On this page
-
Text (1)
-
^ — .__ ^Mi^v^ ftffi ^^^^^_^^_^^m^. — ' ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
\ T I • —J. »Ii Qextitacts From Otn-Priv...
ftfifflfiO & pBWS ^ flfa ^ We & ViMtam $ r & i ( 4 v Mgft w ^«^!^ sp ^ f 33 » mm ^ M ? fe | 4 w . S £ » J »? flff % »» rn & £ » kWP vamp du Nord , / and its pfetty streets , curious-. as , « v ? bidets jand glistenuig Jike ? piles of jewels , always agori * ouj ) ile 99 interest and inexhaustible variety to the Boulogne visitor . Everybody : says the town never was ., sp full , and never so beautiful as during . th » i » yaX week . This you- hear , everywhere ^ fpvvQ & course , Boulogne talks of nothing else but Queens and Emperors . ' We' calh Boulogne an- ? " . English town , " It is because English so largely occupy ifc . Happily they have not changed it : ft is essentially Trench in all tilings , •' travelled' Judge ' s reiterate . The houses yellow , green , and " cream-laid , " utterly undimme , d by smoke , seem fairy tenements . DuraJjtle enough , they have thrown over them an air oft . ligbtsomene « s and . transientness . A resident friend * who prefers it to all continental resorts ( and he has tried all ) , still thinka it a great pantomime , ' and : expects daily when some great harlequin will bang- the streets with his sword and demolish the whole pack of architectural cards , or transmute them into some combination of new flimsmess : ' ' Day by * day all this imperial week the weather h ' & s become bri g hter and brighter . On the 18 th it " was perfect Queen of England weather . Fine weather judiciously occurring , when her Britannic Majesty goes forth , that atmospheric perfection is called by her name . Boulogne kept pace with the sun . There was the grand Fete of Napoleon , or * de la Procession Generale de l'As'sotnptidn : there is agocxl deal of imperial assumption in France . " The Fete < 6 f Napoleon is , of course , religious as well as gay . The carnal part of it consisted m placing a barge * in the lake of the river JJiane , from which barge projects a greased mast . Along this pole certain adventurous persons , in bathing costume , attempt to walk , and seize-a . small flag at the end , with which they leap into the river and swim away . Those Who fail fall into the river without the flag . Next ; a flag was placed in the water , far in , advance of tlie boat , from which darted a number of men to swim round it . They swam in the common way until tired , when they advanced by beating the water with the arms , a mode of swimming common to France , I was told , though unnoticed in the usual bathing-books I have ever seen . A fruitless swimming alier ducks ended the hydropathic part of the fete . The river was surrounded by thousands , including crowds of English ladies , who at home would not have looked at the sight a moment . There was no harm in it , and no good ; it was a very dull affair . In front of the river a fine military band played , and half the crowd being soldiers , the banks looked gay enough . But not a cheer greeted the champions . One expected so demonstrative a people as the French to have been extatic . An English crowd would have broke out when the brave swimmer gained his point . Some of them well deserved cheers . Jn England the exciting point is to see one man get before nnother ; in France the point is to get along easily and gracefully . The comparison of the national manners in this instance suggested that ice ought to place a statue of Competition by the side of that of Mammon . The * ' Procession G < 5 ncrule" elaborated with great art . It was ns prolonged as a hundred alexandrines The countless repetitions of girls in wlrito veils , displaying every variety of decoration , made the procession ns delicate and beaut iful as one of Tennyson ' s songs . The widow with one or two tiny children- —old women , very old , ' the grandmothers of !<> ance—old men ns old as they could bo , who had borne the sword of the old Empire before the present Napoleon was born —crept along in honour of the Corsican Saint . They make a little go a long way in France , but certainly a procession goes furthest of all . A walking company , which in England would bo compressed into JLudgnU ' -hill , was made so attenuated in Boulogne as to roach from one end to tho other of a Illnckfriars-rond . _ At night there-wan a Kail at tho Tintelleries . Fifteon thousand lumps wore promised , and there appeared to be the full number . The Schottische dance extended n quarter of a mile . Soldiers in the ' ranks and their ollieers danced often with each other , ns well as iu tho same circle . 'X ho girls were Of every order of beauty , and the men not loss romarkablo . Tho quietness nnd order of so
