before reaching his destination, and when all +sorts of things might happen, kingdoms and dynasties be overthrown in +the interval. Now all the great measures and negotiations are discussed +and settled in the various chancelleries--the ambassador merely +transmits his instructions. + +I think the women were rather more uncompromising than the men. One day +in my drawing-room there was a lively political discussion going on, and +one heard all the well-known phrases "le gouvernement infect," "no +gentleman could serve the Republic," etc. I wasn't paying much +attention--never did; I had become accustomed to that style of +conversation, and knew exactly what they were all going to say, when I +heard one of my friends, an American-born, married to a Frenchman of +very good old family, make the following statement: "Toute la canaille +est Républicaine." That was really too much, and I answered: "Vous êtes +bien indulgente pour l'Empire." When one thinks of the unscrupulous (not +to use a stronger term) and needy adventurers, who made the Coup d'Etat +and played a great part in the court of the Second Empire, it was really +a little startling to be told that the Republicans enjoyed the monopoly +of the canaille. However, I suppose nothing is so useless as a political +discussion (except perhaps a religious one). No one ever converts any +one else. I have always heard it said that the best political speech +never changed a vote. + +The first person who entertained Grévy was Prince Hohenlohe, the German +ambassador. They had a brilliant reception, rooms crowded, all the +official world and a fair contingent from the Faubourg St. Germain. The +President brought his daughter with him (Madame Grévy never accepted any +invitations) and they walked through the rooms arm-in-arm, mademoiselle +declining the arm of Count Wesdehlen, first secretary of the +German Embassy. + +However, she was finally prevailed upon to abandon the paternal support, +and then Wesdehlen installed her in a small salon where Mollard, +Introducteur des Ambassadeurs, took charge of her and introduced a great +many men to her. No woman would ask to be introduced to an unmarried +woman, and that of course made her position difficult. The few ladies +she had already seen at the Elysée came up to speak to her, but didn't +stay near her, so she was really receiving almost alone with Mollard. +Grévy was in another room, très entouré, as he always was. The +diplomatic corps did not spare their criticisms. Madame Grévy received +every Saturday in the afternoon, and I went often--not every time. It +was a funny collection of people, some queerly dressed women and one or +two men in dress coats and white cravats,--always a sprinkling of +diplomatists. Prince Orloff was often there, and if anybody could have +made that stiff, shy semicircle of women comfortable, he would have done +it, with his extraordinary ease of manner and great habit of the world. +Gambetta was installed in the course of the month at the Palais Bourbon, +next to us. It was brilliantly lighted every night, and my chef told me +one of his friends, an excellent cook, was engaged, and that there would +be a great many dinners. The Palais Bourbon had seen great +entertainments in former days, when the famous Duc de Morny was +Président de la Chambre des Députés. Under Napoleon III his +entertainments were famous. The whole world, fashionable, political, and +diplomatic thronged his salons, and invitations were eagerly sought for +not only by the French people, but by the many foreigners who passed +through Paris at that time. Gambetta must have been a curious contrast +to the Duc de Morny. + +We went to see a first function at the Elysée some time in February, two +Cardinals were to be named and Grévy was to deliver the birettas. +Mollard asked to see me one morning, telling me that the two ablegates +with their suite had arrived, and wished to pay their respects to me. +One of them was Monsignor Cataldi, whom we had known well in Rome when +we were living there. He was a friend of my brother (General Rufus King, +the last United States minister to the Vatican under Pia Nono), and came +often to the house. He was much excited when he found out that Madame +Waddington was the Mary King he had known so well in Rome. He had with +him an English priest, whose name, curiously enough, was English. They +appeared about tea-time and were quite charming, Cataldi just as fat and +cheerful and talkative as I remembered him in the old days in Rome. We +plunged at once into all sorts of memories of old times--the good old +times when Rome was small and black and interesting--something quite +apart and different from any other place in the world. Monsignor English +was much younger and more reserved, the Anglo-Saxon type--a contrast to +the exuberant Southerners. We asked them to dine the next night and were +able to get a few interesting people to meet them, Comte et Comtesse de +Sartiges, and one or two deputies--bien-pensants. Sartiges was formerly +French ambassador in Rome to the Vatican, and a very clever diplomatist. +He was very autocratic, did exactly what he liked. I remember quite well +some of his small dances at the embassy. The invitations were from ten +to twelve, and at twelve precisely the musicians stopped playing--no +matter who was dancing, the ball was over. His wife was an American, +from Boston, Miss Thorndike, who always retained the simple, natural +manner of the well-born American. Their son, the Vicomte de Sartiges, +has followed in his father's footsteps, and is one of the most serious +and intelligent of the young diplomatists. + +Cataldi made himself very agreeable, spoke French perfectly well, though +with a strong Italian accent. He confided to me after dinner that he +would have liked to see some of the more advanced political men, instead +of the very conservative Catholics we had invited to meet them. "I know +what these gentlemen think; I would like to talk to some of the others, +those who think 'le clericalism c'est l'ennemi,' and who are firmly +convinced that the soutane serves as a cloak for all sorts of underhand +and unpatriotic dealings; I can only see them abroad, never in Rome." He +would have talked to them quite easily. Italians have so much natural +tact, in discussing difficult questions, never irritate people +unnecessarily. + +W. enjoyed his evening. He had never been in Rome, nor known many +Romans, and it amused him to see how skilfully Cataldi (who was a +devoted admirer of Leo XIII) avoided all cross-currents and difficult +questions, saying only what he intended to say, and appreciating all +that was said to him. + +Henrietta and I were very anxious to see the ceremony at the Elysée, and +asked Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs and chef du Protocole--a +most important man on all official occasions, if he couldn't put us +somewhere in a corner, where we could see, without taking any part. W. +was of no use to us, as he went officially, in uniform. Madame Grévy was +very amiable, and sent us an invitation to breakfast. We found a small +party assembled in the tapestry salon when we arrived at the Elysée--the +President with all his household, civil and military, Madame and +Mademoiselle Grévy, three or four ladies, wives of the aides-de-camp and +secretaries, also several prominent ecclesiastics, among them Monsignor +Capel, an English priest, a very handsome and attractive man, whom we +had known well in Rome. He was supposed to have made more women converts +to Catholicism than any man of his time; I can quite understand his +influence with women. There was something very natural and earnest about +him--no pose. I had not seen him since I had married and was very +pleased when I recognised him. He told me he had never seen W.--was most +anxious to make his acquaintance. + +While we were talking, W. came in, looking very warm and uncomfortable, +wearing his stiff, gold-embroidered uniform, which changed him very +much. I introduced Capel to him at once. They had quite a talk before +the Archbishops and ablegates arrived. The two future Cardinals, +Monseigneur Pie, Archbishop of Poitiers, and Monseigneur Desprey, +Archbishop of Toulouse, were well known in the Catholic world. The +Pope's choice was generally approved. They were treated with all due +ceremony, as befitted princes of the church. One of the Elysée carriages +(always very well turned out), with an escort of cavalry, went to fetch +them, and they looked very stately and imposing in their robes when they +came into the room where we were waiting. They were very different, +Monseigneur Pie tall, thin, cold, arrogant,--one felt it was a trial for +him to receive his Cardinal's hat from the hands of a Republican +President. Monseigneur Desprey had a kind good expression. I don't think +he liked it much either, but he put a better face on the matter. + +Both Cardinals said exactly what one imagined they would say--that the +traditional fidelity of France to the church should be supported and +encouraged in every way in these troubled days of indifference to +religion, etc. One felt all the time the strong antagonism of the church +to the Republic. Grévy answered extremely well, speaking with much +dignity and simplicity, and assuring the Cardinals that they could +always count upon the constitutional authority of the head of the state, +in favour of the rights of the church. I was quite pleased to see again +the red coats and high boots of the gardes nobles. It is a very showy, +dashing uniform. The two young men were good-looking and wore it very +well. I asked to have them presented to me, and we had a long talk over +old days in Rome when the Pope went out every day to the different +villas, and promenades, and always with an escort of gardes nobles. I +invited them to our reception two or three nights afterward, and they +seemed to enjoy themselves. They were, of course, delighted with their +short stay in Paris, and I think a little surprised at the party at the +Foreign Office under a Republican régime. I don't know if they expected +to find the rooms filled with gentlemen in the traditional red +Garibaldian shirt--and ladies in corresponding simplicity of attire. + +[Illustration: Her Majesty Queen Victoria, about 1879. From a photograph +by Chancellor, Dublin.] + +We saw a great many English at the Quai d'Orsay. Queen Victoria stayed +one or two nights at the British Embassy, passing through Paris on her +way South. She sent for W., who had never seen her since his +undergraduate days at Cambridge. He found her quite charming, very easy, +interested in everything. She began the conversation in French--(he was +announced with all due ceremony as Monsieur le Ministre des Affaires +Etrangères) and W. said she spoke it remarkably well,--then, with her +beautiful smile which lightened up her whole face: "I think I can +speak English with a Cambridge scholar." She was much interested in his +beginnings in England at Rugby and Cambridge--and was evidently +astonished, though she had too much tact to show it, that he had chosen +to make his life and career in France instead of accepting the +proposition made to him by his cousin Waddington, then Dean of Durham, +to remain in England and continue his classic and literary studies under +his guidance. When the interview was over he found the Queen's faithful +Scotch retainer, John Brown, who always accompanied her everywhere, +waiting outside the door, evidently hoping to see the minister. He spoke +a few words with him, as a countryman--W. being half Scotch--his mother +was born Chisholm. They shook hands and John Brown begged him to come to +Scotland, where he would receive a hearty welcome. W. was very pleased +with his reception by the Queen. Lord Lyons told him afterward that she +had been very anxious to see him; she told him later, in speaking of the +interview, that it was very difficult to realise that she was speaking +to a French minister--everything about him was so absolutely English, +figure, colouring, and speech. + +Many old school and college experiences were evoked that year by the +various English who passed through Paris. One night at a big dinner at +the British Embassy I was sitting next to the Prince of Wales (late King +Edward). He said to me: "There is an old friend of your husband's here +to-night, who will be so glad to see him again. They haven't met since +he was his fag at Rugby." After dinner he was introduced to me--Admiral +Glynn--a charming man, said his last recollection of W. was making his +toast for him and getting a good cuff when the toast fell into the fire +and got burnt. The two men talked together for some time in the +smoking-room, recalling all sorts of schoolboy exploits. Another school +friend was Sir Francis Adams, first secretary and "counsellor" at the +British Embassy. When the ambassador took his holiday, Adams replaced +him, and had the rank and title of minister plenipotentiary. He came +every Wednesday, the diplomatic reception day, to the Quai d'Orsay to +talk business. As long as a secretary or a huissier was in the room, +they spoke to each other most correctly in French; as soon as they were +alone, relapsed into easy and colloquial English. We were very fond of +Adams--saw a great deal of him not only in Paris, but when we first +lived in London at the embassy. He died suddenly in Switzerland, and W. +missed him very much. He was very intelligent, a keen observer, had +been all over the world, and his knowledge and appreciation of foreign +countries and ways was often very useful to W. + +We continued our dinners and receptions, which always interested me, we +saw so many people of all kinds. One dinner was for Prince Alexander of +Battenberg, just as he was starting to take possession of the new +principality of Bulgaria. He was one of the handsomest men I have ever +seen,--tall, young, strong. He seemed the type of the dashing young +chief who would inspire confidence in a new independent state. He didn't +speak of his future with much enthusiasm. I wonder if a presentiment was +even then overclouding what seemed a brilliant beginning! He talked a +great deal at dinner. He was just back from Rome, and full of its charm, +which at once made a bond of sympathy between us. Report said he had +left his heart there with a young Roman. He certainly spoke of the happy +days with a shade of melancholy. I suggested that he ought to marry, +that would make his "exile," as he called it, easier to bear. "Ah, yes, +if one could choose." Then after a pause, with an almost boyish +petulance: "They want me to marry Princess X., but I don't want to." "Is +she pretty, will she help you in your new country?" "I don't know; I +don't care; I have never seen her." + +Poor fellow, he had a wretched experience. Some of the "exiles" were +less interesting. A lady asked to see me one day, to enlist my +sympathies for her brother and plead his cause with the minister. He had +been named to a post which he couldn't really accept. I rather demurred, +telling her messenger, one of the secretaries of the Foreign Office, +that it was quite useless, her asking me to interfere. W. was not very +likely to consult me in his choice of nominations--and in fact the small +appointments, secretaries, were generally prepared in the Chancellerie +and followed the usual routine of regular promotion. An ambassador, of +course, was different, and was sometimes taken quite outside the +carrière. The lady persisted and appeared one morning--a pretty, +well-dressed femme du monde whom I had often met without making her +acquaintance. She plunged at once into her subject--her brother's +delicate health, accustomed to all the comforts and what the books call +"higher civilisation" of Europe, able to do good service in courts and +society, as he knew everybody. It was a pity to send him to such an +out-of-the-way place, with an awful climate,--any consul's clerk would +do as well. I supposed he had been named to Caracas, South America, or +some other remote and unhealthy part of the globe, but when she stopped +for a moment, I discovered that the young man was named to Washington. I +was really surprised, didn't know what to say at once, when the +absurdity of the thing struck me and I answered that Washington was far, +perhaps across the ocean, but there were compensations--but she took up +her argument again, such an impossible place, everything so primitive, I +really think she thought the youth was going to an Indian settlement, +all squaws and wigwams and tomahawks. I declined any interference with +the minister's appointments, assuring her I had no influence whatever, +and she took leave of me very icily. I heard the sequel afterward--the +young man refused the post as quite unworthy of him. There were several +others ready and pleased to take it, and M. de X. was put en +disponibilité. + +We saw too that year for the first time the Grand Duke Alexander of +Russia (later Emperor Alexander III, whose coronation we went to at +Moscow) and the Grande Duchesse Marie. Prince Orloff arranged the +interview, as he was very anxious that the Grand Duke should have some +talk with W. They were in Paris for three or four days, staying at the +Hotel Bristol, where they received us. He was a tall, handsome man, +with a blond beard and blue eyes, quite the Northern type. She recalled +her sister (Queen Alexandra), not quite so tall, but with the same +gracious manner and beautiful eyes. The Grand Duke talked a great deal, +principally politics, to W. He expressed himself very doubtfully about +the stability of the Republic, and was evidently worried over the +possibility of a general amnesty, "a very dangerous measure which no +government should sanction." W. assured him there would be no general +amnesty, but he seemed sceptical, repeated several times: "Soyez stable, +soyez ferme." The Grande Duchesse talked to me about Paris, the streets +were so gay, the shops so tempting, and all the people so smiling and +happy. I suppose the contrast struck her, coming from Russia where the +people look sad and listless. I was much impressed with their sad, +repressed look when we were in Russia for the coronation--one never +heard people laugh or sing in the streets--and yet we were there at a +time of great national rejoicings, amusements of all kinds provided for +the people. Their national melodies, volklieder (songs of the people), +have always a strain of sadness running through them. Our conversation +was in French, which both spoke very well. + +The winter months went by quickly enough with periodical alarms in the +political world when some new measure was discussed which aroused +everybody's passions and satisfied neither side. I made weekly visits to +my own house, which was never dismantled, as I always felt our stay at +the Quai d'Orsay would not last much longer. One of our colleagues, +Madame Léon Say, an intelligent, charming woman, took matters more +philosophically than I did. Her husband had been in and out of office so +often that she was quite indifferent to sudden changes of residence. +They too kept their house open and she said she had always a terrine de +crise ready in her larders. + +The diplomatic appointments, the embassies particularly, were a +difficulty. Admiral Pothnau went to London. He was a very gallant +officer and had served with the English in the Crimea--had the order of +the Bath, and exactly that stand-off, pompous manner which suits English +people. General Chanzy went to St. Petersburg. It has been the tradition +almost always to send a soldier to Russia. There is so little +intercourse between the Russian Emperor and any foreigner, even an +ambassador, that an ordinary diplomatist, no matter how intelligent or +experienced he might be, would have very few opportunities to talk to +the Emperor; whereas an officer, with the various reviews and +manoeuvres that are always going on in Russia, would surely approach him +more easily. I was so struck when we were in Russia with the immense +distance that separated the princes from the ordinary mortals. They seem +like demigods on a different plane (in Russia I mean; of course when +they come to Paris their godlike attributes disappear, unfortunately for +themselves). + +Chanzy was very happy in Russia, where he was extremely well received. +He dined with us one night, when he was at home on leave, and was most +enthusiastic about everything in Russia--their finances, their army--the +women of all classes so intelligent, so patriotic. He was evidently +quite sous le charme. When he had gone, M. Desprey, then Directeur de la +Politique, a very clever man, who had seen many ambassadors come and go +from all the capitals of Europe, said: + +"It is curious how all the ambassadors who go to Russia have that same +impression. I have never known it to fail. It is the Russian policy to +be delightful to the ambassadors--make life very easy for them--show +them all that is brilliant and interesting--open all doors (society, +etc.) and keep all sordid and ugly questions in the background." + +St. Vallier remained at Berlin. His name had been mentioned for Foreign +Minister when Dufaure was making his cabinet, but he hadn't the health +for it--and I think preferred being in Berlin. He knew Germany well and +had a good many friends in Berlin. + +W. of course had a great many men's dinners, from which I was excluded. +I dined often with some of my friends, not of the official world, and I +used to ask myself sometimes if the Quai d'Orsay and these houses could +be in the same country. It was an entirely different world, every point +of view different, not only politics--that one would expect, as the +whole of society was anti-Republican, Royalist, or Bonapartist--but +every question discussed wore a different aspect. Once or twice there +was a question of Louis XIV and what he would have done in certain +cases,--the religious question always a passionate one. That of course I +never discussed, being a Protestant, and knowing quite well that the +real fervent Catholics think Protestants have no religion. + +I was out driving with a friend one morning in Lent (Holy Week), +Thursday I think--and said I could not be out late, as I must go to +church--perhaps she would drop me at the Protestant Chapel in the Avenue +de la Grand Armée. She was so absolutely astonished that it was almost +funny, though I was half angry too. "You are going to church on Holy +Thursday. I didn't know Protestants ever kept Lent, or Holy Week or any +saint's day." "Don't you think we ever go to church?" "Oh, yes, to a +conference or sermon on Sundays, but you are not pratiquant like us." I +was really put out, and tried another day, when she was sitting with me, +to show her our prayerbook, and explained that the Creed and the Lord's +Prayer, to say nothing of various other prayers, were just the same as +in her livre de Messe, but I didn't make any impression upon her--her +only remark being, "I suppose you do believe in God,"--yet she was a +clever, well-educated woman--knew her French history well, and must have +known what a part the French Protestants played at one time in France, +when many of the great nobles were Protestants. + +Years afterward, with the same friend, we were discussing the proposed +marriage of the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the late King Edward VII +of England, who wanted very much to marry Princess Hélène d'Orléans, +daughter of the Comte de Paris, now Duchesse d'Aosta. It was impossible +for the English prince, heir to the throne, to marry a Catholic +princess--it seemed equally impossible for the French princess to become +a Protestant. The Pope was consulted and very strong influence brought +to bear on the question, but the Catholic Church was firm. We were in +London at the time, and of course heard the question much discussed. It +was an interesting case, as the two young people were much in love with +each other. I said to my friend: + +"If I were in the place of the Princess Hélène I should make myself a +Protestant. It is a big bait for the daughter of an exiled prince to be +Queen of England." + +"But it couldn't be; no Catholic could change her religion or make +herself Protestant." + +"Yet there is a precedent in your history. Your King Henri IV of beloved +memory, a Protestant, didn't hesitate to make himself a Catholic to be +King of France." + +"Ah, but that is quite different." + +"For you perhaps, chère amie, but not for us." + +However, the poor young prince died suddenly of pneumonia, so the +sacrifice would have been in vain. + +All the autumn of '79 was very agitated. We were obliged to curtail our +stay at Bourneville, our country home. Even though the Chambers were not +sitting, every description of political intrigue was going on. Every day +W. had an immense courrier and every second day a secretary came down +from the Quai d'Orsay with despatches and papers to sign. Telegrams came +all day long. W. had one or two shooting breakfasts and the long tramps +in the woods rested him. The guests were generally the notabilities of +the small towns and villages of his circumscription,--mayors, farmers, +and small landowners. They all talked politics and W. was surprised to +see how in this quiet agricultural district the fever of democracy had +mounted. Usually the well-to-do farmer is very conservative, looks +askance at the very advanced opinions of the young radicals, but a +complete change had come over them. They seemed to think the Republic, +founded at last upon a solid basis, supported by honest Republicans, +would bring untold prosperity not only to the country, but to each +individual, and many very modest, unpretending citizens of the small +towns saw themselves conseilleurs généraux, deputies, perhaps even +ministers. It was a curious change. However, on the whole, the people in +our part of the world were reasonable. I was sorry to go back to town. I +liked the last beautiful days of September in the country. The trees +were just beginning to turn, and the rides in the woods were delightful, +the roads so soft and springy. The horses seemed to like the brisk +canter as much as we did. We disturbed all the forest life as we +galloped along--hares and rabbits scuttled away--we saw their white +tails disappearing into holes, and when we crossed a bit of plain, +partridges a long distance off would rise and take their crooked flight +across the fields. It was so still, always is in the woods, that the +horses' feet could be heard a long way off. It was getting colder (all +the country folk predicted a very cold winter) and the wood-fire looked +very cheerful and comfortable in my little salon when we came in. + +However, everything must end, and W. had to go back to the fight, which +promised to be lively. In Paris we found people wearing furs and +preparing for a cold winter. The house of the Quai d'Orsay was +comfortable, well warmed, calorifères and big fires in all the rooms, +and whenever there was any sun it poured into the rooms from the garden. +I didn't take up my official afternoon receptions. The session had not +begun, and, as it seemed extremely unlikely that the coming year would +see us still at the Quai d'Orsay, it was not worth while to embark upon +that dreary function. I was at home every afternoon after five--had tea +in my little blue salon, and always had two or three people to keep me +company. Prince Hohenlohe came often, settled himself in an armchair +with his cup of tea, and talked easily and charmingly about everything. +He was just back from Germany and reported Bismarck and the Emperor (I +should have said, perhaps, the Emperor and Bismarck) as rather worried +over the rapid strides France was making in radicalism. He reassured +them, told them Grévy was essentially a man of peace, and, as long as +moderate men like W., Léon Say, and their friends remained in office, +things would go quietly. "Yes, if they remain. I have an idea we shan't +stay much longer, and report says Freycinet will be the next premier." +He evidently had heard the same report, and spoke warmly of +Freycinet,--intelligent, energetic, and such a precise mind. If W. were +obliged to resign, which he personally would regret, he thought +Freycinet was the coming man--unless Gambetta wanted to be premier. He +didn't think he did, was not quite ready yet, but his hand might be +forced by his friends, and of course if he wanted it, he would be the +next Président du Conseil. He also told me a great many things that +Blowitz had said to him--he had a great opinion of him--said he was so +marvellously well-informed of all that was going on. It was curious to +see how a keen, clever man like Prince Hohenlohe attached so much +importance to anything that Blowitz said. The nuncio, Monseigneur +Czaski, came too sometimes at tea-time. He was a charming talker, but I +always felt as if he were saying exactly what he meant to and what he +wanted me to repeat to W. I am never quite sure with Italians. There is +always a certain reticence under their extremely natural, rather +exuberant manner. Monseigneur Czaski was not an Italian by birth--a +Pole, but I don't know that they inspire much more confidence. + + + + +X + + +PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS + +The question of the return of the Parliament to Paris had at last been +solved after endless discussions. All the Republicans were in favour of +it, and they were masters of the situation. The President, Grévy, too +wanted it very much. If the Chambers continued to sit at Versailles, he +would be obliged to establish himself there, which he didn't want to do. +Many people were very unwilling to make the change, were honestly +nervous about possible disturbances in the streets, and, though they +grumbled too at the loss of time, the draughty carriages of the +parliamentary train, etc., they still preferred those discomforts to any +possibility of rioting and street fights, and the invasion of the +Chamber of Deputies by a Paris mob. W. was very anxious for the change. + +He didn't in the least anticipate any trouble--his principal reason for +wanting the Parliament back was the loss of time, and also to get rid of +the conversations in the train, which tired him very much. He never +could make himself heard without an effort, as his voice was low, had no +"timbre," and he didn't hear his neighbours very well in the noise of +the train. He always arrived at the station at the last minute, and got +into the last carriage, hoping to be undisturbed, and have a quiet +half-hour with his papers, but he was rarely left alone. If any deputy +who wanted anything recognised him, he of course got in the same +carriage, because he knew he was sure of a half-hour to state his case, +as the minister couldn't get away from him. The Chambers met, after a +short vacation in November, at last in Paris, and already there were so +many interpellations announced on every possible subject, so many +criticisms on the policy of the cabinet, and so many people wanting +other people's places, that the session promised to be very lively--the +Senate at the Palais du Luxembourg, the Deputies at the Palais Bourbon. + +W. and I went over to the Luxembourg one morning early in October, to +see the arrangements that had been made for the Senate. He wanted too to +choose his seat. I hadn't been there in the daytime for years--I had +dined once or twice at the Petit Palais with various presidents of the +Senate, but my only impression was a very long drive (from the Barrière +de l'Etoile where we lived) and fine high rooms with heavy gilt +furniture and tapestries. The palace was built by Maria de' Medici, wife +of Henri IV. After the death of that very chivalrous but very undomestic +monarch, she retired to the Luxembourg, and from there as regent (her +son Louis XIII was only ten years old when his father died) for some +years directed the policy of France under the guidance of her favourite, +the Italian Concini, and his wife. + +The palace recalls very much the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, with its +solid masonry and rather severe heavy architecture. It must have been a +gloomy residence, notwithstanding the beautiful gardens with their broad +alleys and great open spaces. The gardens are stiff, very Italian, with +statues, fountains, and marble balustrades--not many flowers, except +immediately around the palace, but they were flooded with sunshine that +day, and the old grey pile seemed to rise out of a parterre of bright +flowers. The palace has been slightly modernised, but the general +architecture remains the same. Many people of all kinds have lived there +since it was built--several royal princes, and the Emperor Napoleon when +he was First Consul. He went from there to the Tuileries. The Luxembourg +Palace has always been associated with the history of France. During +the Revolution it was a prison, and many of the curious scenes one reads +of at that period took place in those old walls--the grandes dames so +careful of their dress and their manners, the grands seigneurs so brave +and gallant, striving in every way by their witty conversation and their +music (for they sang and played in the prisons all through that awful +time) to distract the women and make them forget the terrible doom that +was hanging over them. Many well-known people went straight from the +palace to the scaffold. It seemed a fitting place for the sittings of +the Senate and the deliberations of a chosen body of men, who were +supposed to bring a maturer judgment and a wider experience in the +discussion of all the burning questions of the day than the ardent young +deputies so eager to have done with everything connected with the old +régime and start fresh. + +After we had inspected the palace we walked about the gardens, which +were charming that bright October morning,--the sun really too strong. +We found a bench in the shade, and sat there very happy, W. smoking and +wondering what the next turn of the wheel would bring us. A great many +people were walking about and sitting under the trees. It was quite a +different public from what one saw anywhere else, many students of both +sexes carrying books, small easels, and campstools,--some of the men +such evident Bohemians, with long hair, sweeping moustache, and soft +felt hat,--quite the type one sees in the pictures or plays of "La Vie +de Bohême." Their girl companions looked very trim and neat, dressed +generally in black, their clothes fitting extremely well--most of them +bareheaded, but some had hats of the simplest description--none of the +flaunting feathers and bright flowers one sees on the boulevards. They +are a type apart, the modern grisettes, so quiet and well-behaved as to +be almost respectable. One always hears that the Quartier Latin doesn't +exist any more--the students are more serious, less turbulent, and that +the hardworking little grisette, quite content with her simple life and +pleasure, has degenerated into the danseuse of the music-halls and +barrière theatres. I don't think so. A certain class of young, +impecunious students will always live in that quarter and will always +amuse themselves, and they will also always find girls quite ready and +happy to enjoy life a little while they are young enough to live in the +present, and have no cares for the future. Children were playing about +in the alleys and broad, open spaces, and climbing on the fountains +when the keepers of the garden were not anywhere near--their nurses +sitting in a sunny corner with their work. It was quite another world, +neither the Champs-Elysées nor Montmartre. All looked perfectly +respectable, and the couples sitting on out-of-the-way benches, in most +affectionate attitudes, were too much taken up with each other to heed +the passer-by. + +I went back there several times afterward, taking Francis with me, and +it was curious how out of the world one felt. Paris, our Paris, might +have been miles away. I learned to know some of the habitués quite +well--a white-haired old gentleman who always brought bread for the +birds; they knew him perfectly and would flutter down to the Square as +soon as he appeared--a handsome young man with a tragic face, always +alone, walking up and down muttering and talking to himself--he may have +been an aspirant for the Odéon or some of the theatres in the +neighbourhood--a lame man on crutches, a child walking beside him +looking wistfully at the children playing about but not daring to leave +her charge--groups of students hurrying through the gardens on their way +to the Sorbonne, their black leather serviettes under their +arms--couples always everywhere. I don't think there were many +foreigners or tourists,--I never heard anything but French spoken. Even +the most disreputable-looking old beggar at the gate who sold +shoe-laces, learned to know us, and would run to open the door of +the carriage. + +With the contrariety of human nature, some people would say of feminine +nature, now that I felt I was not going to live much longer on the rive +gauche I was getting quite fond of it. Life was so quiet and restful in +those long, narrow streets, some even with grass growing on the +pavement--no trams, no omnibuses, very little passing, glimpses +occasionally of big houses standing well back from the street, a +good-sized courtyard in front and garden at the back--the classic +Faubourg St. Germain hotel entre cour et jardin. I went to tea sometimes +with a friend who lived in a big, old-fashioned house in the rue de +Varenne. She lived on the fourth floor--one went up a broad, bare, cold +stone staircase (which always reminded me of some of the staircases in +the Roman palaces). Her rooms were large, very high ceilings, very +little furniture in them, very little fire in winter, fine old family +portraits on the walls, but from the windows one looked down on a lovely +garden where the sun shone and the birds sang all day. It was just like +being in the country, so extraordinarily quiet. A very respectable man +servant in an old-fashioned brown livery, with a great many brass +buttons, who looked as old as the house itself and as if he were part of +it, always opened the door. Her husband was a literary man who made +conférences at the Sorbonne and the Collège de France, and they lived +entirely in that quarter--came very rarely to our part of Paris. He was +an old friend of W.'s, and they came sometimes to dine with us. He +deplored W.'s having gone to the Foreign Office--thought the Public +Instruction was so much more to his tastes and habits. She had an +English grandmother, knew English quite well, and read English reviews +and papers. She had once seen Queen Victoria and was very interested in +all that concerned her. Queen Victoria had a great prestige in France. +People admired not only the wise sovereign who had weathered +successfully so many changes, but the beautiful woman's life as wife and +mother. She was always spoken of with the greatest respect, even by +people who were not sympathetic to England as a nation. + +Another of my haunts was the Convent and Maison de Santé of the Soeurs +Augustines du Saint Coeur de Marie in the rue de la Santé. It was +curious to turn out of the broad, busy, populous avenue, crowded with +trams, omnibuses, and camions, into the narrow, quiet street, which +seemed all stone walls and big doors. There was another hospital and a +prison in the street, which naturally gave it rather a gloomy aspect, +but once inside the courtyard of the Convent there was a complete +transformation. One found one's self in a large, square, open court with +arcades and buildings all around--the chapel just opposite the entrance. +On one side of the court were the rooms for the patients, on the other +nice rooms and small apartments which were let to invalids or old +ladies, and which opened on a garden, really a park of thirteen or +fourteen acres. The doors were always open, and one had a lovely view of +green fields and trees. The moment you put your foot inside the court, +you felt the atmosphere of peace and cheerfulness, though it was a +hospital. The nuns all looked happy and smiling--they always do, and I +always wonder why. Life in a cloister seems to me so narrow and +monotonous and unsatisfying unless one has been bred in a convent and +knows nothing of life but what the teachers tell. + +I have a friend who always fills me with astonishment--a very clever, +cultivated woman, no longer very young, married to a charming man, +accustomed to life in its largest sense. She was utterly wretched when +her husband died, but after a time she took up her life again and +seemed to find interest and pleasure in the things they had done +together. Suddenly she announced her intention of becoming a nun--sold +her house and lovely garden, where she had spent so many happy hours +with her flowers and her birds, distributed her pretty things among her +friends, and accepted all the small trials of strict convent life--no +bath, nor mirror, coarse underlinen and sheets--no fire, no lights, no +privacy, the regular irksome routine of a nun's life, and is perfectly +happy--never misses the intellectual companionship and the refinement +and daintiness of her former life,--likes the commonplace routine of the +convent--the books they read to each other in "recreation," simple +stories one would hardly give to a child of twelve or fourteen,--the +fêtes on the "mother's" birthday, when the nuns make a cake and put a +wreath of roses on the mother's head. + +The Soeurs Augustines are very happy in their lives, but they see a +great deal more of the outside world. They always have patients in the +hospital, and people in the apartments, which are much in demand. The +care and attendance is very good. The ladies are very comfortable and +have as many visitors as they like in the afternoon at stated hours, and +the rooms are very tempting with white walls and furniture, and +scrupulously clean. The cuisine is very good, everything very daintily +served. All day one saw black-robed figures moving quietly across the +court, carrying all kinds of invalid paraphernalia--cushions, rugs, cups +of bouillon--but there was never any noise--no sound of talking or +laughing. When they spoke, the voices were low, like people accustomed +to a sick-room. No men were allowed in the Convent, except the doctors +of course, and visitors at stated hours. + +I spent many days there one spring, as C. was there for some weeks for a +slight operation. She had a charming room and dressing-room, with +windows giving on a garden or rather farmyard, for the soeurs had their +cows and chickens. Sometimes in the evening we would see one of the +sisters, her black skirt tucked up and a blue apron over it, bringing +the cows back to their stables. No man could have a room in the house. +F. wanted very much to be with his wife at night, as he was a busy man +and away all day, and I tried to get a room for him, but the mother +superior, a delightful old lady, wouldn't hear of it. However, the night +before-and the night after the operation, he was allowed to remain with +her,--no extra bed was put in the room--he slept on the sofa. + +Often when C. was sleeping or tired, I would take my book and establish +myself in the garden. Paris might have been miles away, though only a +few yards off there was a busy, crowded boulevard, but no noise seemed +to penetrate the thick walls. Occasionally at the end of a quiet path I +would see a black figure pacing backward and forward, with eyes fixed on +a breviary. Once or twice a soeur jardinière with a big, flat straw hat +over her coiffe and veil tending the flowers (there were not many) or +weeding the lawn, sometimes convalescents or old ladies seated in +armchairs under the trees, but there was never any sound of voices or of +life. It was very reposeful (when one felt one could get away for a +little while), but I think the absolute calm and monotony would pall +upon one, and the "Call of the World"--the struggling, living, joyous +world outside the walls--would be an irresistible temptation. + +I walked about a good deal in my quarter in the morning, and made +acquaintance with many funny little old squares and shops, merceries, +flower and toy shops which had not yet been swallowed up by the enormous +establishments like the Louvre, the Bon Marché, and the big bazaars. I +don't know how they existed; there was never any one in the shops, and +of course their choice was limited, but they were so grateful, their +things were so much cheaper, and they were so anxious to get anything +one wanted, that it was a pleasure to deal with them. Everything was +much cheaper on that side--flowers, cakes, writing-paper, rents, +servants' wages, stable equipment, horses' food. We bought some toys one +year for one of our Christmas trees in the country from a poor old lame +woman who had a tiny shop in one of the small streets running out of the +rue du Bac. Her grandson, a boy of about twelve or fourteen, helped her +in the shop, and they were so pleased and excited at having such a large +order that they were quite bewildered. We did get what we wanted, but it +took time and patience,--their stock was small and not varied. We had to +choose piece by piece--horses, dolls, drums, etc.--and the writing down +of the items and making up the additions was long and trying. I meant to +go back after we left the Quai d'Orsay, but I never did, and I am afraid +the poor old woman with her petit commerce shared the fate of all the +others and could not hold out against the big shops. + +One gets lazy about shopping. The first years we lived in the country we +used to go ourselves to the big shops and bazaars in Paris for our +Christmas shopping, but the heat and the crowd and the waiting were so +tiring that we finally made arrangements with the woman who sold toys in +the little town, La Ferté-Milon. She went to Paris and brought back +specimens of all the new toys. We went into town one afternoon--all the +toys were spread out on tables in her little parlour at the back of the +shop (her little girl attending to the customers, who were consumed with +curiosity as to why our carriage was waiting so long at the door) and we +made our selection. She was a great help to us, as she knew all the +children, their ages, and what they would like. She was very pleased to +execute the commission--it made her of importance in the town, having +the big boxes come down from Paris addressed to her, and she paid her +journey and made a very good profit by charging two or three sous more +on each article. We were quite willing to pay the few extra francs to be +saved the fatigue of the long day's shopping in Paris. It also settled +another difficult question--what to buy in a small country town. Once we +had exhausted the butcher and the baker and the small groceries, there +was not much to buy. + +From the beginning of my life in the country, W. always wanted me to buy +as much as possible in the town, and I was often puzzled. Now the shops +in all the small country towns have improved. They have their things +straight from Paris, with very good catalogues, so that one can order +fairly well. The things are more expensive of course, but I think it is +right to give what help one can to the people of the country. One cold +winter at Bourneville, when we had our house full of people, there was a +sudden call for blankets. I thought my "lingerie" was pretty well +stocked, but one gentleman wanted four blankets on his bed, three over +him and one under the sheet. A couple wanted the same, only one more, a +blanket for a big armchair near the fire. I went in to La Ferté to see +what I could find--no white blankets anywhere--some rather nice red +ones--and plenty of the stiff (not at all warm) grey blankets they give +to the soldiers. Those naturally were out of the question, but I took +three or four red ones, which of course could not go in the guests' +rooms, but were distributed on the beds of the family, their white ones +going to the friends. After that experience I always had a reserve of +blankets, but I was never asked for so many again. Living in the +country, with people constantly staying in the house, gives one much +insight into other people's way of living and what are the necessities +of life for them. I thought our house was pretty well provided for. We +were a large family party, and had all we wanted, but some of the +demands were curious, varying of course with the nationalities. + +The Chambers met in Paris at the end of November and took possession of +their respective houses without the slightest disturbance of any kind. +Up to the last moment some people were nervous and predicting all sorts +of trouble and complications. We spent the Toussaint in the country with +some friends, and their views of the future were so gloomy that it was +almost contagious. One afternoon when we were all assembled in the +drawing-room for tea, after a beautiful day's shooting, the conversation +(generally retrospective) was so melancholy that I was rather impressed +by it,--"The beginning of the end,--the culpable weakness of the +Government and Moderate men, giving way entirely to the Radicals, an +invitation to the Paris rabble to interfere with the sittings of the +Chambers," and a variety of similar remarks. + +It would have been funny if one hadn't felt that the speakers were +really in earnest and anxious. However, nothing happened. The first few +days there was a small, perfectly quiet, well-behaved crowd, also a very +strong police force, at the Palais Bourbon, but I think more from +curiosity and the novelty of seeing deputies again at the Palais Bourbon +than from any other reason. If it were quiet outside, one couldn't say +the same of the inside of the Chamber. The fight began hotly at once. +Speeches and interpellations and attacks on the Government were the +order of the day. The different members of the cabinet made statements +explaining their policy, but apparently they had satisfied nobody on +either side, and it was evident that the Chamber was not only +dissatisfied but actively hostile. + +W. and his friends were very discouraged and disgusted. They had gone as +far as they could in the way of concessions. W., at any rate, would do +no more, and it was evident that the Chamber would seize the first +pretext to overthrow the ministry. W. saw Grévy very often. He was +opposed to any change, didn't want W. to go, said his presence at the +Foreign Office gave confidence to Europe,--he might perhaps remain at +the Foreign Office and resign as Premier, but that, naturally, he +wouldn't do. He was really sick of the whole thing. + +Grévy was a thorough Republican but an old-fashioned Republican,--not in +the least enthusiastic, rather sceptical--didn't at all see the ideal +Republic dreamed of by the younger men--where all men were alike--and +nothing but honesty and true patriotism were the ruling motives. I +don't know if he went as far as a well-known diplomatist, Prince +Metternich, I think, who said he was so tired of the word fraternité +that if he had a brother he would call him "cousin." Grévy was certainly +very unwilling to see things pass into the hands of the more advanced +Left. I don't think he could have done anything--they say no +constitutional President (or King either) can. + +There was a great rivalry between him and Gambetta. Both men had such a +strong position in the Republican party that it was a pity they couldn't +understand each other. I suppose they were too unlike--Gambetta lived in +an atmosphere of flattery and adulation. His head might well have been +turned--all his familiars were at his feet, hanging upon his words, +putting him on a pinnacle as a splendid patriot. Grévy's entourage was +much calmer, recognising his great ability and his keen legal mind, not +so enthusiastic but always wanting to have his opinion, and relying a +good deal upon his judgment. There were of course all sorts of meetings +and conversations at our house, with Léon Say, Jules Ferry, Casimir +Périer, and others. St. Vallier came on from Berlin, where he was still +ambassador. He was very anxious about the state of affairs in +France--said Bismarck was very worried at the great step the Radicals +had made in the new Parliament--was afraid the Moderate men would have +no show. _I_ believe he was pleased and hoped that a succession of +incapable ministries and internal quarrels would weaken France still +more--and prevent her from taking her place again as a great power. He +wasn't a generous victor. + +As long as W. was at the Foreign Office things went very smoothly. He +and St. Vallier thought alike on most subjects, home politics and +foreign--and since the Berlin Congress, where W. had come in touch with +all the principal men in Germany, it was of course much easier for them +to work together. We dined generally with my mother on Sunday +night--particularly at this time of the year, when the official banquets +had not begun and our Sundays were free. The evenings were always +interesting, as we saw so many people, English and Americans always, and +in fact all nationalities. We had lived abroad so much that we knew +people all over the world,--it was a change from the eternal politics +and "shop" talk we heard everywhere else. Some of them, English +particularly (I don't think the Americans cared much about foreign +politics), were most interested and curious over what was going on, and +the probable fall of the cabinet. An English lady said to me: "How +dreadful it will be for you when your husband is no longer minister; +your life will be so dull and you will be of so much less importance." +The last part of the sentence was undoubtedly true--any functionary's +wife has a certain importance in France, and when your husband has been +Foreign Minister and Premier, you fall from a certain height, but I +couldn't accept the first part, that my life would be necessarily dull +because I was no longer what one of my friends said in Italy, speaking +of a minister's wife, a donna publica. I began to explain that I really +had some interest in life outside of politics, but she was so convinced +of the truth of her observation that it was quite useless to pursue the +conversation, and I naturally didn't care. Another one, an American this +time, said to me: "I hope you don't mind my never having been to see you +since you were married, but I never could remember your name; I only +knew it began with W. and one sees it very often in the papers." + +Arthur Sullivan, the English composer, was there one night. He had come +over to Paris to hear one of his symphonies played at the Conservatoire, +and was very much pleased with the way it had been received by that very +critical audience. He was quite surprised to find the Parisians so +enthusiastic--had always heard the Paris Salle was so cold. + +Miss Kellogg, the American prima donna, was there too that evening, and +we made a great deal of music, she singing and Sullivan accompanying by +heart. Mrs. Freeman, wife of one of the English secretaries, told W. +that Queen Victoria had so enjoyed her talk with him--"quite as if I +were talking with one of my own ministers." She had found Grévy rather +stiff and reserved--said their conversation was absolutely banal. They +spoke in French, and as Grévy knew nothing of England or the English, +the interview couldn't have been interesting. + +We saw a great many people that last month, dined with all our +colleagues of the diplomatic corps. They were already dîners d'adieux, +as every day in the papers the fall of the ministry was announced, and +the names of the new ministers published. I think the diplomatists were +sorry to see W. go, but of course they couldn't feel very strongly on +the subject. Their business is to be on good terms with all the foreign +ministers, and to get as much as they can out of them. They are, with +rare exceptions, birds of passage, and don't trouble themselves much +about changing cabinets. However, they were all very civil, not too +diffuse, and one had the impression that they would be just as civil to +our successor and to his successor. It must be so; there is no +profession so absolutely banal as diplomacy. All diplomatists, from the +ambassador to the youngest secretary, must follow their instructions, +and if by any chance an ambassador does take any initiative, profiting +by being on the spot, and knowing the character of the people, he is +promptly disowned by his chief. + +I had grown very philosophical, was quite ready to go or to stay, didn't +mind the fight any more nor the attacks on W., which were not very +vicious, but so absurd that no one who knew him could attach the least +importance to them. He didn't care a pin. He had always been a +Protestant, with an English name, educated in England, so the +reiteration of these facts, very much exaggerated and leading up to the +conclusion that on account of his birth and education he couldn't be a +convinced French Republican, didn't affect him very much. He had always +promised me a winter in Italy when he left office. He had never been in +Rome, and I was delighted at the prospect of seeing that lovely land +again, all blue sky and bright sun and smiling faces. + +We dined often with M.L., W.'s uncle, who kept us au courant of all (and +it was little) that was going on in the Royalist camp, but that was not +of importance. The advanced Republicans were having it all their own +way, and it was evident that the days of conciliatory measures and +moderate men were over. W. was not a club man, went very rarely to his +club, but his uncle went every afternoon before dinner, and gave us all +the potins (gossip) of that world, very hostile to the Republic, and +still quite believing that their turn would come. His uncle was not of +that opinion. He was a very clever man, a diplomatist who had lived in a +great many places and known a great many people, and was entirely on the +Royalist side, but he thought their cause was a lost one, at least for a +time. He often asked some of his friends to meet us at dinner, said it +was a good thing for W. to hear what men on the other side thought, and +W. was quite pleased to meet them. They were all absolutely opposed to +him in politics, and discussion sometimes ran high, but there was never +anything personal--all were men of the world, had seen many changes in +France in their lives; many had played a part in politics under the +former régimes. It seemed to me that they underrated the intelligence +and the strength of the Republican party. + +One of the regular habitués was the Marquis de N., a charming man, +fairly broad-minded (given the atmosphere he lived in) and sceptical to +the highest degree. He was a great friend of Marshal MacMahon, and had +been préfet at Pau, where he had a great position. He was very +dictatorial, very outspoken, but was a great favourite, particularly +with the English colony, which is large there in the hunting-season. He +had accepted to dine one night with an English family, who lived in a +villa a little out of town. They had an accident en route, which delayed +them very much, and when he and the marquise arrived the party was at +table. He instantly had his carriage called back and left the house in +spite of all the explanations and apologies of his host, saying that +when "one had the honour of receiving the Marquis de N. one waited +dinner for him." + +We saw always a great deal of him, as his daughter married the Comte de +F., who was for some time in W.'s cabinet at the Quai d'Orsay, and +afterward with us the ten years we were at the London Embassy, where +they were quite part of the family. They were both perfectly fitted for +diplomatic life, particularly in England. Both spoke English well, knew +everybody, and remembered all the faces and all the names, no easy thing +in England, where the names and titles change so often. I