CHAPTER EIGHT.
GAY SCENE IN CHERBOURG HARBOUR--THE O'WIGGINS AGAIN--AQUATIC VISITING--ADISCIPLE OF ST. IMPUDENTIA--HOW TO BANQUET UNINVITED--THE BALL--VISIT OFTHE PRESIDENT TO THE FLEET--A FEW REMARKS ON AFFAIRS IN GENERAL.
By the time the world was up and had breakfasted, on Friday, the harbourof Cherbourg presented a very gay appearance. The water was coveredwith hulls of vessels, and on the decks of the vessels were crowds ofgay people, and above them a forest of tall masts, surmounted by flagsinnumerable, showing all the hues of the rainbow, while in everydirection were dashing and splashing boats of every description,men-of-war's boats and shore-boats; and faster moving than all, yachts'boats, which, like comets, seemed to be flying about in eccentricorbits, without any particular reason, and for no definite purpose.O'Wiggins made his appearance on board the "Frolic," foaming with rageand indignation at not having been invited to the grand banquet to begiven that day to the President.
"Neither have I, nor Mizen, nor any other of the owners of yachts,except the commodores and a few noblemen."
"Faith, but that's no reason at all, at all, why I shouldn't!" exclaimedour Hibernian friend, drawing himself up; "and, what's more, I intend togo, in spite of their neglect."
We laughed, as usual, at his unexampled conceit; but fancying that hewas joking, we thought no more about the matter. He soon took hisdeparture, carrying off Groggs, who had conceived a high respect forhim. O'Wiggins had promised to conduct him to the feet of the fairEulalie, which was an additional temptation to the poor man. Never,perhaps, was there so much paying and receiving of visits as there wasin the course of the day. The yachtsmen paid visits to each other, andthen to the men-of-war; and to do the French officers justice, theytreated us with the very greatest attention. I must say that all theFrench naval officers I have met are as gentlemanly a set of fellows asI know: they are highly scientific, and as brave as any men one couldwish to meet.
It appeared as if all the inhabitants and visitors of Cherbourg were onthe water also paying visits; and a report having got abroad that theowners of the English yachts were happy to show their vessels to allcomers, we were all day long surrounded by visitors. The general jokewas to send them all off to O'Wiggins's craft, the "Popple." Her cabinswere, certainly, very gaudily and attractively furnished. It was hintedto the townspeople that he was a very important person, and that hewould be highly offended if his vessel was not the first honoured bytheir presence. O'Wiggins was at first highly flattered with theattention paid him, and had actually prepared luncheon for thefirst-comers; but he soon discovered that he had more guests than hecould accommodate, and in a little time he was almost overwhelmed withvisitors, who, for hours after, crowded his cabins, without apossibility of his getting free of them. Among others, while Groggs wason board, came the fair Eulalie and her respectable sire, habited in thecostume of the National Guard, and looking very military and dignified.Groggs hurriedly advanced to receive the lovely maid; her surpriseequalled his delight; when O'Wiggins stepped out from an inner cabin.There was a mutual start and a look of recognition, and Eulalie sankback, almost fainting, into the arms paternal, open to receive her,while, with a look which would have annihilated any man but O'Wiggins,she exclaimed the single word, "_Perfide_!" M. de Marabout, withpaternal solicitude, endeavoured to remove his daughter to the fresh airof the deck, but she recovered without that assistance, and exhibitedsigns unmistakable of a wish to abstract one or both of the eyes of theO'Wiggins from his head.
"What means all this, my dear sir?" inquired Groggs, with a somewhatfaltering voice, for suspicions most unpleasant were beginning to takepossession of his imagination.
"Ask the lady," replied O'Wiggins, looking out for a mode to secure hisretreat.
The lady saw that he was cowed, which, of course, gave her courage; so,releasing herself from her father, she sprang towards him. The skylighthatchway was the only available outlet; so he sprang on the table, andfrom thence was endeavouring to leap on deck, when she caught him by theleg. He struggled hard, for expose himself to her fury he dared not,and he did not like to summon his people to his assistance. At last hewas obliged to do so; when as the seamen, with shouts of laughter, werehauling him up, off came his shoe and a piece of his trousers; and hewas spirited away and stowed safely in the forepeak before the iratedamsel could gain the deck, where she instantly hastened in the hopes ofcatching him. Of the distracted and astounded Groggs, Eulalie took nofurther notice, and having in vain sought for the object of her fierceanger, whom she supposed to have escaped in a boat to the shore, she andher father and friends took their departure, and Groggs saw his belovedno more. How O'Wiggins had thus mortally offended the damsel remains asecret; for, communicative as he was on most subjects, he took very goodcare on this matter not to enlighten any of us.
