Chapter 31:
Grant and the Prince of Wales.
General Grant arrived in London at the time of the Epsom races, and the Prince of Wales at once offered him a car in his train for the ‘Oaks,’ the second of the great events of the week; the ‘Derby’ had already been run. The invitation was accepted, and the General and the Minister and one or two others went down in the Prince's train. A special box had been provided, and after the General's arrival it was proposed that he should be presented to the Prince of Wales. But the Prince said that General Grant was too distinguished a man to be received in this informal manner; he would prefer that the first visit should be paid at Marlborough House. Nevertheless, the Prince came with several of his suite into General Grant's box and made his acquaintance there. Thus the first visit was in reality paid by the Prince of Wales.This was on Friday, and on Saturday General Grant made his formal visit at Marlborough House, according to appointment, and then wrote his name, as the etiquette is, in the books of the other members of the Royal Family. These visits were not returned; the Duke of Cambridge alone left his card.
A few days afterward General Grant attended a levee held by the Prince of Wales, at which he was treated with no more ceremony than many others. He was presented by the American Minister, and afterward stood in the diplomatic circle facing the Prince during the levee. This indicated [273] that he was not recognized as of rank approaching that of the Royal Family. He was a distinguished personage, but far below those magnificent beings, the Guelphs and Mecklenburg-Strelitzes and Tecks and other connections and cousins of the Queen, who were all placed in the same line with the Prince of Wales, and General Grant had to make his bow to each of them in turn. He did not suffer acutely from the distinction thus marked out between himself and royal clay; nevertheless this ceremony made it certain that the court ignored the arrangement that had been made by the Government. The Royal Family did not regard General Grant as an ex-sovereign, and refused to treat him as such; he was nothing but an ex-President.
It was amusing to observe the determination of the descendants of George I. and II. and III. to draw the line between themselves and democratic dignity. They did it as courteously and unoffensively as possible, but the line was there and never to be passed. Poor shows and shams! Their etiquette is all that is left them in these days; if they yield that where would they be in the presence of the really great of the earth, of men of achievement and reputation and power, who have conquered armies and governed states?
This whole matter of the levee was doubtless considered in advance. The courtiers insisted that General Grant should go to court, where the distinction they desired to make would become apparent. His popularity by this time was conspicuous, and to have an ex-President going about and receiving the attention due to a sovereign or a semi-sovereign was undesirable, perhaps dangerous. It showed the world that there was nothing in royalty after all. If one Head of a State is as good as another, what becomes of birth and rank and kings and crowns and all the antiquated frippery? Beef-eaters and gentlemen-at-arms would be out of business. So the Lord Chamberlain and the Prime Minister [274] assured the American envoy that it would be discourteous in General Grant not to attend the levee. There was no other way in which he could pay his respects to the Queen, who was at Balmoral, and Her Majesty had already, they said, invited General Grant to a ball without waiting for him to be presented. They did not remind the Minister that this courtesy is often shown to persons of distinction far below the royal grade.
The courtiers were cunning and said nothing in advance about the place General Grant was to take at the levee, and the Republican envoy, unversed in such devices, doubtless supposed that his great countryman would be invited to a place at the Royal side. So General Grant put on his uniform and stood like any lord or lordling in His Highness's presence till the levee was over. The Prince graciously gave his hand to the ex-President, as he did to dukes and ambassadors, and then the General fell back into the position assigned him. All of which is of no earthly consequence except to illustrate royal snobbishness and the insolence of courts. But if George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and General Grant could all return to earth and attend a levee at the same time with the King of some cannibal island and his barbarous cousins, the royal savages would be ranged in a line with the Queen and the Prince of Wales, and the democrats would be expected to pass before them.
The next occasion when royalty and democracy met was at the house of the Marquis of Hertford, the Lord High Chamberlain and the successor of Thackeray's Marquis of Steyne. His lordship was giving a dinner to the Princess Louise and the Marquis of Lorne, and had asked a few friends to come in afterward and meet Her Royal Highness and her noble husband. General Grant was not invited to the dinner but was asked to the reception afterward. We arrived before dinner was over, and were not received. [275] A royal guest could not be left by the Lord Chamberlain because an ex-President was in the drawing-room; so General Grant waited till dinner was over, when Lord and Lady Hertford came out in attendance on Her Royal Highness. Then they welcomed their democratic guests and General Grant was presented to the Princess Louise. The Princess was gracious, and when Mrs. Grant expressed her regret at not having seen the Queen, she replied: ‘But you will be sure to see her. Her Majesty will come to Windsor before you leave.’
