Page:Life of Her Majesty Queen Victoria (IA lifeofhermajesty01fawc).pdf/207

 home very strongly impressed by the necessity of increasing our strength both by sea and land, so that it might not compare so very disadvantageously with that of our valued ally. Their second visit to Cherbourg was in the following year, 1858, and was a grand ceremonial. they were received by the Emperor and Empress in state, nine line-of-battle ships were drawn up along the breakwater, and all the ugly forts which dominate the harbor belched forth volleys of gunpowder in their honor, and also perhaps to demonstrate afresh the extent and strength of the fortifications. It does not seem to have been a gay visit; the Emperor was embarrassed, "boutonné and silent and not ready to talk" the Queen wrote, while the Prince observed, "Empress looks ill; he is out of humor." When the inevitable time for speech-making came, and the Prince Consort had to return thanks for the toast of the Queen's and his own health, Her Majesty writes that it was a dreadful moment, which she hoped never to have to go through again. "He did it very well, though he hesitated once. I sat shaking, with my eyes cloués sur la table." The Emperor and Empress were both very nervous, and the Queen shook so she could not drink her coffee. The reception given to the Queen was magnificent and uncomfortable in the highest possible degree. One flight of rockets, a mere incident in a grand display of fireworks, was said to have cost 25,000 francs. From first to last, the fête was organized with regard to the highest possible degree of expense. The Queen and Prince were more than ever impressed that the strength of Cherbourg was a menace to England, and called the attention of their own Ministers, who were in attendance, to the obvious necessity for England to look more sharply to her coast and naval defences. How thankful Her Majesty must have been when the end