When O'Wiggins discovered that Eulalie was in reality gone, he retiredto his cabin to compose himself, and to change his tattered garments fora magnificent uniform of some corps of fencibles, or militia, oryeomanry, of which he professed to be colonel; the said uniform beingadded to and improved according to his own taste and design, till itrivalled in magnificence that of a Hungarian field-marshal, or a citylieutenant's.
We had been giving the ladies a pull about the harbour, and were passingthe "Popple," when her owner made his appearance on deck. The previousaccount, it must be understood, we received afterwards from Groggs, whorecounted it with a simple pathos worthy of a despairing lover. On hishead O'Wiggins wore a huge cocked-hat, surmounted by a magnificent plumeof feathers, which, waving in the wind, had a truly martial and imposingappearance, while the glittering bullion which profusely covered hisdress could not fail of attracting the notice of all beholders. Withthe air of a monarch he stepped into his gig, which was alongside,manned by a grinning crew, and seizing the yoke-lines he directed herhead up the harbour. He was too much engrossed by his own new-fledgeddignity to observe us, so we followed him at a respectful distance, towatch his movements. The boats of all descriptions made way for him ashe advanced, and the men-of-war's boats saluted, every one taking himfor a foreign prince, or an ambassador, or a field-marshal, at least.At length he reached the quay, and with a truly princely air he steppedon shore, taking off his plumed hat, and bowing to the admiring andwondering crowds who stood there to welcome him. A space was instantlycleared to allow full scope for the wave of his cocked-hat, and as headvanced the crowd made way, bowing to him as he progressed. Inexecrable French he signified his wish to know the way to the mayor'shotel, where the banquet was to be held; and an officious officialinstantly thereon, perceiving the gestures of the great unknown, steppedforward, and profoundly bowing, advanced before him.
"Some dreadful mistake has doubtlessly occurred, and by an oversightwhich no one but I can remedy, no one has been deputed to conduct theprince to the banquet. For the honour of my country I'll tell a lie."So thought the patriotic official, as he observed, in an obsequioustone, "I have been deputed, mon prince, by monsieur the mayor, whodeeply regrets that his multifarious duties prevent him from coming inperson to conduct you to the banqueting-hall, where the great Presidentof the great French republic will have the satisfaction of meeting you."
"I am highly pleased at the mayor's attention," answered O'Wiggins, withan additional flourish of his hat, and wondering all the time whom hecould be taken for, that he might the better act his part. "A prince,at all events, I am, and that's something," he thought; so he walked on,smiling and bowing as before.
Of all nations in the world, the French are certainly the greatestadmirers of a uniform, and the most easily humbugged by any one who willflatter their vanity; and certainly republicans are the greatestworshippers of titles. On walked the great O'Wiggins, admired equallyby the vieux moustache of the Imperial Guard, by the peasant-girl, withher high balloon starched cap, by the dapper grisette, by real soldiersof the line, by shopkeeping national guards, by citizen gentlemen andladies in plain clothes, and the queer-shaped seamen and b
oatmen, ofwhom I have before spoken. His step was firm and confident as heapproached the hall, and, as he got near, he saw with dismay that theguests arriving in crowds before him were admitted by tickets. This wealso observed, and fully expected to have seen him turned back, shorn ofhis honours, amid the shouts of the populace. But the knowingdoorkeeper, equally knowing as the officious official, who now, with aglance of pride, announced him, could not dream of insulting a prince byasking him for his ticket, and only bowed the lower as he advanced, hebestowing on them in return some of his most gracious nods. The act wasaccomplished. He was safe in the banqueting-hall; but still there mightbe a turn in the tide of his affairs; some one who knew him mightpossibly ask how he had managed to get there, and the mayor mightrequest his absence. But O'Wiggins was too true a disciple of St.Impudentia thus to lose the ground he had gained. Having begun withblusters and bold confidence, he now called in meek humility and modestbashfulness, with an abundant supply of blarney. Stowing away hiscocked-hat in a safe corner, he retired among a crowd of betinselledofficials, and earnestly entered into conversation with them,expatiating largely on his satisfaction at the sight he had that daywitnessed, assuring his hearers that in Turkey, Russia, or America, orany other of the many countries he had visited, he had never seen anything to equal the magnificence he had beheld in this important part of_la belle_ France. He endeavoured also to bend down, so as to hide hisdiminished head among the crowd, and thus, as he had calculated, morewisely than a well-known wise man we have heard of, he passedundetected.