j . ' ¦ . '• -. i . ' . I ¦ ' j . 1 <¦ r . l ¦ - ' ¦ ¦ . ' i - . ! ¦ .. a > l i j thronged a company astonished many English ob-1 servers . The ^ warnM , pf kaleidpgcppieally-dressed | soldiers every : where . give , brilljance .. ^ tp , every , . assembly , and they pre everywhere , nj ^ doors . arid out , thicker than nouses arid more numerous * than trees or flowers . . ''" - ' ' . '"'"' ., Nothing seemed t 6 be known ofany movement or intention of the French Court . Except what the English papers said , Boulogne Knew absolutely nothing . Whether tlie Emperor ^ would come down on Thursday or -Fridays was- unannounced . From . whafc took p lace when Prince Albert came before ancient visitors made , inferences * and this was all the news in Boulogne . Halfa-dozen English residents calletj upon ^ lfr . Hianiilton , the British Consul , to hold a meeting to propose an address to the Queen . ! , This is ^ what the French . ought ' to . have done ; but . nothing of the kind was announced , and posslbjy wpultjl not have been allowed if it had . .. . . . Marvellous-, however ,, were the silent-efforts of somebody to make the * town look gay , All the week flags had been peeping out for one fetet or other , and on Saturday the 18 th , they"streamed from chimney to pavement . The railway station , a remarkably elegant structure , unequalled in England for light beauty , was buried in gold and garlands . A triumphal arch sprung' up in the road like Jonah ' s gourd by night . At . the top , a head alone at . first appeared—it shortly shot out two arms , holding over the head the word ' *• Civilisation . " " Toryism" has become ? ' Couservatism "— " Despotism" is now * ' Civilisation , ' at least that is its French reading . Soon the ' body of the figure lengthened out ; underneath her feet were the English words " Welcome to France , " addressed to the English Court . Trellises ran tldTvn from the lady " Civilisation" to tie earth j and others shot crescent-like before the station . Gold leaf " dabbed" on at random , was left so , and the wild edges fluttered in the sun like gems from a hundred thousand angles . The station walls were covered with red-velvet , ' festooned with flowers , and emblazoned , with heraldic figures . The palisades before the station were put up as if bt magic . The broken ground was covered with sand , ' turfed , and planted with full crrown trees , making a little wood , six hours old . Five hundred flower-pots were buried in the sand , and lo ! a parterre in full bloom fluttered in the breeze Two enormous pasteboard and canvas pillars were laid down at the bridge over which the . royal party had to pass . They seemed as . imposing as the pyramids put up by Cheops . These grew up in one night . On the quay side , where the landing took place , similar structures leaped up from the ground . A canopy of reception was erected , apparently of so light a structure that I went late on Friday night and stamped over it , and shook it , to find whether it was really safe . There was loyal solicitude for you ! "When my diamond snuff-box comes from the Court , it shall be forwarded to the Leader office . On Friday evening , while the hotels were dining , about six o ' clock , in slid the Emperor into Boulogne—to use a phrase of Coleridge ' s—like Sleep , few knowing the fact until the imperial carriages passed by the windows . He " stopped" at the Pavilion and Sea-bath Hotel , commanding a view of the sea on which his Royal Visitors were to arrive . After dining he came to the window and took coflee and a cigarette . Tho English part of tho small throng cheered him—and when they did they extinguished the voices of everybody else . No sounds could be heard but theirs . Once or twice , ns he passed along the Quay next day , French lishwomen threw out their arms iu the way -we should to express derision , and screamed out cheers , and so did several men in blouses : but my unpractised eye could not tell whether the cheers were genuine . Cheering in France is now a profession . The wonder of Boulogne is the Camp du Nord . Sevonty-fivo thousand soldiers are encamped about Boulogne . The Camp du Nord is one built l > y the soldiers , stretching four miles along the shore . Tho thatched and cemented dwellings seem like monster ant-hilly . Down the well-trodden plains the men are dipcrsed like ants . At first you would suppose you had lightened upon ii vast Shaker settlement . Oa the morning of the 18 t . h this and other camps poured forth their tens of thousands to invest , the port . English Brown , who had been " on the Continent" ( two hours distant from England ) Jour days , felt delighted
