CONQUEST OF FRANCE

Evening Star, Issue 15513, 8 June 1914, Page 8

CONQUEST OF FRANCE

BY KING GEORGE AND QUEEN *•' MARY. DAY OF MARTIAL MAJESTY. (Continued from Saturday's issue.) —Thrilling Military Review.— It mav be doubted if King George and Queen Mary Hfeve ever had a more crowded day than the second spent' by theny in Paris. Glorious weather again" prevailed, and popular enthusiasm seemed to be in-' creasing. It was another day of triumph, a day of martial majesty and splendor with the garrison of Paris passing before their Majesties at Vince.nnes in battle array, with drum and fife and bugle, with the sky full of manoeuvring aeroplanes, and everywhere the massed millions of Pari* cheering the King and. Queen to the echo. Out of the glory of the day, with its confusion of trampling crowds, and its tumult cf cheers in the sunshine, one picture remains indelibly in the mind. It is the stately picture of the review at Vincennee, with its vast review ground packed with people who numbered their hundreds of thousands. They sat, tribune on tribune, a black multitude, with the scarlet and golden pavilion of President and King and Queen in their midst. Five miles of roads i lay between the Royal procession and Viu- | cennes. The King and Queen saw the real i people of Paris—not a cosmopolitan crowd j of visitors, but the people who work in j the Faubourgs. They passed along tho ' Boulevard St. Germain, skirting the Latin Quai-ter,. across the Seine, with a glimpse of the Tricolor floating from Notre Dame, to the Place de la Bastille, and then through the working-class district, with the balconies and roof-tops lined with people, to the forest of Vinoennes, which is to the east what the Bois de Boulogne is to the west of Paris. Through a forest of fine and fir and beech and chestnuts the dazzling procession rode, with the glitter of gendarmes among the greenery, until they cam© to Vinoennes, with its waiting myriads. The procession divided into two. The six-horse landau, in which were seated the King, in the uniform of a field-marshal, and tho President, in his evening dress, drove on to the review ground, while the Queen, with Mme Poincare, drove to the tribune. Sis horses ridden by postillions in veuow drew the Queen carriage. The —Air Rang With People's Cheers—as Queen Mary, who was wearing a sh-aw-berry-colored cloak, beneath which the blue of her dress showed, walked t-o Iver seat, with Mme Poincare. The picture,

when ail was ready for the arrival of the King and President, was a dazzling one. The pageant of the army was spread before the King, who paused" down the lines of troops (there were 12,000 on parade) with the roar of guns drowning the music of the bands. The troops spread across five miles of green, forming a human carpet of wonderful color under the blue sky, maroon and bright blue, officers in scarlet and gold, grey artillery, and further away a pack of tiny red crosses marking the army service corps waggons. Beyond, all, the cuirassiers played like a streak of fire in the sunlight. The King drove down the limes, with guns and bugles ringing in his ears and amid a blaze of color—here the scarlet saddlecloth of an officer, there the pale blue tunic of a cavalryman. Every now and then the horse of a general made a gap of white against the blue and red. High in the air the Montgolfier, a great dirigible, sailed the sides, with pennons fluttering at the stern, an immense floating thing of orange glimmering- in the sunshine. As the King returned to the tribune the air filled with aeroplanes. They burred and buzzed suddenly out of the blue as though they had been hiding in the clouds. Wherever one looked sky-

