History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (of 2): From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal EngineersConnolly, T. W. J. (Thomas William John)
History
History of the Royal Sappers and Miners, Volume 2 (of 2): From the Formation of the Corps in March 1712 to the date when its designation was changed to that of Royal Engineers
Connolly, T. W. J. (Thomas William John)
Great Britain. Army. Royal Sappers and Miners
was passing through the English department he took his place at the
instrument, and made the Palais swell with “God save the Queen;” and
on another eventful day, when the Emperor of the French was visiting
the Exposition, he struck up the national anthem of France—“Partant
pour le Syrie.”
Footnote 131:
The first time the Emperor visited the portion of the gallery allotted
to Great Britain, he condescended to scan the survey contributions. As
he approached the compartment, sergeant Jenkins saluted him. In return
the Emperor took off his hat and bowed; and, as if to make the
sergeant feel perfectly at home in his presence, smiled and seemed in
delightful humour. After glancing at the six-inch map of Edinburgh,
over which was written in conspicuous letters, “Ordnance survey of
Scotland,” His Majesty exclaimed, “Ordnance survey of Scotland! but
where is the map of England?” Jenkins explained that he had several
specimens of the one-inch map of England, and invited the illustrious
Monarch to inspect them. “O! certainly;” and His Majesty graciously
accompanied the sergeant to the interior of the little court taken up
by the survey specimens, where, in a measure, His Majesty was isolated
from the crowd, which, with straining curiosity and awe, followed the
imperial footsteps. When examining the one-inch map of North Wales,
the Emperor traced his finger over the neighbourhood of Snowdon, and
observed, “the shading of the hills is beautifully executed.” The
sergeant then directed the Emperor’s attention to the plan of St.
Andrews on the five-feet scale—a map very much commended for its
finish by all the eminent engineers who had examined it. His Majesty
appeared highly pleased with it, and then succeeded a string of
questions which the sergeant—a stranger to the parasitical language of
the courtier—answered with the honest pertinence and refinement of a
man of good common sense. Among the interrogatories was one in which
the Emperor enquired,—“Has the whole of England been surveyed on the
six-inch scale?” In looking at the great theodolite, the Emperor
evinced unequivocal interest; more so, when the sergeant informed him
it had been in use above sixty years, and had operated on the summits
of the highest mountains and most of the important trigonometrical
stations in England, Scotland, and Ireland. Of its action, adjustment,
and peculiarities the Emperor asked several questions, and called a
scientific attendant, to whom His Majesty explained, in French, what
the sergeant had communicated to him. The Emperor then examined the
models of Arthur’s seat and the Merrick hills, and also that of the
zenith sector, with all of which His Majesty was well satisfied.
Surrounded by a vast assembly, with heads uncovered and in breathless
admiration of the magnanimity of the incident, thus was passed an
interview of about a quarter of an hour, between the Emperor of the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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