know several +Englishwomen who have had four different names. Lady Holland was also a +friend of "Oncle Alphonse" and dined there often. She was +delicate-looking, rather quiet in general conversation, though she spoke +French easily, but was interesting when she was talking to one or two +people. We went often to her beautiful house in London, the first years +we were at the embassy, and always met interesting people. Her salon was +very cosmopolitan--every one who came to London wanted to go to Holland +House, which was a museum filled with beautiful things. + +Another lady who was often at my uncle's was quite a different type, +Mademoiselle A., an old pupil of the Conservatoire, who had made a short +career at the Comédie Française many years before. She was really +charming, and her stories of the coulisses and the jalousies between the +authors and the actors, particularly the stars (who hardly accepted the +slightest observation from the writer of the play), were most amusing. +Once the piece was accepted it passed into the domain of the theatre, +and the actors felt at liberty to interpret the rôles according to their +ideas and traditions. She had a perfect diction; it was a delight to +hear her. She recited one night one of Alphonse Daudet's little contes, +"Lettres de Mon Moulin," I think, beginning--"Qui n'a pas vu Avignon du +temps des Papes n'a rien vu." One couldn't hear anything more charming, +in a perfectly trained voice, and so easily and naturally said. + +I suppose no one would listen to it in these days. Bridge has suppressed +all conversation or music or artistic enjoyment of any kind. It must +come to an end some day like all crazes, but at the present moment it +has destroyed society. It has been a godsend to many people of no +particular importance or position who have used it as a stepping-stone +to get into society. If people play a good game of bridge, they are +welcome guests in a great many houses which formerly would have been +closed to them, and it is a great resource to ladies no longer very +young, widows and spinsters, who find their days long and don't know +what to do with their lives. + +Notwithstanding his preoccupations, W. managed to get a few days' +shooting in November. He shot several times at Rambouillet with Grévy, +who was an excellent shot, and his shooting breakfasts were very +pleasant. There was plenty of game, everything very well organised, and +the company agreeable. He always asked the ministers, ambassadors, and +many of the leading political men and very often some of his old +friends, lawyers and men of various professions whom W. was delighted +to meet. Their ideas didn't run in grooves like most of the men he lived +with, and it was a pleasure to hear talk that wasn't political nor +personal. The vicious attacks upon persons were so trying those first +days of the Republic. Every man who was a little more prominent than his +neighbour seemed a target for every kind of insinuation and criticism. + +We went for two days to "Pout," Casimir Périer's fine place in the +département de l'Aube, where we had capital shooting. It was already +extremely cold for the season--the big pond in the court was frozen +hard, and the wind whistled about our ears when we drove in an open +carriage to join the shooters at breakfast. Even I, who don't usually +feel the cold, was thankful to be well wrapped up in furs. The Pavillon +d'Hiver looked very inviting as we drove up--an immense fire was blazing +in the chimney, another just outside, where the soup and ragout for the +army of beaters were being prepared. We all had nice little foot-warmers +under our chairs, and were as comfortable as possible. It was too warm +in fact when the shooters came in and we sat down to breakfast. We were +obliged to open the door. The talk was entirely "shop" at breakfast, +every man telling what he had killed, or missed, and the minute they +had finished breakfast, they started off again. We followed one or two +battues (pheasants), but it was really too cold, and we were glad to +walk home to get warm. + +The dinner and evening were pleasant--everybody talking--most of them +criticising the Government freely. W. didn't mind, they were all +friends. He defended himself sometimes, merely asking what they would +have done in his place--he was quite ready to receive any +suggestions--but nothing practical ever came out of the discussions. I +think the most delightful political position in the world must be +"leader of the opposition"--you have no responsibilities, can +concentrate all your energies in pointing out the weak spots in your +adversary's armour, and have always your work cut out for you, for as +soon as one ministry falls, you can set to work to demolish its +successor, which seems the most interesting occupation possible. + +The great question which was disturbing the Chambers and the country was +the general amnesty. That, of course, W. would never agree to. There +might be exceptions. Some of the men who took part in the Commune were +so young, little more than lads, carried away by the example of their +elders and the excitement of the moment, and there were fiery patriotic +articles in almost all the Republican papers inviting France to make the +beau geste of la mère patrie and open her arms to her misguided +children, and various sensible experienced men really thought it would +be better to wipe out everything and start again with no dark memories +to cast a shadow on the beginnings of the young Republic. How many +brilliant, sanguine, impossible theories I heard advanced all those +days, and how the few remaining members of the Centre Gauche tried to +reason with the most liberal men of the Centre Droit and to persuade +them frankly to face the fact that the country had sent a strong +Republican majority to Parliament and to make the best of the fait +accompli. I suppose it was asking too much of them to go back on the +traditions of their lives, but after all they were Frenchmen, their +country was just recovering from a terrible disaster, and had need of +all her children. During the Franco-Prussian War all party feeling was +forgotten. Every man was first a Frenchman in the face of a foreign foe, +and if they could have stood firmly together in those first days after +the war the strength of the country would have been wonderful. All +Europe was astounded at the way in which France paid her milliards,--no +one more so than Bismarck, who is supposed to have said that, if he +could have dreamed that France could pay that enormous sum so quickly, +he would have asked much more. + +December was very cold, snow and ice everywhere, and very hard frosts, +which didn't give way at all when the sun came out occasionally in the +middle of the day. Everybody was skating, not only at the clubs of the +Bois de Boulogne, but on the lakes, which happens very rarely, as the +water is fairly deep. The Seine was full of large blocks of ice, which +got jammed up against the bridges and made a jarring ugly sound as they +knocked against each other. The river steamers had stopped running, and +there were crowds of flaneurs loitering on the quais and bridges +wondering if the cold would last long enough for the river to be quite +frozen over. + +W. and I went two or three times to the Cercle des Patineurs at the Bois +de Boulogne, and had a good skate. The women didn't skate as well then +as they do now, but they looked very pretty in their costumes of velvet +and sables. It was funny to see them stumbling over the ice with a man +supporting them on each side. However, they enjoyed it very much. It was +beautiful winter weather, very cold but no wind, and it was very good +exercise. All the world was there, and the afternoons passed quickly +enough. I had not skated for years, having spent all my winters in +Italy, but on the principle that you never forget anything that you know +well, I thought I would try, and will say that the first half-hour was +absolute suffering. It was in the old days when one still wore a strap +over the instep, which naturally was drawn very tight. My feet were like +lumps of ice, as heavy as lead, and I didn't seem able to lift them from +the ground. I went back to the dressing-room to take my skates off for a +few minutes, and when the blood began to circulate again, I could have +cried with the pain. A friend of mine, a beginner, who was sitting near +waiting to have her skates put on, was rather discouraged, and said to +me: "You don't look as if you were enjoying yourself. I don't think I +will try." "Oh yes you must,--'les commencements sont toujours +difficiles,' and you will learn. I shall be all right as soon as I start +again." She looked rather doubtful, but I saw her again later in the +day, when I had forgotten all about my sufferings, and she was skating +as easily as I did when I was a girl. I think one must learn young. +After all, it is more or less a question of balance. When one is young +one doesn't mind a fall. + +W., who had retired to a corner to practise a little by himself, told me +that one of his friends, Comte de Pourtalès, not at all of his way of +thinking in politics, an Imperialist, was much pleased with a little jeu +d'esprit he had made at his expense. W. caught the top of his skate in a +crevice in the ice, and came down rather heavily in a sitting posture. +Comte de Pourtalès, who was standing near on the bank, saw the fall and +called out instantly, "Est-ce possible que je voie le Président du +Conseil par terre?" (Is it possible that the President du Conseil has +fallen?) The little joke was quite de bonne guerre and quite +appropriate, as the cabinet was tottering and very near its fall. It +amused W. quite as much as it did the bystanders. + +The cold was increasing every day, the ground was frozen hard, the +streets very slippery, and going very difficult. All our horses were +rough shod, but even with that we made very slow progress. Some of the +omnibuses were on runners, and one or two of the young men of the +ministry had taken off the wheels of their light carriages and put them +on runners, but one didn't see many real sleighs or sledges, as they +call them here. I fancy "sleigh" is entirely an American expression. The +Seine was at last completely taken, and the public was allowed on the +ice, which was very thick. It was a very pretty, animated sight, many +booths like those one sees on the Boulevard during the Christmas +holidays were installed on the ice close to the banks, and the river was +black with people. They couldn't skate much, as the ice was rough and +there were too many people, but they ran and slid and shouted and +enjoyed themselves immensely. I wanted to cross one day with my boy, +that he might say he had crossed the Seine on foot, but W. was rather +unwilling. However, the préfet de la Seine, whom he consulted, told him +there was absolutely no danger--the ice was several inches thick, so I +started off one afternoon, one of the secretaries going with me. He was +much astonished and rather nervous at seeing me in my ordinary boots. He +had nails in his, and one of our friends whom we met on the ice had +woollen socks over his boots. They were sure I would slip and perhaps +get a bad fall. "But no one could slip on that ice; it is quite rough, +might almost be a ploughed field,"--but they were uncomfortable, and +were very pleased when I landed safely on the other side and got into +the carriage. Just in the middle the boys had swept a path on the ice to +make a glissade. They were racing up and down in bands, and the constant +passing had made it quite level and very slippery. We saw three or four +unwary pedestrians get a fall, but if one kept on the outside near the +bank there was no danger of slipping. + +The extreme cold lasting so long brought many discomforts. Many trains +with wood and provisions couldn't get to Paris. The railroads were all +blocked and the Parisians were getting uneasy, fearing they might run +short of food and fuel. We were very comfortable in the big rooms of the +ministry. There were roaring fires everywhere, and two or three +calorifères. The view from the windows on the Quai was charming as long +as the great cold lasted, particularly at night, when the river was +alive with people, lights and coloured lanterns, and music. Every now +and then there would be a ronde or a farandole,--the farandole forcing +its way through the crowd, every one carrying a lantern and looking like +a brilliant snake winding in and out. + +We had some people dining one night, and they couldn't keep away from +the windows. Some of the young ones (English) wanted to go down and have +a lark on the ice, but it wasn't possible. The crowd, though thoroughly +good-humoured, merely bent on enjoying themselves, had degenerated into +a rabble. One would have been obliged to have a strong escort of police, +and besides in evening dress, even with fur cloaks and the fur and +woollen boots every one wore over their thin shoes, one would certainly +have risked getting a bad attack of pneumonia. One of our great friends, +Sir Henry Hoare, was dining that night, but he didn't want to go down, +preferred smoking his cigar in a warm room and talking politics to W. He +had been a great deal in Paris, knew everybody, and was a member of the +Jockey Club. He was much interested in French politics and au fond was +very liberal, quite sympathised with W. and his friends and shared their +opinions on most subjects, though as he said, "I don't air those +opinions at the Jockey Club." He came often to our big receptions, liked +to see all the people. He too used to tell me all that was said in his +club about the Republic and the Government, but he was a shrewd +observer, had been a long time an M.P. in England, and had come to the +conclusion that the talk at the clubs was chiefly a "pose,"--they didn't +really have many illusions about the restoration of the monarchy, +couldn't have, when even the Duc de Broglie with his intelligence and +following (the Faubourg St. Germain followed him blindly) could do +nothing but make a constitutional Republic with Marshal MacMahon at +its head. + +It was always said too that the women were more uncompromising than the +men. I went one afternoon to a concert at the Austrian Embassy, given in +aid of some inundations, which had been a catastrophe for that country, +hundreds of houses, and people and cattle swept away! The French public +had responded most generously, as they always do, to the urgent appeal +made by the ambassador in the name of the Emperor, and the Government +had contributed largely to the fund. Count Beust the Austrian ambassador +was obliged of course to invite the Government and Madame Grévy to the +entertainment, as well as his friends of the Faubourg St. Germain. +Neither Madame nor Mademoiselle Grévy came, but some of the ministers' +wives did, and it was funny to see the ladies of society looking at the +Republican ladies, as if they were denizens of a different planet, +strange figures they were not accustomed to see. It is curious to think +of all that now, when relations are much less strained. I remember not +very long ago at a party at one of the embassies, seeing many of the +society women having themselves presented to the wife of the then +Minister of Foreign Affairs, with whom they certainly had nothing in +common, neither birth, breeding, nor mode of life. I was talking to +Casimir Périer (late President of the Republic) and it amused us very +much to see the various introductions and the great empressement of the +ladies, all of whom were asking to be presented to Madame R. "What can +all those women want?" I asked him. He replied promptly, "Embassies for +their husbands." It would have been better, I think, in a worldly point +of view, if more embassies had been given to the bearers of some of the +great names of France--but there were so many candidates for every +description of function in France just then, from an ambassador to a +gendarme, that anybody who had anything to give found himself in a +difficult position. + + + + +XI + + +LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE + +The end of December was detestable. We were en pleine crise for ten +days. Every day W. went to the Chamber of Deputies expecting to be +beaten, and every evening came home discouraged and disgusted. The +Chamber was making the position of the ministers perfectly +untenable--all sorts of violent and useless propositions were discussed, +and there was an undercurrent of jealousy and intrigue everywhere. One +day, just before Christmas, about the 20th, W. and his chef de cabinet, +Comte de P., started for the house, after breakfast--W. expecting to be +beaten by a coalition vote of the extreme Left, Bonapartists and +Legitimists. It was an insane policy on the part of the two last, as +they knew perfectly well they wouldn't gain anything by upsetting the +actual cabinet. They would only get another one much more advanced and +more masterful. I suppose their idea was to have a succession of radical +inefficient ministers, which in the end would disgust the country and +make a "saviour," a prince (which one?) or general, possible. How wise +their reasoning was time has shown! I wanted to go to the Chamber to +hear the debate, but W. didn't want me. He would be obliged to speak, +and said it would worry him if I were in the gallery listening to all +the attacks made upon him. (It is rather curious that I never heard him +speak in public, either in the house or in the country, where he often +made political speeches, in election times.) He was so sure that the +ministry would fall that we had already begun cleaning and making fires +in our own house, so on that afternoon, as I didn't want to sit at home +waiting for telegrams, I went up to the house with Henrietta. The +caretaker had already told us that the stock of wood and coal was giving +out, and she couldn't get any more in the quarter, and if she couldn't +make fires the pipes would burst, which was a pleasant prospect with the +thermometer at I don't remember how many degrees below zero. We found a +fine cleaning going on--doors and windows open all over the house--and +women scrubbing stairs, floors, and windows, rather under difficulties, +with little fire and little water. It looked perfectly dreary and +comfortless--not at all tempting. All the furniture was piled up in the +middle of the rooms, and W.'s library was a curiosity. Books and +pamphlets accumulated rapidly with us, W. was a member of many literary +societies of all kinds all over the world, and packages and boxes of +unopened books quite choked up the room. H. and I tried to arrange +things a little, but it was hopeless that day, and, besides, the house +was bitterly cold. It didn't feel as if a fire could make any +impression. + +As we could do nothing there, we went back to the ministry. No telegrams +had come, but Kruft, our faithful and efficient chef du matériel, was +waiting for me for last instructions about a Christmas tree. Some days +before I had decided to have a Christmas tree, about the end of the +month. W. then thought the ministry would last over the holidays, the +trêve des confiseurs, and was quite willing I should have a Christmas +party as a last entertainment. He had been too occupied the last days to +think about any such trifles, and Kruft, not having had any contrary +instructions, had ordered the presents and decorations. He was rather +depressed, because W. had told him that morning that we surely would not +be at the Quai d'Orsay on the 29th, the day we had chosen for our party. +However, I reassured him, and told him we would have the Christmas tree +all the same, only at my house instead of at the ministry. We went to +look at his presents, which were all spread out on a big table in one of +the drawing-rooms. He really was a wonderful man, never forgot anything, +and had remembered that at the last tree, the year before, one or two +nurses had had no presents, and several who had were not pleased with +what was given to them. He had made a very good selection for those +ladies,--lace scarfs and rabats and little tours de cou of fur,--really +very pretty. I believe they were satisfied this time. The young men of +the Chancery sent me up two telegrams: "rien de nouveau,"--"ministère +debout." + +[Illustration: M. de Freyeinet. After a photograph by M. Nadaz, Paris] + +W. came home late, very tired and much disgusted with politics in +general and his party in particular. The cabinet still lived, but merely +to give Grévy time to make another. W. had been to the Elysée and had a +long conversation with Grévy. He found him very preoccupied, very +unwilling to make a change, and he again urged W. very much to keep the +Foreign Office, if Freycinet should succeed in making a ministry. That +W. would not agree to--he was sick of the whole thing. He told Grévy he +was quite right to send for Freycinet--if any man could save the +situation he could. We had one or two friends, political men, to dinner, +and they discussed the situation from every point of view, always +ending with the same conclusion, that W. was right to go. His policy +wasn't the policy of the Chamber (I don't say of the country, for I +think the country knew little and cared less about what was going on in +Parliament), hardly the policy of all his own colleagues. There was +really no use to continue worrying himself to death and doing no good. +W. said his conversation with Grévy was interesting, but he was much +more concerned with home politics and the sweeping changes the +Republicans wanted to make in all the administrations than with foreign +policy. He said Europe was quiet and France's first duty was to +establish herself firmly, which would only be done by peace and +prosperity at home. I told W. I had spent a very cold and uncomfortable +hour at the house, and I was worried about the cold, thought I might, +perhaps, send the boy to mother, but he had taken his precautions and +arranged with the Minister of War to have a certain amount of wood +delivered at the house. They always had reserves of wood at the various +ministries. We had ours directly from our own woods in the country, and +it was en route, but a flotilla of boats was frozen up in the Canal de +l'Ourcq, and it might be weeks before the wood could be delivered. + +We dined one night at the British Embassy, while all these pourparlers +were going on, en petit comité, all English, Lord and Lady Reay, Lord +Edmond Fitz-Maurice, and one or two members of Parliament whose names I +have forgotten. Both Lord and Lady Reay were very keen about politics, +knew France well, and were much interested in the phase she was passing +through. Lord Lyons was charming, so friendly and sensible, said he +wasn't surprised at W.'s wanting to go--still hoped this crisis would +pass like so many others he had seen in France; that certainly W.'s +presence at the Foreign Office during the last year had been a help to +the Republic--said also he didn't believe his retirement would last very +long. It was frightfully cold when we came out of the embassy--very few +carriages out, all the coachmen wrapped up in mufflers and fur caps, and +the Place de la Concorde a sea of ice so slippery I thought we should +never get across and over the bridge. I went to the opera one night that +week, got there in an entr'acte, when people were walking about and +reading the papers. As I passed several groups of men, I heard W.'s name +mentioned, also that of Léon Say and Freycinet, but just in passing by +quickly I could not hear any comments. I fancy they were not favourable +in that milieu. It was very cold in the house--almost all the women had +their cloaks on--and the coming out was something awful, crossing that +broad perron in the face of a biting wind. + +I began my packing seriously this time, as W.'s mind was quite made up. +He had thought the matter well over, and had a final talk with +Freycinet, who would have liked to keep both W. and Léon Say, but it +wasn't easy to manage the new element that Freycinet brought with him. +The new members were much more advanced in their opinions. W. couldn't +have worked with them, and they certainly didn't want to work with him. +The autumn session came to a turbulent end on the 26th of December, and +the next day the papers announced that the ministers had given their +resignations to the President, who had accepted them and had charged M. +de Freycinet to form a cabinet. We dined with mother on Christmas day, a +family party, with the addition of Comte de P. and one or two stray +Americans who were at hotels and were of course delighted not to dine on +Christmas day at a table d'hôte or café. W. was rather tired; the +constant talking and seeing so many people of all kinds was very +fatiguing, for, as long as his resignation was not official, announced +in the _Journal Officiel_, he was still Minister of Foreign Affairs. +One of the last days, when they were hoping to come to an agreement, he +was obliged to come home early to receive the mission from Morocco. I +saw them arrive; they were a fine set of men, tall, powerfully built, +their skin a red-brown, not black, entirely dressed in white from +turbans to sandals. None of them spoke any French--all the conversation +took place through an interpreter. Notwithstanding our worries, we had a +very pleasant evening and W. was very cheerful--looking forward to our +Italian trip with quite as much pleasure as I did. + +W. made over the ministry to Freycinet on Monday, the 28th, the +transmission des pouvoirs. Freycinet was very nice and friendly, +regretted that he and W. were no longer colleagues. He thought his +ministry was strong and was confident he would manage the Chamber. W. +told him he could settle himself as soon as he liked at the Quai +d'Orsay, as we should go at once, and would sleep at our house on +Wednesday night. Freycinet said Madame de Freycinet (whom I knew well +and liked very much) would come and see me on Wednesday, and would like +to go over the house with me. I was rather taken aback when W. told me +we must sleep in our own house on Wednesday night. The actual packing +was not very troublesome, as I had not brought many of my own things +from the rue Dumont d'Urville. There was scarcely a van-load of small +furniture and boxes, but the getting together of all the small things +was a bore,--books, bibelots, music, cards, and notes (these in +quantities, lettres de condoléance, which had to be carefully sorted as +they had all to be answered). The hotel of the Quai d'Orsay was crowded +with people those last two days, all W.'s friends coming to express +their regrets at his departure, some very sincerely sorry to see him go, +as his name and character certainly inspired confidence abroad--and some +delighted that he was no longer a member of such an advanced +cabinet--(some said "de cet infect gouvernement"), where he was obliged +by his mere presence to sanction many things he didn't approve of. He +and Freycinet had a long talk on Wednesday, as W. naturally wanted to be +sure that some provision would be made for his chef de cabinet and +secretaries. Each incoming minister brings his own staff with him. +Freycinet offered W. the London Embassy, but he wouldn't take it, had +had enough of public life for the present. I didn't want it either, I +had never lived much in England, had not many friends there, and was +counting the days until we could get off to Rome. There was one funny +result of W. having declined the London Embassy. Admiral Pothnau, whom +W. had named there, and who was very much liked, came to see him one day +and made a great scene because Freycinet had offered him the London +Embassy. W. said he didn't understand why he made a scene, as he had +refused it. "But it should never have been offered to you over my head." +"Perhaps, but that is not my fault. I didn't ask for it--and don't want +it. If you think you have been treated badly, you should speak to +Freycinet." However, the admiral was very much put out, and was very +cool with us both for a long time. I suppose his idea was that being +recalled would mean that he had not done well in London, which was quite +a mistake, as he was very much liked there. + +We dined alone that last night at the ministry, and sat some time in the +window, looking at the crowds of people amusing themselves on the Seine, +and wondering if we should ever see the Quai d'Orsay again. After all, +we had had two very happy interesting years there--and memories that +would last a lifetime.--Some of the last experiences of the month of +December had been rather disillusioning, but I suppose one must not +bring any sentiment into politics. In the world it is always a case of +donnant--donnant--and--when one is no longer in a position to give a +great deal--people naturally turn to the rising man. Comte de P., chef +de cabinet, came in late as usual, to have a last talk. He too had been +busy, as he had a small apartment and stables in the hotel of the +ministry, and was also very anxious to get away. He told us all the +young men of the cabinet were very sorry to see W. go--at first they had +found him a little cold and reserved--but a two years' experience had +shown them that, if he were not expansive, he was perfectly just, and +always did what he said he would. + +The next day Madame de Freycinet came to see me, and we went over the +house. She didn't care about the living-rooms, as they never lived at +the Quai d'Orsay, remained in their own hotel near the Bois de Boulogne. +Freycinet came every day to the ministry, and she merely on reception +days--or when there was a party. Just as she was going, Madame de +Zuylen, wife of the Dutch minister, a great friend of mine, came in. She +told me she had great difficulty in getting up, as I had forbidden my +door, but my faithful Gérard (I think I missed him as much as anything +else at first) knowing we were friends, thought Madame would like to see +her. She paid me quite a long visit,--I even gave her some tea off +government plate and china,--all mine had been already sent to my own +house. We sat talking for some time. She had heard that W. had refused +the London Embassy, was afraid it was a mistake, and that the winter in +Paris would be a difficult one for him--he would certainly be in +opposition to the Government on all sorts of questions--and if he +remained in Paris he would naturally go to the Senate and vote. I quite +agreed that he couldn't suddenly detach himself from all political +discussions--must take part in them and must vote. The policy of +abstention has always seemed to me the weakest possible line in +politics. If a man, for some reason or another, hasn't the courage of +his opinions, he mustn't take any position where that opinion would +carry weight. I told her we were going to Italy as soon as we could get +off after the holidays. + +While we were talking, a message came up to say that the young men of +the cabinet were all coming up to say good-bye to me. I had seen the +directors earlier in the day, so Madame de Zuylen took her leave, +promising to come to my Christmas tree in the rue Dumont d'Urville. The +young men seemed sorry to say good-bye--I was, too. I had seen a great +deal of them and always found them ready and anxious to help me in +every way. The Comte de Lasteyrie, who was a great friend of ours as +well as a secretary, went about a great deal with us. W. called upon him +very often for all sorts of things, knowing he could trust him +absolutely. He told one of my friends that one of his principal +functions was to accompany Madame Waddington to all the charity sales, +carrying a package of women's chemises under his arm. It was quite true +that I often bought "poor clothes" at the sales. The objects exposed in +the way of screens, pincushions, table-covers, and, in the spring, hats +made by some of the ladies, were so appalling that I was glad to have +poor clothes to fall back upon, but I don't remember his ever carrying +my purchases home with me. + +They were much amused when suddenly Francis burst into the room, having +escaped a moment from his Nonnon, who was busy with her last packing, +his little face flushed and quivering with anger because his toys had +been packed and he was to be taken away from the big house. He kicked +and screamed like a little mad thing, until his nurse came to the +rescue. I made a last turn in the rooms to see that all trace of my +occupation had vanished. Francis, half pacified, was seated on the +billiard-table, an old grey-haired huissier, who was always on duty +up-stairs, taking care of him. The huissiers and house servants were all +assembled in the hall, and the old Pierson, who had been there for +years, was the spokesman, and hoped respectfully that Madame "would soon +come back...." W. didn't come with us, as he still had people to see and +only got home in time for a late dinner. + +We dined that night and for many nights afterward with our uncle +Lutteroth (who had a charming hotel filled with pictures and bibelots +and pretty things) just across the street, as it was some little time +before our kitchen and household got into working order again. The first +few days were, of course, very tiring and uncomfortable--the house +seemed so small after the big rooms at the Quai d'Orsay. I didn't +attempt to do anything with the salons, as we were going away so +soon--carpets and curtains had to be arranged to keep the cold out, but +the big boxes remained in the carriage house--not unpacked. We had a +procession of visitors all day--and tried to make W.'s library +possible--comfortable it wasn't, as there were packages of books and +papers and boxes everywhere. + +I had a good many visits and flowers on New Year's day--which was an +agreeable surprise--Lord Lyons, Orloff, the Sibberns, Comte de Ségur, +M. Alfred André, and others. André, an old friend of W.'s, a very +conservative Protestant banker, was very blue about affairs. André was +the type of the modern French Protestant. They are almost a separate +class in France--are very earnest, religious, honourable, narrow-minded +people. They give a great deal in charity and good works of all kinds. +In Paris the Protestant coterie is very rich. They associate with all +the Catholics, as many of them entertain a great deal, but they live +among themselves and never intermarry. I hardly know a case where a +French Protestant has married a Catholic. I suppose it is a remnant of +their old Huguenot blood, and the memories of all their forefathers +suffered for their religion, which makes them so intolerant. The +ambassadors had paid their usual official visit to the Elysée--said +Grévy was very smiling and amiable, didn't seem at all preoccupied. We +had a family dinner at my uncle's on New Year's night, and all the +family with wonderful unanimity said the best wish they could make for +W. was that 1880 would see him out of politics and leading an +independent if less interesting life. + +An interesting life it certainly was, hearing so many questions +discussed, seeing all sorts of people of all nationalities and living as +it were behind the scenes. The Chamber of Deputies in itself was a +study, with its astounding changes of opinion, with no apparent cause. +One never knew in the morning what the afternoon's session would bring, +for as soon as the Republican party felt themselves firmly established, +they began to quarrel among themselves. I went back to the ministry one +afternoon to pay a formal visit to Madame de Freycinet on her reception +day. I had rather put it off, thinking that the sight of the well-known +rooms and faces would be disagreeable to me and make me regret, perhaps, +the past, but I felt already that all that old life was over--one adapts +one's self so quickly to different surroundings. It did seem funny to be +announced by my own special huissier, Gérard, and to find myself sitting +in the green drawing-room with all the palms and flowers arranged just +as they always were for me, and a semicircle of diplomats saying exactly +the same things to Madame de Freycinet that they had said to me a few +days before, but I fancy that always happens in these days of democracy +and equalising education, and that under certain circumstances, we all +say and do exactly the same thing. I had quite a talk with Sibbern, the +Swedish minister, who was very friendly and sympathetic, not only at our +leaving the Foreign Office, but at the extreme discomfort of moving in +such frightfully cold weather. He was wrapped in furs, as if he were +going to the North Pole. However, I assured him we were quite warm and +comfortable, gradually settling down into our old ways, and I was +already looking back on my two years at the Quai d'Orsay as an agreeable +episode in my life. I had quite a talk too with the Portuguese minister, +Mendes Leal. He was an interesting man, a poet and a dreamer, saw more, +I fancy, of the literary world of Paris than the political. Blowitz was +there, of course--was always everywhere in moments of crisis, talking a +great deal, and letting it be understood that he had pulled a great many +wires all those last weeks. He too regretted that W. had not taken the +London Embassy, assured me that it would have been a very agreeable +appointment in England--was surprised that I hadn't urged it. I replied +that I had not been consulted. Many people asked when they could come +and see me--would I take up my reception day again? That wasn't worth +while, as I was going away so soon, but I said I would be there every +day at five o'clock, and always had visits. + +[Illustration: Mme. Sadi Carnot. From a drawing by Mlle. Amelie +Beaury-Saurel.] + +One day Madame Sadi Carnot sat a long time with me. Her husband had been +named undersecretary at the Ministry of Public Works in the new +cabinet, and she was very pleased. She was a very charming, intelligent, +cultivated woman--read a great deal, was very keen about politics and +very ambitious (as every clever woman should be) for her husband and +sons. I think she was a great help socially to her husband when he +became President of the Republic. He was a grave, reserved man, didn't +care very much for society. I saw her very often and always found her +most attractive. At the Elysée she was amiable and courteous to +everybody and her slight deafness didn't seem to worry her nor make +conversation difficult. She did such a charming womanly thing just after +her husband's assassination. He lay in state for some days at the +Elysée, and M. Casimir Périer, his successor, went to make her a visit. +As he was leaving he said his wife would come the next day to see Madame +Carnot. She instantly answered, "Pray do not let her come; she is young, +beginning her life here at the Elysée. I wouldn't for worlds that she +should have the impression of sadness and gloom that must hang over the +palace as long as the President is lying there. I should like her to +come to the Elysée only when all traces of this tragedy have gone--and +to have no sad associations--on the contrary, with the prospect of a +long happy future before her." + +[Illustration: _Photograph, copyright by Pierre Petit, Paris._ +President Sadi Carnot.] + +W. went the two or three Fridays we were in Paris to the Institute, +where he was most warmly received by his colleagues, who had much +regretted his enforced absences the years he was at the Foreign Office. +He told them he was going to Rome, where he hoped still to find some +treasures in the shape of inscriptions inédites, with the help of his +friend Lanciani. The days passed quickly enough until we started. It was +not altogether a rest, as there were always so many people at the house, +and W. wanted to put order into his papers before he left. Freycinet +made various changes at the Quai d'Orsay. M. Desprey, Directeur de la +Politique (a post he had occupied for years) was named ambassador to +Rome in the place of the Marquis de Gabriac. I don't think he was very +anxious to go. His career had been made almost entirely at the Foreign +Office, and he was much more at home in his cabinet, with all his papers +and books about him, than he would be abroad among strangers. He came to +dinner one night, and we talked the thing over. W. thought the rest and +change would do him good. He was named to the Vatican, where necessarily +there was much less to do in the way of social life than at the +Quirinal. He was perfectly au courant of all the questions between the +Vatican and the French clergy--his son, secretary of embassy, would go +with him. It seemed rather a pleasant prospect. + +W. went once or twice to the Senate, as the houses met on the 12th or +14th of January, but there was nothing very interesting those first +days. The Chamber was taking breath after the holidays and the last +ministerial crisis, and giving the new ministry a chance. I think +Freycinet had his hands full, but he was quite equal to the task. I went +late one afternoon to the Elysée. I had written to Madame Grévy to ask +if she would receive me before I left for Italy. When I arrived, the one +footman at the door told me Madame Grévy was un peu souffrante, would +see me up-stairs. I went up a side staircase, rather dark, preceded by +the footman, who ushered me into Madame Grévy's bedroom. It looked +perfectly uncomfortable--was large, with very high ceilings, stiff gilt +furniture standing against the wall, and the heat something awful,--a +blazing fire in the chimney. Madame Grévy was sitting in an armchair, +near the fire, a grey shawl on her shoulders and a lace fichu on her +head. It was curiously unlike the bedroom I had just left. I had been to +see a friend, who was also souffrante. She was lying under a lace +coverlet lined with pink silk, lace, and embroidered cushions all +around her, flowers, pink lamp-shades, silver flacons, everything most +luxurious and modern. The contrast was striking. Madame Grévy was very +civil, and talkative,--said she was very tired. The big dinners and late +hours she found very fatiguing. She quite understood that I was glad to +get away, but didn't think it was very prudent to travel in such +bitterly cold weather--and Rome was very far, and wasn't I afraid of +fever? I told her I was an old Roman--had lived there for years, knew +the climate well, and didn't think it was worse than any other. She said +the President had had a visit from W. and a very long talk with him, and +that he regretted his departure very much, but that he didn't think +"Monsieur Waddington was au fond de son sac." Grévy was always a good +friend to W.--on one or two occasions, when there was a sort of cabal +against him, Grévy took his part very warmly--and in all questions of +home policy and persons W. found him a very keen, shrewd +observer--though he said very little--rarely expressed an opinion. I +didn't make a very long visit--found my way down-stairs as well as I +could--no servant was visible either on the stairs or in the hall, and +my own footman opened the big doors and let me out. We got off the first +days of February--as, up to the last moment, W. had people to see. We +went for two or three days to Bourneville--I had one or two very cold +tramps in the woods (very dry) which is quite unusual at this time of +the year, but the earth was frozen hard. Inside the woods we were well +sheltered, but when we came out on the plain the cold and icy wind was +awful. The workmen had made fires to burn the roots and rotten wood, and +we were very glad to stop and warm ourselves. Some had their children +with them, who looked half perished with cold, always insufficiently +clad, but they were quite happy roasting potatoes in the ashes. I was so +cold that I tied a woollen scarf around my head, just as the women in +Canada do when they go sleighing or skating. + +We had a breakfast one day for some of W.'s influential men in the +country, who were much disgusted at the turn affairs had taken and that +W. could no longer remain minister, but they were very fairly au courant +of all that was going on in Parliament, and quite understood that for +the moment the moderate, experienced men had no chance. The young +Republic must have its fling. Has the country learned much or gained +much in its forty years of Republic? + + + + +INDEX + + +Adams, Sir Francis, school friend of + M. Waddington +Aisne, deputies and senators of Department + of the +Alexander of Battenberg, Prince +Alexander of Russia, Grand Duke + (Emperor Alexander III), interview + with +Alexandra, Queen +Ambassadors, treatment of, in Russia +Americans, violation of rules of court + etiquette by; good-natured tolerance + of, in European circles; + Lord Lyons's opinion of women + of +Andrassy, Count, at Berlin Congress; + personality of +André, Alfred +Annamites as dinner guests +Aosta, Due d', in Paris at opening of + exposition; author's impressions of +Arab horses presented to M. Waddington +Arco, Count +Arnim, Count, German ambassador + in Paris; succeeded by Prince + Hohenlohe +Aumale, Duc d', president of Bazaine + court-martial; at ball at + British embassy +Austria, description of Empress of, + when in Paris; stiffness of court + etiquette in + + +Baden, Grand Duchess of, M. Waddington's + meeting with +Bazaine, Marshal, court-martial of +Beaconsfield, Lord, at Berlin Congress +Bear as a pet at German embassy +Begging letters received by persons in + public life +Berlin Congress, the; French + plenipotentiaries named to the; + M. Waddington's account of doings at +Berlin Treaty, signing of +Bernhardt, Sarah +Beust, Comte de, as a musician +Bismarck, Count Herbert, story of + telegram from; welcomes M. + Waddington to Berlin +Bismarck, Countess Marie +Bismarck, Prince, account of, at Berlin + Congress; anxiety of, + over French advance in radicalism; + suspicions of sincerity + of, in anxiety for France; + surprise of, over speedy payment of + war indemnity by France +Bismarck, Princess, M. Waddington's + account of +Blowitz, M. de, present during meeting + of Berlin Congress; + M. Waddington's distrust of; + Prince Hohenlohe's high opinion of; + at Madame de Freycinet's +Borel, General +Bourneville, days at; a winter + house-party at; a winter + visit to +Breakfasts, political +Bridge, remarks on +Broglie, Duc de, cabinet of; unpopularity + of; break-up of + cabinet +Brown, John, retainer of Queen Victoria +Bunsen, George de +Bunsen family + + +Canrobert, Marshal +Capel, Monsignor +Cardinals, incidents attending naming of +Carnot, M. Sadi +Carnot, Madame +Carvalho, Madame +Casimir Périer, dislike of, for office of + president; mentioned; + story of Madame Carnot and +Cataldi, Monsignor +Catholics, views of, concerning Protestants +Chanzy, General, appointed ambassador to Russia +Châteaux in France +Children + interest of Frenchwomen in + good treatment of, by French of all classes +Chinese ambassador, experience at dinner with +Cialdini, General, Italian ambassador in Paris +Clarence, Duke of, love affair of, with Catholic princess +Comédie Française, finished style of artists of the +Compiègne, a scene at, during the Empire +Conciergerie + Mr. Gladstone at the + interest of American visitors in the +Conservatoire, + Sunday afternoon concerts at the + marriages made at the + change effected in dress of chorus of the + Monsignor Czascki at the +Convent of the Soeurs Augustines in the rue de la Santé +Corti + Italian plenipotentiary to Congress of Berlin + feeling of, over establishment of Tunisian protectorate by France +Costumes, national, seen in Paris during exposition year +Country people + lack of interest of French, in form of government + attitude of, in election of 1877 + enthusiasm of, aroused over Republic +Croizette, Théâtre Français artist +Cyprus, cession of, to England +Czascki, Monsignor, papal nunzio + + +Deauville, a vacation at +Décazes, Duc + appointed to Foreign Office + advice on social etiquette from + Duc de Broglie contrasted with +Denmark, Crown Prince of + in Paris during exposition + at ball at British embassy + at ball at the Quai d'Orsay +Desprey, Monseigneur, created a Cardinal +Desprey, M. + a plenipotentiary of France at Berlin Congress + quoted on treatment of ambassadors in Russia + named ambassador to Rome +Diplomatists + antagonistic attitude of, toward the Republic + anomalous and mistaken behaviour of + superficiality of majority of +Dufaure, M. + appointed Président du Conseil + now cabinet formed by +Dufferin, Lord + + +Election of 1877 +Elysée, ceremonies attending naming of Cardinals at +English, Monsignor +English visitors to Paris in 1879 +Eugénie, Empress + at Compiègne + description of, and reminiscences concerning +Exposition Universelle of 1878 + closing of + good moral effect of + + +Fan, an autographed, as souvenir of Berlin Congress +Farmers, + usual indifference of French, to form of government + enthusiasm of, over the Republic +Ferry, Jules +Fitz-Maurice, Lord Edmond +France, astonishing rapidity of recovery of, after Franco-Prussian War +Frederick-Charles, Prince +French people + self-centred attitude of + conventions in dress of girls + interest of women in their children + lack of regard for, on part of Northern races + defence of fine qualities of + difficulties of interpreting conversation, + cramped lives of middle-class women + religious question among +Freycinet, M. de + appointed Minister of Public Works + ability displayed by, as a Republican statesman + excellent qualities of + succeeds M. Waddington as premier + official changes made by +Freycinet, Madame de + author's visit to, at Quai d'Orsay + + +Gambetta, Léon, + manners and appearance of + force of oratory of, in campaign of 1877 + mentioned + appreciation by, of value of Tunisian protectorate + comparison of Grévy and +General amnesty, discussion of the. +Germans, want of tact characteristic; + position of women among; + advance in comfort and elegance among. +Germany, feeling in, over radicalism in France, +Gérôme, J. L., as a table companion. +Gladstones, visits from the. +Glynn, Admiral, school friend of M. + Waddington. +Gortschakoff, Prince, quoted on death of Thiers; + at Berlin Congress; + a diplomatist of the old-fashioned type. +Grand Opera in Paris. +Grange, Chateau de la, home of Lafayette. +Grant, President and Mrs., in Paris. +Greek national dress. +Grévy, election of, to presidency; + good figure cut by, in society; + hats bestowed upon two Cardinals by; + disappointment of, in the Republic; + rivalry between Gambetta and; + Queen Victoria's meeting with; + feelings of regard for one another held by M. Waddington and, +Grévy, Madame; + unknown to society upon husband's election to presidency; + first reception held by; + question of necessity of presence of, at the Elysée; + receptions held by; + author's last visit to; +Grévy, Mademoiselle, at Prince Hohenlohe's reception. + + +Halanzier, director of the Grand Opera. +Hatzfeldt, Count, story of Liszt and; + personal charm of, +Hélène d'Orléans, Princess, love affair + of Duke of Clarence and. +Hoare, Sir Henry. +Hohenlohe, Prince, German ambassador to France; + pleasant manners of; + at Berlin Congress; + reception given to President Grévy by; + reports by, concerning feeling in Germany + over French radicalism. +Hohenlohe, Princess, striking personality of; + at Madame Grévy's first reception. +Holland, Lady. +Holland House, London, 236. +Hôtel de Ville, ball at the, in 1878. +Houghton, Lord. +Humbert, King. + + +Ignatieff, General. +Isabella, Queen, at Marshal de MacMahon's reception; + Description of, and account of audience given author by; + Dinner given Marshal and Madame de MacMahon by. +Italians, author's doubts concerning. + + +Japanese, reported intelligence of. +Jockey Club, Paris, political talk at the. + + +Karolyi, at Berlin Congress. +Kellogg, Clara Louise, with the Waddingtons. +King, General Rufus. +Kruft, chef du matériel at Quai d'Orsay. + + +Lafayette, Marquis de, interest of + American visitors in things relating to. +Lasteyrie, Count de. +Layard, Sir Henry. +Leo XIII, election of. +Liszt, meetings with, and stories of. +Longchamp, review of Paris garrison at. +Lord Mayor of London at the Grand Opera, Paris. +Louis Philippe, memories of. +Lutteroth, M., uncle of M. Waddington; + information concerning Royalist circles from; + interesting friends of. +Luxembourg, Palace of the; + gardens of the. +Lyons, Lord, lesson in diplomatic politeness from; + ball given by, during exposition year; + at Madame Grévy's first reception; + memories of Washington ministry by. + + +MacMahon, Fabrice de. +MacMahon, Marshal de, President of French Republic; + at the Longchamp review; + receptions of, at Versailles; + attitude of, toward cabinet of 1876; + official dinner given by, to diplomatic corps + and the Government; + dismissal of cabinet by (May 16,1877); + dislike of, for the Republic and the Republicans; + official receptions and dinners of; + Mrs. Grant and; + visits M. Waddington at Deauville; + dislike of, for office of president; + preference of, for his military title; + fete given by, at Versailles during exposition year; + resignation of; + delight at resumption of private life. +MacMahon, Maréchale de, description of visit to; + visit to Madame Waddington from, upon dismissal of cabinet; + chilly attitude of, toward things Republican. +Madeleine, service at the, for King Victor Emmanuel. +Marguerite de Nemours, Princesse, author's visit to. +Marquis, anecdotes of a dictatorial. +Marriages, made at the Conservatoire or the Opéra Comique; + Favourable criticism of arranged. +Martin, Henri, senator of the Aisne. +Mathilde, Princesse, meeting with; + salon of. +Mendes Leal, Portuguese minister. +Molins, Marquise, Spanish ambassadress. +Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs. +Mommsen, Theodor. +Morny, Duc de, a founder of Deauville; + famous entertainments of. +Morocco, mission from. +Murat, Princess Anna (Duchesse de Mouchy). + + +Napoleon III, Emperor, at Compiègne, +Napoleon's tomb, interest of American visitors in. +National Assembly, description of sittings of. +New Year's day reception at the President's. +Ney, Marshal, execution of, recalled. +Nuns, the life of. + + +Oliffe, Sir Joseph, a founder of Deauville. +Opera Comique, making of marriages at the; + artists of the. +Opposition leader, joys of position of, +Orléans, Due d', at Countess de Ségur's salon, +Orléans family, members of, at official + reception given by the Waddingtons; + members of, at Lord Lyons's ball. +Orloff, Prince, Russian ambassador; + attractive personality of; + at Prince Hohenlohe's reception to President Grévy, + + +Paris, reasons against holding of Parliament in; + gaiety of, during exposition; + return of the Parliament to. +Pedro de Bragance, Emperor of Brazil. +Pie, Monsignor, created a Cardinal, +Piémont, Prince and Princesse de. +Pius IX, death of and funeral observances. +Poles, author's lack of confidence in. +Pontécoulant, Comte de, chef de cabinet + under M. Waddington. +Pothnau, Admiral, appointed ambassador to Great Britain; + Annoyance of, over offer of London embassy to M. Waddington. +Protestants, views of, held by Catholics; + isolated position of the French. + + +Quai d'Orsay, description of house of Foreign Minister at the; + removal of Waddingtons to; + receiving and entertaining at; + large ball given at; + English visitors at; + view from, on cold winter nights; + departure from; + formal visit to Madame de Freycinet at. +Quartier Latin, the modern. + + +Reay, Lord and Lady. +Receptions, customs at official. +Renan, Ernst, description of. +Renault, Léon, préfet de police. +Republic, strength of feeling against the, in Paris "society;" + enthusiasm of farmers over the; + disappointment of statesmen +in the; moderation of + feeling in society circles toward the, at present time. +Republicans, proposed uprising of (1877); + work of, in election of 1877; + victory of. +Reviews at Longchamp. +Rome, early social life in; + Account of reception in, where royalties were present. +Roumanian woman's dress. +Royalties, first social encounters with; + present at opening ceremony of exposition; + experiences with, at ball given by Lord Lyons + at British embassy; + risks run by, at fête at Versailles; + present at the Waddingtons' ball at Quai d'Orsay. +Rudolph, Archduke, crown prince of Austria. +Russia, sadness of people of; + Distance between princes and ordinary mortals in; + pains taken to give ambassadors a pleasant impression of. + + +St. Vallier, Count de; + Senator of the Aisne; + Plenipotentiary to Berlin Congress; + ambassador to Germany; + reports brought from Germany by. +Salisbury, Lord, at Berlin Congress. +Salon réservé, passing of the. +Salons, political. +Sartiges, Comte and Comtesse de. +Sartiges, Vicomte de. +Say, Léon, as a speaker in the National Assembly; + Minister of Finance; + attitude of, toward French protectorate of Tunis. +Say, Madame. +Schouvaloff, Count; + at Berlin Congress. +Ségur, Countess de, political salon of. +Seine, freezing of the. +Shah of Persia, experiences with the. +Shooting expeditions. +Shops, trading at small. +Sibbern, Swedish minister. +Simon, Jules, dismissal of cabinet of. +Singing, comments on French. +Skating experiences in Paris in 1879. +Soeurs Augustines, Convent and Hospital of the. +Sullivan, Arthur, in Paris. + + +Théâtre Français, nights at the. +Thiers, M; + superseded as President of Republic by MacMahon; + receptions at house of; + comment of Prince Gortschakoff upon; + condition in 1877 and sudden death of. +Thiers, Madame. +Thorndike, Miss (Comtesse de Sartiges). +Tiffany, success of, with French, at exposition of 1878. +Travelling, a Frenchwoman's views of. +Troubetskoi, Princess Lize. +Trouville, vogue of, as a watering-place. +Tunis, French protectorate of, arranged by M. Waddington. + + +Versailles, meetings of National Assembly at; + terraces and gardens at; + Marshal de MacMahon's receptions at; + compared with Paris as a meetingplace of Assembly; + badly managed fête given by Marshal de MacMahon at; + removal of Parliament to Paris from. +Victor Emmanuel, death of, and service at the Madeleine for. +Victoria, Princess, charming character of; + strong English proclivities of. +Victoria, Queen, M. Waddington received by, in Paris; + prestige of, in France; + expresses approval of M. Waddington. +Vienna, stiffness of court at. +Vogtio, Marquis de, a visit from, at Deauville. + + +Waddington, Francis, son of Madame Waddington. +Waddington, Richard, senator of the Seine Inférieure; + family life at country home of; + early career of; + story of the Prince of Wales and. +Waddington, Madame Richard. +Waddington, William, marriage of Madame Waddington and; + Deputy to National Assembly from Department of the Aisne; + brief term as Minister of Public Instruction; + method of speaking in National Assembly; + criticisms of, by opposition newspapers; + second appointment as Minister of Public Instruction (1876); + life of, as minister; + dismissal of, from the ministry; + fears of arrest of; + attitude toward proposed Republican uprising; + electoral campaign of; + elected senator in 1877; + named to the Foreign Office in new cabinet formed by Dufaure; + life of, as Foreign Minister; + named plenipotentiary to Berlin Congress; + activities of, at the Congress; + French protectorate of Tunis arranged by; + remains at Foreign Office upon accession of Grévy, + and becomes prime minister; + onerous life of; + reception of, by Queen Victoria; + interview with Grand Duke Alexander of Russia; + determines to quit office; + last days as premier and Foreign Minister; + mild attacks on, by political opponents; + shooting parties at Grévy's and Casimir Périer's; + gives over ministry to Freycinet; + offered the London Embassy, but declines; + President Grévy's regard for. +Waddington, Madame, mother of William Waddington. +Waddington, Madame William, marriage; + early experiences in Paris after Franco-Prussian War; + anecdote of Count Herbert Bismarck's telegram to; + story of early attempt to arrange a marriage for; + at first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction; + first social meetings with royalties; + experience in thanking the artists at reception; + visit of Maréchale de MacMahon to, upon dismissal of cabinet; + feelings on moving into foreign ministry; + trials over reception days; + experience with Chinese ambassador at Marshal de MacMahon's + dinner to General Grant; + audience given to, by Queen Isabella of Spain; + at Lord Lyons's ball, and meeting with Princesse Mathilde; + received by Empress Eugénie; + does not accompany husband to Berlin Congress; + meeting with the Shah of Persia; + in crush at ball at Hôtel de Ville; + exciting adventures at fête at Versailles; + ball given by, at the Quai d'Orsay; + attends Madame Grévy's first reception; + at naming of Cardinals at the Elysée; + conversations of, with Catholic friends; + growing fondness of, for the rive gauche; + skating experiences of; + crosses the Seine on the ice; + visits of farewell received by, upon leaving Quai d'Orsay; + pays formal visit to Madame de Freycinet at Quai d'Orsay; + visit to Madame Grévy; + departure from Paris and short stay at Bourneville. +Wales, Prince of, story of Richard Waddington and; + liking of Parisians for; + Madame Waddington presented to Princesse Mathilde by; + at ball at the Quai d'Orsay. +Washington, D. C., characteristics of; + Lord Lyons's reminiscences of life at; + a French conception of. +William I, Emperor, attempted assassination of. +Winter of 1879, severity and hardships of. +Wittgenstein, Prince. +Women, adaptability of American; + cramped lives of middle-class French; + more uncompromising than men in political views; + ambitions of, for husbands and sons. + + +Zuylen, Baron von, Dutch minister; + as a musician. +Zuylen, Madame von. