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Her Majesty's most gracious invitation, etc.’
The General's youngest son, Jesse, a youth of nineteen, was traveling with his father at this time, and Mrs. Grant naturally desired that he should receive all the attention which the circumstances would allow.
Jesse himself did not share this feeling.
He was not anxious for royal or aristocratic invitations, and when it was explained to him that so extraordinary an opportunity of meeting distinguished people could hardly happen to a young man again, he replied that the honor was meant for his father, not for him, and that if he should return to England alone, none of these important personages would remember him or invite him. He did not value compliments paid to himself on account of his father.
Notwithstanding this I was desired to send a message to Sir John Cowell, the Master of the Queen's Household, with whom I had been personally acquainted for several years.
I telegraphed to him in these words: ‘Personal and confidential to yourself.
I would not, of course, make such a suggestion unauthorized, but if it could be proposed to invite General Grant's son, Mr. Jesse Grant, a young man of nineteen or twenty, it would be a great gratification to GeneralGrant and Mrs. Grant.
If this is contrary to etiquette, please consider this telegram not sent.’
A card like that addressed to General Grant was immediately forwarded to Jesse, and on the afternoon appointed we set out by train for Windsor.
The party included General and Mrs. Grant, the Minister and Mrs. Pierrepont, Jesse and myself, with four or five servants.
The Queen's carriages were in waiting at the station, and the Master of the Household received us at the Castle.
The Queen was out driving and would not be visible until dinner, so that all the nonsense that was published about Her Majesty welcoming General Grant at the foot of the grand staircase, as she would have done the Shah of Persia, or any other black or white monarch who visited her, was without foundation.
Such potentates
S. S. Scranton and Co., Hartford, 1887.
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