Dinner being announced as served, he found himself, much against hiswill, forced upwards close to the English naval officers and yachtcommodores; but by a still further exertion of humility he contrived totake a seat a few persons off from those who knew him, and might putawkward questions. The French, however, could not fail to admire theadmirable modesty of the foreign prince, and the liberals set it down tothe score of his respect for republican institutions, while theroyalists fancied that he was afraid of presuming on his rank before hisrepublican host. From the information I could gain, and from his ownaccount afterwards, his impudence carried him through the affair withflying colours, for no one detected him, though many wondered who hewas; and even some who were acquainted with him by sight, failed torecognise the O'Wiggins in the gayly-decked _militaire_ before them.
Having seen him enter the hall, we returned on board the "Fun," to givean account of what had happened to our fair friends; and of course wedid not fail of making a good story of the affair, and surmising thatO'Wiggins would be discovered and compelled to strip off his feathers.After dinner we prepared to go to the ball, to which the ladies wiselywould not venture. Poor Groggs was very downcast at the events of themorning, and with the discovery that he could never hope to make thefair Eulalie Mrs Groggs. As we were going on shore we met O'Wigginspulling off in his gig with four highly-bedecked officers of NationalGuards, whom he had invited to visit the yacht. He had selected themfor the gayness of their uniforms, which he fancied betokened theirexalted rank. They had discovered that he was not a prince, but stillwere under the impression that he was at least a Mi Lord Anglais, imbuedwith liberal principles. He nodded condescendingly to us as he passed.
"I'm going to show my craft to these officers whom I brought from thebanquet, and I'll be back soon at the ball," he exclaimed, with a lookof triumph.
It is understood--for I cannot vouch for the truth of the statement--that he made the officers very drunk, and then, changing his gay uniformfor his usual yacht dress-coat, he made his appearance at the ball,where he boasted of the polite manner in which the President had askedhim to the banquet, quoting all the speeches which had been made, andmany other particulars, so that no one doubted that he was there.
The ball-room was crowded to suffocation, and dancing was out of thequestion. I looked at the President with interest. The last time I hadseen him was in a London ball-room, and at supper I had sat opposite tohim and his cousin, the very image of their uncle. At that time,neither had more influence in the world than I or any other humbleperson. They were little lions, because they had the blood in theirveins of the most extraordinary man our times has known; but any Indianfrom the East, with a jewelled turban, created more interest. Now Ibeheld the same man the head of a nation--the observed of allobservers--dispensing his courtesies with a truly regal air. One couldnot help feeling that there must be more of his uncle's spirit in theman than one was before inclined to suppose. A considerable number ofladies' dresses and men's coats were torn, and purses and handkerchiefsabstracted from pockets, and the ball terminated. I have not given avery lucid description of it; but a crush in England is so very like acrush in France, that my readers who have endured one may easily picturethe other.
Mrs Mizen and her charges were anxious to sail to get back to Plymouthfor Sunday, but we induced them to stop till the afternoon, by promisingthem to accompany them, that they might see the President visit thefleet, which it was understood he was to do on Saturday. The day waslovely, and every craft afloat, from the big "Valmy" to the smallestyacht, did her best to look gay, and to add to the brilliancy of thescene. The piers were crowded with people, and so were the decks of thevessels and boats and barges laden with passengers which were moving inevery direction. It was amusing to watch the numerous parties on boardthe steamers at their meals: those forward indulging in bread and cheeseand sausages, and vin ordinaire or beer; the more aristocratic aft inchicken-pies, hams, champagne, and claret, in which beverages they drankprosperity to the republic and long life to the President, though theywould as readily have toasted a king or an emperor. It was a day ofexcitement. The first thing in the morning there was a pulling-match,but who was the winner I am unable to say. Then the President paid avisit to the dockyard, and from that time every one was on the tiptoe ofexpectation to catch a glimpse of him as he pulled off to theships-of-war he purposed visiting.
