Littell's Living Age

licly and as a fugitive. There were not waiting-rooms were full of people, I took many persons present to record the circum- refuge in the station-master's office, where stances of that passage into exile, but some there were already a few persons, and there were; and a private letter, too re- amongst others, the Marchioness of Javalplete with graphic and characteristic details quinto, the Countess of Cartagena, the not to have proceeded from an eye-witness, Spanish Consul and his family, and some found its way into a French journal,* and French people. Lucky were we to have may appropriately be introduced here:- chosen that place, for a few moments later, by order of the Empress, the station was cleared and everybody was turned into the outer court; the office in which we were was alone exempted from this measure.

BIARRITZ, Sept. 30, 1868.- After one hundred and sixty-eight years that have elapsed since the adoption of Philip Duke of Anjou by Charles II., to-day, the 30 September, 1868, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the Bourbon dynasty of Spain died before my eyes, at the Biarritz railway station, in the arms of the Emperor. An ocular witness, with some very few privileged persons, of that fatal interview, I think to give you pleasure by relating its circumstantial and exact details.

"It was towards eight o'clock this morning that the Queen, in spite of the advice of those around her, decided upon flight, and gave her orders in consequence. Roncall, Minister of State, prevailed over those who, in the council of the Queen, still advocated resistance.

"It is one o'clock. The Queen is at the station of St. Jean de Luz. The Emperor and Empress arrive at the Biarritz station. The Empress comes to speak with the Marchioness of Javalquinto; the Emperor walks alone upon the platform, with head bent and plunged in thought. Suddenly he orders a despatch to be sent to the Queen to ask her if she proposes going straight to Pau or to pause at Biarritz. The question, by its form, may be said to have dictated the reply, which was not long in coming: the Queen answers that she is going straight to Pau.

"The departure from St. Jean de Luz is "A despatch addressed to M. Mon, the signalled, and soon afterwards the special Spanish Ambassador at the Court of France, train entered the Biarritz station. The Queen and received at half-past eight at Biarritz, was alone on the balcony of the saloon cargave intelligence of the catastrophe. Im-riage, the King at the door of the saloon; mediately Señor Mon set out for Hendaye Marfori stood behind the Queen, pompous, (the frontier station), accompanied by Gen- and wearing over his black coat the broad eral de Castelnau, the Emperor's aide-de- ribbon of the Order of Charles III. camp, to meet the Queen. I will not tell the moment when the Emperor advanced to you all the hesitations, all the resolutions, offer his hand to the Queen, the express all the orders and counter-orders, that train from Paris to Spain, which had been filled up the morning, and of which the rail-waiting the arrival of the other to proceed way telegraph wire between Biarritz and Hendaye was the bearer; it would be wearisome and useless now that the thing is over. During that time the Spanish Consul at Bayonne took measures to secure at Pau the necessary lodgings for the Queen and all her suite.

"The rumour of all these proceedings soon spread at Biarritz, and every obtainable carriage was hired by the curious, eager to get to the station, which is about three kilometres from the centre of the town.

"The most accredited version - I will say more, the truest- - was that the Queen would enter Biarritz and pay a visit at the imperial villa. It was thought she came to implore assistance; her flight was not yet credited.

"The train that brought the Queen was due at Biarritz station towards one o'clock. A little before that hour I reached the station, and seeing on my arrival that all the

Opinion Nationale,' Oct. 4, 1868.

on its journey, came up, and from it were heard to proceed cries most insulting to the Queen -a loud clamour-in which was especially distinguishable the word Fuera! (get out, or out with her).

"At these cries the Emperor made a backward movement, and tears gushed from the eyes of the Queen, who got out, as well as the King and her children, the high personages of her suite, Father Claret and the inevitable Marfori.

"After having shaken hands with the Emperor and kissed the Empress, they all four-the Emperor, the Empress, the Queen, and the King-entered the firstclass waiting room, of which the doors had remained open; nobody else entered. Outside the door stood the great dignitaries of both countries, and we behind, observing with anxious eyes the physiognomy of the sovereigns, but unable to divine or to hear anything. Nobody heard what there was said.

"The interview lasted twenty minutes;