The next of these ceremonies that I remember was a court ball. General Grant, like every one else, was expected to be present when royalty arrived. No place was assigned him, but he was allowed to find room with the diplomatic corps. He stood with Mr. Pierrepont below the Ambassadors, who were on the steps of a dais nearer the Royal Family. When the Prince entered he offered his hand to General Grant as he passed, which was a great distinction, conferred only on two or three. Later the General was invited to take part in one of the royal quadrilles, but declined the honor, which was not extended to Mrs. Grant. No other notice was taken of him by host or hostess, and after an hour or two the General became tired and left before supper. What arrangement would have been made had he remained was not indicated, but probably none until royalty had been served.
A week or two afterward General and Mrs. Grant had the honor of being invited to dine with the Prince and Princess of Wales, ‘to meet their Imperial Majesties, the Emperor and Empress of Brazil.’ I accompanied them on this occasion. The Minister and Mrs. Pierrepont were also present.
When GeneralGrant and Mrs. Grant arrived they passed first into a large ante-chamber in which the Prince of Wales happened to be playing with his two boys. The other guests [276] had not arrived, and the Prince may not have expected to be in this hall when General Grant came in; or he may possibly have planned the accidental reception. He came forward at once, like any other gentleman in his own house, and gave his hand to General Grant, who presented Mrs. Grant, and mentioned my name, which the Prince had known before. Then the Prince called up his sons, lads then of ten or twelve, and said he wished them to know General Grant. He was extremely genial and affable. After this he disappeared through a side door, and an equerry ushered the party into a long waiting-room, where we remained nearly half an hour.
The dinner party was large; I should think there were thirty people present, including several dukes and duchesses, and other of the nobility; the Brazilian Minister and his wife had been asked out of compliment to the Emperor, for whom the dinner was given. After a while a gentlemanin-waiting appeared and said the Princess desired the ladies to range themselves on one side of the room and the gentlemen on the other; so GeneralGrant and Mrs. Grant took their places four or five from the head of the line. After apparently ten minutes further waiting in this position, all standing, for no one had been seated or had been asked to sit since we entered, the great doors at the top of the line on the right were thrown open and the Empress of Brazil came in on the arm of the Prince of Wales. Next came the Princess with the Emperor. They passed directly between the two lines to the dining-room, which was opposite the apartment from which they had entered; the Empress of Brazil however, had known Mrs. Grant in America, when the ladies had each been the wife of a great ruler, and she stopped short when she came to Mrs. Grant and greeted her, but the other royal and imperial personages, including the hostess, passed in without recognizing anybody. Then a number of dukes and lesser nobles were told off to their partners and followed the [277] Empress and the Prince. After every noble person present was thus assigned General Grant was requested to go in with Mrs. Pierrepont, and Mrs. Grant with the Brazilian Minister, whom the Emperor of Brazil looked upon as his servant.
The British Government had agreed with Mr. Pierrepont that the ex-President of the United States should have precedence of dukes, but the Prince of Wales deliberately put him as near as possible to the foot of the table. There was no English person of noble rank who followed General Grant. He sat within three or four of the Comptroller of the Household, who was at the extreme foot; the Prince and Princess were at the middle with the Emperor and Empress. The Duke of Cambridge, the Duke and Duchess of Manchester, the Earl and Countess of Derby, the Earl of Dudley, were all placed higher than General Grant. When the ladies left the table every one rose, of course, and the Empress and Princess passed out, while Mrs. Grant was left to find her way like any other person of insignificance. Then the Prince of Wales changed his own seat, according to the English custom, and took that by the side of the Emperor, which the Princess had vacated. In a moment or two he sent an equerry or a footman, I forget which, to ask General Grant to sit by the other side of him in his new place, and General Grant left his seat and walked around the table and accepted this high honor, just as any other private gentleman might have done. The Prince then was very gracious in his talk and manner.
