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[Page 58]
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on which peace is to be signed & I go to Versaille to take part in this wondrous event. I go via Montparnasse & so miss much of the crowd though there are over 50,000 there but these are a mere handful in the vast grounds of the Palace.
To describe Versaille is impossible & God knows what kind of intellect it was which fashioned it. It is stupendous & cost about £20,000,000 & has accomodation for 10,000 inmates The approach has 16 colossal statutes perhaps 20 ft high of statesmen & soldier of Louis XV & in the centre is a statue of the Grand Monarch himself. Each of the pavilions are inscribed with "To the great glories of France" but this is probably by Louis XV
The Broad Avenue de Paris is lined with thousand of blue clad, steel helmeted cavalry who are guarding every road. The Palace itself is out of bounds save with a ticket which I do not possess
The grounds are one complicated mass of tree covered avenues & thickets & shrubberies – with temple & fountains & sculptures every at unexpected places Over 100 sculptors were employed embellishing the grounds
At 10 to 4 the battery of artillery commences. This is signal that peace has been signed & then plenipotentiaries file out & into the terrace & simultaneously the fountains commence to play – & a majestic sight they are though big ones are not in action