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My First Years As A Frenchwoman, +1876-1879, by Mary King Waddington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 10003.txt or 10003.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/0/10003/ + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliothèque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr., carlo traverso, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: My First Years As A Frenchwoman, 1876-1879 + +Author: Mary King Waddington + +Release Date: November 10, 2003 [EBook #10003] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN *** + + + + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr., carlo traverso, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + + + + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A +FRENCHWOMAN + +[Illustration: Madame Waddington. +From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition, 1878.] + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A +FRENCHWOMAN + +1876-1879 + +BY + +MARY KING WADDINGTON + +ILLUSTRATED + +1914 + + + + +CONTENTS + + I. WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT + II. IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES + III. M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION + IV. THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE + V. A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY + VI. THE EXPOSITION YEAR + VII. THE BERLIN CONGRESS +VIII. GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY + IX. M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER + X. PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS + XI. LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE + +INDEX + + + + +ILLUSTRATIONS + +MADAME WADDINGTON _Frontispiece + From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition_, 1878. + +MONSIEUR THIERS + +MARSHAL MACMAHON + +SITTING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES + +THE FOYER OF THE OPERA + +MEETING OF OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, AND OF +DELEGATES OF THE NEW CHAMBERS, IN THE SALON OF +HERCULES, PALACE OF VERSAILLES + +THEODOR MOMMSEN + +PALACE OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PARIS + +FRANZ LISZT + +WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE + +LORD LYONS + +HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, IN 1876 + +PRINCE HOHENLOHE + +M. WILLIAM WADDINGTON. IN THE UNIFORM HE WORE AS +MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND AT THE BERLIN +CONGRESS, 1878 + +NASR-ED-DIN, SHAH OF PERSIA + +PRINCE BISMARCK + +THE BERLIN CONGRESS + +M. JULES GREVY, READING MARSHAL MACMAHON'S LETTER +OF RESIGNATION TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES + +M. JULES GREVY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC BY +THE SENATE AND CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES MEETING AS +THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY + +THE ELYSEE PALACE, PARIS + +HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, ABOUT 1879 + +M. DE FREYCINET + +MME. SADI CARNOT + +PRESIDENT SADI CARNOT + + + + +MY FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN + + + + +I + + +WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT + +I was married in Paris in November, 1874, at the French Protestant +Chapel of the rue Taitbout, by Monsieur Bersier, one of the ablest and +most eloquent pastors of the Protestant church. We had just established +ourselves in Paris, after having lived seven years in Rome. We had a +vague idea of going back to America, and Paris seemed a first step in +that direction--was nearer New York than Rome. I knew very little of +France--we had never lived there--merely stayed a few weeks in the +spring and autumn, coming and going from Italy. My husband was a deputy, +named to the National Assembly in Bordeaux in 1871, by his +Department--the Aisne. He had some difficulty in getting to Bordeaux. +Communications and transports were not easy, as the Germans were still +in the country, and, what was more important, he hadn't any +money--couldn't correspond with his banker, in Paris--(he was living in +the country). However, a sufficient amount was found in the country, and +he was able to make his journey. When I married, the Assembly was +sitting at Versailles. Monsieur Thiers, the first President of the +Republic, had been overthrown in May, 1873--Marshal MacMahon named in +his place. W.[1] had had a short ministry (public instruction) under +Monsieur Thiers, but he was so convinced that it would not last that he +never even went to the ministry--saw his directors in his own rooms. I +was plunged at once into absolutely new surroundings. W.'s personal +friends were principally Orleanists and the literary element of +Paris--his colleagues at the Institute. The first houses I was taken to +in Paris were the Segurs, Remusats, Lasteyries, Casimir Periers, +Gallieras, d'Haussonville, Leon Say, and some of the Protestant +families--Pourtales, Andre Bartholdi, Mallet, etc. It was such an +entirely different world from any I had been accustomed to that it took +me some time to feel at home in my new milieu. Political feeling was +very strong--all sorts of fresh, young elements coming to the front. +The Franco-German War was just over--the French very sore and bitter +after their defeat. There was a strong underlying feeling of violent +animosity to the Emperor, who had lost them two of their fairest +provinces, and a passionate desire for the revanche. The feeling was +very bitter between the two branches of the Royalist party, Legitimists +and Orleanists. One night at a party in the Faubourg St. Germain, I saw +a well-known fashionable woman of the extreme Legitimist party turn her +back on the Comtesse de Paris. The receptions and visits were not always +easy nor pleasant, even though I was a stranger and had no ties with any +former government. I remember one of my first visits to a well-known +Legitimist countess in the Faubourg St. Germain; I went on her reception +day, a thing all young women are most particular about in Paris. I found +her with a circle of ladies sitting around her, none of whom I knew. +They were all very civil, only I was astonished at the way the mistress +of the house mentioned my name every time she spoke to me: "Madame +Waddington, etes-vous allee a l'Opera hier soir," "Madame Waddington, +vous montez a cheval tous les matins, je crois," "Monsieur Waddington va +tous les vendredis a l'Institut, il me semble," etc. I was rather +surprised and said to W. when I got home, "How curious it is, that way +of saying one's name all the time; I suppose it is an old-fashioned +French custom. Madame de B. must have said 'Waddington' twenty times +during my rather short visit." He was much amused. "Don't you know why? +So that all the people might know who you were and not say awful things +about the 'infecte gouvernement' and the Republic, 'which no gentleman +could serve.'" + +[Footnote 1: "W.," here and throughout this book, refers to Madame +Waddington's husband, M. William Waddington.] + +[Illustration: Monsieur Theirs.] + +The position of the German Embassy in Paris was very difficult, and +unfortunately their first ambassador after the war, Count Arnim, didn't +understand (perhaps didn't care to) how difficult it was for a +high-spirited nation, which until then had always ranked as a great +military power, to accept her humiliation and be just to the victorious +adversary. Arnim was an unfortunate appointment--not at all the man for +such a delicate situation. We had known him in Rome in the old days of +Pio Nono's reign, where he had a great position as Prussian minister to +the Vatican. He and the Countess Arnim received a great deal, and their +beautiful rooms in the Palazzo Caffarelli, on the top of the Capitol +Hill (the two great statues of Castor and Pollux standing by their +horses looking as if they were guarding the entrance) were a brilliant +centre for all the Roman and diplomatic world. He was a thorough man of +the world, could make himself charming when he chose, but he never had a +pleasant manner, was curt, arrogant, with a very strong sense of his own +superiority. From the first moment he came to Paris as ambassador, he +put people's backs up. They never liked him, never trusted him; whenever +he had an unpleasant communication to make, he exaggerated the +unpleasantness, never attenuated, and there is so much in the way things +are said. The French were very hard upon him when he got into trouble, +and certainly his own Government was merciless to him. + +One of my first small difficulties after becoming a Frenchwoman was to +eliminate some of my German friends from my salon. I could not run the +risk of their being treated rudely. I remember so well one night at +home, before I was married, seeing two French officers not in uniform +slip quietly out of the room when one of the German Embassy came in, yet +ours was a neutral house. When my engagement was announced one of my +great friends at the German Embassy (Count Arco) said to me: "This is +the end, I suppose, of our friendship; I can never go to see you when +you are the wife of a French deputy." "Oh, yes, you can still come; not +quite so often, perhaps, but I can't give up my friends." However, we +drifted apart without knowing why exactly. It is curious how long that +hostile feeling toward Germany has lasted in France. + +Every year there is a great review of the Paris garrison (thirty +thousand men) by the President of the Republic, at Longchamp, on the +14th of July, the national fete--the day of the storming of the Bastile. +It is a great day in Paris--one of the sights of the year--and falling +in midsummer the day is generally beautiful and very warm. From early +dawn all the chairs and benches along the Avenue du Bois de Boulogne are +crowded with people waiting patiently for hours to see the show. There +is not a seat to be had at Longchamp. Unless one arrives very early the +tribunes are packed, and the President's box very crowded, as he invites +the diplomatic corps and the ministers and their wives on that day. The +troops are always received with much enthusiasm, particularly the +artillery, dragging their light field-pieces and passing at a +gallop--also the battalion of St. Cyr, the great French military school. +The final charge of the cavalry is very fine. Masses of riders come +thundering over the plain, the general commanding in front, stopping +suddenly as if moved by machinery, just opposite the President's box. +I went very regularly as long as W. was in office, and always enjoyed my +day. There was an excellent buffet in the salon behind the box, and it +was pleasant to have a cup of tea and rest one's eyes while the long +columns of infantry were passing--the regular, continuous movement was +fatiguing. All the ambassadors and foreigners were very keen about the +review, paying great attention to the size of the men and horses and +their general equipment. As long as Marshal MacMahon was President of +the Republic, he always rode home after the review down the +Champs-Elysees--in full uniform, with a brilliant staff of foreign +officers and military attaches. It was a pretty sight and attracted +great attention. Some of the foreign uniforms are very striking and the +French love a military show. + +[Illustration: Marshal MacMahon.] + +For many years after the war the German military attache returned from +the review unobserved in a _shut_ carriage, couldn't run the risk of an +angry or insulting word from some one in the crowd, and still later, +fifteen years after the war, when W. was ambassador in England, I was +godmother of the daughter of a German-English cousin living in London. +The godfather was Count Herbert Bismarck, son of the famous chancellor. +At the time of the christening I was in France, staying with some +friends in the country. The son of the house had been through the war, +had distinguished himself very much, and they were still very sore over +their reverses and the necessity of submitting to all the little +pin-pricks which came at intervals from Germany. Bismarck sent me a +telegram regretting the absence of the godmother from the ceremony. It +was brought to me just after breakfast, while we were having our coffee. +I opened it and read it out, explaining that it was from Bismarck to +express his regret for my absence. There was a dead silence, and then +the mistress of the house said to me: "C'est tres desagreable pour vous, +chere amie, cette association avec Bismarck." + +I didn't see much of W. in the daytime. We usually rode in the morning +in the Bois and immediately after breakfast he started for Versailles in +the parliamentary train. Dinner was always a doubtful meal. Sometimes he +came home very late for nine-o'clock dinner; sometimes he dined at +Versailles and only got home at ten or eleven if the sitting was stormy. +The Hotel des Reservoirs did a flourishing business as long as the +Chambers sat at Versailles. When we were dining out it was very +disagreeable, particularly the first winter when I didn't know many +people. I remember one dinner at the Countess Duchatel's where I went +alone; we were ten women and five men. All the rest were deputies, who +had telegraphed at the last moment they would not come, were kept at +Versailles by an important question. + +One of the most interesting things I saw in 1873, just before my +marriage, was the court-martial of Marshal Bazaine for treachery at +Metz--giving up his army and the city without any attempt to break +through the enemy's lines, or in fact any resistance of any kind. The +court was held at the Grand Trianon, Versailles, a place so associated +with a pleasure-loving court, and the fanciful devices of a gay young +queen, that it was difficult to realise the drama that was being +enacted, when the honour of a Marshal of France--almost an army of +France, was to be judged. It was an impressive scene, the hall packed, +and people at all the doors and entrances clamouring for seats. The +public was curious, a little of everything--members of the National +Assembly, officers all in uniform, pretty women of all categories--the +group of journalists with keen eager faces watching every change of +expression of the marshal's face--some well-known faces, wives of +members or leading political and literary men, a fair amount of the +frailer sisterhood, actresses and demi-mondaines, making a great effect +of waving plumes and diamonds. The court was presided over by the Duc +d'Aumale, who accepted the office after much hesitation. He was a fine, +soldierly figure as he came in, in full uniform, a group of officers +behind him, all with stern, set faces. The impression of the public was +generally hostile to the marshal; one felt it all through the trial. He +was dressed in full uniform, with the grand cordon of the Legion of +Honour. It was melancholy to hear the report of his career when it was +read by his counsel,--long years of active service, many wounds, often +mentioned for brave conduct under fire, having the "Medaille +Militaire"--the grand cordon of the Legion d'Honneur, the baton de +Marechal de France,--all the honours his country could give him--to end +so miserably, judged not only by the court but by the country, as a +traitor, false to his trust, when his country was in the death-throes of +defeat and humiliation. His attitude at the trial was curious. He sat +very still in his armchair, looking straight before him, only raising +his head and looking at the Duc d'Aumale when some grave accusation was +made against him. His explanation brought the famous reply from the duc, +when he said it was impossible to act or to treat; there was nothing +left in France--no government, no orders--nothing. The due answered: +"Il y avait toujours la France." He didn't look overwhelmed, rather like +some one who was detached from the whole proceedings. I saw his face +quite well; it was neither false nor weak--ordinary. It is difficult to +believe that a French general with a brilliant record behind him should +have been guilty of such treachery, sacrificing his men and his honour. +His friends (they were not many) say he lost his head, was nearly crazy +with the utterly unforeseen defeat of the French, but even a moment of +insanity would hardly account for such extraordinary weakness. W. and +some of his friends were discussing it in the train coming home. They +were all convinced of his guilt, had no doubt as to what the sentence of +the court would be--death and degradation--but thought that physical +fatigue and great depression must have caused a general breakdown. The +end every one knows. He was condemned to be shot and degraded. The first +part of the sentence was cancelled on account of his former services, +but he was degraded, imprisoned, escaped, and finished his life in Spain +in poverty and obscurity, deserted by all his friends and his wife. It +was a melancholy rentree for the Duc d'Aumale. His thoughts must have +gone back to the far-off days when the gallant young officer, fils de +France, won his first military glory in Algiers, and thought the world +was at his feet. His brilliant exploit, capturing the Smala of +Abd-el-Kader, has been immortalised by Vernet in the great historical +picture that one sees at Versailles. There are always artists copying +parts of it, particularly one group, where a lovely, fair-haired woman +is falling out of a litter backward. Even now, when one thinks of the +King Louis Philippe, with all his tall, strong, young sons (there is a +well-known picture of the King on horseback with all his sons around +him--splendid specimens of young manhood), it seems incredible that they +are not still ruling and reigning at the Tuileries. I wonder if things +would have been very different if Louis Philippe and his family had not +walked out of the Tuileries that day! + +I often asked W. in what way France had gained by being a republic. I +personally was quite impartial, being born an American and never having +lived in France until after the Franco-Prussian War. I had no particular +ties nor traditions, had no grandfather killed on the scaffold, nor +frozen to death in the retreat of "La Grande Armee" from Moscow. They +always told me a republic was in the air--young talents and energy must +come to the front--the people must have a voice in the government. I +think the average Frenchman is intelligent, but I don't think the vote +of the man in the street can have as much value as that of a man who has +had not only a good education but who has been accustomed always to hear +certain principles of law and order held up as rules for the guidance of +his own life as well as other people's. Certainly universal suffrage was +a most unfortunate measure to take from America and apply to France, but +it has been taken and now must stay. I have often heard political men +who deplored and condemned the law say that no minister would dare to +propose a change. + +I went often to the Chamber in the spring--used to drive out and bring +W. home. Versailles was very animated and interesting during all that +time, so many people always about. Quite a number of women followed the +debates. One met plenty of people one knew in the streets, at the +Patissiers, or at some of the bric-a-brac shops, where there were still +bargains to be found in very old furniture, prints, and china. There is +a large garrison. There were always officers riding, squads of soldiers +moving about, bugle-calls in all directions, and continuous arrivals at +the station of deputies and journalists hurrying to the palace, their +black portfolios under their arms. The palace was cold. There was a fine +draught at the entrance and the big stone staircase was always cold, +even in June, but the assembly-room was warm enough and always crowded. +It was rather difficult to get seats. People were so interested in those +first debates after the war, when everything had to be reorganised and +so much of the past was being swept away. + + + + +II + + +IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES + +The sittings of the assembly were very interesting in that wonderful +year when everything was being discussed. All public interest of course +was centred in Versailles, where the National Assembly was trying to +establish some sort of stable government. There were endless discussions +and speeches and very violent language in the Chambers. Gambetta made +some bitter attacks on the Royalists, accusing them of mauvaise foi and +want of patriotism. The Bonapartist leaders tried to persuade themselves +and their friends that they still had a hold on the country and that a +plebiscite would bring back in triumph their prince. The Legitimists, +hoping against hope that the Comte de Chambord would still be the +saviour of the country, made passionate appeals to the old feeling of +loyalty in the nation, and the centre droit, representing the +Orleanists, nervous, hesitating, knowing the position perfectly, +ardently desiring a constitutional monarchy, but feeling that it was +not possible at that moment, yet unwilling to commit themselves to a +final declaration of the Republic, which would make a Royalist +restoration impossible. All the Left confident, determined. + +The Republic was voted on the 30th of January, 1875, by a majority of +one vote, if majority it could be called, but the great step had been +taken, and the struggle began instantly between the moderate +conservative Republicans and the more advanced Left. W. came home late +that day. Some of his friends came in after dinner and the talk was most +interesting. I was so new to it all that most of the names of the rank +and file were unknown to me, and the appreciations of the votes and the +anecdotes and side-lights on the voters said nothing to me. Looking back +after all these years, it seems to me that the moderate Royalists +(centre droit) threw away a splendid chance. They could not stop the +Republican wave (nothing could) but they might have controlled it and +directed it instead of standing aloof and throwing the power into the +hands of the Left. We heard the well-known sayings very often those +days: "La Republique sera conservatrice ou elle ne sera pas" and "La +Republique sans Republicains," attributed to M. Thiers and Marshal +MacMahon. The National Assembly struggled on to the end of the year, +making a constitution, a parliament with two houses, senate and chamber +of deputies, with many discussions and contradictions, and hopes and +illusions. + +[Illustration: Sitting of the National Assembly at the palace of +Versailles. From _l'Illustration_, March 11, 1876] + +I went often to Versailles, driving out when the weather was fine. I +liked the stormy sittings best. Some orator would say something that +displeased the public, and in a moment there would be the greatest +uproar, protestations and accusations from all sides, some of the +extreme Left getting up, gesticulating wildly, and shaking their fists +at the speaker--the Right, generally calm and sarcastic, requesting the +speaker to repeat his monstrous statements--the huissiers dressed in +black with silver chains, walking up and down in front of the tribune, +calling out at intervals: "Silence, messieurs, s'il vous plait,"--the +President ringing his bell violently to call the house to order, and +nobody paying the slightest attention,--the orator sometimes standing +quite still with folded arms waiting until the storm should abate, +sometimes dominating the hall and hurling abuse at his adversaries. W. +was always perfectly quiet; his voice was low, not very strong, and he +could not speak if there were an uproar. When he was interrupted in a +speech he used to stand perfectly still with folded arms, waiting for a +few minutes' silence. The deputies would call out: "Allez! allez!" +interspersed with a few lively criticisms on what he was saying to them; +he was perfectly unmoved, merely replied: "I will go on with pleasure as +soon as you will be quiet enough for me to be heard." Frenchmen +generally have such a wonderful facility of speech, and such a pitiless +logic in discussing a question, that the debates were often very +interesting. The public was interesting too. A great many women of all +classes followed the sittings--several Egerias (not generally in their +first youth) of well-known political men sitting prominently in the +President's box, or in the front row of the journalists' box, following +the discussions with great interest and sending down little slips of +paper to their friends below--members' wives and friends who enjoyed +spending an hour or two listening to the speeches--newspaper +correspondents, literary ladies, diplomatists. It was very difficult to +get places, particularly when some well-known orators were announced to +speak upon an important question. We didn't always know beforehand, and +I remember some dull afternoons with one or two members making long +speeches about purely local matters, which didn't interest any one. We +looked down upon an almost empty hall on those occasions. A great many +of the members had gone out and were talking in the lobbies; those who +remained were talking in groups, writing letters, walking about the +hall, quite unconscious apparently of the speaker at the tribune. I +couldn't understand how the man could go on talking to empty benches, +but W. told me he was quite indifferent to the attention of his +colleagues,--his speech was for his electors and would appear the next +day in the _Journal Officiel_. I remember one man talked for hours about +"allumettes chimiques." + +Leon Say was a delightful speaker, so easy, always finding exactly the +word he wanted. It hardly seemed a speech when he was at the tribune, +more like a causerie, though he told very plain truths sometimes to the +peuple souverain. He was essentially French, or rather Parisian, knew +everybody, and was au courant of all that went on politically and +socially, and had a certain blague, that eminently French quality which +is very difficult to explain. He was a hard worker, and told me once +that what rested him most after a long day was to go to a small +boulevard theatre or to read a rather lively yellowbacked novel. + +I never heard Gambetta speak, which I always regretted--in fact knew +very little of him. He was not a ladies' man, though he had some devoted +women friends, and was always surrounded by a circle of political men +whenever he appeared in public. (In all French parties, immediately +after dinner, the men all congregate together to talk to each +other,--never to the women,--so unless you happen to find yourself +seated next to some well-known man, you never really have a chance of +talking to him.) Gambetta didn't go out much, and as by some curious +chance he was never next to me at dinner, I never had any opportunity of +talking to him. He was not one of W.'s friends, nor an habitue of the +house. His appearance was against him--dark, heavy-looking, with an +enormous head. + +When I had had enough of the speeches and the bad atmosphere, I used to +wander about the terraces and gardens. How many beautiful sunsets I have +seen from the top of the terrace or else standing on the three famous +pink marble steps (so well known to all lovers of poetry through Alfred +de Musset's beautiful verses, "Trois Marches Roses"), seeing in +imagination all the brilliant crowd of courtiers and fair women that +used to people those wonderful gardens in the old days of Versailles! I +went sometimes to the "Reservoirs" for a cup of tea, and very often +found other women who had also driven out to get their husbands. We +occasionally brought back friends who preferred the quiet cool drive +through the Park of St. Cloud to the crowd and dust of the railway. The +Count de St. Vallier (who was not yet senator, but deeply interested in +politics) was frequently at Versailles and came back with us often. He +was a charming, easy talker. I never tired of hearing about the +brilliant days of the last Empire, and the fetes at the Tuileries, +Compiegne, and St. Cloud. He had been a great deal at the court of +Napoleon III, had seen many interesting people of all kinds, and had a +wonderful memory. He must have had an inner sense or presentiment of +some kind about the future, for I have heard him say often in speaking +of the old days and the glories of the Empire, when everything seemed so +prosperous and brilliant, that he used often to ask himself if it could +be real--Were the foundations as solid as they seemed! He had been a +diplomatist, was in Germany at the time of the Franco-German War, and +like so many of his colleagues scattered over Germany, was quite aware +of the growing hostile feeling in Germany to France and also of +Bismarck's aims and ambitions. He (like so many others) wrote repeated +letters and warnings to the French Foreign Office, which apparently had +no effect. One heard afterward that several letters of that description +from French diplomatists in Germany were found unopened in a drawer at +the ministry. + +It was rather sad, as we drove through the stately alleys of the Park of +St. Cloud, with the setting sun shining through the fine old trees, to +hear of all the fetes that used to take place there,--and one could +quite well fancy the beautiful Empress appearing at the end of one of +the long avenues, followed by a brilliant suite of ladies and +ecuyers,--and the echoes of the cor de chasse in the distance. The +alleys are always there, and fairly well kept, but very few people or +carriages pass. The park is deserted. I don't think the cor de chasse +would awaken an echo or a regret even, so entirely has the Empire and +its glories become a thing of the past. A rendezvous de chasse was a +very pretty sight. + +We went once to Compiegne before I was married, about three years before +the war. We went out and breakfasted at Compiegne with a great friend of +ours, M. de St. M., a chamberlain or equerry of the Emperor. We +breakfasted in a funny old-fashioned little hotel (with a very good +cuisine) and drove in a big open break to the forest. There were a great +many people riding, driving, and walking, officers of the garrison in +uniform, members of the hunt in green and gold, and a fair sprinkling of +red coats. The Empress looked charming, dressed always in the uniform of +the hunt, green with gold braid, and a tricorne on her head,--all her +ladies with the same dress, which was very becoming. One of the most +striking-looking of her ladies was the Princess Anna Murat, the present +Duchesse de Mouchy, who looked very handsome in the tricorne and +beautifully fitting habit. I didn't see the Empress on her horse, as we +lost sight of them very soon. She and her ladies arrived on the field in +an open break. I saw the Emperor quite distinctly as he rode up and gave +some orders. He was very well mounted (there were some beautiful horses) +but stooped slightly, and had rather a sad face. I never saw him again, +and the Empress only long years after at Cowes, when everything had gone +out of her life. + +The President, Marshal MacMahon, was living at the Prefecture at +Versailles and received every Thursday evening. We went there several +times--it was my first introduction to the official world. The first two +or three times we drove out, but it was long (quite an hour and a +quarter) over bad roads--a good deal of pavement. One didn't care to +drive through the Park of St. Cloud at night--it was very lonely and +dark. We should have been quite helpless if we had fallen upon any +enterprising tramps, who could easily have stopped the carriage and +helped themselves to any money or jewels they could lay their hands on. +One evening the Seine had overflowed and we were obliged to walk a long +distance--all around Sevres--and got to Versailles very late and quite +exhausted with the jolting and general discomfort. After that we went +out by train--which put us at the Prefecture at ten o'clock. It wasn't +very convenient as there was a great rush for carriages when we arrived +at Versailles, still everybody did it. We generally wore black or dark +dresses with a lace veil tied over our heads, and of course only went +when it was fine. The evening was pleasant enough--one saw all the +political men, the marshal's personal friends of the droite went to him +in the first days of his presidency,--(they rather fell off later)--the +Government and Republicans naturally and all the diplomatic corps. There +were not many women, as it really was rather an effort to put one's self +into a low-necked dress and start off directly after dinner to the Gare +St. Lazare, and have rather a rush for places. We were always late, and +just had time to scramble into the last carriage. + +I felt very strange--an outsider--all the first months, but my husband's +friends were very nice to me and after a certain time I was astonished +to find how much politics interested me. I learned a great deal from +merely listening while the men talked at dinner. I suppose I should have +understood much more if I had read the papers regularly, but I didn't +begin to do that until W. had been minister for some time, and then +worked myself into a nervous fever at all the opposition papers said +about him. However, all told, the attacks were never very vicious. He +had never been in public life until after the war when he was named +deputy and joined the Assemblee Nationale at Bordeaux--which was an +immense advantage to him. He had never served any other government, and +was therefore perfectly independent and was bound by no family +traditions or old friendships--didn't mind the opposition papers at +all--not even the caricatures. Some of them were very funny. There was +one very like him, sitting quite straight and correct on the box of a +brougham, "John Cocher Anglais n'a jamais verse, ni accroche" (English +coachman who has never upset nor run into anything). + +There were a few political salons. The Countess de R. received every +evening--but only men--no women were ever asked. The wives rather +demurred at first, but the men went all the same--as one saw every one +there and heard all the latest political gossip. Another hostess was the +Princess Lize Troubetskoi. She was a great friend and admirer of +Thiers--was supposed to give him a great deal of information from +foreign governments. She was very eclectic in her sympathies, and every +one went to her, not only French, but all foreigners of any distinction +who passed through Paris. She gave herself a great deal of trouble for +her friends, but also used them when she wanted anything. One of the +stories which was always told of the Foreign Office was her "petit +paquet," which she wanted to send by the valise to Berlin, when the +Comte de St. Vallier was French ambassador there. He agreed willingly to +receive the package addressed to him, which proved to be a grand piano. + +The privilege of sending packages abroad by the valise of the foreign +affairs was greatly abused when W. became Minister of Foreign Affairs. +He made various changes, one of which was that the valise should be +absolutely restricted to official papers and documents, which really was +perhaps well observed. + +The Countess de Segur received every Saturday night. It was really an +Orleanist salon, as they were devoted friends of the Orleans family, but +one saw all the moderate Republicans there and the centre gauche (which +struggled so long to keep together and be a moderating influence, but +has long been swallowed up in the ever-increasing flood of radicalism) +and a great many literary men, members of the Institute, Academicians, +etc. They had a fine old house entre cour et jardin, with all sorts of +interesting pictures and souvenirs. Countess de S. also received every +day before three o'clock. I often went and was delighted when I could +find her alone. She was very clever, very original, had known all sorts +of people, and it was most interesting to hear her talk about King Louis +Philippe's court, the Spanish marriages, the death of the Duc d'Orleans, +the Coup d'Etat of Louis Napoleon, etc. When she first began to receive, +during the reign of Louis Philippe, the feeling was very bitter between +the Legitimists (extreme Royalist party) and the Orleanists. The Duc +d'Orleans often came to them on Saturday evenings and always in a good +deal of state, with handsome carriage, aides-de-camp, etc. She warned +her Legitimist friends when she knew he was coming (but she didn't +always know) and said she never had any trouble or disagreeable scenes. +Every one was perfectly respectful to the duke, but the extreme +Legitimists went away at once. + +We went quite often to Monsieur and Madame Thiers, who received every +evening in their big gloomy house in the Place St. Georges. It was a +political centre,--all the Republican party went there, and many of his +old friends, Orleanists, who admired his great intelligence, while +disapproving his politics,--literary men, journalists, all the +diplomatists and distinguished strangers. He had people at dinner every +night and a small reception afterward,--Madame Thiers and her sister, +Mademoiselle Dosne, doing the honours for him. I believe both ladies +were very intelligent, but I can't truthfully say they had any charm of +manner. They never looked pleased to see any one, and each took +comfortable little naps in their armchairs after dinner--the first +comers had sometimes rather embarrassing entrances,--but I am told they +held very much to their receptions. Thiers was wonderful; he was a very +old man when I knew him, but his eyes were very bright and keen, his +voice strong, and he would talk all the evening without any appearance +of fatigue. He slept every afternoon for two hours, and was quite rested +and alert by dinner time. It was an interesting group of men that stood +around the little figure in the drawing-room after dinner. He himself +stood almost always leaning against the mantelpiece. Prince Orloff, +Russian ambassador, was one of the habitues of the salon, and I was +always delighted when he would slip away from the group of men and join +the ladies in Madame Thiers's salon, which was less interesting. He knew +everybody, French and foreign, and gave me most amusing and useful +little sketches of all the celebrities. It was he who told me of old +Prince Gortschakoff's famous phrase when he heard of Thiers's death--(he +died at St. Germain in 1877)--"Encore une lumiere eteinte quand il y en +a si peu qui voient clair,"--(still another light extinguished, when +there are so few who see clearly). Many have gone of that +group,--Casimir Perier, Leon Say, Jules Ferry, St. Vallier, Comte Paul +de Segur, Barthelemy St. Hilaire,--but others remain, younger men who +were then beginning their political careers and were eager to drink in +lessons and warnings from the old statesman, who fought gallantly to +the last. + +I found the first winter in Paris as the wife of a French deputy rather +trying, so different from the easy, pleasant life in Rome. That has +changed, too, of course, with United Italy and Rome the capital, but it +was a small Rome in our days, most informal. I don't ever remember +having written an invitation all the years we lived in Rome. Everybody +led the same life and we saw each other all day, hunting, riding, +driving, in the villas in the afternoon, generally finishing at the +Pincio, where there was music. All the carriages drew up and the young +men came and talked to the women exactly as if they were at the opera or +in a ballroom. When we had music or danced at our house, we used to tell +some well-known man to say "on danse chez Madame King ce soir." That was +all. Paris society is much stiffer, attaches much more importance to +visits and reception days. + +There is very little informal receiving, no more evenings with no +amusement of any kind provided, and a small table at one end of the room +with orangeade and cakes, which I remember when I was first married (and +always in Lent the quartet of the Conservatoire playing classical +symphonies, which of course put a stop to all conversation, as people +listened to the artists of the Conservatoire in a sort of sacred +silence). Now one is invited each time, there is always music or a +comedie, sometimes a conference in Lent, and a buffet in the +dining-room. There is much more luxury, and women wear more jewels. +There were not many tiaras when I first knew Paris society; now every +young woman has one in her corbeille. + +[Illustration: The foyer of the Opera.] + +One of the first big things I saw in Paris was the opening of the Grand +Opera. It was a pretty sight, the house crowded with women beautifully +dressed and wearing fine jewels which showed very little, the decoration +of the house being very elaborate. There was so much light and gilding +that the diamonds were quite lost. The two great features of the evening +were the young King of Spain (the father of the present King), a slight, +dark, youthful figure, and the Lord Mayor of London, who really made +much more effect than the King. He was dressed in his official robes, +had two sheriffs and a macebearer, and when he stood at the top of the +grand staircase he was an imposing figure and the public was delighted +with him. He was surrounded by an admiring crowd when he walked in the +foyer. Everybody was there and W. pointed out to me the celebrities of +all the coteries. We had a box at the opera and went very regularly. The +opera was never good, never has been since I have known it, but as it is +open all the year round, one cannot expect to have the stars one hears +elsewhere. Still it is always a pleasant evening, one sees plenty of +people to talk to and the music is a cheerful accompaniment to +conversation. It is astounding how they talk in the boxes and how the +public submits. The ballet is always good. Halanzier was director of the +Grand Opera, and we went sometimes to his box behind the scenes, which +was most amusing. He was most dictatorial, occupied himself with every +detail,--was consequently an excellent director. I remember seeing him +inspect the corps de ballet one night, just before the curtain went up. +He passed down the line like a general reviewing his troops, tapping +lightly with a cane various arms and legs which were not in position. He +was perfectly smiling and good-humoured: "Voyons, voyons, mes petites, +ce n'est pas cela,"--but saw everything. + +What W. liked best was the Theatre Francais. We hadn't a box there, but +as so many of our friends had, we went very often. Tuesday was the +fashionable night and the Salle was almost as interesting as the stage, +particularly if it happened to be a premiere, and all the critics and +journalists were there. Sarah Bernhardt and Croizette were both playing +those first years. They were great rivals and it was interesting to see +them in the same play, both such fine talents yet so totally different. + + + + +III + + +M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION + +In March, 1876, W. was made, for the second time, "Ministre de +l'Instruction Publique et des Beaux Arts," with M. Dufaure President du +Conseil, Duc Decazes at the Foreign Office, and Leon Say at the +finances. His nomination was a surprise to us. We didn't expect it at +all. There had been so many discussions, so many names put forward. It +seemed impossible to come to an understanding and form a cabinet which +would be equally acceptable to the marshal and to the Chambers. I came +in rather late one afternoon while the negotiations were going on, and +was told by the servants that M. Leon Say was waiting in W.'s library to +see him. W. came a few minutes afterward, and the two gentlemen remained +a long time talking. They stopped in the drawing-room on their way to +the door, and Say said to me: "Eh bien, madame, je vous apporte une +portefeuille et des felicitations." "Before I accept the felicitations, +I would like to know which portfolio." Of course when he said, "Public +instruction," I was pleased, as I knew it was the only one W. cared for. +My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator of the Seine +Inferieure,[1] and one or two friends came to see us in the evening, and +the gentlemen talked late into the night, discussing programmes, +possibilities, etc. All the next day the conferences went on, and when +the new cabinet was presented to the marshal, he received them +graciously if not warmly. W. said both Dufaure and Decazes were quite +wonderful, realising the state of affairs exactly, and knowing the +temper of the house, which was getting more advanced every day and more +difficult to manage. + +[Footnote 1: My brother-in-law, Richard Waddington, senator, died in +June, 1913, some time after these notes were written.] + +W. at once convoked all the officials and staff of the ministry. He made +very few changes, merely taking the young Count de Lasteyrie, now +Marquis de Lasteyrie, grandnephew of the Marquis de Lafayette, son of M. +Jules de Lasteyrie, a senator and devoted friend of the Orleans family, +as his chef de cabinet. Two or three days after the new cabinet was +announced, W. took me to the Elysee to pay my official visit to the +Marechale de MacMahon. She received us up-stairs in a pretty salon +looking out on the garden. She was very civil, not a particularly +gracious manner--gave me the impression of a very energetic, practical +woman--what most Frenchwomen are. I was very much struck with her +writing-table, which looked most businesslike. It was covered with +quantities of letters, papers, cards, circulars of all kinds--she +attended to all household matters herself. I always heard (though she +did not tell me) that she read every letter that was addressed to her, +and she must have had hundreds of begging letters. She was very +charitable, much interested in all good works, and very kind to all +artists. Whenever a letter came asking for money, she had the case +investigated, and if the story was true, gave practical help at once. I +was dismayed at first with the number of letters received from all over +France asking my intercession with the minister on every possible +subject from a "monument historique" to be restored, to a pension given +to an old schoolmaster no longer able to work, with a large family to +support. It was perfectly impossible for me to answer them. Being a +foreigner and never having lived in France, I didn't really know +anything about the various questions. W. was too busy to attend to such +small matters, so I consulted M. de L., chef de cabinet, and we agreed +that I should send all the correspondence which was not strictly +personal to him, and he would have it examined in the "bureau." The +first few weeks of W.'s ministry were very trying to me--I went to see +so many people,--so many people came to see me,--all strangers with whom +I had nothing in common. Such dreary conversations, never getting beyond +the most ordinary commonplace phrases,--such an absolutely different +world from any I had ever lived in. + +It is very difficult at first for any woman who marries a foreigner to +make her life in her new country. There must be so many things that are +different--better perhaps sometimes--but not what one has been +accustomed to,--and I think more difficult in France than in any other +country. French people are set in their ways, and there is so little +sympathy with anything that is not French. I was struck with that +absence of sympathy at some of the first dinners I went to. The talk was +exclusively French, almost Parisian, very personal, with stories and +allusions to people and things I knew nothing about. No one dreamed of +talking to me about my past life--or America, or any of my early +associations--yet I was a stranger--one would have thought they might +have taken a little more trouble to find some topics of general +interest. Even now, after all these years, the difference of +nationality counts. Sometimes when I am discussing with very intimate +friends some question and I find that I cannot understand their views +and they cannot understand mine, they always come back to the real +difficulty: "Ecoutez, chere amie, vous etes d'une autre race." I rather +complained to W. after the first three or four dinners--it seemed to me +bad manners, but he said no, I was the wife of a French political +man, and every one took for granted I was interested in the +conversation--certainly no one intended any rudeness. The first big +dinner I went to that year was at the Elysee--the regular official +dinner for the diplomatic corps and the Government. I had Baron von +Zuylen, the Dutch minister, one of our great friends, on one side of me, +Leon Renault, prefet de police, on the other. Leon Renault was very +interesting, very clever--an excellent prefet de police. Some of his +stories were most amusing. The dinner was very good (always were in the +marshal's time), not long, and mercifully the room was not too hot. +Sometimes the heat was terrible. There were quite a number of people in +the evening--the music of the garde republicaine playing, and a buffet +in the dining-room which was always crowded. We never stayed very late, +as W. always had papers to sign when we got home. Sometimes when there +was a great press of work his "signatures" kept him two hours. I don't +think the marshal enjoyed the receptions very much. Like most soldiers +he was an early riser, and the late hours and constant talking +tired him. + +I liked our dinners and receptions at the ministry. All the intelligence +of France passed through our rooms. People generally came early--by ten +o'clock the rooms were quite full. Every one was announced, and it was +most interesting to hear the names of all the celebrities in every +branch of art and science. It was only a fleeting impression, as the +guests merely spoke to me at the door and passed on. In those days, +hardly any one shook hands unless they were fairly intimate--the men +never. They made me low bows some distance off and rarely stopped to +exchange a few words with me. Some of the women, not many, shook hands. +It was a fatiguing evening, as I stood so long, and a procession of +strangers passed before me. The receptions finished early--every one had +gone by eleven o'clock except a few loiterers at the buffet. There are +always a certain number of people at the big official receptions whose +principal object in coming seems to be to make a comfortable meal. The +servants always told me there was nothing left after a big party. There +were no invitations--the reception was announced in the papers, so any +one who felt he had the slightest claim upon the minister appeared at +the party. Some of the dresses were funny, but there was nothing +eccentric--no women in hats, carrying babies in their arms, such as one +used to see in the old days in America at the President's reception at +the White House, Washington--some very simple black silk dresses hardly +low--and of course a great many pretty women very well dressed. Some of +my American friends often came with true American curiosity, wanting to +see a phase of French life which was quite novel to them. + +W. remained two years as Minister of Public Instruction, and my life +became at once very interesting, very full. We didn't live at the +ministry--it was not really necessary. All the work was over before +dinner, except the "signatures," which W. could do just as well in his +library at home. We went over and inspected the Hotel du Ministere in +the rue de Grenelle before we made our final decision, but it was not +really tempting. There were fine reception-rooms and a pretty garden, +but the living-rooms were small, not numerous, and decidedly gloomy. Of +course I saw much less of W. He never came home to breakfast, except on +Sunday, as it was too far from the rue de Grenelle to the Etoile. The +Arc de Triomphe stands in the Place de l'Etoile at the top of the +Champs-Elysees. All the great avenues, Alma, Jena, Kleber, and the +adjacent streets are known as the Quartier de l'Etoile. It was before +the days of telephones, so whenever an important communication was to be +made to him when he was at home in the evening, a dragoon galloped up +with his little black bag from which he extracted his papers. It made +quite an excitement in our quiet street the first time he arrived after +ten o'clock. We just managed our morning ride, and then there were often +people waiting to speak to W. before we started, and always when he came +back. There was a great amount of patronage attached to his ministry, +nominations to all the universities, lycees, schools, etc., and, what +was most agreeable to me, boxes at all the government theatres,--the +Grand Opera, Opera Comique, Francais, Odeon, and Conservatoire. Every +Monday morning we received the list for the week, and, after making +our own selection, distributed them to the official world +generally,--sometimes to our own personal friends. The boxes of the +Francais, Opera, and Conservatoire were much appreciated. + +I went very regularly to the Sunday afternoon concerts at the +Conservatoire, where all classical music was splendidly given. They +confined themselves generally to the strictly classic, but were +beginning to play a little Schumann that year. Some of the faces of the +regular habitues became most familiar to me. There were three or four +old men with grey hair sitting in the first row of stalls (most +uncomfortable seats) who followed every note of the music, turning +around and frowning at any unfortunate person in a box who dropped a fan +or an opera-glass. It was funny to hear the hum of satisfaction when any +well-known movement of Beethoven or Mozart was attacked. The orchestra +was perfect, at its best I think in the "scherzos" which they took in +beautiful style--so light and sure. I liked the instrumental part much +better than the singing. French voices, the women's particularly, are +thin, as a rule. I think they sacrifice too much to the +"diction,"--don't bring out the voices enough--but the style and +training are perfect of their kind. + +The Conservatoire is quite as much a social feature as a school of +music. It was the thing to do on Sunday afternoon. No invitation was +more appreciated, as it was almost impossible to have places unless one +was invited by a friend. All the boxes and seats (the hall is small) +belong to subscribers and have done so for one or two generations. Many +marriages are made there. There are very few theatres in Paris to which +girls can be taken, but the Opera Comique and the Conservatoire are very +favourite resorts. When a marriage is pending the young lady, very well +dressed (always in the simplest tenue de jeune fille) is taken to the +Conservatoire or the Opera Comique by her father and mother, and very +often her grandmother. She sits in front of the box and the young man in +the stalls, where he can study his future wife without committing +himself. The difference of dress between the jeune fille and the jeune +femme is very strongly marked in France. The French girl never wears +lace or jewels or feathers or heavy material of any kind, quite unlike +her English or American contemporaries, who wear what they like. The +wedding-dress is classic, a simple, very long dress of white satin, and +generally a tulle veil over the face. When there is a handsome lace veil +in the family, the bride sometimes wears it, but no lace on her dress. +The first thing the young married woman does is to wear a very long +velvet dress with feathers in her hair. + +I think on the whole the arranged marriages turn out as well as any +others. They are generally made by people of the same monde, accustomed +to the same way of living, and the fortunes as nearly alike as possible. +Everything is calculated. The young couple usually spend the summer with +parents or parents-in-law, in the chateau, and I know some cases where +there are curious details about the number of lamps that can be lighted +in their rooms, and the use of the carriage on certain days. I am +speaking of course of purely French marriages. To my American ideas it +seemed very strange when I first came to Europe, but a long residence in +a foreign country certainly modifies one's impressions. Years ago, when +we were living in Rome, four sisters, before any of us were married, a +charming Frenchwoman, Duchesse de B., who came often to the house, was +very worried about this family of girls, all very happy at home and +contented with their lives. It was quite true we danced and hunted and +made a great deal of music, without ever troubling ourselves about the +future. The duchesse couldn't understand it, used often to talk to +mother very seriously. She came one day with a proposal of marriage--a +charming man, a Frenchman, not too young, with a good fortune, a title, +and a chateau, had seen Madam King's daughters in the ballroom and +hunting-field, and would very much like to be presented and make his +cour. "Which one?" we naturally asked, but the answer was vague. It +sounded so curiously impersonal that we could hardly take it seriously. +However, we suggested that the young man should come and each one of the +four would show off her particular talent. One would play and one would +sing (rather like the song in the children's book, "one could dance and +one could sing, and one could play the violin"), and the third, the +polyglot of the family, could speak several languages. We were rather +puzzled as to what my eldest sister could do, as she was not very +sociable and never spoke to strangers if she could help it, so we +decided she must be very well dressed and preside at the tea-table +behind an old-fashioned silver urn that we always used--looking like a +stately maitresse de maison receiving her guests. We confided all these +plans to the duchesse, but she was quite put out with us, wouldn't bring +the young man nor tell us his name. We never knew who he was. Since I +have been a Frenchwoman (devant la loi)--I think all Americans remain +American no matter where they marry,--I have interested myself three or +four times in made marriages, which have generally turned out well. +There were very few Americans married in France all those years, now +there are legions of all kinds. I don't remember any in the official +parliamentary world I lived in the first years of my marriage--nor +English either. It was absolutely French, and rather borne French. Very +few of the people, the women especially, had any knowledge or experience +of foreign countries, and didn't care to have,--France was enough +for them. + +W. was very happy at the Ministry of Public Instruction,--all the +educational questions interested him so much and the tournees en +province and visits to the big schools and universities,--some of them, +in the south of France particularly, singularly wanting in the most +elementary details of hygiene and cleanliness, and it was very difficult +to make the necessary changes, giving more light, air, and space. +Routine is a powerful factor in this very conservative country, where so +many things exist simply because they have always existed. Some of his +letters from Bordeaux, Toulouse, and Montpellier were most interesting. +As a rule he was very well received and got on very well, strangely +enough, with the clergy, particularly the haut clerge, bishops and +cardinals. His being a Protestant was rather a help to him; he could +take an impartial view of things. + +At Bordeaux he stayed at the Prefecture, where he was very comfortable, +but the days were fatiguing. He said he hadn't worked so hard for years. +He started at nine in the morning, visiting schools and universities, +came home to breakfast at twelve, and immediately after had a small +reception, rectors, professors, and people connected with the schools he +wanted to talk to, at three started again seeing more schools and going +conscientiously over the buildings from basement to garret,--then visits +to the cardinal, archbishop, general commanding, etc.