Two long trains left Paris at nine o’clock for Versailles; and at each of the stations the company were loudly cheered by the people who had assembled to see them pass.  At Versailles, we found thousands at the station, who gave us a most enthusiastic welcome.  We were blessed with a goodly number of the fair sex, who always give life and vigour to such scenes.  The train had scarcely stopped, ere the great throng were wending their ways in different directions, some to the cafes to get what an early start prevented their getting before leaving Paris, and others to see the soldiers who were on review.  But most bent their steps towards the great palace.

At eleven o’clock we were summoned to the dejeuner, which had been prepared by the English delegates in honour of their American friends.  About six hundred sat down at the tables.  Breakfast being ended, Mr. Cobden was called to the chair, and several speeches were made.  Many who had not an opportunity to speak at the Congress, thought this a good chance; and the written addresses which had been studied during the passage from America, with the hope that they would immortalize their authors before the great Congress, were produced at the breakfast table.  But speech-making was not the order of the day.  Too many thundering addresses had been delivered in the Salle de St. Cecile, to allow the company to sit and hear dryly written and worse delivered speeches in the Teniscourt.

There was no limited time given to the speakers, yet no one had been on his feet five minutes, before the cry was heard from all parts of the house, “Time, time.”  One American was hissed down, another took his seat with a red face, and a third opened his bundle of paper, looked around at the audience, made a bow, and took his seat amid great applause.  Yet some speeches were made, and to good effect, the best of which was by Elihu Burritt, who was followed by the Rev. James Freeman Clark.  I regretted very much that the latter did not deliver his address before the Congress, for he is a man of no inconsiderable talent, and an acknowledged friend of the slave.

The cry of “The water-works are playing,” “The water is on,” broke up the meeting, without even a vote of thanks to the Chairman; and the whole party were soon revelling among the fountains and statues of Louis XIV.  Description would fail to give a just idea of the grandeur and beauty of this splendid place.  I do not think that any thing can surpass the fountain of Neptune, which stands near the Grand Trianon.  One may easily get lost in wandering through the grounds of Versailles, but he will always be in sight of some life-like statue.  These monuments, erected to gratify the fancy of a licentious king, make their appearance at every turn.  Two lions, the one overturning a wild boar, the other a wolf, both the production of Fillen, pointed out to us the fountain of Diana.  But I will not attempt to describe to you any of the very beautiful sculptured gods and goddesses here.