New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1893-03-19
A FRENCH AMBASSADOR.
THE FAREWELL BANQUET EY TIE LORD
MAYOR TO VI. WADDiNGTON
London. Marcel, q

Tho precedent set in the case OF Mr.. iHcips oh
his departure for .lone has now been followed III
honor Of the French Ambassador, NJ Waddln9toh'
The dinner 20 the American Minister was most
impressive ceremony and IA compliment OF the
highest kind both for its nature, and for the
character ard position Of those who sraced the
banquet Mr. Phelps's speech on that occasion
still lives in English memory. There has been no
finer effort Of oratory. A farewell dinner was
given 10 NJ. Waddington by IN, Lord Mayor on
Saturday evening at the Mansion House, when
really extraordinary company OF distinguished peo-
pie assembled. 1t was, in the true sense. repre-
sentative assembly. great part Of what Is best
IN English public and private life was there IN
persen. or ny accepted and competent repre-
sentativcs NJ Waddineton's own colleagues OF
the Diplomatic Body mustered in force. az was
natural and right Tho Lord Chancellor and the
Lord Chief Justice of England, the Speaker OF
the House of Commons eminent Peers, eminent
men Of letters, eminent painters, and men or
eminencc in many another department were there.
journalism itself, which in this country Is some
times thought TO be sufficiently represented by the
Young gentlemen who report Tie speeches. was
on this occasion present in the persons OF us
tinouishcd editors like Mr.. Buckle Of Tho Times,
and OF famous correspondents ike Mr.. Archibald
Forbes and Or. Russell
That there were enlocies on NJ Waddngton
may be taken az matter OF course. Inc Loro
MAYORS was elaborate. not 20 say labcred: nut
there ia nothing in the charters or franchises oil the
City Of London which obliscs a Lord Mayor TO
he an orator Orator or not, he did we'll 10 give
the dinner and all the better since, as everybody
knows the French have an lnveterate haolt
OF regarding Lord Mayor being superior
in authority to the Prime Minister, and in dignity
rivallcd only by Majesty. All Paris will believe
Mfr Alderman Knill the most 'llustrious of the
company at the Mansion House. If there were
Frenchmen present besides the staff OF the En-
bassy and the London representatives OF the
Partisan PRESS they looked with respect on the
gilt liveries Of the Mansion House footmen OF
whom no less than four stood behind the gilt
chair of the Chief Magistrate. As nobody else
had any footmen at all, gilt or otherwise, this
il as good proof as is needed of the superior
splendor Of this unique functionary.
Many of the guests were, indeed beautif'ed
with various orders,-the Garter, the Thistle, the
OATH. and many another more mysterious than
these will stop only TO note that on the breast
and round the neck OF the author OF The Light
Of Asia" cleaned other lights more dazzling still
some half-dozen stars and orders, or perhaps
dozen Not far of was Professor Max Muller, OF
Oxford modestlv wearing the single Prussian
Civil Order Pour lie Mcrlte, which Mr. Forbes,
who is good authority, declared to be the rarest
decoration in Europe The single star OF tho
Anglo-German seemed TO outshine the constella-
ton to which India and England, and 4 suppose
Japan and perhaps Hawaii had, in Sir Edwin
Arnold's case contributed
II there were a fault in all the eulogies
showered on NJ. Washington, it was the contln-
ual reference of English speakers to the English
ancestry of the French Ambassador. careless
listener might have supposed that to lie his chief
,1,oxr op1a rod i'm In
English was his blood and education and. as he
said himself, that he had rowed in winning
Cambridge eight against Oxford lie has. in
fact other titles to esteem. Not the least OF
them is the tact and the power of getting on
with dozen or SO different French Ministers, to
which it is owing that he has been ten years
continuously the tenant Of the Embassy at Albert
Gate. The very circumstance on which the Eng
lish laid, perhaps slightly too much stress has
been made reproach to him among the more
Chauvnist of his countrymen. But IT ought not
TO be reproach. They will tell You at the For
eign Office that no Ambassador has ever been
more tenacious Of the claims he was instructed
to press. lie was the less likely to make con-
cessions lest he might be thought to have made
them out of sympathy with the people to whom
lie was allied.
can imagine that it may have been more
difficult for NJ Washington to tell his chiefs Of
the Quai dOrsay the real truth about England
in Egypt than if he had not been half English.
His English blood must have brought with 1t
some part OF that great inheritance of common
sense in politics which belongs to the English
But to use it, or to hold or state even in thOsc
private dispatches which often the most val
liable of all the masses of manuscript sent home
by an envoy any but purely Gallo view, must
have been all but impossible to NJ. Washington.
IL tolr- <ot~ 1n1 Ia Ennxx-
that the English are or mean to be, In such
matters as Egypt, fair-,nindcd. 1t is an awkward
necessity which compcls such man to subordi-
nate Just to unjust views. But he has conducted
the business OF his country with very great ability,
and none the worse because he has made and kept
friends. There is no tradition of European di-
plomacy according to which an Ambassador need
he on ill terms with the Government to which
he is accredited, or the people among whom he
lives.
Nor was there a word in NJ. WaddingtOns ex- ,
celent speech on Saturday which betrayed any
consciousness of the angry criticisms he has had
TO endure from some of the anglophobes of the
Partisan press: and from one two Of the
same kidney in the French Chamber. lie spoke
with equal discretion and frankness; i will not
say like an Englishnan, for that would be to
do him i'll service, but like a good Frenchman
who has lived long abroad. He avoided trouble
some questions. and he took the soundcst of all
possible positions in declaring that he had always
done his best to smooth over difficulties be-
tween the two countries, and kept steadily in
view tho paramount Importance Of arriving at
O satisfactory conclusion. honorable and equita-
bic both to France and to England He might /
have courted popularity at home. Just as an
American Minister might, but happily does not
grovel to one section of the American COM |
munity, by twisting the lions tail. / don't
think the lion would in either case, be easily
reused, but it is all the same. diversion
which might he carried too far.
NJ Waddington goes home to resume his po-
IIo 1ooyc