Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-04-16
QUEEN VICTORIA in PARIS.
Her maIssty's Pleasure Trip lnOOsnlto as
Countess Of Balmcral.. The "Strong
Man" Brown who Protects Her
from Impertlnent lntruders.
Paris Cor. New York world.l

Paris Cor. New York World.l
Queen Victoria has paid one NOR,
of her rare visits to Paris, and it ha.
caused no little excitement. He
majesty travelled in strict incognito a.
Countess of Balmoral, but the French
steadily refused all through to TAKE
her at her own estimate and would
treat her as a queen. Her majesty il
going to the Italian lakes to meet the
newly married Duke and Duchess O.
Connaught at the fag-end Of theil
wedding tour. They are passins
through Paris to-day for Spain she i,
passing through for Italy they viii
Join her again in Italy, and after pass.
ing some days with them she will &C
home, The queen is travelling for hel
pleasure and she has good-naturedly
lodged the French as much as possible
to avoid ceremonial notice. She
steamed over to Cherbourg the night
before last, slept on board her yacht,
and landed only to make straight for
the special train that was to take her
to the capital. At the Paris terminus
only Lord Lyons aud two or three
more personsfrOm the embassy awaited
her arrival. All others were rigor-
ously excluded from the platform. In
alighting she gave her hand to the
ambassador, which he ~reverently
kissed. She then shut herself up in
a carriage with the Princess Beatrice,
who accompanies her, and was driven
to the British embassy, in the Eau
bOurg st. Honore, where she passed
the night in strict SeclusiOn, dining
alone and receiving no enc after the
meal. To-day she received visits from
President Grevy and NJ. Washington,
and then made straight for the lakes.
Yet the French papers have really
written very prettily about it all, and
| don't think they could have done
much better if she had given them a
procession. A reporter of the omnis-
cient Figaro carried the British en-
baSsy by storm or stratagem, and gave
us a pretty description Of the royal
apartments as prepared for this one
days soiourn-the great drawing-room
in red damask and gold the yellow
drawing-room adjoining the green
drawing-roOm fitted up as the queens
boudoir and decorated with her
maiestys own portrait in her royal
robes and with the portrait of the late
prince cOnsort as a British general
and so on and so on.
The truth is the French take a good
deal Of interest in her majesty because
they think, most enormously, | be-
lieve, hal she takes no interest in
them. 1t seems a paradox, but most
Of US must have noticed the same
thing on the smaller scale of iudivid-
ual experience. 1t shakes the self
possession of a Frenchman all to
pieces to feel that he is not liked?
Why is he not liked? He must know
more of that natural curiosity-the
person who is capable of not liking
him. Queen Victoria's life and opin-
ions have thus ever had a peculiar fas-
cination for this people. The are full
of fantastic ideas about her. They
think she hates them as Catholics
because she is a rigid Protestant
hates them as Frenchmen because ali
her sympathies are with her German
relations hates them above all in her
quality of a British matron for the re-
puted loOsness of their lives. They
fancy her as summing up the indiet-
ment against them in the words of
Ward against the gnqts. I've
are not mortal. Nothing will ever
persuade them that her majesty was
not secretly rubbing her hands all
through the period Of their Disasters.
or that when a word from her would
have sent the British army to the re.
lief Of Paris that word was not with
held on personal grounds. 1t is sad
nonsense, but what of that so is half
the stuff Of our thought. For the
French Queen Victoria is a Puritan
who shudders at them as children Of
the Evil One, because they fiddle and
and they find a very subtle
satisfaction in the thought that no one
more often among them to Join in
the fun than her majesty's eldest son.
The Prince Of Wales is popular here
because his tastes in this respect are
supposed to scandalize his honored
mother and to give his tempters a sort
of honorable revenge. Their interest
IN the queer Is as great as their inter
est IN the prince, but it is of another
kind, She has a success of curiosity.
They are eager to hear her. eager TO
see her as the ruler Of a race that has
forgotten how to smile. The sun NAV
never set on her empire, but II is
always gloom in her subjects hearts
This is the Continental view. /
heard the lnsular one as | sat in the
little English tavern in Rue dams
terdam, where, as it happened to be
exactly opposite the railroad station.
| had taken shelter while waiting for
the arrival of her majesty. The com
pany was not choice, but it was char
acteristic.
These ere republicans" said a
worthy gentleman's gentleman. as
soon as there's a royalty comm By.
don't they turn out, that's all IT
49,, Back they wouldn't turn out
like that for their own President, said
another.
Why should they?' observed a
too candid friend they see him
every day
w hat does that matter"
That's Mr.. -, Lord Lyons head
eoachman drives the best 'orses IN
Paris, lar none"
A moment more and out came a
closed carriage, wherein. as il whirled
by one caught the faintest glimpse Of
a lady in mourning, bowing IN ae-
knowledgment Of the situations ofI
the crowd. There she is There
she was. The carriage is out Of siobt