KING AND QUEEN IN PARIS.

Press, Volume L, Issue 14985, 4 June 1914, Page 2

KING AND QUEEN IN PARIS.

w GEAND REVIEW AT TINCENNES.

A THRILLING CHARGE,

THE ENTENTE CORDIALE

(rBOM O-Tt OWN* CORR_.8 r 'ONDENT.) LONDON, April 24

Our King and Queen have had a most "•ratifying welcome from the Parisians, and it is felt that one result of the Royal visit has been further to cement .he Entente Coraiaie. On Wednesday ■ifternoon the Itoval procession from the Elysees through the working-class U.st.--__ oi -ne ci.y, en route to Yinconnes, for the review, was greeted A-ith intense enthusiasm. King George .eceive-i the members of the British Ooiony at the British Embassy, and .ater in the day their .uajesties were ■eceive.l at tho Hotel de \ i'lo by the,'refect of the Seine and by tne Prc__ i _nt of tiie -Uunicipa'l Council. In _ii_ v-j-iy, iii.ig suia : "It is iiuru co txp.e.s all the p'oasiiiu . ieei, ana ail iuj g._.vH.ude, ior the ..i.i.anc reeep-iuii tjnoii to tut Queen •iid to mc b_ iv« Ci.y ot i a.ts, an ur the nicviug atiu ..oqu.ut words i .•'.-iicii y-U nave wo.--.___ u~ to i. oart oi ,\o_r cupi-a.. i_.c «u_. . are ve.y tout_.__. | •'! ni-.. 10 to.i _toii of our admiration .-,r t_.- aiti_.it aau ut-.-iuc vi ...o ueco.aiioii.. ui_.i \v__.c_i V-_i_> t>p_en..lu Ci.y -__-._ auu.iiua- i-o._i lor t>u. . i i_. 1 am g-ud to o_ in a ci._, t'oi . _»C__ 11.J 1..-_.e- HUu CO. U kj^O.-.i an,, i cati u-au.o ,>ou i..,it 1 ...o_.y s.ia.e _..e .tiic_..o.i \v_.i_:_i v. m-i-.i- lvi it auu i.i y.ur ianu. "A_)-».e «.», 1 wain, _~ii_o.o.j» to thanl. 0.1 tor _iwiu ..iiiu 1 ciL-ie.iCt! tO cue ___,> ~.0.ig ,>uu oi 11 y sou, ii.c l'iince <_■. ,aiea, »<io tiuawU.c_ ti.o u.-.uory *>. .iat in:ivy time. 1 O.g }_v, yeat.e.eu, to -.co-pt the s aud m,; iihoi tor tne i,ros i e.ity of yoa. .untry and your epical. 1 ask _,v,i. .oO to be oiii inteii-ietors to your le. _»w cid_.e.is Wl.O have suare.. _o kiii_.__ ~id win. such warmth in tuo geueiou. spitaiYy extender to us." 'I'ne sr.'.o at the Embassy when their .ajisiiL- __.t< nai.ie.i the l'ie..i..ont. ol ..ie _tei-uliic and Madame Poincare to Lnujr, was brilliant in the extreme. ~h.._ the dinner was in progress ail he streets in the centre of Paris beam© blocked with motor-cars and cariages conveying distinguished guests o the opera for the gala performance tho Xi :g and Queen arrived at tho ipera by the subscriber.' entranco, and, raversing a passage lined with plant* nd living statuary of Republican Jiiards in full dress, reached the otunda, A curious and tfuaint cere nonial awaited the King on his entry IVo footmen garbed in black and wearing chains of office, walked backwards heforo their Majesties, bearing five branched silver candelabra, which lighted the way to the Royal salon. This was a survival of a custom dating r rom Louis XIV., who was in reality the founder of the Paris Opera.