--a big dinner and +reception in the evening, the cardinal present in his red robes, his +coadjutor in purple, the officers in uniform, and all the people +connected in any way with the university, who were pleased to see their +chief. There was a total absence of Bonapartist senators and deputies +(which was not surprising, as W. had always been in violent opposition +to the Empire), who were rather numerous in these parts. W. was really +quite exhausted when he got back to Paris--said it was absolute luxury +to sit quietly and read in his library, and not talk. It wasn't a luxury +that he enjoyed very much, for whenever he was in the house there was +always some one talking to him in his study and others waiting in the +drawing-room. Every minute of the day he was occupied. People were +always coming to ask for something for themselves or some members of +their family, always candidates for the Institute, anxiously inquiring +what their chances were, and if he had recommended them to his friends. +It is striking even in this country of functionaries (I think there are +more small public employees in France than in any other country) how +many applicants there were always for the most insignificant places--a +Frenchman loves a cap with gold braid and gilt buttons on his coat. + +All the winter of 1876, which saw the end of the National Assembly and +the beginning of a new regime, was an eventful one in parliamentary +circles. I don't know if the country generally was very much excited +about a new constitution and a change of government. I don't think the +country in France (the small farmers and peasants) are ever much excited +about the form of government. As long as the crops are good and there is +no war to take away their sons and able-bodied men, they don't care, +often don't know, whether a king or an emperor is reigning over them. +They say there are some far-off villages half hidden in the forests and +mountains who still believe that a king and a Bourbon is reigning in +France. Something had to be decided; the provisoire could no longer +continue; the country could not go on without a settled government. All +the arguments and negotiations of that period have been so often told, +that I will not go into any details. The two centres, centre droit and +centre gauche, had everything in their hands as the great moderating +elements of the Assembly, but the conflicting claims of the various +parties, Legitimist, Orleanist, Bonapartist, and advanced Left, made the +question a very difficult one. + +W. as a member of the Comite des Trente was very much occupied and +preoccupied. He came back generally very late from Versailles, and, when +he did dine at home, either went out again after dinner to some of the +numerous meetings at different houses or had people at home. I think the +great majority of deputies were honestly trying to do what they thought +best for the country, and when one remembers the names and personalities +on both sides--MacMahon, Broglie, d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Buffet, Dufaure, +and Thiers, Casimir Perier, Leon Say, Jules Simon, Jules Ferry, +Freycinet, and many others, it is impossible to think that any of those +men were animated by any spirit other than love of the country and an +ardent desire to see some stable government restored which would enable +France to take her place again among the great powers. Unfortunately the +difference of opinion as to the form of government made things very +difficult. Some of the young deputies, just fresh from the war and +smarting under a sense of humiliation, were very violent in their abuse +of any Royalist and particularly Bonapartist restoration. + +[Illustration: Meeting of officers of the National Assembly, and of +delegates of the new Chambers, in the salon of Hercules, palace of +Versailles. From _L'Illustration_, March 11. 1876.] + + + + +IV + + +THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE + +My first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction rather +intimidated me. We were fifty people--I the only lady. I went over to +the ministry in the afternoon to see the table, which was very well +arranged with quantities of flowers, beautiful Sevres china, not much +silver--there is very little left in France, it having all been melted +at the time of the Revolution. The official dinners are always well done +in Paris. I suppose the traditions of the Empire have been handed down. +We arrived a few minutes before eight, all the staff and directors +already there, and by ten minutes after eight every one had arrived. I +sat between Gerome, the painter, and Renan, two very different men but +each quite charming,--Gerome tall, slight, animated, talking very easily +about everything. He told me who a great many of the people were, with a +little commentary on their profession and career which was very useful +to me, as I knew so few of them. Renan was short, stout, with a very +large head, almost unprepossessing-looking, but with a great charm of +manner and the most delightful smile and voice imaginable. He often +dined with us in our own house, en petit comite, and was always +charming. He was one of those happy mortals (there are not many) who +made every subject they discuss interesting. + +After that first experience, I liked the big men's dinners very much. +There was no general conversation; I talked exclusively to my two +neighbours, but as they were always distinguished in some branch of art, +science, or literature, the talk was brilliant, and I found the hour our +dinner lasted a very short one. W. was very particular about not having +long dinners. Later, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where we +sometimes had eighty guests, the dinner was never over an hour. I did +not remain the whole evening at the men's dinners. As soon as they +dispersed to talk and smoke, I came away, leaving W. to entertain his +guests. We often had big receptions with music and comedie. At one of +our first big parties we had several of the Orleans family. I was rather +nervous, as I had never received royalty,--in fact I had never spoken to +a royal prince or princess. I had lived a great deal in Rome, as a girl, +during the last days of Pius IX, and I was never in Paris during the +Empire. When we went back to Rome one winter, after the accession of +King Victor Emmanuel, I found myself for the first time in a room with +royalties, the Prince and Princesse de Piemont. I remember quite well +being so surprised by seeing two of the Roman men we knew very well come +backward into the ballroom where we were sitting. I thought they must be +anticipating the Mardi Gras and were masquerading a little, didn't +realise that every one was standing. I remained sitting for a moment +(much to the horror of one of the English secretaries who was with us +and who thought we were going to make a spread-eagle American +demonstration and remain sitting when royalty appeared). However, by +some sort of instinct, we rose too (perhaps to see what was going on), +just as the princes passed. Princess Marguerite looked charming, dressed +in white, with her splendid pearls and beautiful fair hair. + +When it was decided that we should ask the Orleans princes to our party, +I thought I would go to see the Duc Decazes, the foreign minister, a +charming man and charming colleague, to get some precise information +about my part of the entertainment. He couldn't think what I wanted when +I invaded his cabinet, and was much amused when I stated my case. + +"There is nothing unusual in receiving the princes at a ministry. You +must do as you have always done." + +"But that is just the question, I have _never done_. I have never in my +life exchanged a word with a royal personage." + +"It is not possible!" + +"It is absolutely true; I have never lived anywhere where there was a +court." + +When he saw that I was in earnest he was as nice as possible, told me +_exactly_ what I wanted to know,--that I need not say "Altesse royale" +every time I spoke, merely occasionally, as they all like it,--that I +must speak in the third person, "Madame veut-elle," "Monseigneur veut-il +me permettre," etc., also that I must always be at the door when a +princess arrived and conduct her myself to her seat. + +"But if I am at one end of the long enfilade of rooms taking the +Comtesse de Paris to her seat and another princess (Joinville or +Chartres) should arrive; what has to be done?" + +"Your husband must always be at the door with his chef de cabinet, who +will replace him while he takes the princess to her place." + +The Marquise de L., a charming old lady with white hair, beautiful blue +eyes, and pink cheeks, a great friend of the Orleans family, went with +me when I made my round of visits to thank the royal ladies for +accepting our invitation. We found no one but the Princesse Marguerite, +daughter of the Duc de Nemours, who was living at Neuilly. I had all my +instructions from the marquise, how many courtesies to make, how to +address her, and above all not to speak until the princess spoke to me. +We were shown into a pretty drawing-room, opening on a garden, where the +princess was waiting, standing at one end of the room. Madame de L. +named me, I made my courtesies, the princess shook hands, and then we +remained standing, facing each other. She didn't say anything. I stood +perfectly straight and quiet, waiting. She changed colour, moved her +hands nervously, was evidently overcome with shyness, but didn't utter a +sound. It seemed very long, was really only a few seconds, but I was +getting rather nervous when suddenly a child ran across the garden. That +broke the ice and she asked me the classic royal question, "Avez-vous +des enfants, madame?" I had only one, and he was rather small, but still +his nurse, his teeth, and his food carried me on for a little while and +after that we had some general conversation, but I can't say the visit +was really interesting. As long as I was in public life I regretted +that I had but the one child,--children and nurseries and schoolrooms +were always an unfailing topic of conversation. Frenchwomen of all +classes take much more interest in the details of their nurseries and +the education and bringing-up of their children than we Anglo-Saxons do. +I know several mammas who followed all the course of their sons' studies +when they were preparing their baccalaureat, even to writing the +compositions. The head nurse (English) who takes entire charge of her +nursery, who doesn't like any interference, and brings the children to +their mother at stated hours, doesn't exist in France. + +Our party was very brilliant, all sorts of notabilities of all kinds, +and the leading Paris artists from the Grand Opera, Opera Comique, and +the Francais. As soon as the performance was over W. told me I must go +and thank the artists; he could not leave his princes. I started off to +the last of the long suite of salons where they were all assembled. +Comte de L., W.'s chef de cabinet, went with me, and we were preceded by +a huissier with sword and chain, who piloted us through the crowd. I +felt very shy when I arrived in the greenroom. The artists were drawn up +in two rows, the women on one side, the men on the other, all eyes of +course fixed upon madame la ministresse. Madame Carvalho, Sarah +Bernhardt, and Croizette were standing at the head of the long line of +women; Faure, Talazac, Delaunay, Coquelin, on the other side. I went +first all along the line of women, then came back by the men. I realised +instantly after the first word of thanks and interest how easy it is for +princes, or any one in high places, to give pleasure. They all responded +so smilingly and naturally to everything I said. After the first two or +three words, I didn't mind at all, and found myself discussing +acoustics, the difficulty of playing any well-known part without +costumes, scenery, etc., the inconvenience of having the public so near, +quite easily. We often had music and recitations at our parties, and +that was always a great pleasure to me. I remember so well one evening +when we had the chorus of the Conservatoire and they sang quite +beautifully the old "Plaisirs d'Amour" of our childhood. It had a great +success and they were obliged to repeat it. W. made one great innovation +in the dress of the ladies of the Conservatoire chorus. They were always +dressed in white, which was very well for the young, slight figures, but +was less happy for a stout middle-aged lady. So after much discussion it +was decided to adopt black as the official dress and I must say it was +an enormous improvement. + + + + +THE SOCIAL SIDE + +All sorts of interesting people came to see us at the Ministry of Public +Instruction,--among others the late Emperor of Brazil, Don Pedro de +Bragance, who spent some months in Paris that year with his daughter, +the young Comtesse d'Eu. He was a tall, good-looking man, with a +charming easy manner, very cultivated and very keen about +everything--art, literature, politics. His gentlemen said he had the +energy of a man of twenty-five, and he was well over middle age when he +was in Paris. They were quite exhausted sometimes after a long day of +visits and sightseeing with him. He was an early riser. One of the first +rendezvous he gave W. was at nine o'clock in the morning, which greatly +disturbed that gentleman's habits. He was never an early riser, worked +always very late (said his best despatches were written after midnight), +and didn't care about beginning his day too early. Another interesting +personality was Mommsen, the German historian and savant. He was a +picturesque-looking old man with keen blue eyes and a quantity of white +hair. I don't think anything modern interested him very much. He was an +old man when I first saw him, and looked even older than his age. He and +W. used to plunge into very long, learned discussions over antiquities +and medals. W. said the hours with Mommsen rested him, such a change +from the "shop" talk always mixed with politics in France. + +We often had political breakfasts at home (more breakfasts than +dinners). Our Aisne deputies and senators were not very mondains, didn't +care much to dine out. They were pleasant enough when they talked about +subjects that interested them. Henri Martin, senator of the Aisne, was +an old-fashioned Republican, absolutely convinced that no other +government would ever succeed in France, but he was moderate. St. +Vallier, also a senator from the Aisne, was nervous and easily +discouraged when things didn't go smoothly, but he too thought the +Republic was the only possible government now, whatever his preferences +might have been formerly. + +W.'s ministry came to an end on the famous 16th of May, 1877, when +Marshal MacMahon suddenly took matters in his own hands and dismissed +his cabinet presided over by M. Jules Simon. Things had not been going +smoothly for some time, could not between two men of such absolute +difference of origin, habits, and ideas. Still, the famous letter +written by the marshal to Jules Simon was a thunderclap. I was walking +about the Champs-Elysees and Faubourg St. Honore on the morning of the +16th of May, and saw all the carriages, our own included, waiting at the +Ministry of the Interior, where the conseil was sitting. I went home to +breakfast, thought W. was later than usual, but never dreamed of what +was happening. When he finally appeared, quite composed and smiling, +with his news, "We are out of office; the marshal has sent us all about +our business," I could hardly believe it, even when he told me all the +details. I had known for a long time that things were not going well, +but there were always so much friction and such opposing elements in the +cabinet that I had not attached much importance to the accounts of +stormy sittings and thought things would settle down. + +[Illustration: Theodor Mommsen. From a painting by Franz von Lenbach.] + +W. said the marshal was very civil to him, but it was evident that he +could not stand Jules Simon any longer and the various measures that he +felt were impending. We had many visitors after breakfast, all much +excited, wondering what the next step would be--if the Chambers would be +dissolved, the marshal trying to impose a cabinet of the Right or +perhaps form another moderate liberal cabinet without Jules Simon, but +retaining some of his ministers. It was my reception afternoon, and +while I was sitting quietly in my drawing-room talking to some of my +friends, making plans for the summer, quite pleased to have W. to +myself again, the butler hurried into the room telling me that the +Marechale de MacMahon was on the stairs, coming to make me a visit. I +was very much surprised, as she never came to see me. We met very +rarely, except on official occasions, and she made no secret of her +dislike to the official Republican ladies (but she was always absolutely +correct if not enthusiastic). I had just time to get to the head of the +stairs to receive her. She was very amiable, a little embarrassed, took +a cup of tea--said the marshal was very sorry to part with W., he had +never had any trouble or disagreement with him of any kind, but that it +was impossible to go on with a cabinet when neither party had any +confidence in the other. I quite agreed, said it was the fortunes of +war; I hoped the marshal would find another premier who would be more +sympathetic with him, and then we talked of other things. + +My friends were quite amused. One of them, Marquise de T., knew the +Marechale quite well, and said she was going to ask her if she was +obliged to make visites de condoleance to the wives of all the fallen +ministers. W. was rather astonished when I told him who had come to tea +with me, and thought the conversation must have been difficult. I told +him, not at all, once the necessary phrases about the departing +ministers were over. The piano was open, music littered about; she was +fond of music and she admired very much a portrait of father as a boy in +the Harrow dress, asked who it was and what the dress was. She was a +perfect woman of the world, and no one was uncomfortable. + +It seemed quite strange and very pleasant to take up my old life again +after two years of public life. W. breakfasted at home, went to the +Senate every day and to the Institute on Fridays and we dined with our +friends and had small dinners in our own house instead of official +banquets at all the ministries (usually from Potel and Chabot at so much +a head). Politics were very lively all summer. The Chambers were +dissolved almost at once after the constitution of the new cabinet, +presided over by the Duc de Broglie. It was evident from the first +moment that the new ministry wouldn't, couldn't live. (The Duc de +Broglie was quite aware of the fact. His first words on taking office +were: "On nous a jetes a l'eau, maintenant il faut nager.") He made a +very good fight, but he had that worst of all faults for a leader, he +was unpopular. He was a brilliant, cultured speaker, but had a curt, +dictatorial manner, with an air always of looking down upon his public. +So different from his colleague, the Duc Decazes, whose charming, +courteous manners and nice blue eyes made him friends even among his +adversaries. There is a well-known story told of the two dukes which +shows exactly the personality of the men. Some one, a deputy I think, +wanted something very much which either of the gentlemen could give. He +went first to the Duc Decazes, then Minister of Foreign Affairs, who +received him charmingly, was most kind and courteous, but didn't do what +the man wanted. He then went to the Duc de Broglie, President du +Conseil, who was busy, received him very curtly, cut short his +explanations, and was in fact extremely disagreeable but did the thing, +and the man loved Decazes and hated de Broglie. All sorts of rumours +were afloat; we used to hear the wildest stories and plans. One day W. +came in looking rather preoccupied. There was an idea that the Right +were going to take most stringent measures, arrest all the ministers, +members of Jules Simon's cabinet, many of the prominent Liberals. He +said it was quite possible and then gave me various instructions. I was +above all to make no fuss if they really came to arrest him. He showed +me where all his keys, papers, and money were, told me to go instantly +to his uncle, Mr. Lutteroth, who lived next door. He was an old +diplomat, knew everybody, and would give me very good advice. I did not +feel very happy, but like so many things that are foretold, nothing +ever happened. + +Another rumour, from the extreme Left this time, was that a large armed +force under the command of a well-known general, very high up in his +career, was to assemble in the north at Lille, a strong contingent of +Republicans were to join them to be ready to act. I remember quite well +two of W.'s friends coming in one morning, full of enthusiasm for this +plan. I don't think they quite knew what they were going to do with +their army. W. certainly did not. He listened to all the details of the +plan; they gave him the name of the general, supposed to have very +Republican sympathies (not generally the case with officers), the number +of regiments, etc., who would march at a given signal, but when he said, +"It is possible, you might get a certain number of men together, but +what would you do with them?" they were rather nonplussed. They hadn't +got any further than a grand patriotic demonstration, with the military, +drums beating, flags flying, and the Marseillaise being howled by an +excited crowd. No such extreme measures, however, were ever carried +out. From the first moment it was evident that a large Republican +majority would be returned; almost all the former deputies were +re-elected and a number of new ones, more advanced in their opinion. In +the country it was the only topic of conversation. + +Parliament was dissolved in June, 1877, but we remained in town until +the end of July. It wasn't very warm and many people remained until the +end of the session. The big schools too only break up on the 15th of +July, and many parents remain in Paris. The Republican campaign had +already begun, and there were numerous little dinners and meetings when +plans and possibilities were discussed. W. got back usually very late +from Versailles. When he knew the sitting would be very late he sent me +word and I used to go and dine with mother, but sometimes he was kept on +there from hour to hour. I had some long waits before we could dine, and +Hubert, the coachman, used to spend hours in the courtyard of the Gare +St. Lazare waiting for his master. We had a big bay mare, a very fast +trotter, which always did the train service, and the two were stationed +there sometimes from six-thirty to nine-thirty, but they never seemed +the worse for it. W., though a very considerate man for his servants +generally, never worried at all about keeping his coachmen and horses +waiting. He said the coachmen were the most warmly dressed men in Paris, +always took care to be well covered, and we never had fancy, +high-stepping horses, but ordinary strong ones, which could wait +patiently. W. said the talk in the Chambers and in the lobbies was quite +wild--every sort of extravagant proposition was made. There were many +conferences with the Duc d'Audiffret-Pasquier, Duc de Broglie--with +Casimir Perier, Leon Say, Gambetta, Jules Ferry, and Freycinet--where +the best men on both sides tried hard to come to an agreement. W. went +several times in August to see M. Thiers, who was settled at St. +Germain. The old statesman was as keen as ever, receiving every day all +sorts of deputations, advising, warning, encouraging, and quite +confident as to the result of the elections. People were looking to him +as the next President, despite his great age. However, he was not +destined to see the triumph of his ideas. He died suddenly at St. +Germain on the 3d of September. W. said his funeral was a remarkable +sight--thousands of people followed the cortege--all Paris showing a +last respect to the liberateur du territoire (though there were still +clubs where he was spoken of as le sinistre vieillard). In August W. +went to his Conseil-General at Laon, and I went down to my +brother-in-law's place at St. Leger near Rouen. We were a very happy +cosmopolitan family-party. My mother-in-law was born a Scotch-woman +(Chisholm). She was a fine type of the old-fashioned cultivated lady, +with a charming polite manner, keenly interested in all that was going +on in the world. She was an old lady when I married, and had outlived +almost all her contemporaries, but she had a beautiful old age, +surrounded by children and grandchildren. She had lived through many +vicissitudes from the time of her marriage, when she arrived at the +Chateau of St. Remy in the Department of Eure-et-Loire (where my +husband, her eldest son, was born), passing through triumphal arches +erected in honour of the young bride, to the last days when the fortunes +of the family were diminished by revolutions and political and business +crises in France. They moved from St. Remy, selling the chateau, and +built a house on the top of a green hill near Rouen, quite shut in by +big trees, and with a lovely view from the Rond Point--the highest part +of the garden, over Rouen--with the spires of the cathedral in the +distance. I used to find her every morning when I went to her room, +sitting at the window, her books and knitting on a table near--looking +down on the lawn and the steep winding path that came up from the +garden,--where she had seen three generations of her dear ones pass +every day--first her husband, then her sons--now her grandsons. My +sister-in-law, R.'s wife, was also an Englishwoman; the daughter of the +house had married her cousin, de Bunsen, who had been a German +diplomatist, and who had made nearly all his career in Italy, at the +most interesting period of her history, when she was struggling for +emancipation from the Austrian rule and independence. I was an American, +quite a new element in the family circle. We had many and most animated +discussions over all sorts of subjects, in two or three languages, at +the tea-table under the big tree on the lawn. French and English were +always going, and often German, as de Bunsen always spoke to his +daughter in German. My mother-in-law, who knew three or four languages, +did not at all approve of the careless habit we had all got into of +mixing our languages and using French or Italian words when we were +speaking English--if they came more easily. She made a rule that we +should use only one language at meals--she didn't care which one, but we +must keep to it. My brother-in-law was standing for the deputation. We +didn't see much of him in the daytime--his electors and his visits and +speeches and banquets de pompiers took up all his time. The beginning +of his career had been very different. He was educated in England--Rugby +and Woolwich--and served several years in the Royal Artillery in the +British army. His military training was very useful to him during the +Franco-Prussian War, when he equipped and commanded a field battery, +making all the campaign. His English brother officers always remembered +him. Many times when we were living in England at the embassy, I was +asked about him. A curious thing happened in the House of Lords one day, +showing the wonderful memory of princes for faces. R. was staying with +us for a few days, when the annual debate over the bill for marriage of +a deceased wife's sister came up. The Prince of Wales (late King Edward) +and all the other princes were present in the House. R. was there too, +standing where all the strangers do, at the entrance of the lobby. When +the debate was over, the Prince of Wales left. As he passed along, he +shook hands with several gentlemen also standing near the lobby, +including R. He stopped a moment in front of him, saying: "I think this +is Mr. Waddington. The last time I saw you, you wore Her Majesty's +uniform." He hadn't seen him for twenty-five or thirty years. I asked +the prince afterward how he recognised him. He said he didn't know; it +was perhaps noticing an unfamiliar face in the group of men standing +there,--and something recalled his brother, the ambassador. + +In September we went down to Bourneville and settled ourselves there for +the autumn. W. was standing for the Senate with the Count de St. Vallier +and Henri Martin. They all preferred being named in their department, +where everybody knew them and their personal influence could make itself +more easily felt. W.'s campaign was not very arduous. All the people +knew him and liked him--knew that he would do whatever he promised. +Their programme was absolutely Republican, but moderate, and he only +made a few speeches and went about the country a little. I often went +with him when he rode, and some of our visits to the farmers and local +authorities were amusing if not encouraging. We were always very well +received, but it wasn't easy to find out what they really thought (if +they did think about it at all) of the state of affairs. The small +landowners particularly, the men who had one field and a garden, were +very reserved. They listened attentively enough to all W. had to say. He +was never long, never personal, and never abused his adversaries, but +they rarely expressed an opinion. They almost always turned the +conversation upon some local matter or petty grievance. It didn't seem +to me that they took the slightest interest in the extraordinary changes +that were going on in France. A great many people came to see W. and +there would be a curious collection sometimes in his library at the end +of the day. The doctor (who always had precise information--country +doctors always have--they see a great many people and I fancy the women +talk to them and tell them what their men are doing), one or two +farmers, some schoolmasters, the mayors of the nearest villages, the +captains of the firemen and of the archers (they still shoot with bow +and arrow in our part of the country; every Sunday the men practise +shooting at a target)--the gendarmes, very useful these too to bring +news--the notary, and occasionally a sous-prefet, but then he was a +personage, representing the Government, and was treated with more +ceremony than the other visitors. It was evident from all these sources +that the Republicans were coming to the front en masse. + +The Republicans (for once) were marvellously disciplined and kept +together. It was really wonderful when one thought of all the different +elements that were represented in the party. There was quite as much +difference between the quiet moderate men of the Left Centre and the +extreme Left as there was between the Legitimists and any faction of the +Republican party. There was a strong feeling among the Liberals that +they were being coerced, that arbitrary measures, perhaps a coup d'etat, +would be sprung upon them, and they were quite determined to resist. I +don't think there was ever any danger of a coup d'etat, at least as long +as Marshal MacMahon was the chief of state. He was a fine honourable, +patriotic soldier, utterly incapable of an illegality of any kind. He +didn't like the Republic, honestly thought it would never succeed with +the Republicans (la Republique sans Republicains was for him its only +chance)--and he certainly had illusions and thought his friends and +advisers would succeed in making and keeping a firm conservative +government. How far that illusion was shared by his entourage it is +difficult to say. They fought their battle well--government pressure +exercised in all ways. Prefets and sous-prefets changed, wonderful +prospects of little work and high pay held out to doubtful electors, and +the same bright illusive promises made to the masses, which all parties +make in all elections and which the people believe each time. The +Republicans were not idle either, and many fiery patriotic speeches +were made or their side. Gambetta always held his public with his +passionate, earnest declamation, and his famous phrase, that the marshal +must "se soumettre ou se demettre," became a password all through +the country. + + + + +V + + +A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY + +The elections took place in October-November, 1877, and gave at once a +great Republican majority. W. and his two colleagues, Count de St. +Vallier and Henri Martin, had an easy victory, but a great many of their +personal friends, moderates, were beaten. The centres were decidedly +weaker in the new Chambers. There was not much hope left of uniting the +two centres, Droite et Gauche, in the famous "fusion" which had been a +dream of the moderate men. + +The new Chambers assembled at Versailles in November. The Broglie +cabinet was out, but a new ministry of the Right faced the new +Parliament. Their life was very short and stormy; they were really dead +before they began to exist and in December the marshal sent for M. +Dufaure and charged him to form a Ministere de Gauche. None of his +personal friends, except General Borel at the War Office, was in the new +combination. W. was named to the Foreign Office. I was rather +disappointed when he came home and told me he had accepted that +portfolio. I thought his old ministry, Public Instruction, suited him so +well, the work interested him, was entirely to his taste. He knew all +the literary and educational world, not only in France but everywhere +else--England, of course, where he had kept up with many of his +Cambridge comrades, and Germany, where he also had literary connections. +However, that wide acquaintance and his perfect knowledge of English and +English people helped him very much at once, not only at the Quai +d'Orsay, but in all the years he was in England as ambassador. + +The new ministry, with Dufaure as President of the Council, Leon Say at +the Finances, M. de Freycinet at Public Works, and W. at the Foreign +Office was announced the 14th of December, 1877. The preliminaries had +been long and difficult--the marshal and his friends on one side--the +Republicans and Gambetta on the other--the moderates trying to keep +things together. Personally, I was rather sorry W. had agreed to be a +member of the cabinet; I was not very keen about official life and +foresaw a great deal that would be disagreeable. Politics played such a +part in social life. All the "society," the Faubourg St. Germain (which +represents the old names and titles of France), was violently opposed to +the Republic. I was astonished the first years of my married life in +France, to see people of certain position and standing give the cold +shoulder to men they had known all their lives because they were +Republicans, knowing them quite well to be honourable, independent +gentlemen, wanting nothing from the Republic--merely trying to do their +best for the country. I only realised by degrees that people held off a +little from me sometimes, as the wife of a Republican deputy. I didn't +care particularly, as I had never lived in France, and knew very few +people, but it didn't make social relations very pleasant, and I should +have been better pleased if W. had taken no active part. However, that +feeling was only temporary. I soon became keenly interested in politics +(I suppose it is in the blood--all the men in my family in America were +politicians) and in the discussion of the various questions which were +rapidly changing France into something quite different. Whether the +change has been for the better it would be hard to say even now, after +more than thirty-five years of the Republic. + +Freycinet was a great strength. He was absolutely Republican, but +moderate--very clever and energetic, a great friend of Gambetta's--and +a beautiful speaker. I have heard men say who didn't care about him +particularly, and who were not at all of his way of thinking, that they +would rather not discuss with him. He was sure to win them over to his +cause with his wonderful, clear persuasive arguments. + +[Illustration: Palace of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Paris.] + +The first days were very busy ones. W. had to see all his staff (a very +large one) of the Foreign Office, and organise his own cabinet. He was +out all day, until late in the evening, at the Quai d'Orsay; used to go +over there about ten or ten-thirty, breakfast there, and get back for a +very late dinner, and always had a director or secretary working with +him at our own house after dinner. I went over three or four times to +inspect the ministry, as I had a presentiment we should end by living +there. The house is large and handsome, with a fine staircase and large +high rooms. The furniture of course was "ministerial"--stiff and +heavy--gold-backed chairs and sofas standing in rows against the walls. +There were some good pictures, among others the "Congres de Paris," +which occupies a prominent place in one of the salons, and splendid +tapestries. The most attractive thing was a fine large garden at the +back, but, as the living-rooms were up-stairs, we didn't use it very +much. The lower rooms, which opened on the gardens, were only used as +reception-rooms. The minister's cabinet was also down-stairs, +communicating by a small staircase with his bedroom, just overhead. The +front of the house looks on the Seine; we had always a charming view +from the windows, at night particularly, when all the little steamers +(mouches) were passing with their lights. I had of course to make +acquaintance with all the diplomatic corps. I knew all the ambassadors +and most of the ministers, but there were some representatives of the +smaller powers and South American Republics with whom I had never come +in contact. Again I paid a formal official visit to the Marechale de +MacMahon as soon as the ministry was announced. She was perfectly polite +and correct, but one felt at once she hadn't the slightest sympathy for +anything Republican, and we never got to know each other any better all +the months we were thrown together. We remained for several weeks at our +own house, and then most reluctantly determined to install ourselves at +the ministry. W. worked always very late after dinner, and he felt it +was not possible to ask his directors, all important men of a certain +age, to come up to the Quartier de l'Etoile at ten o'clock and keep them +busy until midnight. W.'s new chef de cabinet, Comte de Pontecoulant, +was very anxious that we should move, thought everything would be +simplified if W. were living over there. I had never known Pontecoulant +until W. chose him as his chef de cabinet. He was a diplomatist with +some years of service behind him, and was perfectly au courant of all +the routine and habits of the Foreign Office. He paid me a short formal +visit soon after he had accepted the post; we exchanged a few remarks +about the situation, I hoped we would faire bon menage, and had no +particular impression of him except that he was very French and stiff; I +didn't suppose I should see much of him. It seems curious now to look +back upon that first interview. We all became so fond of him, he was a +loyal, faithful friend, was always ready to help me in any small +difficulties, and I went to him for everything--visits, servants, +horses, etc. W. had no time for any details or amenities of life. We +moved over just before New Year's day. As the gros mobilier was already +there, we only took over personal things, grand piano, screens, tables, +easy chairs, and small ornaments and bibelots. These were all sent off +in a van early one morning, and after luncheon I went over, having given +rendezvous to Pontecoulant and M. Kruft, chef du materiel, an +excellent, intelligent man, who was most useful and devoted to me the +two years I lived at the ministry. I was very depressed when we drove +into the courtyard. I had never lived on that side of the river, and +felt cut off from all my belongings,--the bridge a terror, so cold in +winter, so hot in summer,--I never got accustomed to it, never crossed +it on foot. The sight of the great empty rooms didn't reassure me. The +reception-rooms of course were very handsome. There were a great many +servants, huissiers, and footmen standing about, and people waiting in +the big drawing-room to speak to W. The living-rooms up-stairs were +ghastly--looked bare and uncomfortable in the highest degree. They were +large and high and looked down upon the garden, though that on a bleak +December day was not very cheerful--but there were possibilities. Kruft +was very sympathetic, understood quite well how I felt, and was ready to +do anything in the way of stoves, baths, wardrobes in the lingerie, new +carpets, and curtains, that I wanted. Pontecoulant too was eminently +practical, and I was quite amused to find myself discussing lingeries +and bathrooms with a total stranger whom I had only seen twice in my +life. It took me about a week to get really settled. I went over every +day, returning to my own house to eat and sleep. Kruft did wonders; the +place was quite transformed when I finally moved over. The rooms looked +very bright and comfortable when we arrived in the afternoon of the 31st +of December (New Year's eve). The little end salon, which I made my +boudoir, was hung with blue satin; my piano, screens, and little things +were very well placed--plenty of palms and flowers, bright fires +everywhere--the bedrooms, nursery, and lingeries clean and bright. My +bedroom opened on a large salon, where I received usually, keeping my +boudoir for ourselves and our intimate friends. My special huissier, +Gerard, who sat all day outside of the salon door, was presented to me, +and instantly became a most useful and important member of the +household--never forgot a name or a face, remembered what cards and +notes I had received, whether the notes were answered, or the bills +paid, knew almost all my wardrobe, would bring me down a coat or a wrap +if I wanted one suddenly down-stairs. I had frequent consultations with +Pontecoulant and Kruft to regulate all the details of the various +services before we were quite settled. We took over all our own servants +and found many others who were on the permanent staff of the ministry, +footmen, huissiers, and odd men who attended to all the fires, opened +and shut all the doors, windows, and shutters. It was rather difficult +to organise the regular working service, there was such rivalry between +our own personal servants and the men who belonged to the house, but +after a little while things went pretty smoothly. W. dined out the first +night we slept at the Quai d'Orsay, and about an hour after we had +arrived, while I was still walking about in my hat and coat, feeling +very strange in the big, high rooms, I was told that the lampiste was +waiting my orders (a few lamps had been lit in some of the rooms). I +didn't quite know what orders to give, hadn't mastered yet the number +that would be required; but I sent for him, said I should be alone for +dinner, perhaps one or two lamps in the dining-room and small salon +would be enough. He evidently thought that was not at all sufficient, +wanted something more precise, so I said to light as he had been +accustomed to when the Duc Decazes and his family were dining alone +(which I don't suppose they ever did, nor we either when we once took up +our life). Such a blaze of light met my eyes when I went to dinner that +I was quite bewildered--boudoir, billiard-room, dining-room (very large, +the small round table for one person hardly perceptible), and corridors +all lighted "a giorno." However, it looked very cheerful and kept me +from feeling too dreadfully homesick for my own house and familiar +surroundings. The rooms were so high up that we didn't hear the noise of +the street, but the river looked alive and friendly with the lights on +the bridges, and a few boats still running. + +We had much more receiving and entertaining to do at the Quai d'Orsay +than at any other ministry, and were obliged to go out much more +ourselves. The season in the official world begins with a reception at +the President's on New Year's day. The diplomatic corps and presidents +of the Senate and Chamber go in state to the Elysee to pay their +respects to the chief of state--the ambassadors with all their staff in +uniform in gala carriages. It is a pretty sight, and there are always a +good many people waiting in the Faubourg St. Honore to see the +carriages. The English carriage is always the best; they understand all +the details of harness and livery so much better than any one else. The +marshal and his family were established at the Elysee. It wasn't +possible for him to remain at Versailles--he couldn't be so far from +Paris, where all sorts of questions were coming up every day, and he was +obliged to receive deputations and reports, and see people of all kinds. +They were already agitating the question of the Parliament coming back +to Paris. The deputies generally were complaining of the loss of time +and the discomfort of the daily journey even in the parliamentary train. +The Right generally was very much opposed to having the Chambers back in +Paris. I never could understand why. I suppose they were afraid that a +stormy sitting might lead to disturbances. In the streets of a big city +there is always a floating population ready to espouse violently any +cause. At Versailles one was away from any such danger, and, except +immediately around the palace, there was nobody in the long, deserted +avenues. They often cited the United States, how no statesman after the +signing of the Declaration of Independence (in Philadelphia) would have +ventured to propose that the Parliament should sit in New York or +Philadelphia, but the reason there was very different; they were obliged +to make a neutral zone, something between the North and the South. The +District of Columbia is a thing apart, belonging to neither side. It has +certainly worked very well in America. Washington is a fine city, with +its splendid old trees and broad avenues. It has a cachet of its own, is +unlike any other city I know in the world. + +The marshal received at the Elysee every Thursday evening--he and his +staff in uniform, also all the officers who came, which made a brilliant +gathering. Their big dinners and receptions were always extremely well +done. Except a few of their personal friends, not many people of society +were present--the diplomatic corps usually very well represented, the +Government and their wives, and a certain number of liberal deputies--a +great many officers. We received every fifteen days, beginning with a +big dinner. It was an open reception, announced in the papers. The +diplomats always mustered very strong, also the Parliament--not many +women. Many of the deputies remained in the country, taking rooms merely +while the Chambers were sitting, and their wives never appeared in +Paris. "Society" didn't come to us much either, except on certain +occasions when we had a royal prince or some very distinguished +foreigners. Besides the big official receptions, we often had small +dinners up-stairs during the week. Some of these I look back to with +much pleasure. I was generally the only lady with eight or ten men, and +the talk was often brilliant. Some of our habitues were the late Lord +Houghton, a delightful talker; Lord Dufferin, then ambassador in St. +Petersburg; Sir Henry Layard, British ambassador in Spain, an +interesting man who had been everywhere and seen and known everybody +worth knowing in the world; Count Schouvaloff, Russian ambassador in +London, a polished courtier, extremely intelligent; he and W. were +colleagues afterward at the Congres de Berlin, and W. has often told me +how brilliantly he defended his cause; General Ignatieff, Prince Orloff, +the nunzio Monsignor Czascki, quite charming, the type of the prelat +mondain, very large (though very Catholic) in his ideas, but never +aggressive or disagreeable about the Republic, as so many of the clergy +were. He was very fond of music, and went with me sometimes to the +Conservatoire on Sunday; he had a great admiration for the way they +played classical music; used to lean back in his chair in a corner +(would never sit in front of the box) and drink in every sound. + +We sometimes had informal music in my little blue salon. Baron de +Zuylen, Dutch minister, was an excellent musician, also Comte de Beust, +the Austrian ambassador. He was a composer. I remember his playing me +one day a wedding march he had composed for the marriage of one of the +archdukes. It was very descriptive, with bells, cannon, hurrahs, and a +nuptial hymn--rather difficult to render on a piano--but there was a +certain amount of imagination in the composition. The two came often +with me to the Conservatoire. Comte de Beust brought Liszt to me one +day. I wanted so much to see that complex character, made up of +enthusiasms of all kinds, patriotic, religious, musical. He was dressed +in the ordinary black priestly garb, looked like an ascetic with pale, +thin face, which lighted up very much when discussing any subject that +interested him. He didn't say a word about music, either then or on a +subsequent occasion when I lunched with him at the house of a great +friend and admirer, who was a beautiful musician. I hoped he would play +after luncheon. He was a very old man, and played rarely in those days, +but one would have liked to hear him. Madame M. thought he would perhaps +for her, if the party were not too large, and the guests "sympathetic" +to him. I have heard so many artists say it made all the difference to +them when they felt the public was with them--if there were one +unsympathetic or criticising face in the mass of people, it was the only +face they could distinguish, and it affected them very much. The piano +was engagingly open and music littered about, but he apparently didn't +see it. He talked politics, and a good deal about pictures with some +artists who were present. + +[Illustration: Franz Liszt.] + +I did hear him play many years later in London. We were again lunching +together, at the house of a mutual friend, who was not at all musical. +There wasn't even a piano in the house, but she had one brought in for +the occasion. When I arrived rather early, the day of the party, I found +the mistress of the house, aided by Count Hatzfeldt, then German +ambassador to England, busily engaged in transforming her drawing-room. +The grand piano, which had been standing well out toward the middle of +the room, open, with music on it (I dare say some of Liszt's own--but I +didn't have time to examine), was being pushed back into a corner, all +the music hidden away, and the instrument covered with photographs, +vases of flowers, statuettes, heavy books, all the things one doesn't +habitually put on pianos. I was quite puzzled, but Hatzfeldt, who was a +great friend of Liszt's and knew all his peculiarities, when consulted +by Madame A. as to what she could do to induce Liszt to play, had +answered: "Begin by putting the piano in the furthest, darkest corner of +the room, and put all sorts of heavy things on it. Then he won't think +you have asked him in the hope of hearing him play, and perhaps we can +persuade him." The arrangements were just finished as the rest of the +company arrived. We were not a large party, and the talk was pleasant +enough. Liszt looked much older, so colourless, his skin like ivory, +but he seemed just as animated and interested in everything. After +luncheon, when they were smoking (all of us together, no one went into +the smoking-room), he and Hatzfeldt began talking about the Empire and +the beautiful fetes at Compiegne, where anybody of any distinction in +any branch of art or literature was invited. Hatzfeldt led the +conversation to some evenings when Strauss played his waltzes with an +entrain, a sentiment that no one else has ever attained, and to +Offenbach and his melodies--one evening particularly when he had +improvised a song for the Empress--he couldn't quite remember it. If +there were a piano--he looked about. There was none apparently. "Oh, +yes, in a corner, but so many things upon it, it was evidently never +meant to be opened." He moved toward it, Liszt following, asking +Comtesse A. if it could be opened. The things were quickly removed. +Hatzfeldt sat down and played a few bars in rather a halting fashion. +After a moment Liszt said: "No, no, it is not quite that." Hatzfeldt got +up. Liszt seated himself at the piano, played two or three bits of +songs, or waltzes, then, always talking to Hatzfeldt, let his fingers +wander over the keys and by degrees broke into a nocturne and a wild +Hungarian march. It was very curious; his fingers looked as if they +were made of yellow ivory, so thin and long, and of course there wasn't +any strength or execution in his playing--it was the touch of an old +man, but a master--quite unlike anything I have ever heard. When he got +up, he said: "Oh, well, I didn't think the old fingers had any music +left in them." We tried to thank him, but he wouldn't listen to us, +immediately talked about something else. When he had gone we +complimented the ambassador on the way in which he had managed the +thing. Hatzfeldt was a charming colleague, very clever, very musical, a +thorough man of the world. I was always pleased when he was next to me +at dinner--I was sure of a pleasant hour. He had been many years in +Paris during the brilliant days of the Empire, knew everybody there +worth knowing. He had the reputation, notwithstanding his long stay in +Paris, of being very anti-French. I could hardly judge of that, as he +never talked politics to me. It may very likely have been true, but not +more marked with him than with the generality of Anglo-Saxons and +Northern races, who rather look down upon the Latins, hardly giving them +credit for their splendid dash and pluck--to say nothing of their +brains. I have lived in a great many countries, and always think that as +a people, I mean the uneducated mass, the French are the most +intelligent nation in the world. I have never been thrown with the +Japanese--am told they are extraordinarily intelligent. + +We had a dinner one night for Mr. Gladstone, his wife, and a daughter. +Mr. Gladstone made himself quite charming, spoke French fairly well, and +knew more about every subject discussed than any one else in the room. +He was certainly a wonderful man, such extraordinary versatility and +such a memory. It was rather pretty to see Mrs. Gladstone when her +husband was talking. She was quite absorbed by him, couldn't talk to her +neighbours. They wanted very much to go to the Conciergerie to see the +prison where the unfortunate Marie Antoinette passed the last days of +her unhappy life, and Mr. Gladstone, inspired by the subject, made us a +sort of conference on the French Revolution and the causes which led up +to it, culminating in the Terror and the execution of the King and +Queen. He spoke in English (we were a little group standing at the +door--they were just going), in beautiful academic language, and it was +most interesting, graphic, and exact. Even W., who knew him well and +admired him immensely, was struck by his brilliant improvisation. + +[Illustration: William E. Gladstone. From a photograph by Samuel A. +Walker, London.] + +We were often asked for permits by our English and American friends to +see all the places of historical interest in Paris, and the two places +which all wanted to see were the Conciergerie and Napoleon's tomb at the +Invalides. When we first came to Paris in 1866, just after the end of +the long struggle between the North and South in America, our first +visits too were for the Conciergerie, Invalides, and Notre Dame, where +my father had not been since he had gone as a very young man with all +Paris to see the flags that had been brought back from Austerlitz. They +were interesting days, those first ones in Paris, so full of memories +for father, who had been there a great deal in his young days, first as +an eleve in the Ecole Polytechnique, later when the Allies were in +Paris. He took us one day to the Luxembourg Gardens, to see if he could +find any trace of the spot where in 1815 during the Restoration Marshal +Ney had been shot. He was in Paris at the time, and was in the garden a +few hours after the execution--remembered quite well the wall against +which the marshal stood--and the comments of the crowd, not very +flattering for the Government in executing one of France's bravest and +most brilliant soldiers. + +All the Americans who came to see us at the Quai d'Orsay were much +interested in everything relating to General Marquis de Lafayette, who +left an undying memory in America, and many pilgrimages were made to the +Chateau de la Grange, where the Marquis de Lafayette spent the last +years of his life and extended a large and gracious hospitality to all +his friends. It is an interesting old place, with a moat all around it +and high solid stone walls, where one still sees the hole that was made +in the wall by a cannon-ball sent by Marechal de Turenne as he was +passing with his troops, as a friendly souvenir to the owner, with whom +he was not on good terms. So many Americans and English too are imbued +with the idea that there are no chateaux, no country life in France, +that I am delighted when they can see that there are just as many as in +any other country. A very clever American writer, whose books have been +much read and admired, says that when travelling in France in the +country, he never saw any signs of wealth or gentlemen's property. I +think he didn't want to admire anything French, but I wonder in what +part of France he has travelled. Besides the well-known historic +chateaux of Chaumont, Chenonceaux, Azay-le-Rideau, Maintenon, Dampierre, +Josselin, Valencay, and scores of