Adam Badeau, Grant in peace: from Appomattox to Mount McGregor, a personal memoir

I had myself not very long before been appointed Minister to this very Court, and had even visited Brussels with my credentials, prepared, if I chose, to present my letter to the King; so that I looked upon these ceremonies with a more curious eye than if I had been an ordinary stranger, and thought of the different part I might have borne on this occasion. But I had preferred a lesser rank at a more important place, and remained as Consul-General at London rather than take the post of Minister to Brussels. I went in to dinner lower down in the line, but I lived at the core of the world instead of on the outside; for Brussels and Belgium exist only by permission of the greater Powers. This sufferance, however, according to European theory, detracts in no degree from the ceremonial importance of the sovereign. In fact, at many of the smaller courts the etiquette is more exact than that which surrounds imperial potentates. At Brussels there seemed a happy mingling of that regard for forms which in the Old World is still considered essential, with a courtesy which it cannot be said that every palace breeds.

There was music during dinner, far enough off not to interrupt conversation, and as the twilight faded, the great chandelier, with its hundreds of candles, that hung over the table, was lighted by a peculiar contrivance. A sort of thread of slow match connected the candelabra, and the fire was seen to travel from one to another till all were illuminated. When the dinner was over the whole party arose according to Continental fashion: the King took out Mrs. Grant, and General Grant the Queen; the others followed with their dinner partners, and the separation that is common in England, and often here, did not occur. The men all accompanied the ladies to the drawing-rooms and remained there.