After a while the gentlemen rejoined the ladies in the order in which they had come in, the dukes and earls taking care to assert their rights of precedence. In one of the drawing-rooms there was music; here the Princess and the Empress sat apart and listened or talked, and the Emperor remained near them. Neither General nor Mrs. Grant was invited to join this select company. The Prince came out of it once or twice and talked with some of his guests, among [278] others with General Grant; but he said no word to Mrs. Grant, and neither the General nor Mrs. Grant was presented to the princely hostess. The Prince presented General Grant to the Earl of Dudley, one of the worst-bred men in any company in any country; and his lordship was worthy of his reputation on this occasion, for he almost turned on his heel. He put his hands behind him and simply acknowledged his Prince's introduction with a slight bow, almost a nod, said not one word, and left the group. It was by far the most marked impertinence General Grant had received in sixteen years.
When the Empress had heard enough of the music, she and the Princess arose and bowed to the company. Everybody else made profound salaams, and the whole imperial and royal party disappeared and did not return. Mrs. Grant now desired also to leave, but the ladies-in-waiting assured her that the Princess would return. They appeared to appreciate the behavior of their mistress, and thought it could not possibly be carried further. Mrs. Grant, therefore, delayed four or five minutes longer. Then finding that her hosts had no idea of continuing their hospitality, she took General Grant's arm and retired. I followed them. After we had reached the ante-room and were moving toward the cloaking-rooms, one of the courtiers came up and said that the Princess desired to bid Mrs. Grant good-night. Accordingly we delayed in the ante-room till the Prince and Princess came out. The royal hosts smiled graciously, bowed and courtesied gracefully, and wished their democratic guests good-night, and that was the end of General Grant's dinner with the Prince of Wales.
General Grant, of course, perceived the intention of all this etiquette, but was determined not to resent or admit the slight. He was receiving great hospitality and kindness from the English nation; he had been cordially treated by the Government and the high aristocracy, who could not control [279] the court, and he desired us all to say nothing on the subject of the conduct of the Prince and Princess of Wales. His course reminded me of Froissart's story of the great Norman nobles whose breeding was so famous that a certain prince determined to test it. He asked a large party to a banquet, and took care that the tables should be filled before the Normans arrived. They, however, made no remark, but folded their cloaks and sat on these on the floor, where they were served. After the repast they paid their parting compliments and went away, leaving their cloaks behind them. Their host, however, sent the garments to them on the road, but the Normans replied that they were not in the habit of carrying about with them the seats that they used at entertainments. It seemed to me that General Grant's silence was as fine as the answer of the Normans He rather pitied the Heir Apparent, whose notions of hospitality were so provincial. Indeed, he looked on the whole proceeding as he would on the antics of some half-civilized Asiatic, who announces that the Khan of Tartary has dined, and now the kings of the earth are at liberty to satisfy themselves.
The Prince probably did not desire to be rude. At this very dinner he requested the General to keep a night for a public banquet at which he wished him to be present, and so far as mere manner was concerned, he had been perfectly affable and genial. It was the point of etiquette he was determined to maintain. General Grant was not royal, and the Prince was determined not to treat him as if he were.
In accordance with the wish of the General none of his party mentioned the circumstances I have described. Probably some of the English present were not so reticent, for the story got about, and there were comments on it in the American newspapers. Upon this the Prince wrote to the Minister and expressed his concern. He said he could not have given precedence to General Grant over the Emperor, and tried to explain. But there was no necessity to invite [280] General Grant at the same time with the Emperor. There was in fact no necessity to invite him at all if he could not receive in the house of the Heir to the Throne the same distinction that was offered him in every other house in England, and which the Prince of Wales must have known that the English Government had promised to accord. One can understand that a prince might feel that he must maintain the principle which underlies his princehood; but the Prince of Wales put General Grant below everybody at his table of even the rank of an earl; and there is no rule recognized in any etiquette, royal or democratic, which forbids a hostess to speak to her guests.
In less than a month after this dinner General Grant was invited by the King of the Belgians, who took Mrs. Grant to table, while the General was requested to give his arm to the Queen. The etiquette of the Prince of Wales was all his own. It was not even that of his own sovereign.