others, there are quantities of small +Louis XV chateaux and manoirs, half hidden in a corner of a forest, +which the stranger never sees. They are quite charming, built of red +brick with white copings, with stiff old-fashioned gardens, and trees +cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes. Sometimes the parish church +touches the castle on one side, and there is a private entrance for the +seigneurs. The interior arrangements in some of the old ones leave much +to be desired in the way of comfort and modern improvements,--lighting +very bad, neither gas nor electricity, and I should think no baths +anywhere, hardly a tub. On the banks of the Seine and the Loire, near +the great forests, in all the departments near Paris there are +quantities of chateaux--some just on the border of the highroad, +separated from it by high iron gates, through which one sees long +winding alleys with stone benches and vases with red geraniums planted +in them, a sun-dial and stiff formal rows of trees--some less +pretentious with merely an ordinary wooden gate, generally open, and +always flowers of the simplest kind, geraniums, sunflowers, pinks, +dahlias, and chrysanthemums--what we call a jardin de cure, (curate's +garden)--but in great abundance. With very rare exceptions the lawns are +not well kept--one never sees in this country the smooth green turf that +one does in England. + +Some of the old chateaux are very stately--sometimes one enters by a +large quadrangle, quite surrounded by low arcades covered with ivy, a +fountain and good-sized basin in the middle of the courtyard, and a big +clock over the door--sometimes they stand in a moat, one goes over a +drawbridge with massive doors, studded with iron nails and strong iron +bolts and chains which defend the entrance, making one think of old +feudal days, when might was right, and if a man wanted his neighbours +property, he simply took it. Even some of the smaller chateaux have +moats. I think they are more picturesque than comfortable--an +ivy-covered house with a moat around it is a nest for mosquitoes and +insects of all kinds, and I fancy the damp from the water must finish by +pervading the house. French people of all classes love the country and a +garden with bright flowers, and if the poorer ones can combine a rabbit +hutch with the flowers they are quite happy. + +I have heard W. speak sometimes of a fine old chateau in our +department--(Aisne) belonging to a deputy, who invited his friends to +shoot and breakfast. The cuisine and shooting were excellent, but the +accommodations fantastic. The neighbours said nothing had been renewed +or cleaned since the chateau was occupied by the Cossacks under the +first Napoleon. + +We got very little country life during those years at the Foreign +Office. Twice a year, in April and August, W. went to Laon for his +Conseil-General, over which he presided, but he was rarely able to stay +all through the session. He was always present on the opening day, and +at the prefet's dinner, and took that opportunity to make a short +speech, explaining the foreign policy of the Government. I don't think +it interested his colleagues as much as all the local questions--roads, +schools, etc. It is astonishing how much time is wasted and how much +letter-writing is necessitated by the simplest change in a road or +railway crossing in France. We had rather a short narrow turning to get +into our gate at Bourneville, and W. wanted to have the road enlarged +just a little, so as to avoid the sharp angle. It didn't interfere with +any one, as we were several yards from the highroad, but it was months, +more than a year, before the thing was done. Any one of the workmen on +the farm would have finished it in a day's work. + +At one of our small dinners I had such a characteristic answer from an +English diplomatist, who had been ambassador at St. Petersburg. He was +really a charming talker, but wouldn't speak French. That was of no +consequence as long as he only talked to me, but naturally all the +people at the table wanted to talk to him, and when the general +conversation languished, at last, I said to him: "I wish you would speak +French; none of these gentlemen speak any other language." (It was quite +true, the men of my husband's age spoke very rarely any other language +but their own; now almost all the younger generation speak German or +English or both. Almost all my son's friends speak English perfectly.) +"Oh no, I can't," he said; "I haven't enough the habit of speaking +French. I don't say the things I want to say, only the things I can say, +which is very different." "But what did you do in Russia?" "All the +women speak English." "But for affairs, diplomatic negotiations?" "All +the women speak English." I have often heard it said that the Russian +women were much more clever than the men. He evidently had found +it true. + + + + +VI + + +THE EXPOSITION YEAR + +The big political dinners were always interesting. On one occasion we +had a banquet on the 2d of December. My left-hand neighbour, a senator, +said to me casually: "This room looks very different from what it did +the last time I was in it." "Does it? I should have thought a big +official dinner at the Foreign Office would have been precisely the same +under any regime." "A dinner perhaps, but on that occasion we were not +precisely dining. I and a number of my friends had just been arrested, +and we were waiting here in this room strictly guarded, until it was +decided what should be done with us." Then I remembered that it was the +2d of December, the anniversary of Louis Napoleon's coup d'etat. He said +they were quite unprepared for it, in spite of warnings. He was sent out +of the country for a little while, but I don't think his exile was a +very terrible one. + +I got my first lesson in diplomatic politeness from Lord Lyons, then +British ambassador in Paris. He was in Paris during the Franco-German +War, knew everybody, and had a great position. He gave very handsome +dinners, liked his guests to be punctual, was very punctual himself, +always arrived on the stroke of eight when he dined with us. We had an +Annamite mission to dine one night and had invited almost all the +ambassadors and ministers to meet them. There had been a stormy sitting +at the Chamber and W. was late. As soon as I was ready I went to his +library and waited for him; I couldn't go down and receive a foreign +mission without him. We were quite seven or eight minutes late and found +all the company assembled (except the Annamites, who were waiting with +their interpreter in another room to make their entry in proper style). +As I shook hands with Lord Lyons (who was doyen of the diplomatic corps) +he said to me: "Ah, Madame Waddington, I see the Republic is becoming +very royal; you don't receive your guests any more, merely come into the +room when all the company is assembled." He said it quite smilingly, but +I understood very well, and of course we ought to have been there when +the first guests arrived. He was very amiable all the same and told me a +great many useful things--for instance, that I must never invite a +cardinal and an ambassador together, as neither of them would yield the +precedence and I would find myself in a very awkward position. + +[Illustration: Lord Lyons.] + +The Annamites were something awful to see. In their country all the men +of a certain standing blacken their teeth, and I suppose the dye makes +their teeth fall out, as they hadn't any apparently, and when they +opened their mouths the black caverns one saw were terrifying. I had +been warned, but notwithstanding it made a most disagreeable impression +on me. They were very richly attired, particularly the first three, who +were tres grands seigneurs in Annam,--heavily embroidered silk robes, +feathers, and jewels, and when they didn't open their mouths they were +rather a decorative group,--were tall, powerfully built men. They knew +no French nor English--spoke through the interpreter. My intercourse +with them was very limited. They were not near me at dinner, but +afterward I tried to talk to them a little. They all stood in a group at +one end of the room, flanked by an interpreter--the three principal +chiefs well in front. I don't know what the interpreter said to them +from me, probably embellished my very banal remarks with flowers of +rhetoric, but they were very smiling, opening wide their black mouths +and made me very low bows--evidently appreciated my intention and effort +to be amiable. + +They brought us presents, carpets, carved and inlaid mother-of-pearl +boxes, cabinets, and some curious saddles, also gold-embroidered +cushions and slippers. Some Arab horses were announced with great pomp +from the Sultan's stables. I was rather interested in them, thought it +would be amusing to drive a long-tailed Arab pony in a little cart in +the morning. They were brought one morning to the Quai d'Orsay, and W. +gave rendezvous to Comte de Pontecoulant and some of the sporting men of +the cabinet, in the courtyard. There were also several stablemen, all +much interested in the idea of taming the fiery steeds of the desert. +The first look was disappointing. They were thin, scraggy animals, +apparently all legs and manes. Long tails they had, and small heads, but +anything so tame and sluggish in their movements could hardly be +imagined. One could scarcely get them to canter around the courtyard. We +were all rather disgusted, as sometimes one sees pretty little Arab +horses in Paris. I don't know what became of them; I fancy they were +sent to the cavalry stables. + +Our first great function that winter was the service at the Madeleine +for the King of Italy, Victor Emmanuel, who died suddenly in the +beginning of January, 1878. France sent a special mission to the +funeral--the old Marshal Canrobert, who took with him the marshal's son, +Fabrice de MacMahon. The Church of the Madeleine was filled with people +of all kinds--the diplomatic corps in uniform, a very large +representation of senators and deputies. There was a slight hesitation +among some of the Left--who were ardent sympathisers with young +Italy--but who didn't care to compromise themselves by taking part in a +religious ceremony. However, as a rule they went. Some of the ladies of +the Right were rather put out at having to go in deep mourning to the +service. I said to one of them: "But you are not correct; you have a +black dress certainly, but I don't think pearl-grey gloves are proper +for such an occasion." "Oh, they express quite sufficiently the grief I +feel on this occasion." + +It was curious that the King should have gone before the old Pope, who +had been failing for some time. Every day we expected to hear of his +death. There were many speculations over the new King of Italy, the +Prince Humbert of our day. As we had lived so many years in Rome, I was +often asked what he was like, but I really had no opinion. One saw him +very little. I remember one day in the hunting-field he got a nasty +fall. His horse put his foot in a hole and fell with him. It looked a +bad accident, as if the horse were going to roll over on him. I, with +one of my friends, was near, and seeing an accident (I didn't know who +it was) naturally stopped to see if our groom could do anything, but an +officer rode hurriedly up and begged us to go on, that the Prince would +be very much annoyed if any one, particularly a woman, should notice his +fall. I saw him later in the day, looking all right on another horse, +and no one made any allusion to the accident. + +About a month after Victor Emmanuel's death the old Pope died, the 8th +of February, 1878, quite suddenly at the end. He was buried of course in +Rome, and it was very difficult to arrange for his funeral in the Rome +of the King of Italy. However, he did lie in state at St. Peter's, the +noble garde in their splendid uniforms standing close around the +catafalque--long lines of Italian soldiers, the bersaglieri with their +waving plumes, on each side of the great aisle. There was a magnificent +service for him at Notre Dame. The Chambers raised their sitting as a +mark of respect to the head of the church, and again there was a great +attendance at the cathedral. There were many discussions in the monde +(society not official) "as to whether one should wear mourning for the +Saint Pere." I believe the correct thing is not to wear mourning, but +almost all the ladies of the Faubourg St. Germain went about in black +garments for some time. One of my friends put it rather graphically: "Si +on a un ruban rose dans les cheveux on a tout de suite l'air d'etre la +maitresse de Rochefort." + +All Europe was engrossed with the question of the Pope's successor. +Intrigues and undercurrents were going on hard in Rome, and the issue of +the conclave was impatiently awaited. No one could predict any result. +The election of Cardinal Pecci, future Leo XIII, seemed satisfactory, at +least in the beginning. + +My winter passed pleasantly enough; I began to feel more at home in my +new quarters, and saw many interesting people of all kinds. Every now +and then there would be a very lively debate in the Parliament. W. would +come home very late, saying things couldn't go on like that, and we +would surely be out of office in a few weeks. We always kept our house +in the rue Dumont d'Urville, and I went over every week, often thinking +that in a few days we should be back there again. + +One of my great trials was a reception day. W. thought I ought to have +one, so every Friday I was at home from three until six, and very long +afternoons they were. I insisted upon having a tea-table, which was a +novelty in those days, but it broke the stiff semicircle of red and gold +armchairs carefully arranged at one end of the room. Very few men took +tea. It was rather amusing to see some of the deputies who didn't +exactly like to refuse a cup of tea offered to them by the minister's +wife, holding the cup and saucer most carefully in their hands, making a +pretence of sipping the tea and replacing it hastily on the table as +soon as it was possible. I had of course a great many people of +different nationalities, who generally didn't know each other. The +ambassadresses and ministers' wives sat on each side of my sofa--the +smaller people lower down. They were all announced, my huissier, Gerard, +doing it very well, opening the big doors and roaring out the names. +Sometimes, at the end of the day, some of my own friends or some of the +young men from the chancery would come in, and that would cheer me up a +little. There was no conversation, merely an exchange of formal phrases, +but I had some funny experiences. + +One day I had several ladies whom I didn't know at all, wives of +deputies, or small functionaries at some of the ministries. One of my +friends, Comtesse de B., was starting for Italy and Rome for the first +time. She had come to ask me all sorts of questions about clothes, +hotels, people to see, etc. When she went away in a whirl of +preparations and addresses, I turned to one of my neighbours, saying: +"Je crois qu'on est tres bien a l'Hotel de Londres a Rome," quite an +insignificant and inoffensive remark--merely to say something. She +replied haughtily: "Je n'en sais rien, Madame; je n'ai jamais quitte +Paris et je m'en vante." I was so astonished that I had nothing to say, +but was afterward sorry that I had not continued the conversation and +asked her why she was so especially proud of never having left Paris. +Travelling is usually supposed to enlarge one's ideas. Her answer might +have been interesting. W. wouldn't believe it when I told him, but I +said I couldn't really have invented it. I used to go into his cabinet +at the end of the day always, when he was alone with Pontecoulant, and +tell them all my experiences which W. forbid me to mention anywhere +else. I had a good many surprises, but soon learned never to be +astonished and to take everything as a matter of course. + +The great interest of the summer was the Exposition Universelle which +was to take place at the Trocadero, the new building which had been +built on the Champ de Mars. The opening was announced for the 1st of May +and was to be performed with great pomp by the marshal. All Europe was +represented except Germany, and almost all the great powers were sending +princes to represent their country. We went often to see how the works +were getting on, and I must say it didn't look as if it could possibly +be ready for the 1st of May. There were armies of workmen in every +direction and carts and camions loaded with cases making their way with +difficulty through the mud. Occasionally a light case or bale would fall +off, and quantities of small boys who seemed always on the spot would +precipitate themselves, tumbling over each other to pick up what fell, +and there would be protestations and explanations in every language +under the sun. It was a motley, picturesque crowd--the costumes and +uniforms making so much colour in the midst of the very ordinary dark +clothes the civilised Western world affects. I felt sorry for the +Orientals and people from milder climes--they looked so miserably cold +and wretched shivering under the very fresh April breezes that swept +over the great plain of the Champ de Mars. The machines, particularly +the American ones, attracted great attention. There was always a crowd +waiting when some of the large pieces were swung down into their places +by enormous pulleys. + +The opening ceremony was very brilliant. Happily it was a beautiful warm +day, as all the guests invited by the marshal and the Government were +seated on a platform outside the Trocadero building. All the diplomatic +corps, foreign royalties, and commissioners of the different nations who +were taking part in the exposition were invited. The view was lovely as +we looked down from our seats. The great enclosure was packed with +people. All the pavilions looked very gay with bright-coloured walls and +turrets, and there were flags, palms, flowers, and fountains +everywhere--the Seine running through the middle with fanciful bridges +and boats. There was a curious collection of people in the tribunes. The +invitations had not been very easy to make. There were three Spanish +sovereigns, Queen Isabella, her husband, Don Francois d'Assizes, and the +Duc d'Aosta (King Amadee), who had reigned a few stormy months in Spain. +He had come to represent Italy at the exposition. The marshal was rather +preoccupied with his Spanish royalties. He had a reception in the +evening, to which all were invited, and thought it would be wise to take +certain precautions, so he sent one of his aides-de-camp to Queen +Isabella to say that he hoped to have the honour of seeing her in the +evening at the Elysee, but he thought it right to tell her that she +might perhaps have some disagreeable meetings. She replied: "Si c'est +mon mari de qui vous parlez, cela m'est tout a fait egal; si c'est le +Duc d'Aosta, je serai ravie de le voir." + +She came to the reception, but her husband was already gone. The Due +d'Aosta was still there, and she walked straight up to him and kissed +him on both cheeks, not an easy thing to do, for the duke was not at all +the type of the gay lady's man--very much the reverse. He looked a +soldier (like all the princes of the house of Savoy) and at the same +time a monk. One could easily imagine him a crusader in plumed helmet +and breastplate, supporting any privation or fatigue without a murmur. +He was very shy (one saw it was an effort for him every time that any +one was brought up to him and he had to make polite phrases), not in the +least mondain, but simple, charming when one talked to him. + +I saw him often afterward, as he represented his brother, King Humbert, +on various official occasions when I too was present--the coronation of +the Emperor Alexander of Russia, the Jubilee of Queen Victoria. He was +always a striking figure, didn't look as if he belonged to our modern +world at all. The marshal had a series of dinners and receptions which +were most brilliant. There was almost always music or theatricals, with +the best artists in Paris. The Comedie Francaise was much appreciated. +Their style is so finished and sure. They played just as well at one end +of a drawing-room, with a rampe of flowers only separating them from the +public, as in their own theatre with all the help of scenery, acoustics, +and distance. In a drawing-room naturally the audience is much nearer. + +I remember one charming party at the Elysee for the Austrian crown +prince, the unfortunate Archduke Rudolph. All the stars of the Theatre +Francais were playing--Croizette, Reichemberg, Delaunay, Coquelin. The +prince seemed to enjoy himself. He was very good-looking, with a slight, +elegant figure and charming smile--didn't look like a man whose life +would end so tragically. When I saw him some years later in London, he +was changed, looked older, had lost his gaiety, was evidently bored with +the official entertaining, and used to escape from all the dinners and +receptions as soon as he could. + +The late King Edward (then Prince of Wales) won golden opinions always. +There was certainly something in his personality which had an enormous +attraction for Parisians. He always seemed to enjoy life, never looked +bored, was unfailingly courteous and interested in the people he was +talking to. It was a joy to the French people to see him at some of the +small theatres, amusing himself and understanding all the sous-entendus +and argot quite as well as they did. It would almost seem as if what +some one said were true, that he reminded them of their beloved Henri +IV, who still lives in the heart of the nation. + +His brother-in-law, the Prince of Denmark, was also most amiable. We met +him often walking about the streets with one or two of his gentlemen, +and looking in at the windows like an ordinary provincial. He was tall, +with a slight, youthful figure, and was always recognised. It was a +great satisfaction and pride to Parisians to have so many royalties and +distinguished people among them again. + +Those two months of May and June gave back to Paris the animation and +gaiety of the last days of the Empire. There were many handsome +carriages on the Champs-Elysees, filled with pretty, well-dressed women, +and the opera and all the theatres were packed. Paris was illuminated +the night of the opening of the exposition, the whole city, not merely +the Champs-Elysees and boulevards. As we drove across the bridge on our +way home from the reception at the Elysee, it was a beautiful sight--the +streets full of people waiting to see the foreign royalties pass, and +the view up and down the Seine, with the lights from the high buildings +reflected in the water--like fairy-land. + +[Illustration: His Royal Highness, Edward, Prince of Wales, in 1876. +From a photograph by Lock & Whitfield, London.] + +The dinners and receptions at the Elysee and at all the ministries those +first weeks of the exposition were interesting but so fatiguing. Happily +there were not many lunches nor day entertainments. I used to get a good +drive every afternoon in the open carriage with mother and baby, and +that kept me alive. Occasionally (not often) W. had a man's dinner, and +then I could go with some of my friends and dine at the exposition, +which was very amusing--such a curious collection of people. The rue des +Nations was like a gigantic fair. We met all our friends, and heard +every language under the sun. Among other distinguished foreign guests +that year we had President and Mrs. Grant, who were received everywhere +in Europe (England giving the example) like royalties. When they dined +with us at the Quai d'Orsay W. and I went to the top of the great +staircase to meet them, exactly as we did for the Prince and Princess +of Wales. + +It seems funny to me when I think of the very unceremonious manner in +which not only ex-presidents but actual presidents were treated in +America when I was a child. I remember quite well seeing a president (I +have forgotten which one now) come into the big drawing-room at the old +Cozzen's Hotel at West Point, with two or three gentlemen with him. +There was a certain number of people in the room and nobody moved, or +dreamt of getting up. However, the Grants were very simple--accepted all +the honours shown to them without a pose of any kind. The marshal gave +them a big dinner at the Elysee. We arrived a little late (we always +did) and found a large party assembled. The Grants came in just +after us. + +The Marechale said to me: "The Chinese ambassador will take you to +dinner, Madame Waddington. He is an interesting, clever man, knows +England and the English well--speaks English remarkably well." Just +before dinner was announced the ambassador was brought up to me. He was +a striking-looking man, tall, broad-shouldered, dignified, very +gorgeously attired in light-blue satin, embroidered in bright-coloured +flowers and gold and silver designs, and a splendid yellow bird of +paradise in his cap. He didn't come quite up to me, made me a low bow +from a certain distance, and then fell back into a group of smaller +satellites, all very splendidly dressed. When dinner was announced the +first couples filed off--the marshal with Mrs. Grant and the Marechale +with President Grant and W. with his lady. There was a pause; I should +have gone next, but my ambassador wasn't forthcoming. I looked and +wondered. All the aides-de-camp were making frantic signals to me to go +on, and the whole cortege was stopped. I really didn't know what to +do--I felt rather foolish. Presently the ambassador appeared--didn't +offer me his arm, but again made me a low bow, which I returned and +moved a few steps forward. He advanced too and we made a stately +progress to the dining-room side by side. I heard afterward the +explanation. It seemed that in those days (things have changed _now_ I +fancy) no Chinese of rank would touch any woman who didn't belong to +him, and the ambassador would have thought himself dishonoured (as well +as me) if he had offered me his arm. The dinner was anything but banal. + +When we finally got to the table I found myself on the marshal's +left--Mrs. Grant was on his right. The marshal neither spoke nor +understood English. Mrs. Grant spoke no French, so the conversation +didn't seem likely to be very animated. After a few moments Mrs. Grant +naturally wished to say something to her host and she addressed him in +English. "Mr. President, I am so happy to be in your beautiful country," +then the marshal to me: "Madame Waddington je vous en prie, dites a +Madame Grant que je ne puis pas repondre; je ne comprends pas l'anglais; +je ne puis pas parler avec elle." "Mrs. Grant, the marshal begs me to +say to you that he regrets not being able to talk with you, but +unfortunately he does not understand English." Then there was a pause +and Mrs. Grant began again: "What a beautiful palace, Mr. President. It +must be delightful with that charming garden." Again the marshal to me: +"Mais je vous en prie Madame, dites a Madame Grant que je ne puis pas +causer avec elle. Il ne faut pas qu'elle me parle, je ne comprends pas." +"Mrs. Grant, the marshal is distressed that he cannot talk to you, but +he _really_ does not understand any English." It was very trying for +Mrs. Grant. Happily her other neighbour knew a little English and she +could talk to him, but all through dinner, at intervals, she began again +at the marshal. + +After a few moments I turned my attention to my ambassador. I had been +looking at him furtively while I was interpreting for the marshal and +Mrs. Grant. I saw that he _took_ everything that was offered to +him--dishes, wines, sauces--but he never attacked anything without +waiting to see what his neighbours did, when and how they used their +knives and forks,--then did exactly as they did,--never made a mistake. +I saw he was looking at the flowers on the table, which were very well +arranged, so I said to him, speaking very slowly and distinctly, as one +does to a child or a deaf person: "Have you pretty flowers in your +country?" He replied promptly: "Yes, yes, very hot, very cold, very hot, +very cold." I was a little disconcerted, but thought I had perhaps +spoken indistinctly, and after a little while I made another attempt: +"How much the uniforms add to the brilliancy of the fete, and the +Chinese dress is particularly striking and handsome," but to that he +made such a perfectly unintelligible answer that I refrained from any +further conversation and merely smiled at him from time to time, which +he always acknowledged with a little bow. + +We went back to the salons in the same way, side by side, and when the +men had gone into one of the other rooms to talk and smoke, I went to +speak to the Marechale, who said to me: "I am sure you had a delightful +dinner, Madame Waddington. The Chinese ambassador is such a clever man, +has travelled a great deal, and speaks such wonderful English." +"Wonderful indeed, Madame la Marechale," and then I repeated our +conversation, which she could hardly believe, and which amused her very +much. She spoke English as well as I did. + +The Grants were very much entertained during their stay in Paris, and we +met them nearly every night. W. liked the general very much and found +him quite talkative when he was alone with him. At the big dinners he +was of course at a disadvantage, neither speaking nor understanding a +word of French. W. acted as interpreter and found that very fatiguing. +There is so much repartee and sous-entendu in all French conversation +that even foreigners who know the language well find it sometimes +difficult to follow everything, and to translate quickly enough to keep +one au courant is almost impossible. When they could they drifted into +English, and W. said he was most interesting--speaking of the war and +all the North had done, without ever putting himself forward. + +We had both of us often to act as interpreters with French and +Anglo-Saxons, neither understanding the other's language, and always +found it difficult. I remember a dinner at Sandringham some years ago +when W. was at the embassy. The Prince of Wales (late King Edward) asked +me to sit next to a foreign ambassador who understood not one word of +English. The dinner was exclusively English--a great many clever +men--the master of Trinity College, Cambridge (asked especially to meet +my husband, who graduated from Trinity College), Lord Goschen, James +Knowles of the _Nineteenth Century_, Froude, the historian, Sir Henry +James, Lord Wolseley, etc. The talk was very animated, very witty. There +were peals of laughter all around the table. My ambassador was very +fidgety and nervous, appealing to me all the time, but by the time I had +laboriously condensed and translated some of the remarks, they were +talking of something quite different, and I am afraid he had very hazy +ideas as to what they were all saying. + +We saw, naturally, all the distinguished strangers who passed through +Paris that year of 1878. Many of our colleagues in the diplomatic corps +had played a great role in their own country. Prince Orloff, the Russian +ambassador, was one of our great friends. He gave us very good advice on +one or two occasions. He was a distinguished-looking man--always wore a +black patch over one eye--he had been wounded in the Crimea. He spoke +English as well as I did and was a charming talker. General Cialdini was +at the Italian embassy. He was more of a soldier than a statesman--had +contributed very successfully to the formation of "United Italy" and the +suppression of the Pope's temporal power, and was naturally not exactly +persona grata to the Catholics in France. Prince and Princess Hohenlohe +had succeeded Arnim at the German embassy. Their beginnings were +difficult, as their predecessor had done nothing to make the Germans +popular in France, but their strong personality, tact, and understanding +of the very delicate position helped them enormously. They were +Catholics (the Princess born a Russian--her brother, Prince +Wittgenstein, military attache at the Russian embassy) and very big +people in their own country, so absolutely sure of themselves and their +position that it was very difficult to slight them in any way. They +would never have perceived it unless some extraordinary rudeness were +shown. The Princess was very striking-looking, tall, with a good figure, +and splendid jewels. When she was in full dress for a ball, or official +reception, she wore three necklaces, one on top of the other, and a big +handsome, high tiara, which added to her height. She was the only lady +of the diplomatic corps whom Madame Grevy ever recognised in the first +weeks of her husband's presidency. Madame Grevy was thrown suddenly not +very young into such an absolutely new milieu, that she was quite +bewildered and couldn't be expected to recognise half the women of the +diplomatic corps, but the German ambassadress impressed her and she knew +her always. The princess was not very mondaine, didn't care about +society and life in a city--preferred the country, with riding and +shooting and any sort of sport. + +We had a very handsome dinner at the German embassy the winter of +1878--given to the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon. After dinner, with +coffee, a bear made its appearance in the drawing-room, a "baby bear" +they said, but I didn't think it looked very small. The princess patted +it, and talked to it just as if it were a dog, and I must say the little +animal was perfectly quiet, and kept close to her. I think the lights +and the quantity of people frightened it. It growled once or twice, and +we all had a feeling of relief when it was taken away. I asked the +Marechale afterward if she were afraid. "Oui, j'avais tres peur, mais je +ne voulais pas le montrer devant ces allemands." (Yes, I was very +frightened, but I would not show it before those Germans.) They had +eventually to send the bear away, back to Germany. It grew wilder as it +grew older, and became quite unmanageable--they couldn't keep it in +the embassy. + +Hohenlohe was always pleasant and easy. I think he had a real sympathy +for France and did his best on various delicate occasions. The year of +the exposition (1878) we dined out every night and almost always with +the same people. Hohenlohe often fell to me. He took me in to dinner ten +times in succession. The eleventh time we were each of us in despair as +we filed out together, so I said to him: "Don't let us even pretend to +talk; you can talk to your other neighbour and I will to mine." However, +we _did_ talk chiffons, curiously enough. I had waited for a dress, +which only came home at the last moment, and when I put it on the +corsage was so tight I could hardly bear it. It was too late to change, +and I had nothing else ready, so most uncomfortable I started for my +dinner. I didn't dare to eat anything, hardly dared move, which +Hohenlohe remarked, after seeing three or four dishes pass me untouched, +and said to me: "I am afraid you are ill; you are eating nothing." "No, +not at all, only very uncomfortable"--and then I explained the situation +to him--that my dress was so tight I could neither move nor eat. He was +most indignant--"How could women be so foolish--why did we want to +have abnormally small waists and be slaves to our dressmakers?--men +didn't like made-up figures." "Oh, yes, they do; all men admire a +slight, graceful figure." "Yes, when it is natural, but no man +understands nor cares about a fashionably dressed woman--women dress for +each other" (which is perfectly true). + +[Illustration: Prince Hohenlohe. After the painting by F.E. Laszlo.] + +However, he was destined to see other ladies very careful about their +figures. The late Empress of Austria, who was a fine rider, spent some +time one spring in Paris, and rode every morning in the Bois. She was +very handsome, with a beautiful figure, had handsome horses and +attracted great attention. Prince Hohenlohe often rode with her. I was +riding with a friend one morning when we saw handsome horses waiting at +the mounting-block, just inside the gates. We divined they were the +Empress's horses and waited to see her mount. She arrived in a coupe, +her maid with her, and mounted her horse from the block. The body of her +habit was open. When she was settled in her saddle, the maid stepped up +on the block and buttoned her habit, which I must say fitted +beautifully--as if she were melted into it. + +The official receptions were interesting that year, as one still saw a +few costumes. The Chinese, Japanese, Persians, Greeks, and Roumanians +wore their national dress--and much better they look in them than in +the ordinary dress coat and white tie of our men. The Greek dress was +very striking, a full white skirt with high embroidered belt, but it was +only becoming when the wearer was young, with a good figure. I remember +a pretty Roumanian woman with a white veil spangled with gold, most +effective. Now every one wears the ordinary European dress except the +Chinese, who still keep their costume. One could hardly imagine a +Chinese in a frock coat and tall hat. What would he do with his pigtail? + +The entertainments went on pretty well that year until August, almost +all the embassies and ministries receiving. Queen Isabella of Spain was +then living in the big house in the Avenue Kleber, called the "Palais +d'Espagne" (now the Hotel Majestic). We used to meet her often driving +in the Bois. She was a big, stout, rather red-faced woman, didn't make +much effect in a carriage in ordinary street dress, but in her palace, +when she received or gave an audience, she was a very royal lady. I +asked for an audience soon after W. was named to the Foreign Office. We +knew one of her chamberlains very well, Duc de M., and he arranged it +for me. I arrived at the palace on the appointed day a little before +four (the audience was for four). The big gates were open, a tall porter +dressed in red and gold lace and buttons, and a staff in his hand, was +waiting--two or three men in black, and four or five footmen in red +liveries and powder, at the door and in the hall. I was shown at once to +a small room on the ground floor, where four or five ladies, all Spanish +and all fat, were waiting. In a few minutes the duke appeared. We talked +a little (he looking at me to see if I had taken off my veil and my +right-hand glove) and then a man in black appeared at the door, making a +low bow and saying something in Spanish. The duke said would I come, Her +Majesty was ready to receive me. We passed through several salons where +there were footmen and pages (no ladies) until we came to a very large +one quite at the other end of the palace. The big doors were open, and +at the far end I saw the Queen standing, a stately figure (enormous), +dressed in a long black velvet dress, a high diamond tiara on her head, +from which hung a black lace veil, a fan in her hand (I suppose no +Spanish woman of any station ever parts with her fan) and a splendid +string of pearls. I made my curtsey on the threshold, the chamberlain +named me with the usual formula: "I have the honour to present to Your +Majesty, Madame Waddington, the wife of the Minister of Foreign +Affairs," then backed himself out of the room, and I proceeded down the +long room to the Queen. She didn't move, let me make my two curtseys, +one in the middle of the room, one when I came close up to her--and then +shook hands. We remained standing a few minutes and then she sat down on +a sofa (not a very small one) which she quite filled, and motioned me to +take an armchair on one side. She was very amiable, had a charming +smile, spoke French very well but with a strong Spanish accent. She said +she was very glad to see my husband at the Foreign Office, and hoped he +would stay long enough to do some real work--said she was very fond of +France, loved driving in the streets of Paris, there was always so much +to see and the people looked gay. She was very fond of the theatres, +particularly the smaller ones, liked the real Parisian wit and gaiety +better than the measured phrase and trained diction of the Francais and +the Odeon. She spoke most warmly of Marshal MacMahon, hoped that he +would remain President of the Republic as long as the Republicans would +let him, was afraid they would make his position impossible--but that +the younger generation always wanted reforms and changes. I said I +thought that was the way of the world everywhere, in families as well +as nations--children could not be expected to see with the eyes of their +parents. Then we talked about the exposition--she said the Spanish show +was very good--told me to look at the tapestries and embroideries, which +were quite wonderful--gold and silver threads worked in with the +tapestries. The interview was pleasant and easy. When I took leave, she +let me back down the whole length of the room, not half turning away as +so many princesses do after the first few steps, so as to curtail that +very inconvenient exit. However, a day dress is never so long and +cumbersome as an evening dress with a train. + +The chamberlain was waiting just outside the door, also two ladies in +waiting, just as fat as the Queen. Certainly the mise en scene was very +effective. The number of servants in red liveries, the solitary standing +figure at the end of the long enfilade of rooms, the high diamond comb +and long veil, quite transformed the very stout, red-faced lady whom I +used to meet often walking in the Bois. + +We dined once or twice at the palace, always a very handsome dinner. One +for the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon was beautifully done--all the +footmen, dozens, in gala liveries, red and yellow, the maitre d'hotel in +very dark blue with gold epaulettes and aiguillettes. The table was +covered with red and yellow flowers and splendid gold plate, and a very +good orchestra of guitars and mandolins played all through dinner, the +musicians singing sometimes when they played a popular song. We were all +assembled in one of the large rooms waiting for the Queen to appear. As +soon as the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon were announced, she came in, +meeting them at the door, making a circle afterward, and shaking hands +with all the ladies. + +Lord Lyons gave a beautiful ball at the embassy that season. The hotel +of the British embassy is one of the best in Paris--fine reception-rooms +opening on a very large garden, and a large courtyard and side exit--so +there was no confusion of carriages. He had need of all his room--Paris +was crowded with English. Besides all the exposition people, there were +many tourists and well-known English people, all expecting to be +entertained at the embassy. All the world was there. The Prince and +Princess of Wales, the Marshal and Madame de MacMahon, the Orleans +princes, Princesse Mathilde, the Faubourg St. Germain, the Government, +and as many foreigners as the house could hold, as he invited a great +many people, once his obligations, English and official, were +satisfied. It was only at an embassy that such a gathering could take +place, and it was amusing to see the people of all the different camps +looking at each other. + +There was a supper up-stairs for all the royalties before the cotillion. +I was told that the Duc d'Aumale would take me to supper. I was very +pleased (as we knew him very well and he was always charming to us) but +much surprised, as the Orleans princes never remained for supper at any +big official function. There would have been questions of place and +precedence which would have been very difficult to settle. When the move +was made for supper, things had to be changed, as the Orleans princes +had gone home. The Crown Prince of Denmark took me. The supper-room was +prettily arranged, two round tables--Lord Lyons with the Princesses of +Wales and Denmark presiding at one--his niece, the Duchesse of Norfolk, +at the other, with the Princes of Wales and Denmark. I sat between the +Princes of Denmark and Sweden. Opposite me, next the Prince of Wales, +sat a lady I didn't know. Every one else at the table did. She was very +attractive-looking, with a charming smile and most animated manner. I +asked the Prince of Denmark in a low voice, who she was--thought it must +be one of the foreign princesses I hadn't yet met. The Prince of Wales +heard my question, and immediately, with his charming tact and ease of +manner, said to me: "You don't know the Princesse Mathilde; do let me +have the pleasure of presenting you to her," naming me at once--in my +official capacity, "wife of the Minister of Foreign Affairs." The +princess was very gracious and smiling, and we talked about all sorts of +things--some of her musical protegees, who were also mine. She asked me +if I liked living at the ministry, Quai d'Orsay; she remembered it as +such a beautiful house. When the party broke up, she shook hands, said +she had not the pleasure of knowing M. Waddington, but would I thank him +from her for what he had done for one of her friends. I tried to find W. +after supper to present him to the princess, but he had already gone, +didn't stay for the cotillion--the princess, too, went away immediately +after supper. I met her once or twice afterward. She was always +friendly, and we had little talks together. Her salon--she received once +a week--was quite a centre--all the Bonapartists of course, the +diplomatic corps, many strangers, and all the celebrities in +literature and art. + +With that exception I never saw nor talked with any member of that +family until I had been some years a widow, when the Empress Eugenie +received me on her yacht at Cowes. When the news came of the awful +tragedy of the Prince Imperial's death in Zululand, W. was Foreign +Minister, and he had invited a large party, with music. W. instantly put +off the party, said there was no question of politics or a Bonapartist +prince--it was a Frenchman killed, fighting bravely in a foreign +country. I always thought the Empress knew about it and appreciated his +act, for during his embassy in London, though we never saw her, she +constantly sent him word through mutual friends of little negotiations +she knew about and thought might interest him, and always spoke very +well of him as a "clear-headed, patriotic statesman." I should have +liked to have seen her in her prime, when she must have been +extraordinarily beautiful and graceful. When I did see her she was no +longer young, but a stately, impressive figure, and had still the +beautiful brow one sees in all her pictures. One of our friends, a very +clever woman and great anti-Bonapartist, told us an amusing story of her +little son. The child was sometimes in the drawing-room when his mother +was receiving, and heard her and all her friends inveighing against the +iniquities of the Imperial Court and the frivolity of the Empress. He +saw the Empress walking one day in the Bois de Boulogne. She was +attracted by the group of children, stopped and talked to them. The boy +was delighted and said to his governess: "Elle est bien jolie, +l'Imperatrice, mais il ne faut pas le dire a Maman." (The Empress is +very pretty, but one must not say it to mother.) + + + + +VII + + +THE BERLIN CONGRESS + +Seventy-eight was a most important year for us in many ways. Besides the +interest and fatigues of the exposition and the constant receiving and +official festivities of all kinds, a great event was looming before +us--the Berlin Congress. One had felt it coming for some time. There +were all sorts of new delimitations and questions to be settled since +the war in the Balkans, and Europe was getting visibly nervous. Almost +immediately after the opening of the exposition, the project took shape, +and it was decided that France should participate in the Congress and +send three representatives. It was the first time that France had +asserted herself since the Franco-Prussian War in 1870, but it was time +for her now to emerge from her self-imposed effacement, and take her +place in the Congress of nations. There were many discussions, both +public and private, before the plenipotentiaires were named, and a great +unwillingness on the part of many very intelligent and patriotic +Frenchmen to see the country launching itself upon dangerous ground and +a possible conflict with Bismarck. However, the thing was decided, and +the three plenipotentiaries named--Mr. Waddington, Foreign Minister, +first; Comte de St. Vallier, a very clever and distinguished +diplomatist, actual ambassador at Berlin, second; and Monsieur Desprey, +Directeur de la Politique au Ministere des Affaires Etrangeres, third. +He was also a very able man, one of the pillars of the ministry, au +courant of every treaty and negotiation for the last twenty years, very +prudent and clear-headed. All W.'s colleagues were most cordial and +charming on his appointment. He made a statement in the House of the +line of policy he intended to adopt--and was absolutely approved and +encouraged. Not a disparaging word of any kind was said, not even the +usual remark of "cet anglais qui nous represente." He started the 10th +of June in the best conditions possible--not an instruction of any kind +from his chief, M. Dufaure, President du Conseil--very complimentary to +him certainly, but the ministers taking no responsibility +themselves--leaving the door open in case he made any mistakes. It was +evident that the Parliament and Government were nervous. It was rather +amusing, when all the preparations for the departure were going on. W. +took a large suite with him, secretaries, huissiers, etc., and I told +them they were as much taken up with their coats and embroideries and +cocked hats as any pretty woman with her dresses. I wanted very much to +go, but W. thought he would be freer and have more time to think things +over if I were not there. He didn't know Berlin at all, had never seen +Bismarck nor any of the leading German statesmen, and was fully +conscious how his every word and act would be criticised. However, if a +public man is not criticised, it usually means that he is of no +consequence--so attacks and criticisms are rather welcome--act as a +stimulant. I could have gone and stayed unofficially with a cousin, but +he thought that wouldn't do. St. Vallier was a bachelor; it would have +been rather an affair for him to organise at the embassy an apartment +for a lady and her maids, though he was most civil and asked me to come. + +[Illustration: M. William Waddington. In the uniform he wore as Minister +of Foreign Affairs and at the Berlin Congress, 1878] + +I felt rather lonely in the big ministry when they had all gone, and I +was left with baby. W. stayed away just five weeks, and I performed +various official things in his absence--among others the Review of the +14th of July. The distinguished guest on that occasion was the Shah of +Persia, who arrived with the Marechale in a handsome open carriage, +with outriders and postilions. The marshal of course was riding. The +Shah was not at all a striking figure, short, stout, with a dark skin, +and hard black eyes. He had handsome jewels, a large diamond fastening +the white aigrette of his high black cap, and his sword-hilt incrusted +with diamonds. He gave a stiff little nod in acknowledgment of the bows +and curtseys every one made when he appeared in the marshal's box. He +immediately took his seat on one side of the Marechale in front of the +box, one of the ambassadresses, Princess Hohenlohe I think, next to him. +The military display seemed to interest him. Every now and then he made +some remark to the Marechale, but he was certainly not talkative. While +the interminable line of the infantry regiments was passing, there was a +move to the back of the box, where there was a table with ices, +champagne, etc. Madame de MacMahon came up to me, saying: "Madame +Waddington, Sa Majeste demande les nouvelles de M. Waddington," upon +which His Majesty planted himself directly in front of me, so close that +he almost touched me, and asked in a quick, abrupt manner, as if he were +firing off a shot: "Ou est votre mari?" (neither Madame, nor M. +Waddington, nor any of the terms that are usually adopted in polite +society). "A Berlin, Sire." "Pourquoi a Berlin?" "Comme +plenipotentiaire Francais au Congres de Berlin." "Oui, oui, je sais, je +sais. Cela l'interesse?" "Beaucoup; il voit tant de personnes +interessantes." "Oui, je sais. Il va bien?" always coming closer to me, +so that I was edging back against the wall, with his hard, bright little +eyes fixed on mine, and always the same sharp, jerky tone. "Il va +parfaitement bien, je vous remercie." Then there was a pause and he made +one or two other remarks which I didn't quite understand--I don't think +his French went very far--but I made out something about "jolies femmes" +and pointed out one or two to him, but he still remained staring into my +face and I was delighted when his minister came up to him (timidly--all +his people were afraid of him) and said some personage wanted to be +presented to him. He shook hands with me, said something about "votre +mari revient bientot," and moved off. The Marechale asked me if I were +not touched by His Majesty's solicitude for my husband's health, and +wouldn't I like to come to the front of the box and sit next to him, but +I told her I couldn't think of engrossing His Majesty's attention, as +there were various important people who wished to be presented to him. I +watched him a little (from a distance), trying to see if anything made +any impression on him (the crowd, the pretty, well-dressed women, the +march past, the long lines of infantry,--rather fatiguing to see, as one +line regiment looks very like another,--the chasseurs with their small +chestnut horses, the dragoons more heavily mounted, and the guns), but +his face remained absolutely impassive, though I think he saw +everything. They told a funny story of him in London at one of the court +balls. When he had looked on at the dancing for some time, he said to +the Prince of Wales: "Tell those people to stop now, I have seen +enough"--evidently thought it was a ballet performing for his amusement. +Another one, at one of the European courts was funny. The monarch was +very old, his consort also. When the Shah was presented to the royal +lady, he looked hard at her without saying a word, then remarked to her +husband: "Laide, vieille, pourquoi garder?" (Ugly, old; why keep her?) + +[Illustration: Nasr-ed-Din, Shah of Persia.] + +I went to a big dinner and reception at the British Embassy, given for +all the directors and commissioners of the exposition. It was a lovely +warm night, the garden was lighted, everybody walking about, and an +orchestra playing. Many of the officials had their wives and daughters +with them, and some of the toilettes were wonderful. There were a good +many pretty women, Swedes and Danes, the Northern type, very fair hair +and blue eyes, attracting much attention, and a group of Chinese (all in +costume) standing proudly aloof--not the least interested apparently in +the gay scene before them. I wonder what they thought of European +manners and customs! There was no dancing, which I suppose would have +shocked their Eastern morals. Lord Lyons asked me why I wasn't in +Berlin. I said, "For the best of reasons, my husband preferred going +without me--but I hoped he would send for me perhaps at the end of the +Congress." He told me Lady Salisbury was there with her husband. He +seemed rather sceptical as to the peaceful issue of the +negotiations--thought so many unforeseen questions would come up and +complicate matters. + +I went to a ball at the Hotel de Ville, also given for all the +foreigners and French people connected with the exposition. The getting +there was very long and tiring. The coupe-file did no good, as every one +had one. Comte de Pontecoulant went with me and he protested vigorously, +but one of the head men of the police, whom he knew well, came up to the +carriage to explain that nothing could be done. There was a long line of +diplomatic and official carriages, and we must take our chance with the +rest. Some of our cousins (Americans) never got there at all--sat for +hours in their carriage in the rue du Rivoli, moving an inch at a time. +Happily it was a lovely warm night; and as we got near we saw lots of +people walking who had left their carriages some little distance off, +hopelessly wedged in a crowd of vehicles--the women in light dresses, +with flowers and jewels in their hair. The rooms looked very handsome +when at last we did get in, particularly the staircase, with a Garde +Municipal on every step, and banks of palms and flowers on the landing +in the hall, wherever flowers could be put. The Ville de Paris furnishes +all the flowers and plants for the official receptions, and they always +are very well arranged. Some trophies of flags too of all nations made a +great effect. I didn't see many people I knew--it was impossible to get +through the crowd, but some one got me a chair at the open window giving +on the balcony, and I was quite happy sitting there looking at the +people pass. The whole world was represented, and it was interesting to +see the different types--Southerners, small, slight, dark, impatient, +wriggling through the crowd--the Anglo-Saxons, big, broad, calm, +squaring their shoulders when there came a sudden rush, and waiting +quite patiently a chance to get a little ahead. Some of the women too +pushed well--evidently determined to see all they could. I don't think +any royalties, even minor ones, were there. + +W. wrote pretty regularly from Berlin, particularly the first days, +before the real work of the Congress began. He started rather sooner +than he had at first intended, so as to have a little time to talk +matters over with St. Vallier and make acquaintance with some of his +colleagues. St. Vallier, with all the staff of the embassy, met him at +the station when he arrived in Berlin, also Holstein (our old friend who +was at the German Embassy in Paris with Arnim) to compliment him from +Prince Bismarck, and he had hardly been fifteen minutes at the embassy +when Count Herbert von Bismarck arrived with greetings and compliments +from his father. He went to see Bismarck the next day, found him at +home, and very civil; he was quite friendly, very courteous and +"bonhomme, original, and even amusing in his conversation, but with a +hard look about the eyes which bodes no good to those who cross his +path." He had just time to get back to the embassy and get into his +uniform for his audience with the Crown Prince (late Emperor +Frederick).