keep myself by some indoor work or other - except, of course, when I've been in hospital. It was when I'd got a folding job at a stationer's over in Finsbury, that I heard of poor old father's death. I was sixteen or seventeen then, and had got a few shillings put by. I'd been thinkin' that, hard as he'd been, he was my father after all, and my mother had loved him, though he did whop her, and it wasn't right to take no more notice of him than if he'd been a dog. So I was a-going to write down to him, and if I found he was hard up, to send him a crown or so. I daresay there was a bit of pride in that I wanted to show him that I'd been able to get on without him. I've mostly found there was summut o' that in anything I've been very proud of. Well, sir, the very night I was goin' to write, as I hopped home from work, thinking what a good son I was, and all that, I ran against one of the porters in the yard. He didn't know me, but I knew him as soon as I set eyes on him. He was a Colchester man that used to live in Magdalen Street. Well, sir, I asked him about my father, and he told me that he was dead and buried. He'd walked off the quay one Saturday night, and was half drowned in the water, and half smothered in the mud. It give me a turn, as you may think, sir. I wished I could spend the money I was going to send him as the Catholics do. I can't bear to think of it now. The thief on the cross is my only comfort when I do think about it. But perhaps we're too ready to judge. Judge not, that ye be not judged-that's another comfort." The poor cripple was silent for a minute or two after this, but then he went on in his old cheerful voice-"But the rain's over, and you'll want to be going. I'm sure I'm much obliged to you for givin' me your company so long. No, sir, thankee, there's nothing you can do for me. I've everything I want-enough and to spare. I've got work as long as I've got my health; and when that fails, I've got my hospital; and when I die, I humbly hope through Christ's mercy, to creep into heaven. I've everything to make me contented. The curate talks to me like a brother, sir. I've only to ask my other good friend for an order for the hospital, and he gets it for me just as if I was a gentleman. The little ones all love me, and most of the people about here are very kind. If they'd only be a little kinder to themselves, poor souls, I should be quite happy. Do you know, sir, I call my old chair here my Ebenezer? Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and he's a friend that

will never fail. Good night, sir, and again I thank ye."

As I picked my way through the rainpools of the Folly's flags, and thought of the little toy-maker, heartily grateful after weed-like tossings on life's sea for even that poor shelter, and, in spite of his infirmities, not only earning for himself an honest living, but acting as a moral leaven and even a material benefactor to his poor neighbours, it occurred to me that the bricklayer man next door "was not the only lazy man, or woman, whom my lame man should make ashamed. Contrasted with his beneficent energy under difficulties, how utterly contemptible appears the ennui that springs form "nothing to do " in the midst of life's most luxurious appliances!

From Blackwood's Magazine. INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE QUEEN OF SPAIN AND THE FRENCH EMPEROR. AT San Sebastian, the place which alone, in all the province of Guipuzcoa, had held for the Queen when the Carlist war broke out, Isabella, with her husband, her four children, her favourite, and her confessor, watched with anxious eyes and agonised heart the progress of the insurrection, which she must have foreboded as certain to succeed. Close by, at the distance of less than a twohours' railway journey, was the powerful Sovereign of France, with his wife, her former subject. What wistful glances were then turned towards Biarritz, what urgent messages were sent, what unavailing prayers for aid were offered up, may rather be conjectured than positively known. It was said and believed at the time that the Queen herself, disguised and almost unattended, went by night to the imperial residence to tell of her despair and implore succour. There, it was told, she and Eugenia Montijo, whom an extraordinary destiny had made Empress of the French, embraced and mingled their tears and supplications, in vain directed to the inflexible Sovereign who felt that he could not afford to commit so grave an error as would have been an armed intervention in the affairs of Spain. Moreover, he bore no love to that last crowned Bourbon, the last of a degenerate race of kings;, and her passionate appeal was all in vain. The French official press was instructed to deny the interview..and perhaps it is only its probability and r mance that make the world believe in it as having taken place. A few days later the Queen did enter France, this time pab

BIARRITZ, Sept. 30, 1868.-After one hundred and sixty-eight years that have elapsed since the adoption of Philip Duke of Anjou by Charles II., to-day, the 30 September, 1868, at two o'clock in the afternoon, the Bourbon dynasty of Spain died before my eyes, at the Biarritz railway station, in the arms of the Emperor. An ocular witness, with some very few privileged persons, of that fatal interview, I think to give you pleasure by relating its circumstantial and exact details.

"The departure from St. Jean de Luz is A despatch addressed to M. Mon, the signalled, and soon afterwards the special Spanish Ambassador at the Court of France, train entered the Biarritz station. The Queen and received at half-past eight at Biarritz, was alone on the balcony of the saloon cargave intelligence of the catastrophe. Im-riage, the King at the door of the saloon; mediately Señor Mon set out for Hendaye Marfori stood behind the Queen, pompous, (the frontier station), accompanied by Gen- and wearing over his black coat the broad eral de Castelnau, the Emperor's aide-de- ribbon of the Order of Charles III. camp, to meet the Queen. I will not tell the moment when the Emperor advanced to you all the hesitations, all the resolutions, offer his hand to the Queen, the express all the orders and counter-orders, that train from Paris to Spain, which had been filled up the morning, and of which the rail-waiting the arrival of the other to proceed way telegraph wire between Biarritz and Hendaye was the bearer; it would be wearisome and useless now that the thing is over. During that time the Spanish Consul at Bayonne took measures to secure at Pau the necessary lodgings for the Queen and all her suite.

"The most accredited version-I will say more, the truest- -was that the Queen would enter Biarritz and pay a visit at the imperial villa. It was thought she came to implore assistance; her flight was not yet

credited.