At length he appeared in a state-barge of blue and white and gold, andprow and stern raised and carved richly, which floated as proudly asthat of any Lord Mayor of London, from Whittington downward; for notaltogether dissimilar was she in appearance. She pulled twenty-fouroars, and a captain stood by the coxswain to con her. Under a canopy ofpurple cloth, the colour reminding one of imperial dignity, sat thePresident of the republic, a tricolour flag waving in the bow from alofty flagstaff, speaking, however, loudly of republicanism. As hisgalley shot out of the dockyard, there burst forth from the mouth ofevery cannon on board the ships and in every fort on shore, roars mosttremendous, flashes of flame, and clouds of smoke. Never had I beforeheard such a wild, terrific uproar; crash followed crash, till itappeared that every soul afloat or on shore must be annihilated.
Thundering away went the guns, every ship firing every gun she had asfast as she could, and every fort doing the same. Bang--crash, crash,crash. The ladies stopped their ears, and looked as if they wishedthemselves well out of it. It appeared as if a fierce battle wereraging, while the ships and the batteries and the shore were shrouded bya dense mass of smoke. On a sudden the firing ceased, the smoke blewaway, revealing once more the masts and rigging of the ships-of-war, nowcrowded with men in the act of laying out on the yards. The crewscheered, and the bands of all the ships struck up martial music, whichfloated joyfully over the water, and one could not help fancying thatsomething very important was taking place. In reality, it was only a_coup d'etat_--Prince Napoleon was trying to supplant Prince deJoinville in the affections of the seamen of France. It is said that hemade himself very popular, and gained golden opinions from all classesof men.
His first visit was to the "Friedland," the flag-ship of AdmiralDeschenes, then to the "Valmy," and next to "Minerve," the gunnery-ship,on the same plan as our "Excellent." Here some practice took place, butI cannot say that the firing was any thing out of the way good. Havinginspected his own ships, he paid a visit to Lord Wilton's beautifulschooner, the "Zarifa," and afterwards to the "Enchantress," LordCardi
gan's yacht, both perfect vessels of their kind. We yachtsmen had,indeed, reason to feel not a little proud of the display made by ourpeaceable crafts on the occasion.
We went on board several of the French ships, and were much struck withtheir beauty, cleanliness, and order, while every improvement whichscience has suggested has been introduced on board them. We were notparticularly prepossessed in favour of the French seamen, either onshore or on board. There was a roughness in their manner which savouredsomewhat of national dislike, fostered for sinister purposes, to bepleasant; or, if it was put on in imitation of the manners of our ownhonest Jack Tars, all I can say is, that it was a very bad imitationindeed, and about as unlike the truth as when they attempt to representthe English national character on the stage.
From the French officers all who visited their ships received the verygreatest attention and courtesy. We sailed that afternoon, as soon asthe spectacle was over, in company with the "Fun." I cannot, therefore,describe the ball, with its overpowering heat and crush, which tookplace that evening, nor the sham-fight, when the boats of the squadronattacked the steamer "Descartes," nor the evolutions of the fleet, northe awful expenditure of gunpowder from the ships, sufficient to makethe economical hearts of the men of Manchester sink dismayed withintheir bosoms. O friends! think you this expenditure of gunpowder andnoise breathes the spirit of peace? O merchants, manufacturers, andcalculators well versed in addition and subtraction, is it not worthwhile to employ some portion of our own income, even a large portionmaybe, to insure Old England against any freak our volatile neighboursmay take into their heads? But I have done with public affairs. The"Frolic" and the "Fun" danced gayly together over the starlit oceantowards Plymouth, wind and tide favouring us. The voices of our fairfriends, as they sang in concert some delicious airs, sounded across thewater most sweetly to our ears. What a contrast to the loud roar of thecannon in the morning, and the glare and bustle of Cherbourg harbour,did that quiet evening present!
We arrived safely in Plymouth at an early hour next day. I am happy tosay that, not long after, I received cards with silver ties from myfriends Mr and Mrs Jack Mizen; but I am somewhat anticipating events.I think it right, however, to announce to the spinster world thatGroggs, Porpoise, and Bubble are still bachelors.