[1] The Vice Grand-Maitre des Ceremonies came for him in a +court carriage and they drove off to the palace--W. sitting alone on the +back seat, the grand-maitre facing him on the front. "I was ushered into +a room where the Prince was standing. He was very friendly and talked +for twenty minutes about all sorts of things, in excellent French, with +a few words of English now and then to show he knew of my English +connection. He spoke of my travels in the East, of the de Bunsens, of +the Emperor's health (the old man is much better and decidedly +recovering)--and of his great wish for peace." All the plenipotentiaries +had not yet arrived. They appeared only on the afternoon of the 12th, +the day before the Congress opened. Prince Bismarck sent out the +invitation for the first sitting: + +[Footnote 1: The Crown Prince represented his father at all the +functions. Some days before the meeting of the Congress the old Emperor +had been wounded in the arm by a nihilist, Nobiling, who Fired from a +window when the Emperor was passing in an open carriage. The wound was +slight, but the old man was much shaken and unable to take any part in +the ceremonies or receive any of the plenipotentiaries.] + + Le Prince de Bismarck + a l'honneur de prevenir Son Excellence, Monsieur Waddington, + que la premiere reunion du Congres aura lieu le + 13 juin a deux heures, au Palais du Chancelier de l'Empire, + 77, Wilhelmstrasse. + "Berlin, le 12 juin 1878." + +It was a brilliant assemblage of great names and intelligences that +responded to his invitation--Gortschakoff, Schouvaloff, Andrassy, +Beaconsfield, Salisbury, Karolyi, Hohenlohe, Corti, and many others, +younger men, who acted as secretaries. French was the language spoken, +the only exception being made by Lord Beaconsfield, who always spoke in +English, although it was most evident, W. said, that he understood +French perfectly well. The first day was merely an official opening of +the Congress--every one in uniform--but only for that occasion. After +that they all went in ordinary morning dress, putting on their uniforms +again on the last day only, when they signed the treaty. W. writes: +"Bismarck presides and did his part well to-day; he speaks French fairly +but very slowly, finding his words with difficulty, but he knows what he +means to say and lets every one see that he does." No one else said much +that first day; each man was rather reserved, waiting for his neighbour +to begin. Beaconsfield made a short speech, which was trying for some of +his colleagues, particularly the Turks, who had evidently much +difficulty in understanding English. They were counting upon England's +sympathy, but a little nervous as to a supposed agreement between +England and Russia. The Russians listened most attentively. There seemed +to be a distrust of England on their part and a decided rivalry between +Gortschakoff and Beaconsfield. The Congress dined that first night with +the Crown Prince at the Schloss in the famous white hall--all in uniform +and orders. W. said the heat was awful, but the evening interesting. +There were one hundred and forty guests, no ladies except the royal +princesses, not even the ambassadresses. W. sat on Bismarck's left, who +talked a great deal, intending to make himself agreeable. He had a long +talk after dinner with the Crown Princess (Princess Royal of England) +who spoke English with him. He found her charming--intelligent and +cultivated and so easy--not at all stiff and shy like so many royalties. +He saw her very often during his stay in Berlin, and she was unfailingly +kind to him--and to me also when I knew her later in Rome and London. +She always lives in my memory as one of the most charming women I have +ever met. Her face often comes back to me with her beautiful bright +smile and the saddest eyes I have ever seen. I have known very few like +her. W. also had a talk with Prince Frederick-Charles, father of the +Duchess of Connaught, whom he found rather a rough-looking soldier with +a short, abrupt manner. He left bitter memories in France during the +Franco-German War, was called the "Red Prince," he was so hard and +cruel, always ready to shoot somebody and burn down villages on the +slightest provocation--so different from the Prince Imperial, the "unser +Fritz" of the Germans, who always had a kind word for the fallen foe. + +[Illustration: Prince Bismarck. From a sketch by Anton von Werner, +1880.] + +W.'s days were very full, and when the important sittings began it was +sometimes hard work. The Congress room was very hot (all the colleagues +seemed to have a holy horror of open windows)--and some of the men very +long and tedious in stating their cases. Of course they were at a +disadvantage not speaking their own language (very few of them knew +French well, except the Russians), and they had to go very carefully, +and be quite sure of the exact significance of the words they used. W. +got a ride every morning, as the Congress only met in the afternoon. +They rode usually in the Thiergarten, which is not very large, but the +bridle-paths were good. It was very difficult to get out of Berlin into +the open country without going through a long stretch of suburbs and +sandy roads which were not very tempting. A great many officers rode in +the park, and one morning when he was riding with the military attache +of the embassy, two officers rode up and claimed acquaintance, having +known him in France in '70, the year of the war. They rode a short time +together, and the next day he received an invitation from the officers +of a smart Uhlan regiment to dine at their mess "in remembrance of the +kind hospitality shown to some of their officers who had been quartered +at his place in France during the war." As the hospitality was decidedly +forced, and the presence of the German officers not very agreeable to +the family, the invitation was not very happy. It was well meant, but +was one of those curious instances of German want of tact which one +notices so much if one lives much with Germans. The hours of the various +entertainments were funny. At a big dinner at Prince Bismarck's the +guests were invited at six, and at eight-thirty every one had gone. W. +sat next to Countess Marie, the daughter of the house, found her simple +and inclined to talk, speaking both French and English well. Immediately +after dinner the men all smoked everywhere, in the drawing-room, on the +terrace, some taking a turn in the park with Bismarck. W. found Princess +Bismarck not very femme du monde; she was preoccupied first with her +dinner, then with her husband, for fear he should eat too much, or take +cold going out of the warm dining-room into the evening air. There were +no ladies at the dinner except the family. (The German lady doesn't seem +to occupy the same place in society as the French and English woman +does. In Paris the wives of ambassadors and ministers are always invited +to all official banquets.) + +Amusements of all kinds were provided for the plenipotentiaries. Early +in July W. writes of a "Land-parthie"--the whole Congress (wives too +this time) invited to Potsdam for the day. He was rather dreading a long +day--excursions were not much in his line. However, this one seems to +have been successful. He writes: "Our excursion went off better than +could be expected. The party consisted of the plenipotentiaries and a +certain number of court officers and generals. We started by rail, +stopped at a station called Wannsee, and embarked on board a small +steamer, the Princess Royal receiving the guests as they arrived on +board. We then started for a trip on the lakes, but before long there +came a violent squall which obliged the sailors to take down the awnings +in double-quick time, and drove every one down into the cabins. It +lasted about half an hour, after which it cleared up and every one +reappeared on deck. In course of time we landed near Babelsberg, where +carriages were waiting. I was told off to go in the first with the +Princess Royal, Countess Karolyi (wife of the Austrian ambassador, a +beautiful young woman), and Andrassy. We went over the Chateau of +Babelsberg, which is a pretty Gothic country-seat, not a palace, and +belongs to the present Emperor. After that we had a longish drive, +through different parks and villages, and finally arrived at Sans Souci, +where we dined. After dinner we strolled through the rooms and were +shown the different souvenirs of Frederick the Great, and got home at +ten-thirty." W. saw a good deal of his cousin, George de Bunsen, a +charming man, very cultivated and cosmopolitan. He had a pretty house in +the new quarter of Berlin, and was most hospitable. He had an +interesting dinner there with some of the literary men and +savants--Mommsen, Leppius, Helmholtz, Curtius, etc., most of them his +colleagues, as he was a member of the Berlin Academy. He found those +evenings a delightful change after the long hot afternoons in the +Wilhelmsstrasse, where necessarily there was so much that was long and +tedious. I think even he got tired of Greek frontiers, notwithstanding +his sympathy for the country. He did what he could for the Greeks, who +were very grateful to him and gave him, in memory of the efforts he made +on their behalf, a fine group in bronze of a female figure--"Greece" +throwing off the bonds of Turkey. Some of the speakers were very +interesting. He found Schouvaloff always a brilliant debater--he spoke +French perfectly, was always good-humoured and courteous, and defended +his cause well. One felt there was a latent animosity between the +English and the Russians. Lord Beaconsfield made one or two strong +speeches--very much to the point, and slightly arrogant, but as they +were always made in English, they were not understood by all the +Assembly. W. was always pleased to meet Prince Hohenlohe, actual German +ambassador to Paris (who had been named the third German +plenipotentiary). He was perfectly au courant of all that went on at +court and in the official world, knew everybody, and introduced W. to +various ladies who received informally, where he could spend an hour or +two quietly, without meeting all his colleagues. Blowitz, of course, +appeared on the scene--the most important person in Berlin (in his own +opinion). I am not quite convinced that he saw all the people he said he +did, or whether all the extraordinary confidences were made to him which +he related to the public, but he certainly impressed people very much, +and I suppose his letters as newspaper correspondent were quite +wonderful. He was remarkably intelligent and absolutely unscrupulous, +didn't hesitate to put into the mouths of people what he wished them to +say, so he naturally had a great pull over the ordinary simple-minded +journalist who wrote simply what he saw and heard. As he was the Paris +correspondent of _The London Times_, he was often at the French Embassy. +W. never trusted him very much, and his flair was right, as he was +anything but true to him. The last days of the Congress were very busy +ones. The negotiations were kept secret enough, but things always leak +out and the papers had to say something. I was rather emue at the tone +of the French press, but W. wrote me not to mind--they didn't really +know anything, and when the treaty was signed France would certainly +come out very honourably. All this has long passed into the domain of +history, and has been told so many times by so many different people +that I will not go into details except to say that the French +protectorate of Tunis (now one of our most flourishing colonies) was +entirely arranged by W. in a long confidential conversation with Lord +Salisbury. The cession of the Island of Cyprus by Turkey to the English +was a most unexpected and disagreeable surprise to W. However, he went +instantly to Lord Salisbury, who was a little embarrassed, as that +negotiation had been kept secret, which didn't seem quite +fair--everything else having been openly discussed around the council +table. He quite understood W.'s feelings in the matter, and was +perfectly willing to make an arrangement about Tunis. The thing was +neither understood nor approved at first by the French Government. W. +returned to Paris, "les mains vides; seulement a chercher dans sa poche +on y eut trouve les cles de la Tunisie"--as one of his friends defined +the situation some years ago. He was almost disavowed by his Government. +The ministers were timid and unwilling that France should take any +initiative--even his friend, Leon Say, then Minister of Finances, a very +clever man and brilliant politician, said: "Notre collegue Waddington, +contre son habitude, s'est emballe cette fois pour la question de la +Tunisie." (Our colleague Waddington, contrary to his nature, has quite +lost his head this time over the Tunis question.) I think the course of +events has fully justified his action, and now that it has proved such a +success, every one claims to have taken the initiative of the French +protectorate of Tunis. All honours have been paid to those who carried +out the project, and very little is said of the man who originated the +scheme in spite of great difficulties at home and abroad. Some of W.'s +friends know the truth. + +[Illustration: The Berlin Congress. From a painting by Anton von Werner, +1881.] + +There was a great exchange of visits, photographs, and autographs the +last days of the Congress. Among other things which W. brought back from +Berlin, and which will be treasured by his grandsons as a historical +souvenir, was a fan, quite a plain wooden fan, with the signatures of +all the plenipotentiaries--some of them very characteristic. The French +signatures are curiously small and distinct, a contrast to Bismarck's +smudge. W. was quite sorry to say good-bye to some of his colleagues. +Andrassy, with his quick sympathies and instant comprehension of all +sides of a question, attracted him very much. He was a striking +personality, quite the Slav type. W. had little private intercourse with +Prince Gortschakoff--who was already an old man and the type of the +old-fashioned diplomatist--making very long and well-turned phrases +which made people rather impatient. On the whole W. was satisfied. He +writes two or three days before the signing of the treaty: "As far as I +can see at present, no one will be satisfied with the result of the +Congress; it is perhaps the best proof that it is dealing fairly and +equitably with the very exaggerated claims and pretensions of all +parties. Anyhow, France will come out of the whole affair honourably and +having done all that a strictly neutral power can do." The treaty was +signed on July 13 by all the plenipotentiaries in full uniform. W. +said there was a decided feeling of satisfaction and relief that it was +finished. Even Bismarck looked less preoccupied, as if a weight had been +lifted from his shoulders. Of course he was supposed to have had his own +way in everything. Everybody (not only the French) was afraid of him. +With his iron will, and unscrupulous brushing aside, or even +annihilating, everything that came in his way, he was a formidable +adversary. There was a gala dinner at the Schloss, to celebrate the +signing of the treaty. "It was the exact repetition of the first, at the +opening of the Congress. I sat on the left of Bismarck, and had a good +deal of conversation with him. The Crown Prince and Princess were just +opposite, and the Princess talked a great deal with me across the table, +always in English." The Crown Princess could never forget that she was +born Princess Royal of England. Her household was managed on English +principles, her children brought up by English nurses, she herself +always spoke English with them. Of course there must have been many +things in Germany which were distasteful to her,--so many of the small +refinements of life which are absolute necessaries in England were +almost unknown luxuries in Germany,--particularly when she married. Now +there has been a great advance in comfort and even elegance in German +houses and habits. Her English proclivities made her a great many +enemies, and I don't believe the "Iron Chancellor" made things easy for +her. The dinner at the Schloss was as usual at six o'clock, and at nine +W. had to go to take leave of the Empress, who was very French in her +sympathies, and had always been very kind to him. Her daughter, the +Grand Duchess of Baden, was there, and W. had a very pleasant hour with +the two ladies. The Empress asked him a great many questions about the +Congress, and particularly about Bismarck--if he was in a fairly good +temper--when he had his nerves he was simply impossible, didn't care +what people thought of him, and didn't hesitate to show when he was +bored. The Grand Duchess added smilingly: "He is perfectly intolerant, +has no patience with a fool." I suppose most people are of this opinion. +I am not personally. I have some nice, foolish, kindly, happy friends of +both sexes I am always glad to see; I think they are rather resting in +these days of high education and culture and pose. W. finished his +evening at Lady Salisbury's, who had a farewell reception for all the +plenipotentiaries. He took leave of his colleagues, all of whom had been +most friendly. The only one who was a little stiff with him and +expressed no desire to meet him again was Corti, the Italian +plenipotentiary. He suspected of course that something had been arranged +about Tunis, and was much annoyed that he hadn't been able to get +Tripoli for Italy. He was our colleague afterward in London, and there +was always a little constraint and coolness in his manner. W. left +Berlin on the 17th, having been five weeks away. + + + + +VIII + + +GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY + +W. got home on the 17th, and was so busy the first days, with his +colleagues and political friends that I didn't see much more of him than +if he had been in Berlin. He was rather disgusted and discouraged at the +view his colleagues of the cabinet and his friends took of France's +attitude at the Congress. The only man who seemed to be able to look +ahead a little and understand what a future there might be for France in +Tunis was Gambetta. I remember quite well his telling of an interesting +conversation with him. Gambetta was very keen about foreign affairs, +very patriotic, and not at all willing that France should remain +indefinitely a weakened power, still suffering from the defeat of 1870. +There were many fetes and reunions of all kinds, all through the summer +months, as people had flocked to Paris for the exposition. We remained +in town until the first days of August, then W. went to his +Conseil-General in the Department of the Aisne, and I went down to +Deauville. He joined me there, and we had a pleasant month--bathing, +driving, and seeing a great many people. We had taken Sir Joseph +Oliffe's villa, one of the best in Deauville. Oliffe, an Englishman, was +one of Emperor Napoleon's physicians, and he and the Duc de Morny were +the founders of Deauville, which was very fashionable as long as Morny +lived and the Empire lasted, but it lost its vogue for some years after +the Franco-German War--fashion and society generally congregating at +Trouville. There were not many villas then, and one rather bad hotel, +but the sea was nearer than it is now and people all went to the beach +in the morning, and fished for shrimps in the afternoon, and led a quiet +out-of-doors life. There was no polo nor golf nor automobiles--not many +carriages, a good tennis-court, where W. played regularly, and races +every Sunday in August, which brought naturally a gay young crowd of all +the sporting world. The train des maris that left Paris every Saturday +evening, brought a great many men. It was quite different from the +Deauville of to-day, which is charming, with quantities of pretty villas +and gardens and sports of all kinds, but the sea is so far off one has +to take quite a long walk to get to it, and the mornings on the beach +and the expeditions to Trouville in the afternoon across the ferry, to +do a little shopping in the rue de Paris, are things of the past. +Curiously enough while I was looking over my notes the other day, I had +a visit from an old friend, the Duc de M., who was one of the inner +circle of the imperial household of the Emperor Napoleon III, and took +an active part in all that went on at court. He had just been hearing +from a friend of the very brilliant season at Deauville this year, and +the streams of gold that flowed into the caisse of the management of the +new hotel and casino. Every possible luxury and every inducement to +spend money, racing, gambling, pretty women of all nationalities and +facile character, beautifully dressed and covered with jewels, side by +side with the bearers of some of the proudest names in France. He said +that just fifty years ago he went to Deauville with the Duc de Morny, +Princesse Metternich, and the Comtesse de Pourteles to inaugurate the +new watering-place, then of the simplest description. The ladies were +badly lodged in a so-called hotel and he had a room in a +fisherman's hut. + +Marshal MacMahon had a house near Trouville that year, and he came over +occasionally to see W., always on horseback and early in the morning. W. +used to struggle into his clothes when "M. le Marechal" was announced. +I think the marshal preferred his military title very much to his civic +honours. I suppose there never was so unwilling a president of a +republic, except many years later Casimir Perier, who certainly hated +the "prison of the Elysee," but the marshal was a soldier, and his +military discipline helped him through many difficult positions. We had +various visitors who came down for twenty-four hours--one charming visit +from the Marquis de Vogue, then French ambassador at Vienna, where he +was very much liked, a persona grata in every way. He was very tall, +distinguished-looking, quite the type of the ambassador. When I went to +inspect his room I was rather struck by the shortness of the bed--didn't +think his long legs could ever get into it. The valet assured me it was +all right, the bed was normal, but I doubt if he had a very comfortable +night. He and W. were old friends, had travelled in the East together +and discussed every possible subject during long starlight nights in the +desert. They certainly never thought then that one day they would be +closely associated as ambassador and foreign minister. Vogue didn't like +the Republic, didn't believe in the capacity or the sincerity of the +Republicans--couldn't understand how W. could. He was a personal friend +of the marshal's, remained at Vienna during the marshal's presidency, +but left with him, much to W.'s regret, who knew what good service he +had done at Vienna and what a difficult post that would be for an +improvised diplomatist. It was then, and I fancy is still, one of the +stiffest courts in Europe. One hears amusing stories from some +diplomatists of the rigid etiquette in court circles, which the +Americans were always infringing. A great friend of mine, an American, +who had lived all her life abroad, and whose husband was a member of the +diplomatic corps in Vienna, was always worrying over the misdemeanours +of the Americans who never paid any attention to rules or court +etiquette. They invaded charmed circles, walked boldly up to archdukes +and duchesses, talking to them cheerfully and easily without waiting to +be spoken to, giving them a great deal of information upon all subjects, +Austrian as well as American, and probably interested the very stiff +Austrian royalties much more than the ordinary trained diplomatist, who +would naturally be more correct in his attitude and conversation. I +think the American nationality is the most convenient in the world. The +Americans do just as they like, and no one is ever surprised. The +explanation is quite simple: "They are Americans." I have often noticed +little faults of manners or breeding, which would shock one in a +representative of an older civilisation, pass quite unnoticed, or merely +provoke a smile of amusement. + +We drove about a great deal--the country at the back of Deauville, going +away from the sea, is lovely--very like England--charming narrow roads +with high banks and hedges on each side--big trees with spreading +branches meeting overhead--stretches of green fields with cows grazing +placidly and horses and colts gambolling about. It is a great grazing +and breeding country. There are many haras (breeding stables) in the +neighbourhood, and the big Norman posters are much in demand. I have +friends who never take their horses to the country. They hire for the +season a pair of strong Norman horses that go all day up and down hill +at the same regular pace and who get over a vast amount of country. We +stopped once or twice when we were a large party, two or three +carriages, and had tea at one of the numerous farmhouses that were +scattered about. Boiling water was a difficulty--milk, cider, good bread +and butter, cheese we could always find--sometimes a galette, but a +kettle and boiling water were entirely out of their habits. They used to +boil the water in a large black pot, and take it out with a big spoon. +However, it amused us, and the water really did boil. + +We had an Italian friend, Count A., who went with us sometimes, and he +was very debrouillard, made himself delightful at once to the fermiere +and got whatever he wanted--chairs and tables set out on the grass, with +all the cows and colts and chickens walking about quite undisturbed by +the unusual sights and sounds. It was all very rustic and a delightful +change from the glories of the exposition and official life. It amused +me perfectly to see W. with a straw hat, sitting on a rather rickety +three-legged stool, eating bread and butter and jam. Once or twice some +of W.'s secretaries came down with despatches, and he had a good +morning's work, but on the whole the month passed lazily and pleasantly. + +We went back to Paris about the 10th of September, and remained there +until the end of the exposition. Paris was again crowded with +foreigners--the month of October was beautiful, bright and warm, and the +afternoons at the exposition were delightful at the end of the day, when +the crowd had dispersed a little and the last rays of the setting sun +lingered on the Meudon Hills and the river. The buildings and costumes +lost their tawdry look, and one saw only a mass of moving colour, which +seemed to soften and lose itself in the evening shadows. There were +various closing entertainments. The marshal gave a splendid fete at +Versailles. We drove out and had some difficulty in making our way +through the crowd of carriages, soldiers, police, and spectators that +lined the road. It was a beautiful sight as we got near the palace, +which was a blaze of light. The terraces and gardens were also +illuminated, and the effect of the little lamps hidden away in the +branches of the old trees, cut into all sorts of fantastic shapes, was +quite wonderful. There were not as many people at the entrance of the +palace as we had expected to find, for the invitations had been most +generously given to all nationalities. At first the rooms, which were +brilliantly lighted, looked almost empty. The famous Galerie des Glaces +was quite enchanting, almost too light, if there can be too much light +at a fete. There were very few people in it when we arrived rather +early--so much so that when I said to M. de L., one of the marshal's +aides-de-camp, "How perfectly beautiful it is, even now, empty; what +will it be when all the uniforms and jewels are reflected in the +mirrors," his answer was: "Ah, Madame, I am afraid we shan't have people +enough, the hall is so enormous." + +I thought of him afterward when an angry crowd was battering at the +doors of one of the salons where the royalties were having refreshments. +I don't think they realised, and we certainly didn't, what the noise +meant, but some of the marshal's household, who knew that only a slight +temporary partition was between us and an irate mob, struggling up the +staircase, were green with anxiety. However, the royalties all got away +without any difficulty, and we tried to hurry immediately after them, +but a dense crowd was then pouring into the room at each end, and for a +moment things looked ugly. The gentlemen, my husband and my +brother-in-law, Eugene Schuyler, Lord Lyons, British ambassador (a big +square-shouldered man), and one or two others, put us, my sister +Schuyler and me, in a recess of one of the big windows, with heavy +furniture in front of us, but that was not very pleasant--with the crowd +moving both ways closing in upon us--and the men were getting nervous, +so one of our secretaries squeezed through the crowd and found two or +three huissiers, came back with them, and we made a procession--two big +huissiers in front, with their silver chains and swords, the mark of +official status, which always impresses a French crowd, then Lord Lyons, +my sister, and I, then W. and Schuyler, and two more men behind us--and +with considerable difficulty and a good many angry expostulations, we +made our way out. Happily our carriages and servants with our wraps were +waiting in one of the inner courts, and we got away easily enough, but +the evening was disastrous to most of the company. + +There must have been some misunderstanding between the marshal's +household and the officials at Versailles, as but one staircase (and +there are several) was opened to the public, which was of course +absolutely insufficient. Why others were not opened and lighted will +always be a mystery. Every one got jammed in the one narrow +stairway--people jostled and tumbled over each other--some of the women +fainted and were carried out, borne high aloft over the heads of the +struggling multitudes, and many people never saw their cloaks again. The +vestiaire was taken by storm--satin and lace cloaks lying on the ground, +trampled upon by everybody, and at the end, various men not having been +able to find their coats were disporting themselves in pink satin cloaks +lined with swan's-down--over their shoulders. Quantities of people never +got into the palace--not even on the staircase. The landing was directly +opposite the room where the princes had their buffet--and if they had +succeeded in forcing the door, it would have been a catastrophe. While +we were standing in the window, looking into the park, which looked an +enchanted garden, with the lights and flowers--we wondered if we could +jump or climb down if the crowd pressed too much upon us, but it was too +high and there were no projecting balconies to serve as stepping-stones. +It was a very unpleasant experience. + +We were giving a ball at the Quai d'Orsay a few nights afterward, and +had also asked a great many people--all the ambassadors sent in very +large lists of invitations they wanted for their compatriots, but much +the largest was that sent in by the American minister. The invitations +sent to the United States Legation (as it was then) were something +fabulous. It seemed to me the whole of the United States were in Paris +and expecting to be entertained. It is a very difficult position for the +American representative on these occasions. Everybody can't be invited +to the various entertainments and distinctions are very hard to make. We +had some amusing experiences. W. had a letter from one of his English +friends, Lord H., saying he was coming to Paris for the fetes, with his +two daughters, and he would like very much to be invited to some of the +parties at the Elysee and the ministries. W. replied, saying he would +do what he could, and added that we were to have two large dinners and +receptions,--one with the Comedie Francaise afterward and one with +music--which one would they come to. Lord H. promptly replied, "to +both." It was funny, but really didn't make any difference. When you +have a hundred people to dinner you can quite easily have a hundred and +three, and in such large parties, arranged weeks beforehand, some one +always gives out at the last moment. + +We had a great many discussions in W.'s cabinet with two of his +secretaries, who were especially occupied with the invitations for our +ball. The Parliament of course (le peuple souverain) was invited, but it +was a different question for the women, wives of the senators and +deputies. We finally arrived at a solution by inviting only the wives I +knew. We had an indignant response from one gentleman: "M. X., Depute, +ne valsant qu'avec sa femme, a l'honneur de renvoyer la carte +d'invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres et Madame +Waddington lui ont adressee pour la soiree du 28...." (Mr. X., Deputy, +who waltzes only with his wife, has the honour to send back the card of +invitation which the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame Waddington +have sent to him for the party of the 28... ) It was unanimously +decided that the couple must be invited--a gentleman who went to balls +only to dance with his wife must be encouraged in such exemplary +behaviour. Another was funny too, in a different style: "Madame K., +etant au ciel depuis quelques annees, ne pourrait pas se rendre a la +gracieuse invitation que le Ministre des Affaires Etrangeres et Madame +Waddington ont bien voulu lui adresser. Monsieur K. s'y rendra avec +plaisir."... (Madame K., being in heaven for some years, cannot accept +the amiable invitation of the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Madame +Waddington. Mr. K. will come with pleasure.) We kept the letters in our +archives with many other curious specimens. The house was given over to +workmen the last two or three days before the ball. With the remembrance +of the staircase at Versailles in our minds, we were most anxious to +have no contretemps of any kind to interfere with our entertainment. +Both entrances were arranged and the old elevator (which had not worked +for years) was put in order. It had been suggested once or twice that I +should use it, but as I always had heard a gruesome tale of Madame +Drouyn de l'Huys, when her husband was Foreign Minister, hanging in +space for four or five hours between the two floors, I was not inclined +to repeat that experience. + +My recollection of the lower entrance and staircase, which we never +used, was of rather a dark, grimy corner, and I was amazed the morning +of the ball to see the transformation. Draperies, tapestries, flags, and +green plants had done wonders--and the elevator looked quite charming +with red velvet hangings and cushions. I don't think any one used it. We +had asked our guests at nine-thirty, as the princes said they would come +at ten. I was ready about nine, and thought I would go down-stairs by +the lower entrance, so as to have a look at the staircase and all the +rooms before any one came. There was already such a crowd in the rooms +that I couldn't get through; even my faithful Gerard could not make a +passage. We were obliged to send for two huissiers, who with some +difficulty made room for me. W. and his staff were already in the salon +reserve, giving final instructions. The servants told us that since +eight o'clock there had been a crowd at the doors, which they opened a +little before nine, and a flood of people poured in. The salon reserve +had a blue ribbon stretched across the entrance from door to door, and +was guarded by huissiers, old hands who knew everybody in the diplomatic +and official world, and would not let any one in who hadn't a right to +penetrate into the charmed circle (which of course became the one room +where every one wanted to go). There were, too, one or two members of +W.'s cabinet always stationed near the doors to see that instructions +were obeyed. + +I don't think the salon reserve exists any more--the blue ribbon +certainly not. The rising flood of democracy and equality wouldn't +submit to any such barrier. I remember quite well one beautiful woman +standing for some time just the wrong side of the ribbon. She was so +beautiful that every one remarked her, but she had no official rank or +claim of any kind to enter the salon reserve--no one knew her, though +every one was asking who she was. She finally made her entree into the +room on the arm of one of the members of the diplomatic corps, a young +secretary, one of her friends, who could not refuse her what she wanted +so much. She was certainly the handsomest woman in the room with the +exception of the actual Queen Alexandra, who was always the most +beautiful and distinguished wherever she was. + +The royalties didn't dance much. We had the regular quadrille d'honneur +with the Princes and Princesses of Wales, Denmark, Sweden, Countess of +Flanders, and others. None of the French princes came to the ball. +There was a great crowd, but as the distinguished guests remained all +the time in the salon reserve, they were not inconvenienced by it. Just +before supper, which was served at little round tables in a room opening +out of the rotonde, the late King of Denmark, then Crown Prince, brother +of the Princess of Wales, told me he would like to go up-stairs and see +all the rooms; he had always heard that the Palais d'Orsay was a +beautiful house. We made a difficult but stately progress through the +rooms. The staircase was a pretty sight, covered with a red carpet, +tapestries on the walls, and quantities of pretty women of all +nationalities grouped on the steps. We walked through the rooms, where +there were just as many people as there were down-stairs, an orchestra, +supper-room, people dancing--just like another party going on. We halted +a few minutes in my petit salon at the end of the long suite of rooms. +It looked quite charming, with the blue brocade walls and quantities of +pink roses standing in high glass vases. I suggested taking the elevator +to go down, but the prince preferred walking (so did I). It was even +more difficult getting through the crowd down-stairs--we had the whole +length of the house to cross. Several women stood on chairs as we passed +along, in the hope of seeing one of the princesses, but they had wisely +remained in the salon reserve, and were afraid to venture into +the crowd. + +Supper was a serious preoccupation for the young secretaries of the +ministry, who had much difficulty in keeping that room private. Long +before the supper hour some enterprising spirits had discovered that the +royalties were to sup in that room, and finding the secretaries quite +inaccessible to any suggestions of "people who had a right to come +in"--presidents of commissions and various other distinctions--had +recourse to the servants, and various gold pieces circulated, which, +however, did not accomplish their object. The secretaries said that they +had more trouble with the chamberlains of the various princes than with +the princes themselves; they all wanted to sup in the private room, and +were much more tenacious of having a good place, or the place they +thought was due to them, than their royal masters. The supper was very +gay--the Prince of Wales (the late King Edward) perfectly +charming--talking to every one, remembering every one with that +extraordinary gracious manner which made him friends in all classes. +Immediately after supper the princes and distinguished strangers and W. +departed. I remained about an hour longer and went to have a look at +the ballroom. It was still crowded, people dancing hard, and when +finally about two o'clock I retreated to my own quarters, I went to +sleep to the sound of waltzes and dance music played by the two +orchestras. The revelry continued pretty well all through the night. +Whenever I woke I heard strains of music. Supper went on till seven in +the morning. Our faithful Kruft told us that there was absolutely +nothing left on the tables, and they had almost to force the people out, +telling them that an invitation to a ball did not usually extend to +breakfast the next morning. + +There was a grand official closing of the exposition at the end of +November, with a distribution of prizes--the city still very full and +very gay--escorts and uniforms in every direction--the Champs-Elysees +brilliant with soldiers--equipages of all descriptions, and all the +afternoon a crowd of people sitting under the trees, much interested in +all that was going on, particularly when carriages would pass with +people in foreign and striking costumes. The Chinese always wore their +costume; the big yellow birds of paradise became quite a feature of the +afternoon defile. An Indian princess too, dressed entirely in white--a +soft clinging material, with a white veil, _not_ over her face, and +held in place by a gold band going around the head--was always much +admired. Every now and then there would be a great clatter of +trotting-horses and jingling sabres, when an escort of dragoons would +pass, escorting some foreign prince to the Elysee to pay his formal +visit to the marshal. Everybody looked gay--French people so dearly love +a show--and it was amusing to see the interest every one took in the +steady stream of people, from the fashionable woman driving to the Bois +in her victoria to the workmen, who would stand in groups on the corners +of the streets--some of them occasionally with a child on their +shoulders. Frenchmen of all classes are good to children. On a Sunday or +fete day, when whole families are coming in from a day at the Bois, one +often sees a young husband wheeling a baby-carriage, or carrying a baby +in his arms to let the poor mother have a rest. It was curious at the +end of the exposition to see how quickly everything was removed (many +things had been sold); and in a few days the Champ de Mars took again +the same aspect it had at the beginning of the month of May--heavy carts +and camions everywhere, oceans of mud, lines of black holes where trees +and poles had been planted, and the same groups of small shivering +Southerners, all huddled together, wrapped in wonderful cloaks and +blankets, quite paralysed with cold. I don't know if the exposition was +a financial success--I should think probably not. A great deal of money +came into France (but the French spent enormously in their preparations) +but the moral effect was certainly good--all the world flocked to Paris. +Cabs and river steamers did a flourishing business, as did all the +restaurants and cafes in the suburbs. St. Cloud, Meudon, Versailles, +Robinson, were crowded every night with people who were thirsting for +air and food after long hot days in the dust and struggles of the +exposition. We dined there once or twice, but it was certainly neither +pleasant nor comfortable--even in the most expensive restaurants. They +were all overcrowded, very bad service, badly lighted, and generally bad +food. There were various national repasts--Russian, Italian, etc.--but I +never participated in any of those, except once at the American +restaurant, where I had a very good breakfast one morning, with +delicious waffles made by a negro cook. I was rather glad when the +exhibition was over. One had a feeling that one ought to see as much as +possible, and there were some beautiful things, but it was most +fatiguing struggling through the crowd, and we invariably lost the +carriage and found ourselves at the wrong entrance, and had to wait +hours for a cab. Tiffany had a great success with the French. Many of my +friends bought souvenirs of the exposition from him. His work was very +original, fanciful, and quite different from the rather stiff, heavy, +classic silver that one sees in this country. + + + + +IX + + +M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER + +There had been a respite, a sort of armed truce, in political circles as +long as the exposition lasted, but when the Chambers met again in +November, it was evident that things were not going smoothly. The +Republicans and Radicals were dissatisfied. Every day there were +speeches and insinuations against the marshal and his government, and +one felt that a crisis was impending. There were not loaves and fishes +enough for the whole Radical party. If one listened to them it would +seem as if every prefet and every general were conspiring against the +Republic. There were long consultations in W.'s cabinet, and I went +often to our house in the rue Dumont d'Urville to see if everything was +in order there, as I quite expected to be back there for Christmas. A +climax was reached when the marshal was asked to sign the deposition of +some of the generals. He absolutely refused--the ministers persisted in +their demands. There was not much discussion, the marshal's mind was +made up, and on the 30th of January, 1879, he announced in the Conseil +des Ministres his irrevocable decision, and handed his ministers his +letter of resignation. + +We had a melancholy breakfast--W., Count de P., and I--the last day of +the marshal's presidency. W. was very blue, was quite sure the marshal +would resign, and foresaw all sorts of complications both at home and +abroad. The day was gloomy too, grey and cold, even the big rooms of the +ministry were dark. As soon as they had started for Versailles, I took +baby and went to mother's. As I went over the bridge I wondered how many +more times I should cross it, and whether the end of the week would see +me settled again in my own house. We drove about and had tea together, +and I got back to the Quai d'Orsay about six o'clock. Neither W. nor +Count de P. had got back from Versailles, but there were two +telegrams--the first one to say that the marshal had resigned, the +second one that Grevy was named in his place, with a large majority. + +[Illustration: M. Jules Grevy, reading Marshal MacMahon's letter of +resignation to the Chamber of Deputies. From _L'Illustration_, +February 8. 1879.] + +W. was rather depressed when he came home--he had always a great +sympathy and respect for the marshal, and was very sorry to see him +go,--thought his departure would complicate foreign affairs. As long as +the marshal was at the Elysee, foreign governments were not afraid of +coups d'etat or revolutions. He was also sorry that Dufaure would not +remain, but he was an old man, had had enough of political life and +party struggles--left the field to younger men. The marshal's letter was +communicated at once to the Parliament, and the houses met in the +afternoon. There was a short session to hear the marshal's letter read +(by Grevy in the Chamber of Deputies) and the two houses, Senate and +Chamber of Deputies, were convoked for a later hour of the same +afternoon. There was not much excitement, two or three names were +pronounced, but every one felt sure that Grevy would be the man. He was +nominated by a large majority, and the Republicans were +jubilant--thought the Republic was at last established on a firm and +proper basis. Grevy was perfectly calm and self-possessed--did not show +much enthusiasm. He must have felt quite sure from the first moment that +he would be named. His first visitor was the marshal, who wished him all +possible success in his new mission, and, if Grevy was pleased to be the +President of the Republic, the marshal was even more pleased not to be, +and to take up his private life again. + +There were many speculations as to who would be charged by Grevy to form +his first cabinet--and almost permanent meetings in all the groups of +the Left. W.'s friends all said he would certainly remain at the Foreign +Office, but that depended naturally upon the choice of the premier. If +he were taken from the more advanced ranks of the Left, W. could not +possibly stay. We were not long in suspense. W. had one or two +interviews with Grevy, which resulted in his remaining at the Foreign +Office, but as prime minister. W. hesitated at first, felt that it would +not be an easy task to keep all those very conflicting elements +together. There were four Protestants in the ministry, W., Leon Say, de +Freycinet, and Le Royer. Jules Ferry, who took the Ministry of Public +Instruction, a very clever man, was practically a freethinker, and the +Parliament was decidedly more advanced. The last elections had given a +strong Republican majority to the Senate. He consulted with his brother, +Richard Waddington, then a deputy, afterward a senator, president of the +Chamber of Commerce of Rouen, and some of his friends, and finally +decided to accept the very honourable, but very onerous position, and +remained at the Foreign Affairs with Grevy, as prime minister. + +If I had seen little of him before, I saw nothing of him now, as his +work was exactly doubled. We did breakfast together, but it was a most +irregular meal--sometimes at twelve o'clock, sometimes at one-thirty, +and very rarely alone. We always dined out or had people dining with us, +so that family life became a dream of the past. We very rarely went +together when we dined out. W. was always late--his coupe waited hours +in the court. I had my carriage and went alone. After eight or ten days +of irregular meals at impossible hours (we often dined at nine-thirty) I +said to Count de P., W.'s chef de cabinet: "Can't you arrange to have +business over a little earlier? It is awful to dine so late and to wait +so long," to which he replied: "Ah, madame, no one can be more desirous +than I to change that order of things, for when the minister dines at +nine-thirty, the chef de cabinet gets his dinner at ten-thirty." We did +manage to get rather more satisfactory hours after a little while, but +it was always difficult to extract W. from his work if it were anything +important. He became absorbed, and absolutely unconscious of time. + +The new President, Grevy, installed himself at once at the Elysee with +his wife and daughter. There was much speculation about Madame Grevy--no +one had ever seen her--she was absolutely unknown. When Grevy was +president of the National Assembly, he gave very pleasant men's +dinners, where Madame Grevy never appeared. Every one (of all opinions) +was delighted to go to him, and the talk was most brilliant and +interesting. Grevy was a perfect host, very cultivated, with a +marvellous memory--quoting pages of the classics, French, and Latin. + +Madame Grevy was always spoken of as a quiet, unpretending +person--occupied with domestic duties, who hated society and never went +anywhere--in fact, no one ever heard her name mentioned. A great many +people didn't know that Grevy had a wife. When her husband became +President of the Republic, there was much discussion as to Madame +Grevy's social status in the official world. I don't think Grevy wanted +her to appear nor to take any part in the new life, and she certainly +didn't want to. Nothing in her former life had prepared her for such a +change, and it was always an effort for her, but both were overruled by +their friends, who thought a woman was a necessary part of the position. +It was some little time before they were settled at the Elysee. W. asked +Grevy once or twice when Madame Waddington might call upon his wife--and +he answered that as soon as they were quite installed I should receive a +notice. One day a communication arrived from the Elysee, saying that +Madame Grevy would receive the diplomatic corps and the ministers' wives +on a fixed day at five o'clock. The message was sent on to the +diplomatic corps, and when I arrived on the appointed day (early, as I +wanted to see the people come in, and also thought I must present the +foreign ladies) there were already several carriages in the court. + +[Illustration: M. Jules Grevy elected President of the Republic by the +Senate and Chamber of Deputies meeting as the National Assembly. From +_l'Illustration_, February 8. 1879.] + +The Elysee looked just as it did in the marshal's time--plenty of +servants in gala liveries--two or three huissiers who knew +everybody--palms, flowers, everywhere. The traditions of the palace are +carried on from one President to another, and a permanent staff of +servants remains. We found Madame Grevy with her daughter and one or two +ladies, wives, I suppose, of the secretaries, seated in the well-known +drawing-room with the beautiful tapestries--Madame Grevy in a large gold +armchair at the end of the room--a row of gilt armchairs on each side of +hers--mademoiselle standing behind her mother. A huissier announced +every one distinctly, but the names and titles said nothing to Madame +Grevy. She was tall, middle-aged, handsomely dressed, and visibly +nervous--made a great many gestures when she talked. It was amusing to +see all the people arrive. I had nothing to do--there were no +introductions--every one was announced, and they all walked straight up +to Madame Grevy, who was very polite, got up for every one, men and +women. It was rather an imposing circle that gathered around +her--Princess Hohenlohe, German ambassadress, sat on one side of +her--Marquise Molins, Spanish ambassadress, on the other. There were not +many men--Lord Lyons, as doyen of the diplomatic corps, the nonce, and a +good many representatives of the South American Republics. Madame Grevy +was perfectly bewildered, and did try to talk to the ladies next to her, +but it was an intimidating function for any one, and she had no one to +help her, as they were all quite new to the work. It was obviously an +immense relief to her when some lady of the official world came in, whom +she had known before. The two ladies plunged at once into a very +animated conversation about their children, husbands, and various +domestic matters--a perfectly natural conversation, but not interesting +to the foreign ladies. + +We didn't make a very long visit--it was merely a matter of form. Lord +Lyons came out with me, and we had quite a talk while I was waiting for +my carriage in the anteroom. He was so sensible always in his +intercourse with the official world, quite realised that the position +was difficult and trying for Madame Grevy--it would have been for any +one thrown at once without any preparation into such perfectly different +surroundings. He had a certain experience of republics and republican +manners, as he had been some years in Washington as British minister, +and had often seen wives of American statesmen and ministers, fresh from +the far West, beginning their career in Washington, quite bewildered by +the novelty of everything and utterly ignorant of all questions of +etiquette--only he said the American women were far more adaptable than +either French or English--or than any others in the world, in fact. He +also said that day, and I have heard him repeat it once or twice since, +that he had _never_ met a stupid American woman.... + +I have always thought it was unnecessary to insist upon Madame Grevy's +presence at the Elysee. It is very difficult for any woman, no longer +very young, to begin an entirely new life in a perfectly different +milieu, and certainly more difficult for a Frenchwoman of the +bourgeoisie than any other. They live in such a narrow circle, their +lives are so cramped and uninteresting--they know so little of society +and foreign ways and manners that they must be often uncomfortable and +make mistakes. It is very different for a man. All the small questions +of dress and manners, etc., don't exist for him. One man in a dress coat +and white cravat looks very like another, and men of all conditions are +polite to a lady. When a man is intelligent, no one notices whether his +coat and waist-coat are too wide or too short and whether his boots +are clumsy. + +Madame Grevy never looked happy at the Elysee. They had a big dinner +every Thursday, with a reception afterward, and she looked so tired when +she was sitting on the sofa, in the diplomatic salon, making +conversation for the foreigners and people of all kinds who came to +their receptions, that one felt really sorry for her. Grevy was always a +striking personality. He had a fine head, a quiet, dignified manner, and +looked very well when he stood at the door receiving his guests. I don't +think he cared very much about foreign affairs--he was essentially +French--had never lived abroad or known any foreigners. He was too +intelligent not to understand that a country must have foreign +relations, and that France must take her place again as a great power, +but home politics interested him much more than anything else. He was a +charming talker--every one wanted to talk to him, or rather to listen to +him. The evenings were pleasant enough in the diplomatic salon. It was +interesting to see the attitude of the different diplomatists. All were +correct, but most of them were visibly antagonistic to the Republic and +the Republicans (which they considered much accentuee since the +nomination of Grevy--the women rather more so than the men). One felt, +if one didn't hear, the criticisms on the dress, deportment, and general +style of the Republican ladies. + +[Illustration: The Elysee Palace, Paris] + +I didn't quite understand their view of the situation. They were all +delighted to come to Paris, and knew perfectly well the state of things, +what an abyss existed between all the Conservative party, Royalists and +Bonapartists, and the Republican, but the absence of a court didn't make +any difference in their position. They went to all the entertainments +given in the Faubourg St. Germain, and all the societe came to theirs. +With very few exceptions they did only what was necessary in the way of +intercourse with the official world. I think they made a mistake, both +for themselves and their governments. France was passing through an +entirely new phase; everything was changing, many young intelligent men +were coming to the front, and there were interesting and able +discussions in the Chambers, and in the salons of the Republican +ministers and deputies. I dare say the new theories of liberty and +equality were not sympathetic to the trained representatives of courts, +but the world was advancing, democracy was in the air, and one would +have thought it would have interested foreigners to follow the movement +and to judge for themselves whether the young Republic had any chance of +life. One can hardly imagine a public man not wishing to hear all sides +of a question, but I think, _certainly_ in the beginning, there was such +a deep-rooted distrust and dislike to the Republic, that it was +impossible to see things fairly. I don't know that it mattered very +much. In these days of rapid travelling and telephone, an ambassador's +role is much less important than in the old days when an ambassador with +his numerous suite of secretaries and servants, travelling by post, +would be days on the road before reaching his destination, and when all +sorts of things might happen, kingdoms and dynasties be overthrown in +the interval. Now all the great measures and negotiations are discussed +and settled in the various chancelleries--the ambassador merely +transmits his instructions. + +I think the women were rather more uncompromising than the men. One day +in my drawing-room there was a lively political discussion going on, and +one heard all the well-known phrases "le gouvernement infect," "no +gentleman could serve the Republic," etc. I wasn't paying much +attention--never did; I had become accustomed to that style of +conversation, and knew exactly what they were all going to say, when I +heard one of my friends, an American-born, married to a Frenchman of +very good old family, make the following statement: "Toute la canaille +est Republicaine." That was really too much, and I answered: "Vous etes +bien indulgente pour l'Empire." When one thinks of the unscrupulous (not +to use a stronger term) and needy adventurers, who made the Coup d'Etat +and played a great part in the court of the Second Empire, it was really +a little startling to be told that the Republicans enjoyed the monopoly +of the canaille. However, I suppose nothing is so useless as a political +discussion (except perhaps a religious one). No one ever converts any +one else. I have always heard it said that the best political speech +never changed a vote. + +The first person who entertained Grevy was Prince Hohenlohe, the German +ambassador. They had a brilliant reception, rooms crowded, all the +official world and a fair contingent from the Faubourg St. Germain. The +President brought his daughter with him (Madame Grevy never accepted any +invitations) and they walked through the rooms arm-in-arm, mademoiselle +declining the arm of Count Wesdehlen, first secretary of the +German Embassy. + +However, she was finally prevailed upon to abandon the paternal support, +and then Wesdehlen installed her in a small salon where Mollard, +Introducteur des Ambassadeurs, took charge of her and introduced a great +many men to her. No woman would ask to be introduced to an unmarried +woman, and that of course made her position difficult. The few ladies +she had already seen at the Elysee came up to speak to her, but didn't +stay near her, so she was really receiving almost alone with Mollard. +Grevy was in another room, tres entoure, as he always was. The +diplomatic corps did not spare their criticisms. Madame Grevy received +every Saturday in the afternoon, and I went often--not every time. It +was a funny collection of people, some queerly dressed women and one or +two men in dress coats and white cravats,--always a sprinkling of +diplomatists. Prince Orloff was often there, and if anybody could have +made that stiff, shy semicircle of women comfortable, he would have done +it, with his extraordinary ease of manner and great habit of the world. +Gambetta was installed in the course of the month at the Palais Bourbon, +next to us. It was brilliantly lighted every night, and my chef told me +one of his friends, an excellent cook, was engaged, and that there would +be a great many dinners. The Palais Bourbon had seen great +entertainments in former days, when the famous Duc de Morny was +President de la Chambre des Deputes. Under Napoleon III his +entertainments were famous. The whole world, fashionable, political, and +diplomatic thronged his salons, and invitations were eagerly sought for +not only by the French people, but by the many foreigners who passed +through Paris at that time. Gambetta must have been a curious contrast +to the Duc de Morny. + +We went to see a first function at the Elysee some time in February, two +Cardinals were to be named and Grevy was to deliver the birettas. +Mollard asked to see me one morning, telling me that the two ablegates +with their suite had arrived, and wished to pay their respects to me. +One of them was Monsignor Cataldi, whom we had known well in Rome when +we were living there. He was a friend of my brother (General Rufus King, +the last United States minister to the Vatican under Pia Nono), and came +often to the house. He was much excited when he found out that Madame +Waddington was the Mary King he had known so well in Rome. He had with +him an English priest, whose name, curiously enough, was English. They +appeared about tea-time and were quite charming, Cataldi just as fat and +cheerful and talkative as I remembered him in the old days in Rome. We +plunged at once into all sorts of memories of old times--the good old +times when Rome was small and black and interesting--something quite +apart and different from any other place in the world. Monsignor English +was much younger and more reserved, the Anglo-Saxon type--a contrast to +the exuberant Southerners. We asked them to dine the next night and were +able to get a few interesting people to meet them, Comte et Comtesse de +Sartiges, and one or two deputies--bien-pensants. Sartiges was formerly +French ambassador in Rome to the Vatican, and a very clever diplomatist. +He was very autocratic, did exactly what he liked. I remember quite well +some of his small dances at the embassy. The invitations were from ten +to twelve, and at twelve precisely the musicians stopped playing--no +matter who was dancing, the ball was over. His wife was an American, +from Boston, Miss Thorndike, who always retained the simple, natural +manner of the well-born American. Their son, the Vicomte de Sartiges, +has followed in his father's footsteps, and is one of the most serious +and intelligent of the young diplomatists. + +Cataldi made himself very agreeable, spoke French perfectly well, though +with a strong Italian accent. He confided to me after dinner that he +would have liked to see some of the more advanced political men, instead +of the very conservative Catholics we had invited to meet them. "I know +what these gentlemen think; I would like to talk to some of the others, +those who think 'le clericalism c'est l'ennemi,' and who are firmly +convinced that the soutane serves as a cloak for all sorts of underhand +and unpatriotic dealings; I can only see them abroad, never in Rome." He +would have talked to them quite easily. Italians have so much natural +tact, in discussing difficult questions, never irritate people +unnecessarily. + +W. enjoyed his evening. He had never been in Rome, nor known many +Romans, and it amused him to see how skilfully Cataldi (who was a +devoted admirer of Leo XIII) avoided all cross-currents and difficult +questions, saying only what he intended to say, and appreciating all +that was said to him. + +Henrietta and I were very anxious to see the ceremony at the Elysee, and +asked Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs and chef du Protocole--a +most important man on all official occasions, if he couldn't put us +somewhere in a corner, where we could see, without taking any part. W. +was of no use to us, as he went officially, in uniform. Madame Grevy was +very amiable, and sent us an invitation to breakfast. We found a small +party assembled in the tapestry salon when we arrived at the Elysee--the +President with all his household, civil and military, Madame and +Mademoiselle Grevy, three or four ladies, wives of the aides-de-camp and +secretaries, also several prominent ecclesiastics, among them Monsignor +Capel, an English priest, a very handsome and attractive man, whom we +had known well in Rome. He was supposed to have made more women converts +to Catholicism than any man of his time; I can quite understand his +influence with women. There was something very natural and earnest about +him--no pose. I had not seen him since I had married and was very +pleased when I recognised him. He told me he had never seen W.