A FRENCHMAN'S OPINION OF THE QUEEN'S NEW TITLE.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XI, Issue 164, 3 July 1876, Page 4

A FRENCHMAN'S OPINION OF THE QUEEN'S NEW TITLE.

The Gallic neighbours of Englishmen have been able to enjoy a hearty laugh at the latest caprice of the Premier. Mr John Lemoince, ooe of the most noted and clever journalists of France especially, has been amusing himself and his countrymen at the expense of Mr Disraeli and her Majesty. In a recent number of the Journal des Debats, the following article appeared from bis pen :— "It is certainly something to call oneeelf Queen of Great Britain — to reign over the most active, tbe most enterprising, the most business-like, and, above all, the richest nation of the globe— to be the Sovereign of two hundred millions of subjects in the far East, and the Sovereign of I know not how m»ny millions of men in the extreme West — to be tbe mistress of the Bea«, and to be able to cay, ' Rule Britannia, rule the waves." But a!i that is not sufficient, and the Queen of England deeires to be styled impress ! Let us hasten to cay that this is not an international question, being but a matter of etiquette involving no more serious consequences than the decoration of Lord Mayor. However many titles the Queen of England might see fit to assume, the question would merely be ooe between her and her own sub-

jects- It is therefore from a purely philosophical point of view that we would fain discuss tbis singular fancy. Who is the originator of the idea .' Was is it the Queen who,' reading of the account of her son's tour iv India, desired to perpetuate the remembrance of it, or was this histrionic idea evolved from the Uriental imagination of Sidonia? Without being in a position' td make a positive affirmation, we should be inclined to think that Mr j Disraeli, with the facility which comes naturally to a Minister and a sceptic, was merely anxious to be agreeable to his Sovereign, and lent himself with complacency to the fulfilment of a caprice which he himself looked upon as rather puerile. We are bound to say tbat this act of courtiership has not gone down witb the English public, and the fate of the strange proposal seems somewhat uncertain. The English are above all things Englishmen, and this is the secret of their strength. We remember a Frenchman "politelyremarking at a publio meeting, that if he . were not a Frenchman he would ! like to be an Englishman, to which an | Englishman retorted, • If I were not an Englishman I should wish to be one.* So our neighbours appear not a little annoyed at the raising of- this question. They love their history, they set great store by. their traditions, and they maintain their ceremonies and their pageants, even when these ceremonies and pageants have lapsed into ridicule, They would rather preserve their Lord Mayors than be given a line of Emperors, especially if the Emperors are to be electro-plated. The only justification of the project which poor Mr Disraeli could advance was, that the Princes of India were very anxious to be ruled by an Empress, and this statement set the whole of England in roars of laughter. The men who knew India pointed out to him that the multitude of bejewelled Princes wouldnot be able to see any difference between a Queen and an Empress, both of which titles they translated by one word, and that it would have been more classic, therefore, to have given Queen Victoria the title of Padishah, which would be a capital acquisition for * Burkes Peerage ' and the « Almanach de Gotta.' Mr Lowe was severely handled for venturing to point out that, just as England was very nearly losing India twenty years ago, so she might lose it some day, and in that case where would be the title of Emperor or Empress of India ? But Mr Lowe I was taking common sense ; for it is not more than 70 years ago that Geo. j 111. was King of England and of France! If we are not mistaken, the King of Sardinia, who is now the King of Italy, used to style himself King of Cyprus and of Jerusalem. What fine tinselled paper crowns ? The English always consider us a frivolous people, alternating between revolutions and toy trumpets, but when once they themselves set foot into Vanity Fair there is no greater set of children. However, on this occasion they have had a sense of the ridiculous, and we" believe that the new title will hardly be accepted. Poor Mr. Disraeli appears to be very much embarrassed with this bantling which has been put into his arms; the best he can do with it will be to place it under the table and leave it there."