Year: 1878

precedence. Many princes Of the


blood were invited to be present


and none of them could be expected
to take back seat. The Prince o1


Wales was already here, and CHIEF


of the British high commission
Austria and Prussia, Russia and


Belgium, and also the Kingdom Of


Italy, were each and all to be repre-,


sented. Powerful potentates from
India and Bashaws, with more tails
than I have time to count, each
claimed priority Of right which
would listen to no terms Of COM
promise and disdained every over
ture of settlement. kilograms few
thick and fast; messengers dashed
between the different departments
with notes of heavy diplomatic i'm
port, the great principles seeming
to forget the homely adage, ''That
when two men ride the same horse,
one must ride behind" Uncle Sam,
whose able representative was COM
PEELED to uphold the dignity of bis
country, could not afford to have
his claims overlooked by taking a
prospective view of the coat tails OF
any Prince or potentate, however
magnificent and powerful, things
were getting to be very much
mixed, when the private Secretary
of the Prime Minister cut the gor-
dian knot with the brilliant sugges-
ton that they all go first. This
met the universal appreciation Of
the different foreign embassies, and
it is whispered that the lucky sug-
gestion of the plan may expect a
red ribbon and the order Of st.
Louis, not to mention prospective
official advancement and a pen
sion.


On Tuesday, by the kindness Of
the American Commissioner, the
Hon. Richard Mccormick, to whom
I take this opportunity to return
my grateful thanks, I received a
formidable card barred with i'm
perial purple, with compliments Of
the HMarechal President de la Re-
publique, inviting me to assist at
the opening ceremony on the first
of May, on the terrace of the Tro-
cadero, at the hour Of two precisely.
I Understood that the Prince OF
Wales, the crown Prince of Prus-
sia, the King Of Italy, Princes from
Austria, Denmark and Sweden were
also expected to be present. So l
thought I must go; it is so pleas
ant occasionally to mingle into the
society you are accustomed to, and
which you are perfectly sure is re-
spectacle. The morning broke
gloomily; the day previous Paris
was visited by one Of the heaviest
storms of the season. It requires
something to dampen the ardor OF
your true Partisan, but I don't
know of anything that will take the
starch out of mans collar as quick
as a shower of rain. All through
the preceding night the rain had
come down in occasional showers,
and when day broke the clouds
hung sad and gloomy over the
gayest capital in Europe. To for
eigners used to the noise and bus


tie of holidays in other lands, there
was something almost appalling in
the silence and order that prevailed.
There was no occasionalpopping OF
pistols, nc individual hurrahs and
no thunder of artillery. Early in
the day, but little to indicate that
there was about to commence a
pageant which thousands of people
from other lands mad crossed great
oceans to see. I sometimes think


Great Jupiter Pluyius has set his
face against International Ex'


hibitions, for most of them that !
remember have been ushered in


with rain, the First Exposition in


London was dreadful. The Cen


tennial at Philadelphia was a soake1


and today in Paris it sustains its
miserable reputation. But rain OF
no rain, the dignity of the fourth
estate must be maintained ; so the
representative Of your honored
journal knowing that he WAS going


into the society Of princes, arrayed
himself in swallow tailed coat and
white kids, and as I struggled re-
solutely before the glass to tie one
of those ravishing knots which used
to send a futter through the
hearts of the young bellies Of a
Quarter of century ago, my mem