% \ mi % WdifyQu & nr ' wvs zhbprfc ^ ftti . jh tfiW & s $£ pfenaous e ^ ileV ^ ne ^;;; gre '^^; , t ^ : j | pgjf M ftp-P to facilitate taking- It .. $ iF wfieneyerU ' jCpyM . etiquette , required , jt , ftobinpqg jw £ nt ~ p' £ t ; W | $ - out his , in , order to be , always--.. WftdjWt' By * $ n o'clock the vast cliffs were lined * , 3 ner € arapn <* u -Nord had poured forth its swarmfr . The-Jiigh road to the camp was black * as division after division advanced . Bayonets glistening in the stto formed a protracted and repeated railing of Wefel wherever the eye "' could' fall . The piers of the port , capable of swallowing all Boulogne without being two deep , were crowded p and the inner lines ( the promenade lines are double ) srere bristling with the armyv It seemed as though France itself was in arms . The variegated houses —>¦ the myriad flags—the gay and beautiful women arid soldiers in every diversity of splendour—th ' e broad , still , ' blue ' sea and turning sun , \ threV a magic over the whole port . On the north , side sat . tlie Emperor with his staff , surrounded bV vast squadrons of horse soldiers ,. . waiting ' , -for the Queen of England-n-on the banks of the , very stream down which he swam for his life-a - ! e < w years ago . Near the spot . "where his sea-throne now -was placed a soldier shot at him ^ s he struggled , a miserable insurrectionist ^ in the stream . At length , two hours af terl . all was ready , the Queen ' s vessel steamed proudly ; into Boiilog ^ te . The ampmtheatre'before was all resplendent ^ waiitingf the actors . The . rnagnificent royal yacht completed tlie scene . Boulogne was one ilaze of scenic glory . The cannon poured forth its thunders , the distant soldiers respondedfrom the . cjiffs . The smoke often obscured the . porV and the Queen might have thought she was entering Sebastopol , so dense , so deafening was"the' welcome of artillery peals . In Paris the ^ Q 6 een arrived too late to be seen . It was nearly € tr ; lli jat . In Boulogne she was driven along too quick . Royal carriages in France seem to run down an inclined plane . You cannot see the occupants In their precipitation to get out of . si g ht .- ; The surpassing magnificence , both on , the line to Paris as well as in the imperial city ,, the Queen must read of afterwards—she : could hardly have seen any : 6 f it . As yon have read in Galignani ; . * and other papers , the Parisian ladies were greatly disap-) ointed at paying enormously for seats to viewnothing . Some had stood in one position four hours- —longer than French ladies usually consent to do . In Paris there was intense curiosity £ o see the Queen , but no enthusiasm , whatever may be said . As the royal party drove down the . Boulevards , some Republican voices could be heard shouting , " Down with the French Czar ! " Paris , like Boulogrte , was all splendour . In justice to the Emperor it must be said that he does all he can to amuse and gratify his royal visitors . In Boulogne I saw him drive everywhere to inspect himseTf every arrangement , that it might be perfect . The French , to whom I spoke in Paris , said they thought the Queen did not enjoy herself , that she seemed indifferent . She did not seem sufficiently astonished to gratify their expectation . This may be owing to the greater stolidity of English character which feels more than it manifests—in fact , rather disdains manifestation—certainly cannot equal French gesticulation of sentiment . But other ieelings might influence an English Queen . The royal palaces in Paris are mere fortresses . The English are astonished at the magnificence of Paris , but would like a little less splendour and a little more libertj " . Make freedom as brilliant as you can—why not ? but stolid freedom is better than gay despotism . The illuminations in Franco—at least m the capital—have been chiefly official . Those who knew Paris in the February of the Revolutionthen every boulevard and obscure rue was one continuous and interminable blaze—contrast it now with its few highway and imperial illuminations , and the dense darkness of the mysterious city elsewhere . Last night ( Aug . 22 ) , win lo the Boulevard Montmurtre was in n blaze , I sat two hours outside a cafe in the great quadrang le otic Chemm do fer du Nord , w ' ltero only two «» gw " joyful lights" were tube seen . You t" ™ ' ™ the Rue d'Argenteuil and you ilnd 1 ™" ° ' . ^ ( lows imrningAiriously , and you tliinJ . \™ J ™ $ » £ Uhas hidden ifsolf there , when von . disoovcp undor ?> neath » Ifcronu . 1 .. ^ -- KaevJrf ' SSSft . »« £ ~~ ^ r * . ' , i w . l- l-ttt no'ht . 1 no arcu cr « Li « -u wj at eight o elocH . i ^^ '" o ""
^ — .__ ^Mi^V^ Ftffi ^^^^^_^^_^^M^. — ' ...
^ — . __ ^ Mi ^ v ^ ftffi ^^^^^_^^_^^ m ^ . — ' ' •¦¦ - " I i I ii nil I ii | - i i i i r • I I i i - ' ! ... .- ¦¦ ..- ¦¦ . . .- ! ,- ....-.
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 25, 1855, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25081855/page/5/
-