--was most +anxious to make his acquaintance. + +While we were talking, W. came in, looking very warm and uncomfortable, +wearing his stiff, gold-embroidered uniform, which changed him very +much. I introduced Capel to him at once. They had quite a talk before +the Archbishops and ablegates arrived. The two future Cardinals, +Monseigneur Pie, Archbishop of Poitiers, and Monseigneur Desprey, +Archbishop of Toulouse, were well known in the Catholic world. The +Pope's choice was generally approved. They were treated with all due +ceremony, as befitted princes of the church. One of the Elysee carriages +(always very well turned out), with an escort of cavalry, went to fetch +them, and they looked very stately and imposing in their robes when they +came into the room where we were waiting. They were very different, +Monseigneur Pie tall, thin, cold, arrogant,--one felt it was a trial for +him to receive his Cardinal's hat from the hands of a Republican +President. Monseigneur Desprey had a kind good expression. I don't think +he liked it much either, but he put a better face on the matter. + +Both Cardinals said exactly what one imagined they would say--that the +traditional fidelity of France to the church should be supported and +encouraged in every way in these troubled days of indifference to +religion, etc. One felt all the time the strong antagonism of the church +to the Republic. Grevy answered extremely well, speaking with much +dignity and simplicity, and assuring the Cardinals that they could +always count upon the constitutional authority of the head of the state, +in favour of the rights of the church. I was quite pleased to see again +the red coats and high boots of the gardes nobles. It is a very showy, +dashing uniform. The two young men were good-looking and wore it very +well. I asked to have them presented to me, and we had a long talk over +old days in Rome when the Pope went out every day to the different +villas, and promenades, and always with an escort of gardes nobles. I +invited them to our reception two or three nights afterward, and they +seemed to enjoy themselves. They were, of course, delighted with their +short stay in Paris, and I think a little surprised at the party at the +Foreign Office under a Republican regime. I don't know if they expected +to find the rooms filled with gentlemen in the traditional red +Garibaldian shirt--and ladies in corresponding simplicity of attire. + +[Illustration: Her Majesty Queen Victoria, about 1879. From a photograph +by Chancellor, Dublin.] + +We saw a great many English at the Quai d'Orsay. Queen Victoria stayed +one or two nights at the British Embassy, passing through Paris on her +way South. She sent for W., who had never seen her since his +undergraduate days at Cambridge. He found her quite charming, very easy, +interested in everything. She began the conversation in French--(he was +announced with all due ceremony as Monsieur le Ministre des Affaires +Etrangeres) and W. said she spoke it remarkably well,--then, with her +beautiful smile which lightened up her whole face: "I think I can +speak English with a Cambridge scholar." She was much interested in his +beginnings in England at Rugby and Cambridge--and was evidently +astonished, though she had too much tact to show it, that he had chosen +to make his life and career in France instead of accepting the +proposition made to him by his cousin Waddington, then Dean of Durham, +to remain in England and continue his classic and literary studies under +his guidance. When the interview was over he found the Queen's faithful +Scotch retainer, John Brown, who always accompanied her everywhere, +waiting outside the door, evidently hoping to see the minister. He spoke +a few words with him, as a countryman--W. being half Scotch--his mother +was born Chisholm. They shook hands and John Brown begged him to come to +Scotland, where he would receive a hearty welcome. W. was very pleased +with his reception by the Queen. Lord Lyons told him afterward that she +had been very anxious to see him; she told him later, in speaking of the +interview, that it was very difficult to realise that she was speaking +to a French minister--everything about him was so absolutely English, +figure, colouring, and speech. + +Many old school and college experiences were evoked that year by the +various English who passed through Paris. One night at a big dinner at +the British Embassy I was sitting next to the Prince of Wales (late King +Edward). He said to me: "There is an old friend of your husband's here +to-night, who will be so glad to see him again. They haven't met since +he was his fag at Rugby." After dinner he was introduced to me--Admiral +Glynn--a charming man, said his last recollection of W. was making his +toast for him and getting a good cuff when the toast fell into the fire +and got burnt. The two men talked together for some time in the +smoking-room, recalling all sorts of schoolboy exploits. Another school +friend was Sir Francis Adams, first secretary and "counsellor" at the +British Embassy. When the ambassador took his holiday, Adams replaced +him, and had the rank and title of minister plenipotentiary. He came +every Wednesday, the diplomatic reception day, to the Quai d'Orsay to +talk business. As long as a secretary or a huissier was in the room, +they spoke to each other most correctly in French; as soon as they were +alone, relapsed into easy and colloquial English. We were very fond of +Adams--saw a great deal of him not only in Paris, but when we first +lived in London at the embassy. He died suddenly in Switzerland, and W. +missed him very much. He was very intelligent, a keen observer, had +been all over the world, and his knowledge and appreciation of foreign +countries and ways was often very useful to W. + +We continued our dinners and receptions, which always interested me, we +saw so many people of all kinds. One dinner was for Prince Alexander of +Battenberg, just as he was starting to take possession of the new +principality of Bulgaria. He was one of the handsomest men I have ever +seen,--tall, young, strong. He seemed the type of the dashing young +chief who would inspire confidence in a new independent state. He didn't +speak of his future with much enthusiasm. I wonder if a presentiment was +even then overclouding what seemed a brilliant beginning! He talked a +great deal at dinner. He was just back from Rome, and full of its charm, +which at once made a bond of sympathy between us. Report said he had +left his heart there with a young Roman. He certainly spoke of the happy +days with a shade of melancholy. I suggested that he ought to marry, +that would make his "exile," as he called it, easier to bear. "Ah, yes, +if one could choose." Then after a pause, with an almost boyish +petulance: "They want me to marry Princess X., but I don't want to." "Is +she pretty, will she help you in your new country?" "I don't know; I +don't care; I have never seen her." + +Poor fellow, he had a wretched experience. Some of the "exiles" were +less interesting. A lady asked to see me one day, to enlist my +sympathies for her brother and plead his cause with the minister. He had +been named to a post which he couldn't really accept. I rather demurred, +telling her messenger, one of the secretaries of the Foreign Office, +that it was quite useless, her asking me to interfere. W. was not very +likely to consult me in his choice of nominations--and in fact the small +appointments, secretaries, were generally prepared in the Chancellerie +and followed the usual routine of regular promotion. An ambassador, of +course, was different, and was sometimes taken quite outside the +carriere. The lady persisted and appeared one morning--a pretty, +well-dressed femme du monde whom I had often met without making her +acquaintance. She plunged at once into her subject--her brother's +delicate health, accustomed to all the comforts and what the books call +"higher civilisation" of Europe, able to do good service in courts and +society, as he knew everybody. It was a pity to send him to such an +out-of-the-way place, with an awful climate,--any consul's clerk would +do as well. I supposed he had been named to Caracas, South America, or +some other remote and unhealthy part of the globe, but when she stopped +for a moment, I discovered that the young man was named to Washington. I +was really surprised, didn't know what to say at once, when the +absurdity of the thing struck me and I answered that Washington was far, +perhaps across the ocean, but there were compensations--but she took up +her argument again, such an impossible place, everything so primitive, I +really think she thought the youth was going to an Indian settlement, +all squaws and wigwams and tomahawks. I declined any interference with +the minister's appointments, assuring her I had no influence whatever, +and she took leave of me very icily. I heard the sequel afterward--the +young man refused the post as quite unworthy of him. There were several +others ready and pleased to take it, and M. de X. was put en +disponibilite. + +We saw too that year for the first time the Grand Duke Alexander of +Russia (later Emperor Alexander III, whose coronation we went to at +Moscow) and the Grande Duchesse Marie. Prince Orloff arranged the +interview, as he was very anxious that the Grand Duke should have some +talk with W. They were in Paris for three or four days, staying at the +Hotel Bristol, where they received us. He was a tall, handsome man, +with a blond beard and blue eyes, quite the Northern type. She recalled +her sister (Queen Alexandra), not quite so tall, but with the same +gracious manner and beautiful eyes. The Grand Duke talked a great deal, +principally politics, to W. He expressed himself very doubtfully about +the stability of the Republic, and was evidently worried over the +possibility of a general amnesty, "a very dangerous measure which no +government should sanction." W. assured him there would be no general +amnesty, but he seemed sceptical, repeated several times: "Soyez stable, +soyez ferme." The Grande Duchesse talked to me about Paris, the streets +were so gay, the shops so tempting, and all the people so smiling and +happy. I suppose the contrast struck her, coming from Russia where the +people look sad and listless. I was much impressed with their sad, +repressed look when we were in Russia for the coronation--one never +heard people laugh or sing in the streets--and yet we were there at a +time of great national rejoicings, amusements of all kinds provided for +the people. Their national melodies, volklieder (songs of the people), +have always a strain of sadness running through them. Our conversation +was in French, which both spoke very well. + +The winter months went by quickly enough with periodical alarms in the +political world when some new measure was discussed which aroused +everybody's passions and satisfied neither side. I made weekly visits to +my own house, which was never dismantled, as I always felt our stay at +the Quai d'Orsay would not last much longer. One of our colleagues, +Madame Leon Say, an intelligent, charming woman, took matters more +philosophically than I did. Her husband had been in and out of office so +often that she was quite indifferent to sudden changes of residence. +They too kept their house open and she said she had always a terrine de +crise ready in her larders. + +The diplomatic appointments, the embassies particularly, were a +difficulty. Admiral Pothnau went to London. He was a very gallant +officer and had served with the English in the Crimea--had the order of +the Bath, and exactly that stand-off, pompous manner which suits English +people. General Chanzy went to St. Petersburg. It has been the tradition +almost always to send a soldier to Russia. There is so little +intercourse between the Russian Emperor and any foreigner, even an +ambassador, that an ordinary diplomatist, no matter how intelligent or +experienced he might be, would have very few opportunities to talk to +the Emperor; whereas an officer, with the various reviews and +manoeuvres that are always going on in Russia, would surely approach him +more easily. I was so struck when we were in Russia with the immense +distance that separated the princes from the ordinary mortals. They seem +like demigods on a different plane (in Russia I mean; of course when +they come to Paris their godlike attributes disappear, unfortunately for +themselves). + +Chanzy was very happy in Russia, where he was extremely well received. +He dined with us one night, when he was at home on leave, and was most +enthusiastic about everything in Russia--their finances, their army--the +women of all classes so intelligent, so patriotic. He was evidently +quite sous le charme. When he had gone, M. Desprey, then Directeur de la +Politique, a very clever man, who had seen many ambassadors come and go +from all the capitals of Europe, said: + +"It is curious how all the ambassadors who go to Russia have that same +impression. I have never known it to fail. It is the Russian policy to +be delightful to the ambassadors--make life very easy for them--show +them all that is brilliant and interesting--open all doors (society, +etc.) and keep all sordid and ugly questions in the background." + +St. Vallier remained at Berlin. His name had been mentioned for Foreign +Minister when Dufaure was making his cabinet, but he hadn't the health +for it--and I think preferred being in Berlin. He knew Germany well and +had a good many friends in Berlin. + +W. of course had a great many men's dinners, from which I was excluded. +I dined often with some of my friends, not of the official world, and I +used to ask myself sometimes if the Quai d'Orsay and these houses could +be in the same country. It was an entirely different world, every point +of view different, not only politics--that one would expect, as the +whole of society was anti-Republican, Royalist, or Bonapartist--but +every question discussed wore a different aspect. Once or twice there +was a question of Louis XIV and what he would have done in certain +cases,--the religious question always a passionate one. That of course I +never discussed, being a Protestant, and knowing quite well that the +real fervent Catholics think Protestants have no religion. + +I was out driving with a friend one morning in Lent (Holy Week), +Thursday I think--and said I could not be out late, as I must go to +church--perhaps she would drop me at the Protestant Chapel in the Avenue +de la Grand Armee. She was so absolutely astonished that it was almost +funny, though I was half angry too. "You are going to church on Holy +Thursday. I didn't know Protestants ever kept Lent, or Holy Week or any +saint's day." "Don't you think we ever go to church?" "Oh, yes, to a +conference or sermon on Sundays, but you are not pratiquant like us." I +was really put out, and tried another day, when she was sitting with me, +to show her our prayerbook, and explained that the Creed and the Lord's +Prayer, to say nothing of various other prayers, were just the same as +in her livre de Messe, but I didn't make any impression upon her--her +only remark being, "I suppose you do believe in God,"--yet she was a +clever, well-educated woman--knew her French history well, and must have +known what a part the French Protestants played at one time in France, +when many of the great nobles were Protestants. + +Years afterward, with the same friend, we were discussing the proposed +marriage of the Duke of Clarence, eldest son of the late King Edward VII +of England, who wanted very much to marry Princess Helene d'Orleans, +daughter of the Comte de Paris, now Duchesse d'Aosta. It was impossible +for the English prince, heir to the throne, to marry a Catholic +princess--it seemed equally impossible for the French princess to become +a Protestant. The Pope was consulted and very strong influence brought +to bear on the question, but the Catholic Church was firm. We were in +London at the time, and of course heard the question much discussed. It +was an interesting case, as the two young people were much in love with +each other. I said to my friend: + +"If I were in the place of the Princess Helene I should make myself a +Protestant. It is a big bait for the daughter of an exiled prince to be +Queen of England." + +"But it couldn't be; no Catholic could change her religion or make +herself Protestant." + +"Yet there is a precedent in your history. Your King Henri IV of beloved +memory, a Protestant, didn't hesitate to make himself a Catholic to be +King of France." + +"Ah, but that is quite different." + +"For you perhaps, chere amie, but not for us." + +However, the poor young prince died suddenly of pneumonia, so the +sacrifice would have been in vain. + +All the autumn of '79 was very agitated. We were obliged to curtail our +stay at Bourneville, our country home. Even though the Chambers were not +sitting, every description of political intrigue was going on. Every day +W. had an immense courrier and every second day a secretary came down +from the Quai d'Orsay with despatches and papers to sign. Telegrams came +all day long. W. had one or two shooting breakfasts and the long tramps +in the woods rested him. The guests were generally the notabilities of +the small towns and villages of his circumscription,--mayors, farmers, +and small landowners. They all talked politics and W. was surprised to +see how in this quiet agricultural district the fever of democracy had +mounted. Usually the well-to-do farmer is very conservative, looks +askance at the very advanced opinions of the young radicals, but a +complete change had come over them. They seemed to think the Republic, +founded at last upon a solid basis, supported by honest Republicans, +would bring untold prosperity not only to the country, but to each +individual, and many very modest, unpretending citizens of the small +towns saw themselves conseilleurs generaux, deputies, perhaps even +ministers. It was a curious change. However, on the whole, the people in +our part of the world were reasonable. I was sorry to go back to town. I +liked the last beautiful days of September in the country. The trees +were just beginning to turn, and the rides in the woods were delightful, +the roads so soft and springy. The horses seemed to like the brisk +canter as much as we did. We disturbed all the forest life as we +galloped along--hares and rabbits scuttled away--we saw their white +tails disappearing into holes, and when we crossed a bit of plain, +partridges a long distance off would rise and take their crooked flight +across the fields. It was so still, always is in the woods, that the +horses' feet could be heard a long way off. It was getting colder (all +the country folk predicted a very cold winter) and the wood-fire looked +very cheerful and comfortable in my little salon when we came in. + +However, everything must end, and W. had to go back to the fight, which +promised to be lively. In Paris we found people wearing furs and +preparing for a cold winter. The house of the Quai d'Orsay was +comfortable, well warmed, caloriferes and big fires in all the rooms, +and whenever there was any sun it poured into the rooms from the garden. +I didn't take up my official afternoon receptions. The session had not +begun, and, as it seemed extremely unlikely that the coming year would +see us still at the Quai d'Orsay, it was not worth while to embark upon +that dreary function. I was at home every afternoon after five--had tea +in my little blue salon, and always had two or three people to keep me +company. Prince Hohenlohe came often, settled himself in an armchair +with his cup of tea, and talked easily and charmingly about everything. +He was just back from Germany and reported Bismarck and the Emperor (I +should have said, perhaps, the Emperor and Bismarck) as rather worried +over the rapid strides France was making in radicalism. He reassured +them, told them Grevy was essentially a man of peace, and, as long as +moderate men like W., Leon Say, and their friends remained in office, +things would go quietly. "Yes, if they remain. I have an idea we shan't +stay much longer, and report says Freycinet will be the next premier." +He evidently had heard the same report, and spoke warmly of +Freycinet,--intelligent, energetic, and such a precise mind. If W. were +obliged to resign, which he personally would regret, he thought +Freycinet was the coming man--unless Gambetta wanted to be premier. He +didn't think he did, was not quite ready yet, but his hand might be +forced by his friends, and of course if he wanted it, he would be the +next President du Conseil. He also told me a great many things that +Blowitz had said to him--he had a great opinion of him--said he was so +marvellously well-informed of all that was going on. It was curious to +see how a keen, clever man like Prince Hohenlohe attached so much +importance to anything that Blowitz said. The nuncio, Monseigneur +Czaski, came too sometimes at tea-time. He was a charming talker, but I +always felt as if he were saying exactly what he meant to and what he +wanted me to repeat to W. I am never quite sure with Italians. There is +always a certain reticence under their extremely natural, rather +exuberant manner. Monseigneur Czaski was not an Italian by birth--a +Pole, but I don't know that they inspire much more confidence. + + + + +X + + +PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS + +The question of the return of the Parliament to Paris had at last been +solved after endless discussions. All the Republicans were in favour of +it, and they were masters of the situation. The President, Grevy, too +wanted it very much. If the Chambers continued to sit at Versailles, he +would be obliged to establish himself there, which he didn't want to do. +Many people were very unwilling to make the change, were honestly +nervous about possible disturbances in the streets, and, though they +grumbled too at the loss of time, the draughty carriages of the +parliamentary train, etc., they still preferred those discomforts to any +possibility of rioting and street fights, and the invasion of the +Chamber of Deputies by a Paris mob. W. was very anxious for the change. + +He didn't in the least anticipate any trouble--his principal reason for +wanting the Parliament back was the loss of time, and also to get rid of +the conversations in the train, which tired him very much. He never +could make himself heard without an effort, as his voice was low, had no +"timbre," and he didn't hear his neighbours very well in the noise of +the train. He always arrived at the station at the last minute, and got +into the last carriage, hoping to be undisturbed, and have a quiet +half-hour with his papers, but he was rarely left alone. If any deputy +who wanted anything recognised him, he of course got in the same +carriage, because he knew he was sure of a half-hour to state his case, +as the minister couldn't get away from him. The Chambers met, after a +short vacation in November, at last in Paris, and already there were so +many interpellations announced on every possible subject, so many +criticisms on the policy of the cabinet, and so many people wanting +other people's places, that the session promised to be very lively--the +Senate at the Palais du Luxembourg, the Deputies at the Palais Bourbon. + +W. and I went over to the Luxembourg one morning early in October, to +see the arrangements that had been made for the Senate. He wanted too to +choose his seat. I hadn't been there in the daytime for years--I had +dined once or twice at the Petit Palais with various presidents of the +Senate, but my only impression was a very long drive (from the Barriere +de l'Etoile where we lived) and fine high rooms with heavy gilt +furniture and tapestries. The palace was built by Maria de' Medici, wife +of Henri IV. After the death of that very chivalrous but very undomestic +monarch, she retired to the Luxembourg, and from there as regent (her +son Louis XIII was only ten years old when his father died) for some +years directed the policy of France under the guidance of her favourite, +the Italian Concini, and his wife. + +The palace recalls very much the Palazzo Pitti in Florence, with its +solid masonry and rather severe heavy architecture. It must have been a +gloomy residence, notwithstanding the beautiful gardens with their broad +alleys and great open spaces. The gardens are stiff, very Italian, with +statues, fountains, and marble balustrades--not many flowers, except +immediately around the palace, but they were flooded with sunshine that +day, and the old grey pile seemed to rise out of a parterre of bright +flowers. The palace has been slightly modernised, but the general +architecture remains the same. Many people of all kinds have lived there +since it was built--several royal princes, and the Emperor Napoleon when +he was First Consul. He went from there to the Tuileries. The Luxembourg +Palace has always been associated with the history of France. During +the Revolution it was a prison, and many of the curious scenes one reads +of at that period took place in those old walls--the grandes dames so +careful of their dress and their manners, the grands seigneurs so brave +and gallant, striving in every way by their witty conversation and their +music (for they sang and played in the prisons all through that awful +time) to distract the women and make them forget the terrible doom that +was hanging over them. Many well-known people went straight from the +palace to the scaffold. It seemed a fitting place for the sittings of +the Senate and the deliberations of a chosen body of men, who were +supposed to bring a maturer judgment and a wider experience in the +discussion of all the burning questions of the day than the ardent young +deputies so eager to have done with everything connected with the old +regime and start fresh. + +After we had inspected the palace we walked about the gardens, which +were charming that bright October morning,--the sun really too strong. +We found a bench in the shade, and sat there very happy, W. smoking and +wondering what the next turn of the wheel would bring us. A great many +people were walking about and sitting under the trees. It was quite a +different public from what one saw anywhere else, many students of both +sexes carrying books, small easels, and campstools,--some of the men +such evident Bohemians, with long hair, sweeping moustache, and soft +felt hat,--quite the type one sees in the pictures or plays of "La Vie +de Boheme." Their girl companions looked very trim and neat, dressed +generally in black, their clothes fitting extremely well--most of them +bareheaded, but some had hats of the simplest description--none of the +flaunting feathers and bright flowers one sees on the boulevards. They +are a type apart, the modern grisettes, so quiet and well-behaved as to +be almost respectable. One always hears that the Quartier Latin doesn't +exist any more--the students are more serious, less turbulent, and that +the hardworking little grisette, quite content with her simple life and +pleasure, has degenerated into the danseuse of the music-halls and +barriere theatres. I don't think so. A certain class of young, +impecunious students will always live in that quarter and will always +amuse themselves, and they will also always find girls quite ready and +happy to enjoy life a little while they are young enough to live in the +present, and have no cares for the future. Children were playing about +in the alleys and broad, open spaces, and climbing on the fountains +when the keepers of the garden were not anywhere near--their nurses +sitting in a sunny corner with their work. It was quite another world, +neither the Champs-Elysees nor Montmartre. All looked perfectly +respectable, and the couples sitting on out-of-the-way benches, in most +affectionate attitudes, were too much taken up with each other to heed +the passer-by. + +I went back there several times afterward, taking Francis with me, and +it was curious how out of the world one felt. Paris, our Paris, might +have been miles away. I learned to know some of the habitues quite +well--a white-haired old gentleman who always brought bread for the +birds; they knew him perfectly and would flutter down to the Square as +soon as he appeared--a handsome young man with a tragic face, always +alone, walking up and down muttering and talking to himself--he may have +been an aspirant for the Odeon or some of the theatres in the +neighbourhood--a lame man on crutches, a child walking beside him +looking wistfully at the children playing about but not daring to leave +her charge--groups of students hurrying through the gardens on their way +to the Sorbonne, their black leather serviettes under their +arms--couples always everywhere. I don't think there were many +foreigners or tourists,--I never heard anything but French spoken. Even +the most disreputable-looking old beggar at the gate who sold +shoe-laces, learned to know us, and would run to open the door of +the carriage. + +With the contrariety of human nature, some people would say of feminine +nature, now that I felt I was not going to live much longer on the rive +gauche I was getting quite fond of it. Life was so quiet and restful in +those long, narrow streets, some even with grass growing on the +pavement--no trams, no omnibuses, very little passing, glimpses +occasionally of big houses standing well back from the street, a +good-sized courtyard in front and garden at the back--the classic +Faubourg St. Germain hotel entre cour et jardin. I went to tea sometimes +with a friend who lived in a big, old-fashioned house in the rue de +Varenne. She lived on the fourth floor--one went up a broad, bare, cold +stone staircase (which always reminded me of some of the staircases in +the Roman palaces). Her rooms were large, very high ceilings, very +little furniture in them, very little fire in winter, fine old family +portraits on the walls, but from the windows one looked down on a lovely +garden where the sun shone and the birds sang all day. It was just like +being in the country, so extraordinarily quiet. A very respectable man +servant in an old-fashioned brown livery, with a great many brass +buttons, who looked as old as the house itself and as if he were part of +it, always opened the door. Her husband was a literary man who made +conferences at the Sorbonne and the College de France, and they lived +entirely in that quarter--came very rarely to our part of Paris. He was +an old friend of W.'s, and they came sometimes to dine with us. He +deplored W.'s having gone to the Foreign Office--thought the Public +Instruction was so much more to his tastes and habits. She had an +English grandmother, knew English quite well, and read English reviews +and papers. She had once seen Queen Victoria and was very interested in +all that concerned her. Queen Victoria had a great prestige in France. +People admired not only the wise sovereign who had weathered +successfully so many changes, but the beautiful woman's life as wife and +mother. She was always spoken of with the greatest respect, even by +people who were not sympathetic to England as a nation. + +Another of my haunts was the Convent and Maison de Sante of the Soeurs +Augustines du Saint Coeur de Marie in the rue de la Sante. It was +curious to turn out of the broad, busy, populous avenue, crowded with +trams, omnibuses, and camions, into the narrow, quiet street, which +seemed all stone walls and big doors. There was another hospital and a +prison in the street, which naturally gave it rather a gloomy aspect, +but once inside the courtyard of the Convent there was a complete +transformation. One found one's self in a large, square, open court with +arcades and buildings all around--the chapel just opposite the entrance. +On one side of the court were the rooms for the patients, on the other +nice rooms and small apartments which were let to invalids or old +ladies, and which opened on a garden, really a park of thirteen or +fourteen acres. The doors were always open, and one had a lovely view of +green fields and trees. The moment you put your foot inside the court, +you felt the atmosphere of peace and cheerfulness, though it was a +hospital. The nuns all looked happy and smiling--they always do, and I +always wonder why. Life in a cloister seems to me so narrow and +monotonous and unsatisfying unless one has been bred in a convent and +knows nothing of life but what the teachers tell. + +I have a friend who always fills me with astonishment--a very clever, +cultivated woman, no longer very young, married to a charming man, +accustomed to life in its largest sense. She was utterly wretched when +her husband died, but after a time she took up her life again and +seemed to find interest and pleasure in the things they had done +together. Suddenly she announced her intention of becoming a nun--sold +her house and lovely garden, where she had spent so many happy hours +with her flowers and her birds, distributed her pretty things among her +friends, and accepted all the small trials of strict convent life--no +bath, nor mirror, coarse underlinen and sheets--no fire, no lights, no +privacy, the regular irksome routine of a nun's life, and is perfectly +happy--never misses the intellectual companionship and the refinement +and daintiness of her former life,--likes the commonplace routine of the +convent--the books they read to each other in "recreation," simple +stories one would hardly give to a child of twelve or fourteen,--the +fetes on the "mother's" birthday, when the nuns make a cake and put a +wreath of roses on the mother's head. + +The Soeurs Augustines are very happy in their lives, but they see a +great deal more of the outside world. They always have patients in the +hospital, and people in the apartments, which are much in demand. The +care and attendance is very good. The ladies are very comfortable and +have as many visitors as they like in the afternoon at stated hours, and +the rooms are very tempting with white walls and furniture, and +scrupulously clean. The cuisine is very good, everything very daintily +served. All day one saw black-robed figures moving quietly across the +court, carrying all kinds of invalid paraphernalia--cushions, rugs, cups +of bouillon--but there was never any noise--no sound of talking or +laughing. When they spoke, the voices were low, like people accustomed +to a sick-room. No men were allowed in the Convent, except the doctors +of course, and visitors at stated hours. + +I spent many days there one spring, as C. was there for some weeks for a +slight operation. She had a charming room and dressing-room, with +windows giving on a garden or rather farmyard, for the soeurs had their +cows and chickens. Sometimes in the evening we would see one of the +sisters, her black skirt tucked up and a blue apron over it, bringing +the cows back to their stables. No man could have a room in the house. +F. wanted very much to be with his wife at night, as he was a busy man +and away all day, and I tried to get a room for him, but the mother +superior, a delightful old lady, wouldn't hear of it. However, the night +before-and the night after the operation, he was allowed to remain with +her,--no extra bed was put in the room--he slept on the sofa. + +Often when C. was sleeping or tired, I would take my book and establish +myself in the garden. Paris might have been miles away, though only a +few yards off there was a busy, crowded boulevard, but no noise seemed +to penetrate the thick walls. Occasionally at the end of a quiet path I +would see a black figure pacing backward and forward, with eyes fixed on +a breviary. Once or twice a soeur jardiniere with a big, flat straw hat +over her coiffe and veil tending the flowers (there were not many) or +weeding the lawn, sometimes convalescents or old ladies seated in +armchairs under the trees, but there was never any sound of voices or of +life. It was very reposeful (when one felt one could get away for a +little while), but I think the absolute calm and monotony would pall +upon one, and the "Call of the World"--the struggling, living, joyous +world outside the walls--would be an irresistible temptation. + +I walked about a good deal in my quarter in the morning, and made +acquaintance with many funny little old squares and shops, merceries, +flower and toy shops which had not yet been swallowed up by the enormous +establishments like the Louvre, the Bon Marche, and the big bazaars. I +don't know how they existed; there was never any one in the shops, and +of course their choice was limited, but they were so grateful, their +things were so much cheaper, and they were so anxious to get anything +one wanted, that it was a pleasure to deal with them. Everything was +much cheaper on that side--flowers, cakes, writing-paper, rents, +servants' wages, stable equipment, horses' food. We bought some toys one +year for one of our Christmas trees in the country from a poor old lame +woman who had a tiny shop in one of the small streets running out of the +rue du Bac. Her grandson, a boy of about twelve or fourteen, helped her +in the shop, and they were so pleased and excited at having such a large +order that they were quite bewildered. We did get what we wanted, but it +took time and patience,--their stock was small and not varied. We had to +choose piece by piece--horses, dolls, drums, etc.--and the writing down +of the items and making up the additions was long and trying. I meant to +go back after we left the Quai d'Orsay, but I never did, and I am afraid +the poor old woman with her petit commerce shared the fate of all the +others and could not hold out against the big shops. + +One gets lazy about shopping. The first years we lived in the country we +used to go ourselves to the big shops and bazaars in Paris for our +Christmas shopping, but the heat and the crowd and the waiting were so +tiring that we finally made arrangements with the woman who sold toys in +the little town, La Ferte-Milon. She went to Paris and brought back +specimens of all the new toys. We went into town one afternoon--all the +toys were spread out on tables in her little parlour at the back of the +shop (her little girl attending to the customers, who were consumed with +curiosity as to why our carriage was waiting so long at the door) and we +made our selection. She was a great help to us, as she knew all the +children, their ages, and what they would like. She was very pleased to +execute the commission--it made her of importance in the town, having +the big boxes come down from Paris addressed to her, and she paid her +journey and made a very good profit by charging two or three sous more +on each article. We were quite willing to pay the few extra francs to be +saved the fatigue of the long day's shopping in Paris. It also settled +another difficult question--what to buy in a small country town. Once we +had exhausted the butcher and the baker and the small groceries, there +was not much to buy. + +From the beginning of my life in the country, W. always wanted me to buy +as much as possible in the town, and I was often puzzled. Now the shops +in all the small country towns have improved. They have their things +straight from Paris, with very good catalogues, so that one can order +fairly well. The things are more expensive of course, but I think it is +right to give what help one can to the people of the country. One cold +winter at Bourneville, when we had our house full of people, there was a +sudden call for blankets. I thought my "lingerie" was pretty well +stocked, but one gentleman wanted four blankets on his bed, three over +him and one under the sheet. A couple wanted the same, only one more, a +blanket for a big armchair near the fire. I went in to La Ferte to see +what I could find--no white blankets anywhere--some rather nice red +ones--and plenty of the stiff (not at all warm) grey blankets they give +to the soldiers. Those naturally were out of the question, but I took +three or four red ones, which of course could not go in the guests' +rooms, but were distributed on the beds of the family, their white ones +going to the friends. After that experience I always had a reserve of +blankets, but I was never asked for so many again. Living in the +country, with people constantly staying in the house, gives one much +insight into other people's way of living and what are the necessities +of life for them. I thought our house was pretty well provided for. We +were a large family party, and had all we wanted, but some of the +demands were curious, varying of course with the nationalities. + +The Chambers met in Paris at the end of November and took possession of +their respective houses without the slightest disturbance of any kind. +Up to the last moment some people were nervous and predicting all sorts +of trouble and complications. We spent the Toussaint in the country with +some friends, and their views of the future were so gloomy that it was +almost contagious. One afternoon when we were all assembled in the +drawing-room for tea, after a beautiful day's shooting, the conversation +(generally retrospective) was so melancholy that I was rather impressed +by it,--"The beginning of the end,--the culpable weakness of the +Government and Moderate men, giving way entirely to the Radicals, an +invitation to the Paris rabble to interfere with the sittings of the +Chambers," and a variety of similar remarks. + +It would have been funny if one hadn't felt that the speakers were +really in earnest and anxious. However, nothing happened. The first few +days there was a small, perfectly quiet, well-behaved crowd, also a very +strong police force, at the Palais Bourbon, but I think more from +curiosity and the novelty of seeing deputies again at the Palais Bourbon +than from any other reason. If it were quiet outside, one couldn't say +the same of the inside of the Chamber. The fight began hotly at once. +Speeches and interpellations and attacks on the Government were the +order of the day. The different members of the cabinet made statements +explaining their policy, but apparently they had satisfied nobody on +either side, and it was evident that the Chamber was not only +dissatisfied but actively hostile. + +W. and his friends were very discouraged and disgusted. They had gone as +far as they could in the way of concessions. W., at any rate, would do +no more, and it was evident that the Chamber would seize the first +pretext to overthrow the ministry. W. saw Grevy very often. He was +opposed to any change, didn't want W. to go, said his presence at the +Foreign Office gave confidence to Europe,--he might perhaps remain at +the Foreign Office and resign as Premier, but that, naturally, he +wouldn't do. He was really sick of the whole thing. + +Grevy was a thorough Republican but an old-fashioned Republican,--not in +the least enthusiastic, rather sceptical--didn't at all see the ideal +Republic dreamed of by the younger men--where all men were alike--and +nothing but honesty and true patriotism were the ruling motives. I +don't know if he went as far as a well-known diplomatist, Prince +Metternich, I think, who said he was so tired of the word fraternite +that if he had a brother he would call him "cousin." Grevy was certainly +very unwilling to see things pass into the hands of the more advanced +Left. I don't think he could have done anything--they say no +constitutional President (or King either) can. + +There was a great rivalry between him and Gambetta. Both men had such a +strong position in the Republican party that it was a pity they couldn't +understand each other. I suppose they were too unlike--Gambetta lived in +an atmosphere of flattery and adulation. His head might well have been +turned--all his familiars were at his feet, hanging upon his words, +putting him on a pinnacle as a splendid patriot. Grevy's entourage was +much calmer, recognising his great ability and his keen legal mind, not +so enthusiastic but always wanting to have his opinion, and relying a +good deal upon his judgment. There were of course all sorts of meetings +and conversations at our house, with Leon Say, Jules Ferry, Casimir +Perier, and others. St. Vallier came on from Berlin, where he was still +ambassador. He was very anxious about the state of affairs in +France--said Bismarck was very worried at the great step the Radicals +had made in the new Parliament--was afraid the Moderate men would have +no show. _I_ believe he was pleased and hoped that a succession of +incapable ministries and internal quarrels would weaken France still +more--and prevent her from taking her place again as a great power. He +wasn't a generous victor. + +As long as W. was at the Foreign Office things went very smoothly. He +and St. Vallier thought alike on most subjects, home politics and +foreign--and since the Berlin Congress, where W. had come in touch with +all the principal men in Germany, it was of course much easier for them +to work together. We dined generally with my mother on Sunday +night--particularly at this time of the year, when the official banquets +had not begun and our Sundays were free. The evenings were always +interesting, as we saw so many people, English and Americans always, and +in fact all nationalities. We had lived abroad so much that we knew +people all over the world,--it was a change from the eternal politics +and "shop" talk we heard everywhere else. Some of them, English +particularly (I don't think the Americans cared much about foreign +politics), were most interested and curious over what was going on, and +the probable fall of the cabinet. An English lady said to me: "How +dreadful it will be for you when your husband is no longer minister; +your life will be so dull and you will be of so much less importance." +The last part of the sentence was undoubtedly true--any functionary's +wife has a certain importance in France, and when your husband has been +Foreign Minister and Premier, you fall from a certain height, but I +couldn't accept the first part, that my life would be necessarily dull +because I was no longer what one of my friends said in Italy, speaking +of a minister's wife, a donna publica. I began to explain that I really +had some interest in life outside of politics, but she was so convinced +of the truth of her observation that it was quite useless to pursue the +conversation, and I naturally didn't care. Another one, an American this +time, said to me: "I hope you don't mind my never having been to see you +since you were married, but I never could remember your name; I only +knew it began with W. and one sees it very often in the papers." + +Arthur Sullivan, the English composer, was there one night. He had come +over to Paris to hear one of his symphonies played at the Conservatoire, +and was very much pleased with the way it had been received by that very +critical audience. He was quite surprised to find the Parisians so +enthusiastic--had always heard the Paris Salle was so cold. + +Miss Kellogg, the American prima donna, was there too that evening, and +we made a great deal of music, she singing and Sullivan accompanying by +heart. Mrs. Freeman, wife of one of the English secretaries, told W. +that Queen Victoria had so enjoyed her talk with him--"quite as if I +were talking with one of my own ministers." She had found Grevy rather +stiff and reserved--said their conversation was absolutely banal. They +spoke in French, and as Grevy knew nothing of England or the English, +the interview couldn't have been interesting. + +We saw a great many people that last month, dined with all our +colleagues of the diplomatic corps. They were already diners d'adieux, +as every day in the papers the fall of the ministry was announced, and +the names of the new ministers published. I think the diplomatists were +sorry to see W. go, but of course they couldn't feel very strongly on +the subject. Their business is to be on good terms with all the foreign +ministers, and to get as much as they can out of them. They are, with +rare exceptions, birds of passage, and don't trouble themselves much +about changing cabinets. However, they were all very civil, not too +diffuse, and one had the impression that they would be just as civil to +our successor and to his successor. It must be so; there is no +profession so absolutely banal as diplomacy. All diplomatists, from the +ambassador to the youngest secretary, must follow their instructions, +and if by any chance an ambassador does take any initiative, profiting +by being on the spot, and knowing the character of the people, he is +promptly disowned by his chief. + +I had grown very philosophical, was quite ready to go or to stay, didn't +mind the fight any more nor the attacks on W., which were not very +vicious, but so absurd that no one who knew him could attach the least +importance to them. He didn't care a pin. He had always been a +Protestant, with an English name, educated in England, so the +reiteration of these facts, very much exaggerated and leading up to the +conclusion that on account of his birth and education he couldn't be a +convinced French Republican, didn't affect him very much. He had always +promised me a winter in Italy when he left office. He had never been in +Rome, and I was delighted at the prospect of seeing that lovely land +again, all blue sky and bright sun and smiling faces. + +We dined often with M.L., W.'s uncle, who kept us au courant of all (and +it was little) that was going on in the Royalist camp, but that was not +of importance. The advanced Republicans were having it all their own +way, and it was evident that the days of conciliatory measures and +moderate men were over. W. was not a club man, went very rarely to his +club, but his uncle went every afternoon before dinner, and gave us all +the potins (gossip) of that world, very hostile to the Republic, and +still quite believing that their turn would come. His uncle was not of +that opinion. He was a very clever man, a diplomatist who had lived in a +great many places and known a great many people, and was entirely on the +Royalist side, but he thought their cause was a lost one, at least for a +time. He often asked some of his friends to meet us at dinner, said it +was a good thing for W. to hear what men on the other side thought, and +W. was quite pleased to meet them. They were all absolutely opposed to +him in politics, and discussion sometimes ran high, but there was never +anything personal--all were men of the world, had seen many changes in +France in their lives; many had played a part in politics under the +former regimes. It seemed to me that they underrated the intelligence +and the strength of the Republican party. + +One of the regular habitues was the Marquis de N., a charming man, +fairly broad-minded (given the atmosphere he lived in) and sceptical to +the highest degree. He was a great friend of Marshal MacMahon, and had +been prefet at Pau, where he had a great position. He was very +dictatorial, very outspoken, but was a great favourite, particularly +with the English colony, which is large there in the hunting-season. He +had accepted to dine one night with an English family, who lived in a +villa a little out of town. They had an accident en route, which delayed +them very much, and when he and the marquise arrived the party was at +table. He instantly had his carriage called back and left the house in +spite of all the explanations and apologies of his host, saying that +when "one had the honour of receiving the Marquis de N. one waited +dinner for him." + +We saw always a great deal of him, as his daughter married the Comte de +F., who was for some time in W.'s cabinet at the Quai d'Orsay, and +afterward with us the ten years we were at the London Embassy, where +they were quite part of the family. They were both perfectly fitted for +diplomatic life, particularly in England. Both spoke English well, knew +everybody, and remembered all the faces and all the names, no easy thing +in England, where the names and titles change so often. I know several +Englishwomen who have had four different names. Lady Holland was also a +friend of "Oncle Alphonse" and dined there often. She was +delicate-looking, rather quiet in general conversation, though she spoke +French easily, but was interesting when she was talking to one or two +people. We went often to her beautiful house in London, the first years +we were at the embassy, and always met interesting people. Her salon was +very cosmopolitan--every one who came to London wanted to go to Holland +House, which was a museum filled with beautiful things. + +Another lady who was often at my uncle's was quite a different type, +Mademoiselle A., an old pupil of the Conservatoire, who had made a short +career at the Comedie Francaise many years before. She was really +charming, and her stories of the coulisses and the jalousies between the +authors and the actors, particularly the stars (who hardly accepted the +slightest observation from the writer of the play), were most amusing. +Once the piece was accepted it passed into the domain of the theatre, +and the actors felt at liberty to interpret the roles according to their +ideas and traditions. She had a perfect diction; it was a delight to +hear her. She recited one night one of Alphonse Daudet's little contes, +"Lettres de Mon Moulin," I think, beginning--"Qui n'a pas vu Avignon du +temps des Papes n'a rien vu." One couldn't hear anything more charming, +in a perfectly trained voice, and so easily and naturally said. + +I suppose no one would listen to it in these days. Bridge has suppressed +all conversation or music or artistic enjoyment of any kind. It must +come to an end some day like all crazes, but at the present moment it +has destroyed society. It has been a godsend to many people of no +particular importance or position who have used it as a stepping-stone +to get into society. If people play a good game of bridge, they are +welcome guests in a great many houses which formerly would have been +closed to them, and it is a great resource to ladies no longer very +young, widows and spinsters, who find their days long and don't know +what to do with their lives. + +Notwithstanding his preoccupations, W. managed to get a few days' +shooting in November. He shot several times at Rambouillet with Grevy, +who was an excellent shot, and his shooting breakfasts were very +pleasant. There was plenty of