Chapter I: Front Matter

LETTERS OF A
DIPLOMAT'S WIFE

1883-1900

BY
MARY KING WADDINGTON

ILLUSTRATED FROM DRAWINGS
AND PHOTOGRAPHS

SMITH, ELDER & CO.
LONDON 1903

Copyright, 1903, by Charles Scribner's Sons
for the United States of America

Printed by the Trow Directory, Printing and Bookbinding Company
New York, U. S. A.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

BY THE COLLECTOR OF THE LETTERS

Mary Alsop King Waddington is a daughter of the late Charles King, President of Columbia College in the City of New York from 1849 to 1864, and a granddaughter of Rufus King, the second Minister sent to England by the United States after the adoption of the Constitution.

Miss King was educated in this country. In 1871, after the death of her father, she went, with her mother and sisters, to live in France, and in 1874 became the wife of M. William Henry Waddington.

M. Waddington was born in Normandy, France, in 1826. His grandfather was an Englishman who had established cotton manufactories in France, and had become a naturalised French citizen. The grandson, however, was educated first in a Paris _lycee_, then at Rugby, and later at Trinity College, Cambridge. As an under-graduate he rowed in the Cambridge boat in the University race of 1849. Soon after leaving the University, M. Waddington returned to France and entered public life. In 1871 he was elected a representative from the Department of the Aisne to the National Assembly, and two years afterward was appointed Minister of Public Instruction in place of M. Jules Simon. In January, 1876, he was elected a senator for the Department of the Aisne, and two months later again became Minister of Public Instruction. In December, 1877, he accepted the portfolio of Minister of Foreign Affairs.

M. Waddington was the first plenipotentiary of France to the Congress of Berlin in 1878. On February 4, 1879, he became President of the Council (Premier), retiring the following December. In the winter of 1879-1880 he refused the offer of the London Embassy. In May, 1883, he was sent as Ambassador-Extraordinary to represent France at the coronation of the Czar Alexander III at Moscow, and upon his return from Russia was appointed Ambassador at the Court of St. James to succeed M. Tissot. He held this post until 1893, and died in Paris in the following year.

Mme. Waddington accompanied her husband on his missions to both England and Russia. The letters collected in this volume were written during the period of her husband's diplomatic service to describe to her sisters the personages and incidents of her official life. About a fourth part of their number have lately been published in _Scribner's Magazine_; with this exception, the letters are now given to the public for the first time.

#Tompkins McIlvaine.#

#New York#, April 1, 1903.

ILLUSTRATIONS

#Portrait of Madame Waddington# _Frontispiece_

FACING
PAGE

#Colonel Benckendorff# 34
_From a photograph by Bergamasco, St. Petersburg._

#The Emperor Crowning the Empress. Church de
l'Assomption# 66

#Empress Marie in her Coronation Robes# 68

#Grand Duc Wladimir# 104
_From a photograph by Bergamasco, St. Petersburg._

#M. William Waddington# 142
_From a copyright photograph by Russell & Son._

#The French Embassy, Albert Gate, London# 168

#The Dining-room of the French Embassy, London,
Showing its Two Famous Gobelin Tapestries# 172

#J. J. Jusserand, Counsellor of the French Embassy# 178
_Recently appointed French Ambassador to the United States.
From a photograph by Walery, Paris._

#The Duchess of Cambridge# 180
_From a photograph by Walery, London._

#Windsor Castle# 192

#M. and Mme. Waddington and Their Son# 198
_From a photograph by Cesar, Paris._

#The Salon of the French Embassy in London# 210

#Lady Salisbury# 216

#Knowsley Hall# 228
_The Earl of Derby's place at Prescot, Lancashire._

#The Late Earl of Derby# 232
_From a photograph by Franz Baum, London._

#The Countess Fanny Karolyi, the Austrian Ambassadress# 240
_From a photograph by Walery, London._

#Queen Victoria, in the Dress Worn During the
State Jubilee Celebration, June 21, 1887# 250
_From a photograph, copyright, by Hughes & Mullins, Ryde, England._

#The Crown Prince Frederick of Germany, in the
Uniform Worn by Him at the Jubilee Celebration,
London, June, 1887# 254
_From a photograph by Loescher & Petsch, Berlin._

#Comtesse de Florian# 262
_From a photograph by Walery, London._

#Group at Hatfield House during the visit of the
Shah of Persia, July 8, 1889# 304
_From a photograph by Russell & Sons, London._

#Lord Salisbury# 306
_From a photograph by Lambert Weston & Son, Dover._

#A Comedy for Children at the French Embassy# 320
_From a photograph by Barker & Pragnell, London._

#The Empress Frederick, Wearing the Order of the
Black Eagle# 388
_The last portrait of the Empress by the artist Angeli._

#Entrance to the Club and Gardens, Cowes, Isle of
Wight# 392
_From a photograph by Broderick._

LETTERS
OF A DIPLOMAT'S WIFE