"The train that brought the Queen was due at Biarritz station towards one o'clock. A little before that hour I reached the station, and seeing on my arrival that all the

Opinion Nationale,' Oct. 4, 1868.

on its journey, came up, and from it were heard to proceed cries most insulting to the Queen -a loud clamour-in which was especially distinguishable the word Fuera! (get out, or out with her).

keep myself by some indoor work or other -except, of course, when I've been in hospital. It was when I'd got a folding job at a stationer's over in Finsbury, that I heard of poor old father's death. I was sixteen or seventeen then, and had got a few shillings put by. I'd been thinkin' that, hard as he'd been, he was my father after all, and my mother had loved him, though he did whop her, and it wasn't right to take no more notice of him than if he'd been a dog. So I was a-going to write down to him, and if I found he was hard up, to send him a crown or so. I daresay there was a bit of pride in that I wanted to show him that I'd been able to get on without him. I've mostly found there was summut o' that in anything I've been very proud of. Well, sir, the very night I was goin' to write, as I hopped home from work, thinking what a good son I was, and all that, I ran against one of the porters in the yard. He didn't know me, but I knew him as soon as I set eyes on him. He was a Colchester man that used to live in Magdalen Street. Well, sir, I asked him about my father, and he told me that he was dead and buried. He'd walked off the quay one Saturday night, and was half drowned in the water, and half smothered in the mud. It give me a turn, as you may think, sir. I wished I could spend the money I was going to send him as the Catholics do. I can't bear to think of it now. The thief on the cross is my only comfort when I do think about it. But perhaps we're too ready to judge. Judge not, that ye be not judged-that's another comfort." The poor cripple was silent for a minute or two after this, but then he went on in his old cheerful voice-"But the rain's over, and you'll want to be going. I'm sure I'm much obliged to you for givin' me your company so long. No, sir, thankee, there's nothing you can do for me. I've everything I want-enough and to spare. I've got work as long as I've got my health; and when that fails, I've got my hospital; and when I die, I humbly hope through Christ's mercy, to creep into heaven. I've everything to make me contented. The curate talks to me like a brother, sir. I've only to ask my other good friend for an order for the hospital, and he gets it for me just as if I was a gentleman. The little ones all love me, and most of the people about here are very kind. If they'd only be a little kinder to themselves, poor souls, I should be quite happy. Do you know, sir, I call my old chair here my Ebenezer? Hitherto the Lord hath helped me, and he's a friend that

will never fail. Good night, sir, and again I thank ye."

From Blackwood's Magazine. INTERVIEW BETWEEN THE QUEEN OF SPAIN AND THE FRENCH EMPEROR.

AT San Sebastian, the place which alone, in all the province of Guipuzcoa, had held for the Queen when the Carlist war broke out, Isabella, with her husband, her four children, her favourite, and her confessor, watched with anxious eyes and agonised heart the progress of the insurrection, which she must have foreboded as certain to succeed. Close by, at the distance of less than a twohours' railway journey, was the powerful Sovereign of France, with his wife, her for mer subject. What wistful glances were then turned towards Biarritz, what urgent messages were sent, what unavailing prayers for aid were offered up, may rather be con jectured than positively known. It was said and believed at the time that the Queen herself, disguised and almost unattended, went by night to the imperial residence to tell of her despair and implore succour. There, it was told, she and Eugenia Montijo, whom an extraordinary destiny had made Empress of the French, embraced and mingled their tears and supplications, in vain directed to the inflexible Sovereign who felt that he could not afford to commit so grave an error as would have been an armed intervention in the affairs of Spain. Moreover, he bore no love to that last crowned Bourbon, the last of a degenerate race of kings;, and her passionate appeal was all in vain. The French official press was instructed to deny the interview, and perhaps it is only its probability and ro mance that make the world believe in as having taken place. A few days later the Queen did enter France, this time pub

“The departure from St. Jean de Luz is "A despatch addressed to M. Mon, the signalled, and soon afterwards the special Spanish Ambassador at the Court of France, train entered the Biarritz station. The Queen and received at half-past eight at Biarritz, was alone on the balcony of the saloon cargave intelligence of the catastrophe. Im-riage, the King at the door of the saloon; mediately Señor Mon set out for Hendaye Marfori stood behind the Queen, pompous, (the frontier station), accompanied by Gen- and wearing over his black coat the broad eral de Castelnau, the Emperor's aide-de- ribbon of the Order of Charles III. At camp, to meet the Queen. I will not tell the moment when the Emperor advanced to you all the hesitations, all the resolutions, offer his hand to the Queen, the express all the orders and counter-orders, that train from Paris to Spain, which had been filled up the morning, and of which the rail- waiting the arrival of the other to proceed way telegraph wire between Biarritz and on its journey, came up, and from it were Hendaye was the bearer; it would be weari-heard to proceed cries most insulting to the some and useless now that the thing is over. During that time the Spanish Consul at Bayonne took measures to secure at Pau the necessary lodgings for the Queen and all her suite.

Queen -a loud clamour-in which was especially distinguishable the word Fuera! (get out, or out with her).

At these cries the Emperor made a backward movement, and tears gushed from the eyes of the Queen, who got out, as well as the King and her children, the high personages of her suite, Father Claret and the inevitable Marfori.

"The interview lasted twenty minutes;

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Littell's Living Age, Volume 99