Punch (29.1855)

94

PUNCH, Oil THE LONDON CHARIVARI.

[September 8, 1855.

boast good eyes, that as the troops moved off the ground, the statue of
Napoleon on his own Column, bent a little forward; and his bronze
lips moved somewhat, as he vouchsafed down from his eminence, an
imperial bow. Napoleon in the flesh had, in his time, been on that
cliff-, nothing could move him then: but now a scene was acting on
Boulogne Sands, that in its wondrous strangeness moved and melted
even bronze. To think that French regiments should, on a Frercb
shore, pass in review before a Queen op England, the while English
three-deckers, calm in the magnificence of their might, should lie laz ly
in the offing!

The Qdeen of England went to dinner, and all the fireworks, from
smallest, most spluttering squib, to tallest, and most starry rocket,
must have felt the warmth of impatience that still pervaded Boulogne,
growing the warmer as the hour came on. At length, God Save the
Queen was breathed through regimental brass ! (Again, a very sharp
•eye-witness averred to Mr. Punch that he saw the bronze Napoleon
just lift his bronze chapeau !) The Queen descended ; and, at the same
time, the Queen's yacht, the Victoria and Albert,—like the Sea-Serpent
illuminated—with fiery speed, dashed to the harbour to receive her mis-
tress. The thing seemed alive, and of its instinct seemed to know its duty.

Can Mb. Punch write fireworks ? Can he dip his pen in pyrotechnic
ink? Why, perhaps not. But let the reader consider the page before
him. Let him imagine every letter—black and small, and thronging—

suddenly touched into a firework of some sort—this P a marvellous
rocket, showering stars • this u a Bengal light; this n—this c—this n
—each and all a marvellous combination of fire and colour,—let the
reader obligingly think this, and so thinking, multiply the fireworks by
multiplication that shall reach to the skies, and he may, perhaps,
imagine somewhat of the splendours that burned about Queen Vic-
toria as she took her way on board. Out blazed a bouquet, growing
to the heavens,—a bouquet of red, white, and blue fire-flowers—roses
red and white, and violets of azure—as the yacht, its quarter all a
flame, like burning arrow, shot along the sea !

And then—and then—the guns of the English ships gave mouth ; as
it seemed to Mr. Punch's ears—with a gruff affeetionateness, welcoming
their mistress, the Royal Lady of the Lions, back again to them !—Still
they roared, and_ still deeper and deeper, as though their satisfaction
deepened as their own Queen came nearer and nearer; and she was
once again among them !

And in such affectionate, such loyal guardianship—with the hopes of
France and England intermingling above her and around her—so leave
we Victoria.

Two Mermaids rose in the offing. One sang God save the Queen, the
other frilled Part ant pour la Syrie. One was an English maid; the
other Ereneh. When each had done her singing, each by way of keep-
sake changed with each, her comb and glass.

THE PEACE PROJECTILE COMPANY.

Limited Liability. Capital £100,000,000.

Company under the
above title is in
course of formation
upon the newly-le-
galised principle of
Limited Liability.
The superiority of
private enterprise to
the operation of Go-
vernment, which has
hitherto been exem-
plified in every in-
stance where the one
has come into con-
trast with the other,
wairanrs the conclu-
sion that a body of
intelligent capitalists
would pursue the
arts of war wilh the
same relative success
as that with which
similar societieshave
cultivated those of
peace. The speedy
and satisfactory ter-
mination of the War
is an object, which
of itself, would ren-
der a large outlay a
wise investment on
the part of any im-
portant member of

the mercantile community, and the projectors of the Projectile Peace Company
have accordingly determined to fix the Company's Shares at

TEN THOUSAND POUNDS PER SHARE.

The object of the Company will be to test the merits of Inventions calculated to
■bring the War to a conclusion by the

destruction or her majesty's enemies,

Their Eleets, Fortifications, and Strongholds; and one of its immediate proceedings
will be to investigate the

Plan of Lord Dundonald

Eor the annihilation of Sebastopol, Cronstadt, &c. Early in the next Session of
Parliament a Charter will be applied for to enable the Company to try, on their own
pecuniary responsibility, any such destructive agent, power, machine, or invention
upon the enemy, as they may deem worthy of the experiment, always, of course,
with the proviso, that such experiment shall not interfere with any operations con-
templated by Her Majesty's Naval and Military Forces. In the event of a
demonstration of the capability of the scheme thus tested to answer its purpose,
should the Government still neglect it, as they neglect the proposal of Lobd
Dundonald, notwithstanding its approval by

The Projectors submit, that the restoration, by their un-
aided efforts, of such a peace as that which they contem-
plate would alone more than repay the Subscribers; to
say nothing to the great

Economy of Human Life

And human suffering which would result from the whole-
sale, but limited, destruction of savages.

* ** Subscriptions will be received at the Company's Office,
85, Fleet Street.

" WRITE ME DOWN " A 'RECORD.'

The Record lately quoted from our last number some lines
relative to the Promenade Concert given in Kensington
Gardens on Sunday to the Public, by the Queen. To this
quotation were annexed certain comments, reviling us, of
course, for ribaldry and profaneness. Our sanctimonious
contemporary accused us, moreover, of advocating, in those
verses, the institution of Jullien's concerts upon Sundays.
If the Record writer has ever been present at the concerts
of M. Jullien, he must know that they usually include
quadrilles, polkas, and other frivolous and trumpery pieces
of music, whereas the music which we represented as
proper for Sunday, was distinctly described by us as having,
on the mind of the hearer, an effect essentially and bene-
ficially spiritual.

Veracity is not the forte of any of the fanatical journals,
Popish or Protestant: but we do not accuse the Record man
of having uttered, to the prejudice of Mr. Punch, the thing
that is not, knowing it not to be. We dare say that he has
not the most remote idea of what we mean by good music.
To him, probably, sacred music is parish psalmody ; nothing
else, and nothing more ; miserable and vulgar tunes married
to equally miserable and vulgar verses ; such as the doggerel
into which Nicholas Bbady and Naiium Tate have pre-
sumed to turn the Scriptures, in diluting, corrupting, and
rhyming, the songs of David.

Sacredness in music, as apprehended by him, is probably
what, to any person with an average ear, and ordinary
sensibilities, is maudlin dreariness; aesthetically the same
thing as the groaning, and moaning, and whining in the
pulpit, accepted by the sect which he represents for
devotional expression. His allowance of ear, however, may
be said to be considerably above the average, and in re-
spect of both ears we should say that he ought to have, by
some inches, the advantage of the" tremendous justice
Midas," or the "translated" Bottom.

SIR CHARLES FOX, , which have broken out

A Weighty Argument.

We hear a good deal about the War being necessary to
preserve the Balance of Power, which is no doubt the case;
but there is another Balance—and a pretty powerful balance
it is—which is likely to be destroyed rather than preserved
by the existing state of things. There is not a state in
Europe which will not find its balance—if it happens to_ have
any in its treasury—seriously jeopardised by the hostilities