wards there were aeroplanes. Twelve of them sailed in a circle and began their air ] manoeuvres. They were attacking the great dirigible that clumsily tried to amble out of reach, but- the aeroplanes made a wide break, and finally surrounded the Montgolfier. It was the dream of a war in the air come true. Now came the solemn moment, when the young men of the military schools of St. Cyr and the Poly tech-1 nic—the equivalents of our Sandhurst and Woolwich—came forward with their flag to receive from the hands of the President the highest honor that any flag can receive^—the Cross and Ribbon of the Legion of Honor. They came up at a brisk march, the St. Cyrians lcoki.'ig enlondid jri their pale blue and maroon uniforms, with white plumettes in blue peaked bats. The precious colors were lowered. The President, a simple black figure in all the riot of color, stood bareheaded, and &poke of the glory of France, of patriotism, and of the sweetness of death for one's country, while the aeroplanes throbbed above him. j Then the President pinned the honors to ! the eilken flag and kissed them, and the masses beyond, every one of whom had been a soldier, cried : " Vive la Prance!" as the music of the 'Marseillaise' added to the majesty of the moment. It was a —Scene that Thilled the Kingas he stood in his tribune near, his hand at the salute. Now began the march past, with all the Frenchmen, who love the army they have served in, cheering madly. Her© were the Zouaves, those splendid troops in fez and loose Turkish trousers and braided tunics of blue. They swung by to the wild skirling of their own music, 'Pan-pan I'Arbi,' a tune that has led them into battle against the Arabs. They marched out of sight with a coquettish twirl of bugles, led by the drum-major swinging his silver-knobbed staff. St. Cyr and the Polytechnicians, the future officers of France, followed with their newly-deco-rated colors. As each regiment marched by the King and Queen stood up. The officers passed with a flourish of swords, and the colors were dipped. The white plumettes of St. Cyr faded away like a flock of gulls, and gave place to a solid mass of infantry, the 104 th of the Line, moving as one man with swinging steps. How the bugles and drums thrilled the hearts of the French people! ■ How the King and Queen must have enjoyed 'the shouts of a democracy cheering the army that it loves! Then came, 200 abreast, four regiments with a torrent of bayonets overflowing the green field, and music that brought tears to the eyes of the French, songs that they had sung when their sona and brothers and husbands had gone to fight for France. The President (says the 'Express's' correspondent) turned to the Queen to explain the details that would interest her. He pointed out the Colonial Infantry as they trudged by dusty and sombre. They are the darlings of France, the fighting devils who have no gold or braid on them; " the porpoises," they call them, for they are the same as our marines. They came by with a lurching swing, with no show parade, but there were more Legions of Honor on the breasts of the officers here than on any others. The Queen laughed heartily as the dusty regiment passed, with their mascot mongrel trotting at their head. Artillerv thundered by with a rumble of wheels, and hen came the Dragoons at the gallop to the tune of merry bugles, red and white pennants fluttering high above them. Lastly came the cuirassiers, a mass of moving horsemen, 2,400 of them, lost in lie clouds of dust of their own making. The sun had gone for a moment, and their cuirasses shone dull and leaden in the afternoon light. The time had come for the final spectacle. All the infantrymen were ranged in a long line halfway down the ground. A brigade of artillery rattled up and unlimbered their mitrailleua:. The whole line came forward, and then the machine guns squibbed and spat fire. With —'Waving Swords Flashing in the Sunlight—

officers ordered the charge. The men nvept towards the King and Queen in the tribune, hot-faced ana yelling and with bayonet© bristling, and stopped dead within 100 yds. Behind them cuirassiers »nd dragoons thundered along. They spread out in open order and bore down, a. terrifying and overwhelming mass, with a shout of triumph and lances uplifted, and reigned left and right in a crackling finale. The review was over. At the conclusion of the review General Michel, who was in command of the. troops, was summoned to. the (Royal stand and com-

