entered Strasbourg in triumph. At
a league from the city, on a height from which it was to be seen,
and whence the wooded hills of the Black Forest were visible, he
was awaited by a crowd of young girls in Alsatian costume, in
three hundred wagons, with four or six horses to each. There were
also twelve hundred horsemen, divided into squadrons, the mayors
with their scarfs at their head and carrying the fleur-de-lis
standards. The royal cortege passed, under arbors of verdure and
flowers, amid this long file of vehicles and horsemen, who
escorted it to the walls of Strasbourg. Delighted with the
enthusiasm of which he was the object, the sovereign proceeded to
the Cathedral, where a te deum was sung. In the evening the spire
of this marvellous church was illuminated: it was like a pyramid
of stars.
The King of Wurtemberg, the Grand Duke of Baden, and his three
brothers came to greet the King of France in the capital of
Alsace. He showed them at the arsenal sixteen hundred pieces of
ordnance on their carriages, and arms sufficient for a hundred
thousand men.
"Sire, and gentlemen," he said with a smile, in which kingly pride
mingled with perfect urbanity, "I have nothing to conceal from
you. This is something I can show to my friends as to my enemies."
Yes, France was great then, and no one could have predicted for
Alsace the fate reserved for her forty-two years later.
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