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but at length, with graceful reluctance, did so, the emperor leading me, expressing his great gratification at being here and seeing me.
"Nothing can be more civil or amiable or more well-bred than the emperor's manner—so full of tact. A long walk after breakfast gave him and Albert an opportunity, to discuss the war. The empress was as eager as her husband that he should go to the Crimea. She sees no greater danger for him there than elsewhere—in fact, than in Paris. She is full of courage and spirit, and yet so gentle, with such innocent and charming manners."
During the visit the emperor was invested with the Order of the Garter, and on the nineteenth he and the empress were entertained at Guildhall, by the city of London, at a grand banquet. They returned to the palace in the evening, charmed with the way they had been received everywhere, and later they attended the opera.
In the evening a council was held to decide upon future operations in the Crimea, and the next day the royal guests took their departure.
While the emperor was in England, St. Arnaud had died at the seat of war, and soon after news was brought of the death of Lord Raglan. The former was succeeded by Canrobert, who soon resigned in favor of General Pélissier, and the latter by General Simpson. Sardinia had come forward as an ally, and her troops had distinguished themselves for bravery and skill.
The visit of the emperor and empress had to be returned, so the queen, Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, and the princess royal embarked, on the eighteenth of August, on board the "Victoria and Albert" for Boulogne. The emperor stood on the quay with a brilliant retinue to receive them, and conducted them to the railway station.
Arriving at St. Cloud, the royal guests were received by the empress "amidst a blaze of light from lamps and torches, the roar of cannon, music, drums, and cheers."
"The saloons are splendid," writes the queen, "the ceilings are beautifully painted, and the walls hung with gobelins. The saloon in which we dined was terribly hot, for the table was covered with wax lights, which quite dazzled me. Everything was magnificent, and all very quiet and royal." This beautiful palace, which the queen describes in her diary, is in ruins now,—not from age, but from the storm of revolution that has destroyed so many fine buildings in and near Paris.
It might be tiresome to those of my readers who are not fond of descriptions to follow the queen in her visits to all the interesting places in Paris and its suburbs; so we will merely say that, after a week of feasting and sight-seeing, she returned to Osborne with her family, having cemented a warm friendship with the emperor and empress of the French.