New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1879-07-23
THE NAPOLEON FUNERAL.

hEEP AWAY-ROYAL WHIM5-rHE MILITARY
PARADE ABANDONED.
IPRoM THE REGULAR CORRESPONDENT OF THE yrtnryEl
LONDON July 12.-They buried Prince Louis Ma
Poleon this morning at Chisehurst and the evening
papers contain full accounts of the ceremony.
lhere are, however, one two points which |
wish to say a word. First as to the Queen of Eng
lands share IN the business Her Majesty has seen
nt 10 be present on this occasion. presume she
would say-l know that it is said for her by
those who seek to defend her act-that she went in
order to show her personal sympathy with the
bereaved mother. Nothing can be urged against
sentiment of that kind The Queens
attachment to the Bonapartes, the heredi-
tary enemies Of her house, dates from the
exchange of visits between herself and Prince
Albert on one side, aud the Emperor and Empress
on the other, in 1855, or Whereabouts. The diary
which she has herself given to the world through
Mr.. Theodore Martin Is explicit that point. Her
liking for the Emperor and affection for his wife
was never dynastc, and ceased to be- if it ever was
purely political after that date though it was long
the cue of one section of English society to repre-
sent the intimacy between them as contracted in
the public interest Ever since the collapse of the
French Empire the Queen of England has openly
and repeatedly given proofs of the sincerity Of her
friendship for the depOsed occupants of the French
throne. Since the death OF the Emperor, her SYM
patty with the Empress grew, naturally enough,
still closer. The two women had another tie in
common-that which bound each to the memory Of
her dead husband. Ifkings are mortal, queens are
also human, and womany. In so far rs Queen Vic
torias presence at Chi5elhurst to-day is a declara
ton of her continuing love for the ex-Empress, and
of sorrow for tho fresh calamity which has be-
fallen her. there IS, repeat Just criticism to be
made on it.
But a queen is queen first and n woman after
ward. That is one of the penalties she pays for her
exalted station. No professions of private regard
can absolve her from public duties, strip her de-
monstration of to-day of its public character. She
cannot lay off and put on her royal character Mt
will France will know that the Majesty of Great
Britain was present at the burial Of a pretendcr to
the French throne. II Is certain, that to the French
mind, the Queens presence will seem like q mani
festatiOn of political goodwill to the house of Bona
parte. and hence of political illwill to the Re-
public. The inference may be erroneous, but
1T will be drawn, and it will intensity the hostility
to England which for some time past has been
steadily gaining ground among the French This is
what the Queen ought to have taken into account.
Ihisis above all. what her Ministers ought TO have
pressed upon her. Her visit to Chisclhurst is an
act of State-nothing less. Her purpose must have
been known to her advisers. They wcro bound to
bring her attention the consequences OF II, and
she bound to give heed to their representations
and whether these representations cOnformed TO her
private Judgment or private inclnatons or not,
10 abide by them. Their constitutional duty and
hers were equally plain. Nobody knows, or
can know, whether Lord Beaconsfeld and his col
leagues acted in this It's better to suppose
that they neglected their duty than that the Queen
disregarded the counsel which she would have been
bound to follow if offered to her.
Il, l., En.r Ia. ~ oil oil Of
most classes. have lately shown themselves singu-
larry indifferent to the political consequences of
their emotional indulgences. They have been for
weeks past on the brink of serious quarrel with
France. Their conduct with respect to Egypt and
to Greece, which has not been emotional but
SELFISH has done much to ALLEVIATE French
friendship Their conduct about the Prince has
done even MORE The fuss made about him when
he set out on his journey TO South Africa was trivial
compared to what has since occurred but 1t pro-
yoked an indignation none the less dangerous be-
cause for the most part suppressed. You heard the
mutterings of it IN private If you happened TO be in
Paris If there was less of it in the papers, it is
because the serious journals of Paris capable,
OCCASION of great prudence in treating delicate in
ternational Questions. Whether this sentiment of
prudence will get the better Of the very different
feeling sure to be stirred by this deporabe
escapade of the Queen, we shall know in day or
two In either case the English public may be
trusted TO preserve its usual stodty I'm the matter.
Subject ms FnglIshmen are to odd explosions Of
feeling they are the last people In the world to per-
ceiye that others may have senslbities as well as
themselves They wrap themselves up in the con-
ylcton that where no offence is meant none will be
taken.
II NAV be hoped that the French understand the
extent TO which the Queens acts are die
tated by caprice, but tho French are
too little in the habit of following the
course of events IN foreign countries with sus-
tanned attention. Few of them have minute
knowledge OF what goes on In the royal family OF
England. They may not be aware how far the
Queens observance OF conventlonalltles depends
on her state of health or mood at the moment. Pos
sibly they never heard that she quilted Windsor
for the north two days before the arrival of the
Emperor of Russia some years ago. or that she
left the residence when the Empress of Germany
was her guest two days before her guests depar-
ture hurryng off this time also to Balmora. To put
il I'm n homely way, her Majesty does very much
what she feels like doing. She Is sorry for
the mother Of the dead boy, and went to
Chisehurst this morning to tell her so, and to offer
her what comfort she might in the midst OF her
distress. Size did not mind offending the Emperor
of Russia her own sons father-in-aw, nor the En-
press of Germany to whose son her eldest daughter
il married. And she minds quite as little wounding
the Just susceptibilities of a friendly nation who
have not yet learned TO distinguish between the in
diyduaI and the constitutional acts of constitu-
tioual sovereign In the present case, tho offence Is
not essened by the fact that not only the Queen but
nearly the whole royal family were In attendance
on this Bonapartist coffin. The Prince aud
Princess of Wales, the Dukes of Edinburgh
and Connaught and Prince Leopold all went The
oneen and her sons brought flowers for the grave,
but the Qneen herself did not go to the chapel
Against these indiscretions are to be set OH the