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MY FIRST YEARS AS AFRENCHWOMAN
[Illustration: Madame Waddington. From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition, 1878.]
MY FIRST YEARS AS AFRENCHWOMAN
1876-1879
BY
MARY KING WADDINGTON
ILLUSTRATED
1914
CONTENTS
I. WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT II. IMPRESSIONS OF THE ASSEMBLY AT VERSAILLES III. M. WADDINGTON AS MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION IV. THE SOCIAL SIDE OF A MINISTER'S WIFE V. A REPUBLICAN VICTORY AND A NEW MINISTRY VI. THE EXPOSITION YEAR VII. THE BERLIN CONGRESSVIII. GAIETIES AT THE QUAI D'ORSAY IX. M. WADDINGTON AS PRIME MINISTER X. PARLIAMENT BACK IN PARIS XI. LAST DAYS AT THE FOREIGN OFFICE
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
MADAME WADDINGTON Frontispiece From a photograph taken in the year of the Exposition, 1878.
MONSIEUR THIERS
MARSHAL MACMAHON
SITTING OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AT THE PALACE OF VERSAILLES
THE FOYER OF THE OPERA
MEETING OF OFFICERS OF THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY, AND OFDELEGATES OF THE NEW CHAMBERS, IN THE SALON OFHERCULES, PALACE OF VERSAILLES
THEODOR MOMMSEN
PALACE OF THE MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS, PARIS
FRANZ LISZT
WILLIAM E. GLADSTONE
LORD LYONS
HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS, EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, IN 1876
PRINCE HOHENLOHE
M. WILLIAM WADDINGTON. IN THE UNIFORM HE WORE ASMINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS AND AT THE BERLINCONGRESS, 1878
NASR-ED-DIN, SHAH OF PERSIA
PRINCE BISMARCK
THE BERLIN CONGRESS
M. JULES GRÉVY, READING MARSHAL MACMAHON'S LETTEROF RESIGNATION TO THE CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES
M. JULES GRÉVY ELECTED PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC BYTHE SENATE AND CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES MEETING ASTHE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY
THE ELYSÉE PALACE, PARIS
HER MAJESTY QUEEN VICTORIA, ABOUT 1879
M. DE FREYCINET
MME. SADI CARNOT
PRESIDENT SADI CARNOT
MY FIRST YEARS AS A FRENCHWOMAN
I
WHEN MACMAHON WAS PRESIDENT
I was married in Paris in November, 1874, at the French ProtestantChapel of the rue Taitbout, by Monsieur Bersier, one of the ablest andmost eloquent pastors of the Protestant church. We had just establishedourselves in Paris, after having lived seven years in Rome. We had avague idea of going back to America, and Paris seemed a first step inthat direction—was nearer New York than Rome. I knew very little ofFrance—we had never lived there—merely stayed a few weeks in thespring and autumn, coming and going from Italy. My husband was a deputy,named to the National Assembly in Bordeaux in 1871, by hisDepartment—the Aisne. He had some difficulty in getting to Bordeaux.Communications and transports were not easy, as the Germans were stillin the country, and, what was more important, he hadn't anymon