2-913-583 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

French Soldiers and English Sailors Fraternising at Calais, 1854. Allied personnel in France before leaving to fight in the Crimean War. '...the soldiers crowded the cafes with which Calais abounds; but they had not sole occupation of the public-houses, for here and there were groups of English sailors, "liberty men" from the fleet riding grandly in Calais roads. Great was the good-humour on all sides, and intense the cordiality amongst sailors and soldiers. They could not understand each other in words, 'tis true; but the Freemasonry of the bottle made them excellent friends for all that...a young gentleman of our party, seeing that the sailors were puzzled to make out the Emperor's speech, read it aloud in English. A French soldier rose, and, lifting a brimming glass aloft, shouted "Victoria!" The English sailors answered with cries of "Vive l'Empereur!" and a general fraternisation was the result'. From "Illustrated London News", 1854.