plimented by the King. King George after wards sent" the following message to tho .Military Governor of Paris :—- "I beg you to be so good as-to transmit .to the officers and troops who havo just inarched past before u» my sincere |th.anks .for the magnificent spectacle which they afforded to us. Their bearing and the brilliant' manner in which they executed their movements are truly . remarkable, and. I congratulate you heartily, as well as France, oil her beautiful army.—George V. The proceedings at the review altogether occupied an hour and a-half, and at halfpast four the Royal party left the ground on their return to the city to attend the reception given by .the municipal authorities at th> Hotel deVUle.r Enthusia/stic crowds had assembled along the whole line of route, and the cheering was continuous. Troops lined the roadways from the review ground to the city. On their arrival at the main entrance to the Hotel deVillo. their Majesties and Madamei-Poincar© were received by the Municipal Council. A number of gifts were afterwards presented on behalf of the citv, the 'King receiving a cup of silver gilt bearing the Arms of Paris, while the Queen received a beautiful mirror decorated with' roses and thistles. Both the Prefect of the Seine and the President of the Municipal Council paid elouent tribute to the memory of King Edward VII., whom the latter happily described as " the friend of France an<3 tho most accomplished of Parisians." The King replied to the addresses in a single speech, expressing his happiness at finding himself in a citv for which his beloved father always had quite a special predilection, and assured'his hearers that he entirely shared the sentiments of affection for their citv and country by which his father was afways animated. In the evening tho President and Madame Poincare were the guests of their Majesties at a dinner at the British Embassy. The dinner was served in. .t-ha-ilxraie XVI. banqueting hall. Their Majesties drove from the Quai d'Orsay at 7 o'clock through large crowds of spectators, the King, it was noticed, being once more in naval uniform. Covers were laid for 110 guests. The tables were charmingly decorated with orchids, carnations, and roses. There were no speeches at this banquet. —At the Opera.—

All official Paris was present, and the scene within the palatial Opera House was truly magnificent. Their Majesties, on entering the Royal box, had a tremendous reception from, the crowded and fashionable auc'ience Queen Mary wore a gown of saun, with a diamond crown, diamond necklace, and ropes of peails. She wore . the Order oi the Garter and the Garter in diamonds on her left arm. She sat between M. Poincare and the King, on whose left sat Mme Poincare. The programme was represented, by living French .composers. The veteran M. Camille SaintSaens conducted a scene from his 'Barbares,' M. Vincent' d'lndy a scene Irom. ' L'Etrangers,' and M. Reynoldo Hahns the first act of 'La Fete chez Therese,' the entire performance lasting one hour. The King and Queen returned to 'the British Embassy in a night Of golden light, with the- housetops tunned into rivers and cascades of illuminated splendor. —King's Gift to France.— King George, in the - presence of M. Doumergue, inforrand M Poincare that he desired on the occasion of his visit to Paris to present to the French Government six bas-reliefs in bronze the work of the | sculptor Dujaroin, which long adorned King George the Third'r. cottage in Kew Gardens, and which were subsequently transferred to Windsor Castle. When M. Paul Cambon presented his credentials as French Ambassador to Queen Victoria, Her Majestv drew his attention to these basreliefs/ and asked him if he knew their origin. M. Cambon made inquiries, and ascertained that these valuable works of art formerlv decorated the pedestal of the statue of "Louis XIV. in the Place des j Victoires. MM. Poincare and Doumergue, greatlv touched bv His Majesty's kindly thought, thanked the King heartily for the I gift which he had chosen to maTk his visri I to Paris.

—Cheers of Dancing Girls.— Next dav their Majesties visited the British Art and Graft Exhibition at the Loirvre, and the Hertford British Hospital. Everywhere they were again received with the greatest enthusiasm At the entrance to the hospital a large'number of English dancing girls, who had hitherto been prevented from seeing their Majesties during their Tisit, gathered; in a group and cheered. Tile King ,in acknowledgment smiled >nd ra « ed bis hat. Luncheon was tcken with the. Marquis do Breteml m his magnificent mansion in the Bois deBoulogne. There weTe only 16 guests all personal friends of their Majesties, with a few members of the suite, among them being -Prince and Princess George of Greece, Prince • and Princess Murat, the Dvchess of Devonshire, Lady Desborpugh, and Lord Annalv. In the .afternoon their Majesties, attended a race meeting at Atteuil, and were received with remarkable enthusiasm by the assembled multitude. '