COURT YARD, BRITISH EMBASSY.
In February of the next year, President Felix Fauré died quite unexpectedly. There was a certain mystery about his death which has never been quite cleared up to the public satisfaction. The wildest rumours were spread in Paris. I visited the Elysée, and the salon where the dead President lay. He looked much as I had often seen him in life. He was dressed in evening clothes, the prevailing custom in France. The funeral was most imposing. But “Le Roi est mort, vive le Roi.” Very soon the question of a successor came on, and the grand Salon at Versailles (where the German Emperor was crowned in 1870) was filled with the deputies to elect their President. The choice fell upon M. Loubet—contrary to the expectation of many—and the event showed that he was the right man, for during his Presidency France had a comparatively quiet period.
Next year (1900) came the great Exhibition, when we were flooded with visitors from all parts of the world. Sir Edmund Monson kindly placed the ballroom at the Embassy at my disposal for an overflow service on the Sunday mornings, as the church proved too small.
Indeed, nothing could exceed the interest and kindness of the Ambassador in all Church matters. During this year the Annual Conference of Continental Chaplains was held in Paris, as it gave them the opportunity to visit the Exhibition. Halls suitable for such a gathering were very expensive, but again the Ambassador came to our aid, and we held the Conference in the ballroom at the Embassy. He also gave a banquet to the chaplains, which was much appreciated. I unfortunately caught typhoid fever at the end of the year, and so was debarred from many of the closing functions which were crowded into that time.
In 1901 came our great National loss in the death of England’s greatest Queen. I have described elsewhere the deep feeling manifested in the British Colony in Paris, and the services held in connection with that sad event.
I have spoken above of the kindness of Sir E. Monson in all Church matters. When the time of his departure drew near, I wrote to tell him how much the British Colony, and especially the congregation of the Embassy Church, appreciated what he had done. He wrote me the following letter:—
“My dear Dr. Noyes,—
“I am deeply touched by your kind letter of yesterday; and it is a real gratification to me to think that our association during the last eight years has been productive of such relations of friendship as have constantly existed between us, and that our steady co-operation in the interests of the English community here has never failed to be advantageous.
“In the many posts which I have occupied in Her Majesty’s service, it has always been one of my chief pleasures to come into contact with the English chaplains, and it has so happened that wherever I have been I have had opportunities of making a general acquaintance with all the accessible clergy. I have had special experience of their devotion to their work, and though differences of opinion are inevitable, I have never found that such differences have seriously interfered with social liking and harmony. It has consequently been always a real pleasure to my wife and myself to welcome the chaplains whenever a general meeting calls them together at the post we may be occupying. It is not so easy at Paris as it is elsewhere to be in touch with a large British community, but everyone with whom we have made acquaintance has given us evidence of interest for which we cannot but be very grateful. We hope to be from time to time in Paris, and whether we have a sort of home here or not, we shall at any rate look upon the Rue d’Aguesseau Church as a spot in which we have a vested interest, and where we shall never be regarded as strangers. With my wife’s very kind regards to yourself and Mrs. Noyes, I remain, dear Dr. Noyes,