Seventeen Years in Paris: A Chaplain's Story

by H. E. Noyes

BRITISH EMBASSY CHURCH (INTERIOR).

The following year was marked by public services of a different kind. It was the Diamond Jubilee of our late Queen, of glorious memory, and the British Colony in Paris—and there is none more loyal to the throne—determined to mark it in a special manner. Public meetings were held in the Hotel Continental, kindly lent for the purpose, and it was decided to raise a fund which, after deducting the expenses connected with the fête, should be devoted to the various British charities of Paris without distinction of creed. It was also decided to give a fête to the children of the Colony and a dinner to the working classes. I consulted with Sir E. Monson, our Ambassador, who arranged with me that there should be services held in the Embassy Church corresponding with the services in London on Sunday, June 20th. An official service was also arranged for the afternoon of the same day to which the Diplomatic Corps were to be invited. The following is a description of the services:—

“At the Embassy Church, in the Rue d’Aguesseau, there were two thanksgiving services, one at eleven a.m., at the close of which the Rev. Dr. Noyes, who wore the scarlet cassock of a Doctor of Divinity, delivered a touching and eloquent address. He stirred a deep chord in the heart of those who heard him by reminding them that, though in a foreign land for the time being, they were in communion of thought with millions of their countrymen at home, and many more millions of their fellow subjects in distant regions, even in the most remote corners of the earth, in offering their thanksgivings for the blessings the Queen’s reign had conferred on England and the British people.

“The official thanksgiving service also took place at the Rue d’Aguesseau, at three o’clock in the afternoon. The admission to the church was by tickets, as a large portion of the nave had to be reserved for the French officials and the members of the Corps Diplomatique; but the English community was also present in large numbers, and the church was densely crowded. The Corps Diplomatique, with the exception of the United States Ambassador, whom etiquette compels to wear evening dress on State occasions, were all in full dress. Our Embassy received the various officials and Diplomatists, and showed them to their places. There were present, representing England, Sir Edmund and Lady Monson (the late), Mr. Gosselin, Colonel Dawson, Mr. Clarke Thornhill, Sir Brook Boothby, Mr. Marling, Mr. Barclay, Sir Berkeley Sheffield, the British Consul General and Vice Consul, Messrs. Percy Inglis, and Mr. Falconer Atlee. President Faure was represented by the captain of the frigate Serpette, and the French Government by M. Hanotaux and M. Mollard. The German Ambassador and Countess Marie de Münster, the Russian Ambassador and some of his Attachés two of whom wore the splendid uniform of the Chevaliers Gardes; the Austrian Ambassador, in whose suite was a Hungarian magnate in a splendid national dress, the Italian Ambassador, one of whose Attachés was attired in the picturesque garb of a Colonel of Bersaglieri; the Persian Ambassador, Munir Bey, and his Staff, decked in gorgeous uniforms, contrasting strangely with the unpretending fez, which, of course, they did not remove; the Chinese Ambassador and a couple of quaintly dressed Mandarins, filled the nave of the unpretending little church with a glittering array of gold lace such as I think was never before congregated within its walls. The rest of the nave and the galleries were filled by the ticket-holders, and they were all obviously English, ladies largely predominating. The service was shorter than that in the morning, but there was no sermon, and at the close the choir sang the first and last verses of the National Anthem, in which the English part of the congregation joined. The Ambassador and his Staff then took up places at the entrance of the nave, and shook hands with the diplomatists and officials as they passed out.”

There were some very striking testimonies in the French papers to the Greatness of the Queen, e.g., in the “Gaulois,” M. Imbert de St. Amand wrote:—

“Queen Victoria has not only been a model Sovereign, she has also been the model of all wives, of all widows, of all mothers. She might be described in a very few words—virtue on the Throne. As a rule, long reigns generally end in sadness. Charlemagne wept at the sight of the Northmen’s galleys scouring the coasts. Charles V., weary and disheartened, sought the living death of the cloister, and was present at his own funeral service. Louis XIV. remarked to Marshal Villars after his last defeat, ‘We cannot at our time of life hope for good luck.’ None of these precedents holds good in the case of her Britannic Majesty. Her reign, after sixty years, seems to defy the efforts of time. There are no signs of decay, but of a permanent renewal of life. The popularity of the Queen grows with every year added to her reign, and the joy and enthusiasm with which her three hundred and fifty millions of subjects acclaim it are the crowning and most touching feature of her Diamond Jubilee. The Queen fully merits this apotheosis, since she is the noblest incarnation of all the leading qualities of the Anglo-Saxon race—love of her home, firmness of purpose, energy in effort, unswerving devotion to duty. England sees herself mirrored in her Sovereign, and takes just pride in the presentment. She and her people are one.… Every class of French society, without any distinction of party and origin, unites in respectful greeting of the Sovereign who stands out as the grandest womanly figure of her century—the heroine of duty, whom not only her children, but her whole people venerate as the most intelligent, the most devoted, the best of mothers. Like our neighbours, we shall all say, ‘God Save the Queen,’ and with all our hearts take part in the Jubilee, which is at once the triumph of the woman and the triumph of the Queen.”

And again M. Comely in the “Matin”:—

“It is impossible for a civilized being to refrain from a feeling of deep admiration at this splendid result of the past sixty years. But it is difficult for a Frenchman not to feel some bitterness when he compares the situation of England with that of his own country. Queen Victoria has known one King of the French, one Emperor of the French, and six Presidents of the French Republic. From her steady, unchanging, Royal observatory, she has beheld the rise and fall of eight Sovereigns! This stability of England, compared with the instability of France, is sufficient in itself to account for the reason why France has been growing less while England has been growing greater; the one has been shrinking, the other has been expanding.”

The fêtes were a great success, and a grand testimony—if it were needed—to the loyalty of Britishers living in France. About fourteen hundred applied for tickets. St. Cloud, a favourite suburb of Paris on the Seine, and the Restaurant du Parc—the scene of many British fêtes—were decided upon. Four of the “Hirondelles” boats were chartered to convey the party down the river. As each boat reached the jetty, the band of the Pavilion Bleu, a well-known restaurant, struck up the National Anthem. After dessert the following telegram was read, which had been sent by Sir E. Blount, then the “doyen” of the Colony, to Her Majesty Queen Victoria: “We your Majesty’s most loyal and loving subjects, venture to offer our heartfelt congratulations on this auspicious day, and pray for the continuance to your Majesty of those blessings which have shed such a lustre on your Majesty’s glorious reign.” The following reply was received: “The Queen desires me to thank you and Her British subjects in Paris for your kind message and congratulations. Bigge.”