game, everything very well organised, and +the company agreeable. He always asked the ministers, ambassadors, and +many of the leading political men and very often some of his old +friends, lawyers and men of various professions whom W. was delighted +to meet. Their ideas didn't run in grooves like most of the men he lived +with, and it was a pleasure to hear talk that wasn't political nor +personal. The vicious attacks upon persons were so trying those first +days of the Republic. Every man who was a little more prominent than his +neighbour seemed a target for every kind of insinuation and criticism. + +We went for two days to "Pout," Casimir Perier's fine place in the +departement de l'Aube, where we had capital shooting. It was already +extremely cold for the season--the big pond in the court was frozen +hard, and the wind whistled about our ears when we drove in an open +carriage to join the shooters at breakfast. Even I, who don't usually +feel the cold, was thankful to be well wrapped up in furs. The Pavillon +d'Hiver looked very inviting as we drove up--an immense fire was blazing +in the chimney, another just outside, where the soup and ragout for the +army of beaters were being prepared. We all had nice little foot-warmers +under our chairs, and were as comfortable as possible. It was too warm +in fact when the shooters came in and we sat down to breakfast. We were +obliged to open the door. The talk was entirely "shop" at breakfast, +every man telling what he had killed, or missed, and the minute they +had finished breakfast, they started off again. We followed one or two +battues (pheasants), but it was really too cold, and we were glad to +walk home to get warm. + +The dinner and evening were pleasant--everybody talking--most of them +criticising the Government freely. W. didn't mind, they were all +friends. He defended himself sometimes, merely asking what they would +have done in his place--he was quite ready to receive any +suggestions--but nothing practical ever came out of the discussions. I +think the most delightful political position in the world must be +"leader of the opposition"--you have no responsibilities, can +concentrate all your energies in pointing out the weak spots in your +adversary's armour, and have always your work cut out for you, for as +soon as one ministry falls, you can set to work to demolish its +successor, which seems the most interesting occupation possible. + +The great question which was disturbing the Chambers and the country was +the general amnesty. That, of course, W. would never agree to. There +might be exceptions. Some of the men who took part in the Commune were +so young, little more than lads, carried away by the example of their +elders and the excitement of the moment, and there were fiery patriotic +articles in almost all the Republican papers inviting France to make the +beau geste of la mere patrie and open her arms to her misguided +children, and various sensible experienced men really thought it would +be better to wipe out everything and start again with no dark memories +to cast a shadow on the beginnings of the young Republic. How many +brilliant, sanguine, impossible theories I heard advanced all those +days, and how the few remaining members of the Centre Gauche tried to +reason with the most liberal men of the Centre Droit and to persuade +them frankly to face the fact that the country had sent a strong +Republican majority to Parliament and to make the best of the fait +accompli. I suppose it was asking too much of them to go back on the +traditions of their lives, but after all they were Frenchmen, their +country was just recovering from a terrible disaster, and had need of +all her children. During the Franco-Prussian War all party feeling was +forgotten. Every man was first a Frenchman in the face of a foreign foe, +and if they could have stood firmly together in those first days after +the war the strength of the country would have been wonderful. All +Europe was astounded at the way in which France paid her milliards,--no +one more so than Bismarck, who is supposed to have said that, if he +could have dreamed that France could pay that enormous sum so quickly, +he would have asked much more. + +December was very cold, snow and ice everywhere, and very hard frosts, +which didn't give way at all when the sun came out occasionally in the +middle of the day. Everybody was skating, not only at the clubs of the +Bois de Boulogne, but on the lakes, which happens very rarely, as the +water is fairly deep. The Seine was full of large blocks of ice, which +got jammed up against the bridges and made a jarring ugly sound as they +knocked against each other. The river steamers had stopped running, and +there were crowds of flaneurs loitering on the quais and bridges +wondering if the cold would last long enough for the river to be quite +frozen over. + +W. and I went two or three times to the Cercle des Patineurs at the Bois +de Boulogne, and had a good skate. The women didn't skate as well then +as they do now, but they looked very pretty in their costumes of velvet +and sables. It was funny to see them stumbling over the ice with a man +supporting them on each side. However, they enjoyed it very much. It was +beautiful winter weather, very cold but no wind, and it was very good +exercise. All the world was there, and the afternoons passed quickly +enough. I had not skated for years, having spent all my winters in +Italy, but on the principle that you never forget anything that you know +well, I thought I would try, and will say that the first half-hour was +absolute suffering. It was in the old days when one still wore a strap +over the instep, which naturally was drawn very tight. My feet were like +lumps of ice, as heavy as lead, and I didn't seem able to lift them from +the ground. I went back to the dressing-room to take my skates off for a +few minutes, and when the blood began to circulate again, I could have +cried with the pain. A friend of mine, a beginner, who was sitting near +waiting to have her skates put on, was rather discouraged, and said to +me: "You don't look as if you were enjoying yourself. I don't think I +will try." "Oh yes you must,--'les commencements sont toujours +difficiles,' and you will learn. I shall be all right as soon as I start +again." She looked rather doubtful, but I saw her again later in the +day, when I had forgotten all about my sufferings, and she was skating +as easily as I did when I was a girl. I think one must learn young. +After all, it is more or less a question of balance. When one is young +one doesn't mind a fall. + +W., who had retired to a corner to practise a little by himself, told me +that one of his friends, Comte de Pourtales, not at all of his way of +thinking in politics, an Imperialist, was much pleased with a little jeu +d'esprit he had made at his expense. W. caught the top of his skate in a +crevice in the ice, and came down rather heavily in a sitting posture. +Comte de Pourtales, who was standing near on the bank, saw the fall and +called out instantly, "Est-ce possible que je voie le President du +Conseil par terre?" (Is it possible that the President du Conseil has +fallen?) The little joke was quite de bonne guerre and quite +appropriate, as the cabinet was tottering and very near its fall. It +amused W. quite as much as it did the bystanders. + +The cold was increasing every day, the ground was frozen hard, the +streets very slippery, and going very difficult. All our horses were +rough shod, but even with that we made very slow progress. Some of the +omnibuses were on runners, and one or two of the young men of the +ministry had taken off the wheels of their light carriages and put them +on runners, but one didn't see many real sleighs or sledges, as they +call them here. I fancy "sleigh" is entirely an American expression. The +Seine was at last completely taken, and the public was allowed on the +ice, which was very thick. It was a very pretty, animated sight, many +booths like those one sees on the Boulevard during the Christmas +holidays were installed on the ice close to the banks, and the river was +black with people. They couldn't skate much, as the ice was rough and +there were too many people, but they ran and slid and shouted and +enjoyed themselves immensely. I wanted to cross one day with my boy, +that he might say he had crossed the Seine on foot, but W. was rather +unwilling. However, the prefet de la Seine, whom he consulted, told him +there was absolutely no danger--the ice was several inches thick, so I +started off one afternoon, one of the secretaries going with me. He was +much astonished and rather nervous at seeing me in my ordinary boots. He +had nails in his, and one of our friends whom we met on the ice had +woollen socks over his boots. They were sure I would slip and perhaps +get a bad fall. "But no one could slip on that ice; it is quite rough, +might almost be a ploughed field,"--but they were uncomfortable, and +were very pleased when I landed safely on the other side and got into +the carriage. Just in the middle the boys had swept a path on the ice to +make a glissade. They were racing up and down in bands, and the constant +passing had made it quite level and very slippery. We saw three or four +unwary pedestrians get a fall, but if one kept on the outside near the +bank there was no danger of slipping. + +The extreme cold lasting so long brought many discomforts. Many trains +with wood and provisions couldn't get to Paris. The railroads were all +blocked and the Parisians were getting uneasy, fearing they might run +short of food and fuel. We were very comfortable in the big rooms of the +ministry. There were roaring fires everywhere, and two or three +caloriferes. The view from the windows on the Quai was charming as long +as the great cold lasted, particularly at night, when the river was +alive with people, lights and coloured lanterns, and music. Every now +and then there would be a ronde or a farandole,--the farandole forcing +its way through the crowd, every one carrying a lantern and looking like +a brilliant snake winding in and out. + +We had some people dining one night, and they couldn't keep away from +the windows. Some of the young ones (English) wanted to go down and have +a lark on the ice, but it wasn't possible. The crowd, though thoroughly +good-humoured, merely bent on enjoying themselves, had degenerated into +a rabble. One would have been obliged to have a strong escort of police, +and besides in evening dress, even with fur cloaks and the fur and +woollen boots every one wore over their thin shoes, one would certainly +have risked getting a bad attack of pneumonia. One of our great friends, +Sir Henry Hoare, was dining that night, but he didn't want to go down, +preferred smoking his cigar in a warm room and talking politics to W. He +had been a great deal in Paris, knew everybody, and was a member of the +Jockey Club. He was much interested in French politics and au fond was +very liberal, quite sympathised with W. and his friends and shared their +opinions on most subjects, though as he said, "I don't air those +opinions at the Jockey Club." He came often to our big receptions, liked +to see all the people. He too used to tell me all that was said in his +club about the Republic and the Government, but he was a shrewd +observer, had been a long time an M.P. in England, and had come to the +conclusion that the talk at the clubs was chiefly a "pose,"--they didn't +really have many illusions about the restoration of the monarchy, +couldn't have, when even the Duc de Broglie with his intelligence and +following (the Faubourg St. Germain followed him blindly) could do +nothing but make a constitutional Republic with Marshal MacMahon at +its head. + +It was always said too that the women were more uncompromising than the +men. I went one afternoon to a concert at the Austrian Embassy, given in +aid of some inundations, which had been a catastrophe for that country, +hundreds of houses, and people and cattle swept away! The French public +had responded most generously, as they always do, to the urgent appeal +made by the ambassador in the name of the Emperor, and the Government +had contributed largely to the fund. Count Beust the Austrian ambassador +was obliged of course to invite the Government and Madame Grevy to the +entertainment, as well as his friends of the Faubourg St. Germain. +Neither Madame nor Mademoiselle Grevy came, but some of the ministers' +wives did, and it was funny to see the ladies of society looking at the +Republican ladies, as if they were denizens of a different planet, +strange figures they were not accustomed to see. It is curious to think +of all that now, when relations are much less strained. I remember not +very long ago at a party at one of the embassies, seeing many of the +society women having themselves presented to the wife of the then +Minister of Foreign Affairs, with whom they certainly had nothing in +common, neither birth, breeding, nor mode of life. I was talking to +Casimir Perier (late President of the Republic) and it amused us very +much to see the various introductions and the great empressement of the +ladies, all of whom were asking to be presented to Madame R. "What can +all those women want?" I asked him. He replied promptly, "Embassies for +their husbands." It would have been better, I think, in a worldly point +of view, if more embassies had been given to the bearers of some of the +great names of France--but there were so many candidates for every +description of function in France just then, from an ambassador to a +gendarme, that anybody who had anything to give found himself in a +difficult position. + + + + +XI + + +LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE + +The end of December was detestable. We were en pleine crise for ten +days. Every day W. went to the Chamber of Deputies expecting to be +beaten, and every evening came home discouraged and disgusted. The +Chamber was making the position of the ministers perfectly +untenable--all sorts of violent and useless propositions were discussed, +and there was an undercurrent of jealousy and intrigue everywhere. One +day, just before Christmas, about the 20th, W. and his chef de cabinet, +Comte de P., started for the house, after breakfast--W. expecting to be +beaten by a coalition vote of the extreme Left, Bonapartists and +Legitimists. It was an insane policy on the part of the two last, as +they knew perfectly well they wouldn't gain anything by upsetting the +actual cabinet. They would only get another one much more advanced and +more masterful. I suppose their idea was to have a succession of radical +inefficient ministers, which in the end would disgust the country and +make a "saviour," a prince (which one?) or general, possible. How wise +their reasoning was time has shown! I wanted to go to the Chamber to +hear the debate, but W. didn't want me. He would be obliged to speak, +and said it would worry him if I were in the gallery listening to all +the attacks made upon him. (It is rather curious that I never heard him +speak in public, either in the house or in the country, where he often +made political speeches, in election times.) He was so sure that the +ministry would fall that we had already begun cleaning and making fires +in our own house, so on that afternoon, as I didn't want to sit at home +waiting for telegrams, I went up to the house with Henrietta. The +caretaker had already told us that the stock of wood and coal was giving +out, and she couldn't get any more in the quarter, and if she couldn't +make fires the pipes would burst, which was a pleasant prospect with the +thermometer at I don't remember how many degrees below zero. We found a +fine cleaning going on--doors and windows open all over the house--and +women scrubbing stairs, floors, and windows, rather under difficulties, +with little fire and little water. It looked perfectly dreary and +comfortless--not at all tempting. All the furniture was piled up in the +middle of the rooms, and W.'s library was a curiosity. Books and +pamphlets accumulated rapidly with us, W. was a member of many literary +societies of all kinds all over the world, and packages and boxes of +unopened books quite choked up the room. H. and I tried to arrange +things a little, but it was hopeless that day, and, besides, the house +was bitterly cold. It didn't feel as if a fire could make any +impression. + +As we could do nothing there, we went back to the ministry. No telegrams +had come, but Kruft, our faithful and efficient chef du materiel, was +waiting for me for last instructions about a Christmas tree. Some days +before I had decided to have a Christmas tree, about the end of the +month. W. then thought the ministry would last over the holidays, the +treve des confiseurs, and was quite willing I should have a Christmas +party as a last entertainment. He had been too occupied the last days to +think about any such trifles, and Kruft, not having had any contrary +instructions, had ordered the presents and decorations. He was rather +depressed, because W. had told him that morning that we surely would not +be at the Quai d'Orsay on the 29th, the day we had chosen for our party. +However, I reassured him, and told him we would have the Christmas tree +all the same, only at my house instead of at the ministry. We went to +look at his presents, which were all spread out on a big table in one of +the drawing-rooms. He really was a wonderful man, never forgot anything, +and had remembered that at the last tree, the year before, one or two +nurses had had no presents, and several who had were not pleased with +what was given to them. He had made a very good selection for those +ladies,--lace scarfs and rabats and little tours de cou of fur,--really +very pretty. I believe they were satisfied this time. The young men of +the Chancery sent me up two telegrams: "rien de nouveau,"--"ministere +debout." + +[Illustration: M. de Freyeinet. After a photograph by M. Nadaz, Paris] + +W. came home late, very tired and much disgusted with politics in +general and his party in particular. The cabinet still lived, but merely +to give Grevy time to make another. W. had been to the Elysee and had a +long conversation with Grevy. He found him very preoccupied, very +unwilling to make a change, and he again urged W. very much to keep the +Foreign Office, if Freycinet should succeed in making a ministry. That +W. would not agree to--he was sick of the whole thing. He told Grevy he +was quite right to send for Freycinet--if any man could save the +situation he could. We had one or two friends, political men, to dinner, +and they discussed the situation from every point of view, always +ending with the same conclusion, that W. was right to go. His policy +wasn't the policy of the Chamber (I don't say of the country, for I +think the country knew little and cared less about what was going on in +Parliament), hardly the policy of all his own colleagues. There was +really no use to continue worrying himself to death and doing no good. +W. said his conversation with Grevy was interesting, but he was much +more concerned with home politics and the sweeping changes the +Republicans wanted to make in all the administrations than with foreign +policy. He said Europe was quiet and France's first duty was to +establish herself firmly, which would only be done by peace and +prosperity at home. I told W. I had spent a very cold and uncomfortable +hour at the house, and I was worried about the cold, thought I might, +perhaps, send the boy to mother, but he had taken his precautions and +arranged with the Minister of War to have a certain amount of wood +delivered at the house. They always had reserves of wood at the various +ministries. We had ours directly from our own woods in the country, and +it was en route, but a flotilla of boats was frozen up in the Canal de +l'Ourcq, and it might be weeks before the wood could be delivered. + +We dined one night at the British Embassy, while all these pourparlers +were going on, en petit comite, all English, Lord and Lady Reay, Lord +Edmond Fitz-Maurice, and one or two members of Parliament whose names I +have forgotten. Both Lord and Lady Reay were very keen about politics, +knew France well, and were much interested in the phase she was passing +through. Lord Lyons was charming, so friendly and sensible, said he +wasn't surprised at W.'s wanting to go--still hoped this crisis would +pass like so many others he had seen in France; that certainly W.'s +presence at the Foreign Office during the last year had been a help to +the Republic--said also he didn't believe his retirement would last very +long. It was frightfully cold when we came out of the embassy--very few +carriages out, all the coachmen wrapped up in mufflers and fur caps, and +the Place de la Concorde a sea of ice so slippery I thought we should +never get across and over the bridge. I went to the opera one night that +week, got there in an entr'acte, when people were walking about and +reading the papers. As I passed several groups of men, I heard W.'s name +mentioned, also that of Leon Say and Freycinet, but just in passing by +quickly I could not hear any comments. I fancy they were not favourable +in that milieu. It was very cold in the house--almost all the women had +their cloaks on--and the coming out was something awful, crossing that +broad perron in the face of a biting wind. + +I began my packing seriously this time, as W.'s mind was quite made up. +He had thought the matter well over, and had a final talk with +Freycinet, who would have liked to keep both W. and Leon Say, but it +wasn't easy to manage the new element that Freycinet brought with him. +The new members were much more advanced in their opinions. W. couldn't +have worked with them, and they certainly didn't want to work with him. +The autumn session came to a turbulent end on the 26th of December, and +the next day the papers announced that the ministers had given their +resignations to the President, who had accepted them and had charged M. +de Freycinet to form a cabinet. We dined with mother on Christmas day, a +family party, with the addition of Comte de P. and one or two stray +Americans who were at hotels and were of course delighted not to dine on +Christmas day at a table d'hote or cafe. W. was rather tired; the +constant talking and seeing so many people of all kinds was very +fatiguing, for, as long as his resignation was not official, announced +in the _Journal Officiel_, he was still Minister of Foreign Affairs. +One of the last days, when they were hoping to come to an agreement, he +was obliged to come home early to receive the mission from Morocco. I +saw them arrive; they were a fine set of men, tall, powerfully built, +their skin a red-brown, not black, entirely dressed in white from +turbans to sandals. None of them spoke any French--all the conversation +took place through an interpreter. Notwithstanding our worries, we had a +very pleasant evening and W. was very cheerful--looking forward to our +Italian trip with quite as much pleasure as I did. + +W. made over the ministry to Freycinet on Monday, the 28th, the +transmission des pouvoirs. Freycinet was very nice and friendly, +regretted that he and W. were no longer colleagues. He thought his +ministry was strong and was confident he would manage the Chamber. W. +told him he could settle himself as soon as he liked at the Quai +d'Orsay, as we should go at once, and would sleep at our house on +Wednesday night. Freycinet said Madame de Freycinet (whom I knew well +and liked very much) would come and see me on Wednesday, and would like +to go over the house with me. I was rather taken aback when W. told me +we must sleep in our own house on Wednesday night. The actual packing +was not very troublesome, as I had not brought many of my own things +from the rue Dumont d'Urville. There was scarcely a van-load of small +furniture and boxes, but the getting together of all the small things +was a bore,--books, bibelots, music, cards, and notes (these in +quantities, lettres de condoleance, which had to be carefully sorted as +they had all to be answered). The hotel of the Quai d'Orsay was crowded +with people those last two days, all W.'s friends coming to express +their regrets at his departure, some very sincerely sorry to see him go, +as his name and character certainly inspired confidence abroad--and some +delighted that he was no longer a member of such an advanced +cabinet--(some said "de cet infect gouvernement"), where he was obliged +by his mere presence to sanction many things he didn't approve of. He +and Freycinet had a long talk on Wednesday, as W. naturally wanted to be +sure that some provision would be made for his chef de cabinet and +secretaries. Each incoming minister brings his own staff with him. +Freycinet offered W. the London Embassy, but he wouldn't take it, had +had enough of public life for the present. I didn't want it either, I +had never lived much in England, had not many friends there, and was +counting the days until we could get off to Rome. There was one funny +result of W. having declined the London Embassy. Admiral Pothnau, whom +W. had named there, and who was very much liked, came to see him one day +and made a great scene because Freycinet had offered him the London +Embassy. W. said he didn't understand why he made a scene, as he had +refused it. "But it should never have been offered to you over my head." +"Perhaps, but that is not my fault. I didn't ask for it--and don't want +it. If you think you have been treated badly, you should speak to +Freycinet." However, the admiral was very much put out, and was very +cool with us both for a long time. I suppose his idea was that being +recalled would mean that he had not done well in London, which was quite +a mistake, as he was very much liked there. + +We dined alone that last night at the ministry, and sat some time in the +window, looking at the crowds of people amusing themselves on the Seine, +and wondering if we should ever see the Quai d'Orsay again. After all, +we had had two very happy interesting years there--and memories that +would last a lifetime.--Some of the last experiences of the month of +December had been rather disillusioning, but I suppose one must not +bring any sentiment into politics. In the world it is always a case of +donnant--donnant--and--when one is no longer in a position to give a +great deal--people naturally turn to the rising man. Comte de P., chef +de cabinet, came in late as usual, to have a last talk. He too had been +busy, as he had a small apartment and stables in the hotel of the +ministry, and was also very anxious to get away. He told us all the +young men of the cabinet were very sorry to see W. go--at first they had +found him a little cold and reserved--but a two years' experience had +shown them that, if he were not expansive, he was perfectly just, and +always did what he said he would. + +The next day Madame de Freycinet came to see me, and we went over the +house. She didn't care about the living-rooms, as they never lived at +the Quai d'Orsay, remained in their own hotel near the Bois de Boulogne. +Freycinet came every day to the ministry, and she merely on reception +days--or when there was a party. Just as she was going, Madame de +Zuylen, wife of the Dutch minister, a great friend of mine, came in. She +told me she had great difficulty in getting up, as I had forbidden my +door, but my faithful Gerard (I think I missed him as much as anything +else at first) knowing we were friends, thought Madame would like to see +her. She paid me quite a long visit,--I even gave her some tea off +government plate and china,--all mine had been already sent to my own +house. We sat talking for some time. She had heard that W. had refused +the London Embassy, was afraid it was a mistake, and that the winter in +Paris would be a difficult one for him--he would certainly be in +opposition to the Government on all sorts of questions--and if he +remained in Paris he would naturally go to the Senate and vote. I quite +agreed that he couldn't suddenly detach himself from all political +discussions--must take part in them and must vote. The policy of +abstention has always seemed to me the weakest possible line in +politics. If a man, for some reason or another, hasn't the courage of +his opinions, he mustn't take any position where that opinion would +carry weight. I told her we were going to Italy as soon as we could get +off after the holidays. + +While we were talking, a message came up to say that the young men of +the cabinet were all coming up to say good-bye to me. I had seen the +directors earlier in the day, so Madame de Zuylen took her leave, +promising to come to my Christmas tree in the rue Dumont d'Urville. The +young men seemed sorry to say good-bye--I was, too. I had seen a great +deal of them and always found them ready and anxious to help me in +every way. The Comte de Lasteyrie, who was a great friend of ours as +well as a secretary, went about a great deal with us. W. called upon him +very often for all sorts of things, knowing he could trust him +absolutely. He told one of my friends that one of his principal +functions was to accompany Madame Waddington to all the charity sales, +carrying a package of women's chemises under his arm. It was quite true +that I often bought "poor clothes" at the sales. The objects exposed in +the way of screens, pincushions, table-covers, and, in the spring, hats +made by some of the ladies, were so appalling that I was glad to have +poor clothes to fall back upon, but I don't remember his ever carrying +my purchases home with me. + +They were much amused when suddenly Francis burst into the room, having +escaped a moment from his Nonnon, who was busy with her last packing, +his little face flushed and quivering with anger because his toys had +been packed and he was to be taken away from the big house. He kicked +and screamed like a little mad thing, until his nurse came to the +rescue. I made a last turn in the rooms to see that all trace of my +occupation had vanished. Francis, half pacified, was seated on the +billiard-table, an old grey-haired huissier, who was always on duty +up-stairs, taking care of him. The huissiers and house servants were all +assembled in the hall, and the old Pierson, who had been there for +years, was the spokesman, and hoped respectfully that Madame "would soon +come back...." W. didn't come with us, as he still had people to see and +only got home in time for a late dinner. + +We dined that night and for many nights afterward with our uncle +Lutteroth (who had a charming hotel filled with pictures and bibelots +and pretty things) just across the street, as it was some little time +before our kitchen and household got into working order again. The first +few days were, of course, very tiring and uncomfortable--the house +seemed so small after the big rooms at the Quai d'Orsay. I didn't +attempt to do anything with the salons, as we were going away so +soon--carpets and curtains had to be arranged to keep the cold out, but +the big boxes remained in the carriage house--not unpacked. We had a +procession of visitors all day--and tried to make W.'s library +possible--comfortable it wasn't, as there were packages of books and +papers and boxes everywhere. + +I had a good many visits and flowers on New Year's day--which was an +agreeable surprise--Lord Lyons, Orloff, the Sibberns, Comte de Sigur, +M. Alfred Andre, and others. Andre, an old friend of W.'s, a very +conservative Protestant banker, was very blue about affairs. Andre was +the type of the modern French Protestant. They are almost a separate +class in France--are very earnest, religious, honourable, narrow-minded +people. They give a great deal in charity and good works of all kinds. +In Paris the Protestant coterie is very rich. They associate with all +the Catholics, as many of them entertain a great deal, but they live +among themselves and never intermarry. I hardly know a case where a +French Protestant has married a Catholic. I suppose it is a remnant of +their old Huguenot blood, and the memories of all their forefathers +suffered for their religion, which makes them so intolerant. The +ambassadors had paid their usual official visit to the Elysee--said +Grevy was very smiling and amiable, didn't seem at all preoccupied. We +had a family dinner at my uncle's on New Year's night, and all the +family with wonderful unanimity said the best wish they could make for +W. was that 1880 would see him out of politics and leading an +independent if less interesting life. + +An interesting life it certainly was, hearing so many questions +discussed, seeing all sorts of people of all nationalities and living as +it were behind the scenes. The Chamber of Deputies in itself was a +study, with its astounding changes of opinion, with no apparent cause. +One never knew in the morning what the afternoon's session would bring, +for as soon as the Republican party felt themselves firmly established, +they began to quarrel among themselves. I went back to the ministry one +afternoon to pay a formal visit to Madame de Freycinet on her reception +day. I had rather put it off, thinking that the sight of the well-known +rooms and faces would be disagreeable to me and make me regret, perhaps, +the past, but I felt already that all that old life was over--one adapts +one's self so quickly to different surroundings. It did seem funny to be +announced by my own special huissier, Gerard, and to find myself sitting +in the green drawing-room with all the palms and flowers arranged just +as they always were for me, and a semicircle of diplomats saying exactly +the same things to Madame de Freycinet that they had said to me a few +days before, but I fancy that always happens in these days of democracy +and equalising education, and that under certain circumstances, we all +say and do exactly the same thing. I had quite a talk with Sibbern, the +Swedish minister, who was very friendly and sympathetic, not only at our +leaving the Foreign Office, but at the extreme discomfort of moving in +such frightfully cold weather. He was wrapped in furs, as if he were +going to the North Pole. However, I assured him we were quite warm and +comfortable, gradually settling down into our old ways, and I was +already looking back on my two years at the Quai d'Orsay as an agreeable +episode in my life. I had quite a talk too with the Portuguese minister, +Mendes Leal. He was an interesting man, a poet and a dreamer, saw more, +I fancy, of the literary world of Paris than the political. Blowitz was +there, of course--was always everywhere in moments of crisis, talking a +great deal, and letting it be understood that he had pulled a great many +wires all those last weeks. He too regretted that W. had not taken the +London Embassy, assured me that it would have been a very agreeable +appointment in England--was surprised that I hadn't urged it. I replied +that I had not been consulted. Many people asked when they could come +and see me--would I take up my reception day again? That wasn't worth +while, as I was going away so soon, but I said I would be there every +day at five o'clock, and always had visits. + +[Illustration: Mme. Sadi Carnot. From a drawing by Mlle. Amelie +Beaury-Saurel.] + +One day Madame Sadi Carnot sat a long time with me. Her husband had been +named undersecretary at the Ministry of Public Works in the new +cabinet, and she was very pleased. She was a very charming, intelligent, +cultivated woman--read a great deal, was very keen about politics and +very ambitious (as every clever woman should be) for her husband and +sons. I think she was a great help socially to her husband when he +became President of the Republic. He was a grave, reserved man, didn't +care very much for society. I saw her very often and always found her +most attractive. At the Elysee she was amiable and courteous to +everybody and her slight deafness didn't seem to worry her nor make +conversation difficult. She did such a charming womanly thing just after +her husband's assassination. He lay in state for some days at the +Elysee, and M. Casimir Perier, his successor, went to make her a visit. +As he was leaving he said his wife would come the next day to see Madame +Carnot. She instantly answered, "Pray do not let her come; she is young, +beginning her life here at the Elysee. I wouldn't for worlds that she +should have the impression of sadness and gloom that must hang over the +palace as long as the President is lying there. I should like her to +come to the Elysee only when all traces of this tragedy have gone--and +to have no sad associations--on the contrary, with the prospect of a +long happy future before her." + +[Illustration: _Photograph, copyright by Pierre Petit, Paris._ +President Sadi Carnot.] + +W. went the two or three Fridays we were in Paris to the Institute, +where he was most warmly received by his colleagues, who had much +regretted his enforced absences the years he was at the Foreign Office. +He told them he was going to Rome, where he hoped still to find some +treasures in the shape of inscriptions inedites, with the help of his +friend Lanciani. The days passed quickly enough until we started. It was +not altogether a rest, as there were always so many people at the house, +and W. wanted to put order into his papers before he left. Freycinet +made various changes at the Quai d'Orsay. M. Desprey, Directeur de la +Politique (a post he had occupied for years) was named ambassador to +Rome in the place of the Marquis de Gabriac. I don't think he was very +anxious to go. His career had been made almost entirely at the Foreign +Office, and he was much more at home in his cabinet, with all his papers +and books about him, than he would be abroad among strangers. He came to +dinner one night, and we talked the thing over. W. thought the rest and +change would do him good. He was named to the Vatican, where necessarily +there was much less to do in the way of social life than at the +Quirinal. He was perfectly au courant of all the questions between the +Vatican and the French clergy--his son, secretary of embassy, would go +with him. It seemed rather a pleasant prospect. + +W. went once or twice to the Senate, as the houses met on the 12th or +14th of January, but there was nothing very interesting those first +days. The Chamber was taking breath after the holidays and the last +ministerial crisis, and giving the new ministry a chance. I think +Freycinet had his hands full, but he was quite equal to the task. I went +late one afternoon to the Elysee. I had written to Madame Grevy to ask +if she would receive me before I left for Italy. When I arrived, the one +footman at the door told me Madame Grevy was un peu souffrante, would +see me up-stairs. I went up a side staircase, rather dark, preceded by +the footman, who ushered me into Madame Grevy's bedroom. It looked +perfectly uncomfortable--was large, with very high ceilings, stiff gilt +furniture standing against the wall, and the heat something awful,--a +blazing fire in the chimney. Madame Grevy was sitting in an armchair, +near the fire, a grey shawl on her shoulders and a lace fichu on her +head. It was curiously unlike the bedroom I had just left. I had been to +see a friend, who was also souffrante. She was lying under a lace +coverlet lined with pink silk, lace, and embroidered cushions all +around her, flowers, pink lamp-shades, silver flacons, everything most +luxurious and modern. The contrast was striking. Madame Grevy was very +civil, and talkative,--said she was very tired. The big dinners and late +hours she found very fatiguing. She quite understood that I was glad to +get away, but didn't think it was very prudent to travel in such +bitterly cold weather--and Rome was very far, and wasn't I afraid of +fever? I told her I was an old Roman--had lived there for years, knew +the climate well, and didn't think it was worse than any other. She said +the President had had a visit from W. and a very long talk with him, and +that he regretted his departure very much, but that he didn't think +"Monsieur Waddington was au fond de son sac." Grevy was always a good +friend to W.--on one or two occasions, when there was a sort of cabal +against him, Grevy took his part very warmly--and in all questions of +home policy and persons W. found him a very keen, shrewd +observer--though he said very little--rarely expressed an opinion. I +didn't make a very long visit--found my way down-stairs as well as I +could--no servant was visible either on the stairs or in the hall, and +my own footman opened the big doors and let me out. We got off the first +days of February--as, up to the last moment, W. had people to see. We +went for two or three days to Bourneville--I had one or two very cold +tramps in the woods (very dry) which is quite unusual at this time of +the year, but the earth was frozen hard. Inside the woods we were well +sheltered, but when we came out on the plain the cold and icy wind was +awful. The workmen had made fires to burn the roots and rotten wood, and +we were very glad to stop and warm ourselves. Some had their children +with them, who looked half perished with cold, always insufficiently +clad, but they were quite happy roasting potatoes in the ashes. I was so +cold that I tied a woollen scarf around my head, just as the women in +Canada do when they go sleighing or skating. + +We had a breakfast one day for some of W.'s influential men in the +country, who were much disgusted at the turn affairs had taken and that +W. could no longer remain minister, but they were very fairly au courant +of all that was going on in Parliament, and quite understood that for +the moment the moderate, experienced men had no chance. The young +Republic must have its fling. Has the country learned much or gained +much in its forty years of Republic? + + + + +INDEX + + +Adams, Sir Francis, school friend of + M. Waddington +Aisne, deputies and senators of Department + of the +Alexander of Battenberg, Prince +Alexander of Russia, Grand Duke + (Emperor Alexander III), interview + with +Alexandra, Queen +Ambassadors, treatment of, in Russia +Americans, violation of rules of court + etiquette by; good-natured tolerance + of, in European circles; + Lord Lyons's opinion of women + of +Andrassy, Count, at Berlin Congress; + personality of +Andre, Alfred +Annamites as dinner guests +Aosta, Due d', in Paris at opening of + exposition; author's impressions of +Arab horses presented to M. Waddington +Arco, Count +Arnim, Count, German ambassador + in Paris; succeeded by Prince + Hohenlohe +Aumale, Duc d', president of Bazaine + court-martial; at ball at + British embassy +Austria, description of Empress of, + when in Paris; stiffness of court + etiquette in + + +Baden, Grand Duchess of, M. Waddington's + meeting with +Bazaine, Marshal, court-martial of +Beaconsfield, Lord, at Berlin Congress +Bear as a pet at German embassy +Begging letters received by persons in + public life +Berlin Congress, the; French + plenipotentiaries named to the; + M. Waddington's account of doings at +Berlin Treaty, signing of +Bernhardt, Sarah +Beust, Comte de, as a musician +Bismarck, Count Herbert, story of + telegram from; welcomes M. + Waddington to Berlin +Bismarck, Countess Marie +Bismarck, Prince, account of, at Berlin + Congress; anxiety of, + over French advance in radicalism; + suspicions of sincerity + of, in anxiety for France; + surprise of, over speedy payment of + war indemnity by France +Bismarck, Princess, M. Waddington's + account of +Blowitz, M. de, present during meeting + of Berlin Congress; + M. Waddington's distrust of; + Prince Hohenlohe's high opinion of; + at Madame de Freycinet's +Borel, General +Bourneville, days at; a winter + house-party at; a winter + visit to +Breakfasts, political +Bridge, remarks on +Broglie, Duc de, cabinet of; unpopularity + of; break-up of + cabinet +Brown, John, retainer of Queen Victoria +Bunsen, George de +Bunsen family + + +Canrobert, Marshal +Capel, Monsignor +Cardinals, incidents attending naming of +Carnot, M. Sadi +Carnot, Madame +Carvalho, Madame +Casimir Perier, dislike of, for office of + president; mentioned; + story of Madame Carnot and +Cataldi, Monsignor +Catholics, views of, concerning Protestants +Chanzy, General, appointed ambassador to Russia +Chateaux in France +Children + interest of Frenchwomen in + good treatment of, by French of all classes +Chinese ambassador, experience at dinner with +Cialdini, General, Italian ambassador in Paris +Clarence, Duke of, love affair of, with Catholic princess +Comedie Francaise, finished style of artists of the +Compiegne, a scene at, during the Empire +Conciergerie + Mr. Gladstone at the + interest of American visitors in the +Conservatoire, + Sunday afternoon concerts at the + marriages made at the + change effected in dress of chorus of the + Monsignor Czascki at the +Convent of the Soeurs Augustines in the rue de la Sante +Corti + Italian plenipotentiary to Congress of Berlin + feeling of, over establishment of Tunisian protectorate by France +Costumes, national, seen in Paris during exposition year +Country people + lack of interest of French, in form of government + attitude of, in election of 1877 + enthusiasm of, aroused over Republic +Croizette, Theatre Francais artist +Cyprus, cession of, to England +Czascki, Monsignor, papal nunzio + + +Deauville, a vacation at +Decazes, Duc + appointed to Foreign Office + advice on social etiquette from + Duc de Broglie contrasted with +Denmark, Crown Prince of + in Paris during exposition + at ball at British embassy + at ball at the Quai d'Orsay +Desprey, Monseigneur, created a Cardinal +Desprey, M. + a plenipotentiary of France at Berlin Congress + quoted on treatment of ambassadors in Russia + named ambassador to Rome +Diplomatists + antagonistic attitude of, toward the Republic + anomalous and mistaken behaviour of + superficiality of majority of +Dufaure, M. + appointed President du Conseil + now cabinet formed by +Dufferin, Lord + + +Election of 1877 +Elysee, ceremonies attending naming of Cardinals at +English, Monsignor +English visitors to Paris in 1879 +Eugenie, Empress + at Compiegne + description of, and reminiscences concerning +Exposition Universelle of 1878 + closing of + good moral effect of + + +Fan, an autographed, as souvenir of Berlin Congress +Farmers, + usual indifference of French, to form of government + enthusiasm of, over the Republic +Ferry, Jules +Fitz-Maurice, Lord Edmond +France, astonishing rapidity of recovery of, after Franco-Prussian War +Frederick-Charles, Prince +French people + self-centred attitude of + conventions in dress of girls + interest of women in their children + lack of regard for, on part of Northern races + defence of fine qualities of + difficulties of interpreting conversation, + cramped lives of middle-class women + religious question among +Freycinet, M. de + appointed Minister of Public Works + ability displayed by, as a Republican statesman + excellent qualities of + succeeds M. Waddington as premier + official changes made by +Freycinet, Madame de + author's visit to, at Quai d'Orsay + + +Gambetta, Leon, + manners and appearance of + force of oratory of, in campaign of 1877 + mentioned + appreciation by, of value of Tunisian protectorate + comparison of Grevy and +General amnesty, discussion of the. +Germans, want of tact characteristic; + position of women among; + advance in comfort and elegance among. +Germany, feeling in, over radicalism + in France. +Gerome, J. L., as a table companion. +Gladstones, visits from the. +Glynn, Admiral, school friend of M. + Waddington. +Gortschakoff, Prince, quoted on death of Thiers; + at Berlin Congress; + a diplomatist of the old-fashioned type. +Grand Opera in Paris. +Grange, Chateau de la, home of Lafayette. +Grant, President and Mrs., in Paris. +Greek national dress. +Grevy, election of, to presidency; + good figure cut by, in society; + hats bestowed upon two Cardinals by; + disappointment of, in the Republic; + rivalry between Gambetta and; + Queen Victoria's meeting with; + feelings of regard for one another held by M. Waddington. +Grevy, Madame; + unknown to society upon husband's election to presidency; + first reception held by; + question of necessity of presence of, at the Elysee; + receptions held by; + author's last visit to. +Grevy, Mademoiselle, at Prince Hohenlohe's reception. + + +Halanzier, director of the Grand Opera. +Hatzfeldt, Count, story of Liszt and; + personal charm of. +Helene d'Orleans, Princess, love affair + of Duke of Clarence and. +Hoare, Sir Henry. +Hohenlohe, Prince, German ambassador to France; + pleasant manners of; + at Berlin Congress; + reception given to President Grevy by; + reports by, concerning feeling in Germany + over French radicalism. +Hohenlohe, Princess, striking personality of; + at Madame Grevy's first reception. +Holland, Lady. +Holland House, London. +Hotel de Ville, ball at the, in 1878. +Houghton, Lord. +Humbert, King. + + +Ignatieff, General. +Isabella, Queen, at Marshal de MacMahon's reception; + Description of, and account of audience given author by; + Dinner given Marshal and Madame de MacMahon by. +Italians, author's doubts concerning. + + +Japanese, reported intelligence of. +Jockey Club, Paris, political talk at the. + + +Karolyi, at Berlin Congress. +Kellogg, Clara Louise, with the Waddingtons. +King, General Rufus. +Kruft, chef du materiel at Quai d'Orsay. + + +Lafayette, Marquis de, interest of + American visitors in things relating to. +Lasteyrie, Count de. +Layard, Sir Henry. +Leo XIII, election of. +Liszt, meetings with, and stories of. +Longchamp, review of Paris garrison at. +Lord Mayor of London at the Grand Opera, Paris. +Louis Philippe, memories of. +Lutteroth, M., uncle of M. Waddington; + information concerning Royalist circles from; + interesting friends of. +Luxembourg, Palace of the; + gardens of the. +Lyons, Lord, lesson in diplomatic politeness from; + ball given by, during exposition year; + at Madame Grevy's first reception; + memories of Washington ministry by. + + +MacMahon, Fabrice de. +MacMahon, Marshal de, President of French Republic; + at the Longchamp review; + receptions of, at Versailles; + attitude of, toward cabinet of 1876; + official dinner given by, to diplomatic corps + and the Government; + dismissal of cabinet by (May 16,1877); + dislike of, for the Republic and the Republicans; + official receptions and dinners of; + Mrs. Grant and; + visits M. Waddington at Deauville; + dislike of, for office of president; + preference of, for his military title; + fete given by, at Versailles during exposition year; + resignation of; + delight at resumption of private life. +MacMahon, Marechale de, description of visit to; + visit to Madame Waddington from, upon dismissal of cabinet; + chilly attitude of, toward things Republican. +Madeleine, service at the, for King Victor Emmanuel. +Marguerite de Nemours, Princesse, author's visit to. +Marquis, anecdotes of a dictatorial. +Marriages, made at the Conservatoire or the Opera Comique; + Favourable criticism of arranged. +Martin, Henri, senator of the Aisne. +Mathilde, Princesse, meeting with; + salon of. +Mendes Leal, Portuguese minister. +Molins, Marquise, Spanish ambassadress. +Mollard, Introducteur des Ambassadeurs. +Mommsen, Theodor. +Morny, Duc de, a founder of Deauville; + famous entertainments of. +Morocco, mission from. +Murat, Princess Anna (Duchesse de Mouchy). + + +Napoleon III, Emperor, at Compiegne. +Napoleon's tomb, interest of American visitors in. +National Assembly, description of sittings of. +New Year's day reception at the President's. +Ney, Marshal, execution of, recalled. +Nuns, the life of. + + +Oliffe, Sir Joseph, a founder of Deauville. +Opera Comique, making of marriages at the; + artists of the. +Opposition leader, joys of position of. +Orleans, Due d', at Countess de Segur's salon. +Orleans family, members of, at official + reception given by the Waddingtons; + members of, at Lord Lyons's ball. +Orloff, Prince, Russian ambassador; + attractive personality of; + at Prince Hohenlohe's reception to President Grevy. + + +Paris, reasons against holding of Parliament in; + gaiety of, during exposition; + return of the Parliament to. +Pedro de Bragance, Emperor of Brazil. +Pie, Monsignor, created a Cardinal. +Piemont, Prince and Princesse de. +Pius IX, death of and funeral observances. +Poles, author's lack of confidence in. +Pontecoulant, Comte de, chef de cabinet + under M. Waddington. +Pothnau, Admiral, appointed ambassador to Great Britain; + Annoyance of, over offer of London embassy to M. Waddington. +Protestants, views of, held by Catholics; + isolated position of the French. + + +Quai d'Orsay, description of house of Foreign Minister at the; + removal of Waddingtons to; + receiving and entertaining at; + large ball given at; + English visitors at; + view from, on cold winter nights; + departure from; + formal visit to Madame de Freycinet at. +Quartier Latin, the modern. + + +Reay, Lord and Lady. +Receptions, customs at official. +Renan, Ernst, description of. +Renault, Leon, prefet de police. +Republic, strength of feeling against the, in Paris "society;" + enthusiasm of farmers over the; + disappointment of statesmen +in the; moderation of + feeling in society circles toward the, at present time. +Republicans, proposed uprising of (1877); + work of, in election of 1877; + victory of. +Reviews at Longchamp. +Rome, early social life in; + Account of reception in, where royalties were present. +Roumanian woman's dress. +Royalties, first social encounters with; + present at opening ceremony of exposition; + experiences with, at ball given by Lord Lyons + at British embassy; + risks run by, at fete at Versailles; + present at the Waddingtons' ball at Quai d'Orsay. +Rudolph, Archduke, crown prince of Austria. +Russia, sadness of people of; + Distance between princes and ordinary mortals in; + pains taken to give ambassadors a pleasant impression of. + + +St. Vallier, Count de; + Senator of the Aisne; + Plenipotentiary to Berlin Congress; + ambassador to Germany; + reports brought from Germany by. +Salisbury, Lord, at Berlin Congress. +Salon reserve, passing of the. +Salons, political. +Sartiges, Comte and Comtesse de. +Sartiges, Vicomte de. +Say, Leon, as a speaker in the National Assembly; + Minister of Finance; + attitude of, toward French protectorate of Tunis. +Say, Madame. +Schouvaloff, Count; + at Berlin Congress. +Segur, Countess de, political salon of. +Seine, freezing of the. +Shah of Persia, experiences with the. +Shooting expeditions. +Shops, trading at small. +Sibbern, Swedish minister. +Simon, Jules, dismissal of cabinet of. +Singing, comments on French. +Skating experiences in Paris in 1879. +Soeurs Augustines, Convent and Hospital of the. +Sullivan, Arthur, in Paris. + + +Theatre Francais, nights at the. +Thiers, M; + superseded as President of Republic by MacMahon; + receptions at house of; + comment of Prince Gortschakoff upon; + condition in 1877 and sudden death of. +Thiers, Madame. +Thorndike, Miss (Comtesse de Sartiges). +Tiffany, success of, with French, at exposition of 1878. +Travelling, a Frenchwoman's views of. +Troubetskoi, Princess Lize. +Trouville, vogue of, as a watering-place. +Tunis, French protectorate of, arranged by M. Waddington. + + +Versailles, meetings of National Assembly at; + terraces and gardens at; + Marshal de MacMahon's receptions at; + compared with Paris as a meetingplace of Assembly; + badly managed fete given by Marshal de MacMahon at; + removal of Parliament to Paris from. +Victor Emmanuel, death of, and service at the Madeleine for. +Victoria, Princess, charming character of; + strong English proclivities of. +Victoria, Queen, M. Waddington received by, in Paris; + prestige of, in France; + expresses approval of M. Waddington. +Vienna, stiffness of court at. +Vogtio, Marquis de, a visit from, at Deauville. + + +Waddington, Francis, son of Madame Waddington. +Waddington, Richard, senator of the Seine Inferieure; + family life at country home of; + early career of; + story of the Prince of Wales and. +Waddington, Madame Richard. +Waddington, William, marriage of Madame Waddington and; + Deputy to National Assembly from Department of the Aisne; + brief term as Minister of Public Instruction; + method of speaking in National Assembly; + criticisms of, by opposition newspapers; + second appointment as Minister of Public Instruction (1876); + life of, as minister; + dismissal of, from the ministry; + fears of arrest of; + attitude toward proposed Republican uprising; + electoral campaign of; + elected senator in 1877; + named to the Foreign Office in new cabinet formed by Dufaure; + life of, as Foreign Minister; + named plenipotentiary to Berlin Congress; + activities of, at the Congress; + French protectorate of Tunis arranged by; + remains at Foreign Office upon accession of Grevy, + and becomes prime minister; + onerous life of; + reception of, by Queen Victoria; + interview with Grand Duke Alexander of Russia; + determines to quit office; + last days as premier and Foreign Minister; + mild attacks on, by political opponents; + shooting parties at Grevy's and Casimir Perier's; + gives over ministry to Freycinet; + offered the London Embassy, but declines; + President Grevy's regard for. +Waddington, Madame, mother of William Waddington. +Waddington, Madame William, marriage; + early experiences in Paris after Franco-Prussian War; + anecdote of Count Herbert Bismarck's telegram to; + story of early attempt to arrange a marriage for; + at first big dinner at the Ministry of Public Instruction; + first social meetings with royalties; + experience in thanking the artists at reception; + visit of Marechale de MacMahon to, upon dismissal of cabinet; + feelings on moving into foreign ministry; + trials over reception days; + experience with Chinese ambassador at Marshal de MacMahon's + dinner to General Grant; + audience given to, by Queen Isabella of Spain; + at Lord Lyons's ball, and meeting with Princesse Mathilde; + received by Empress Eugenie; + does not accompany husband to Berlin Congress; + meeting with the Shah of Persia; + in crush at ball at Hotel de Ville; + exciting adventures at fete at Versailles; + ball given by, at the Quai d'Orsay; + attends Madame Grevy's first reception; + at naming of Cardinals at the Elysee; + conversations of, with Catholic friends; + growing fondness of, for the rive gauche; + skating experiences of; + crosses the Seine on the ice; + visits of farewell received by, upon leaving Quai d'Orsay; + pays formal visit to Madame de Freycinet at Quai d'Orsay; + visit to Madame Grevy; + departure from Paris and short stay at Bourneville. +Wales, Prince of, story of Richard Waddington and; + liking of Parisians for; + Madame Waddington presented to Princesse Mathilde by; + at ball at the Quai d'Orsay. +Washington, D. C., characteristics of; + Lord Lyons's reminiscences of life at; + a French conception of. +William I, Emperor, attempted assassination of. +Winter of 1879, severity and hardships of. +Wittgenstein, Prince. +Women, adaptability of American; + cramped lives of middle-class French; + more uncompromising than men in political views; + ambitions of, for husbands and sons. + + +Zuylen, Baron von, Dutch minister; + as a musician. +Zuylen, Madame von. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of My First Years As A Frenchwoman, +1876-1879, by Mary King Waddington + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN *** + +***** This file should be named 10003.txt or 10003.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/0/0/10003/ + +This file was produced from images generously made available by the Bibliotheque nationale de France (BnF/Gallica) at http://gallica.bnf.fr., carlo traverso, Charlie Kirschner and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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