,TiiE DASH TO THE KINO. Mr G. Ward Price, in tho "Daily ..lan," gives a vivid picture of the re..<_w at Vincennes. He.writes: "Out ol _ne green of Vincennes Wood on the ieft came the prancing, gleaming escort of cuirassiers. As it entered tht great, green plain the procession behind it split up into two. The first carriage,- drawn by a team of six chosen artillery horses, inclined towards the to pass along the fronts of tlie troops that stretched in three long unos across tho racecourse, nearly a mile long. In it sat the King, a vivid figure in scarlet; by his side M. Poincare m evening dress. The ' Qneen's carnage, in which she had Mme. Poincare by her side, passed on to the cn i_.r on velvet cohered lloval stand. . "Qlost quaint was this procession, for Presidential etiquette requires that when official corteges leave the city they shall consist of 'post carriages ' i survival of the old days of the turnpike aud travelling chaise. Servant* in 18th century livery and perruques rode -i head on extra horses (once necessary •o. pull the Presidential carriage out of -he mire). The harness of tbe teams •nade a pleasant jangle of bells, and -he coachmen and footmen were Iressed uko postboys of a hundred year*

Meanwhile the Kin*, with one wl.ite-cloved hand at the salute, was nassirs. al °»? the lines of blue and red & h 5 "Wdly across the plain. First there were the St. C.vriens, the -•-idets of the French infantry and ar•aiery conspicuous hy the plumes of white cocks' feathers in their lif?ht-bluo shakoes Next to them were the ndets of the Polytechnic, the Woolwich of * ranee, which trains Government of allkinds, both civil and military They looked like English miv-al oncers in their dark "oeked hats. Then came baggy-trous-"T*. re ,.- zouaves, then "infantry r»f the line and Colonials, ri--ht away for nearly a mile, each battalion in a r-olumn, a shimmering forest of bavon---.ts. Behind them were artillery batteries of grey-painted guns and grey ambulance waggons. Right back in the iistance masses of cavalry could be made out by long lines of brass nelmets and sparkling lance points.

AS ONE MAN.' their tour of inspection the [ving and the President drove back to -he front of the royal stand. The army of foot, horse, and artillery moved ot! for the march past, and now for nearly half an hour they came swinging by, long lines-of men moving as one, batteries of tho finest artillery in the world, £ oing past in such perfect alignment that the nearest gun hid all the other five from sight. Hundreds, ot officers in turn swung their .glitterin;' swords at arm's length into the air and then dropped them by their horses' sides in salute. Then, last of all, came the cavalry at a tfot, beating up so much dust that it soon hid the hussars dragoons, and cuirassiers in one vast white cloud, in the midst of which they could be dimly seen as phantom squadr....-, an army of ghostly riders. "The most striking fact was that two out of every three of these soldiers have been only five months in the making. Two classes of recruits were called up at the end of last year to initiate the three years' service* system. After five months these men paraded like an army of experienced soldiers. There was not a single riderless horse to be seen, not a company or squadron or battery whose bearing and dress arid general smartness were not as excellent as could be shown by any army in the world. "And now came the great moment of the day. The cavalry had drawn off to the far side of tho racecourse more than a mile away. The. infantry were nearer, stretching across the ground in compact columns with intervals between so neat that they looked like a toy army set out by a tidy little boy. THRILLING CHARGE. "Suddenly they are seen to be moving forward. On they come in a line. Now a ripple runs along it and the gaps fill up. The columns deploy for the charge. Suddenly a gun away by tbo wood there stabs out a red Hash; the report comes a second later. The sound has awaked the bugles. The bugles start the drums rolling. Oft_ceis wave their swords. Rifles are brought to the ready. A hoarse, parched, dusty cheer rolls down the fine, and on comes the wive of blue and

red, shoulder to shoulder at the charge. "What a splendid sight I "'Vive l'Armeel* -we all shout excitedly, c "How beautiful the machinery of death and destruction can be made to look. "But better ia to come, "Those distant cavalry aro moving. First come the machine-gun sections at the gallop. They dismount in n clump of elms in the middle of the raoecourso, and soon their little tripod-mounted mitrailleuse is stammering and spluttering and darting out a flickering run of red flame. "Behind them tho dragoons are , now deploying, opening out from column to column into a long lino at full gallop. Horsos with necks outstretched. Men leanin.; forward in tho saddle. Lances held upright in the air at arm's length. On they thunder, racing at full speed in three lines, three hundred yards apart. \ Behind them again, the rest are already under way, in closer # formation, knee to knee. The air is filled with the trample of thousands of hoofs, each beating out a fairy puff of dust aB it touches the turf to add to the dense white cloud behind. "A superb sight. Perhaps the most thrilling in the world. The greatest pacifist could not but feel his blood prickling iir his veins as he watched the approach of that frantic, furious, vet ordered onward rush, and heard the tempest of trampling and cheering and jangling surging ever louder above the vicious snapping of the automatic guns." ' .