July 10th.
We had a large society this day at the table d"hote. The conversation turned on the restoration of the Bourbons, which n.o.body at table seemed to desire. Several anecdotes were related of the conduct of the Bourbon princes and of the emigration, who held their court at Coblentz when they first emigrated; these anecdotes did not redound much to their honor or credit, and I remark that they are held in great disgust and abhorrence by the inhabitants of these towns, on account of their treacherous and unprincipled conduct. It was from here that "La Cour de Coblentz," as it was called, intrigued by turns with the Jacobins and the Brissotins and, by betraying the latter to the former, were in part the cause of the sanguinary measures adopted by Robespierre.[27] The object of this atrocious policy was that the French people would, by witnessing so many executions, become disgusted at the sanguinary tyranny of Robespierre and recall the Bourbons unconditionally; which, fortunately for France and thanks to the heroism and bravery of the republican armies, did not take place; for had the restoration taken place at that time, a dreadful reaction would have been encouraged and the cruelties of the reign of Terror surpa.s.sed. With the same view, emissaries were dispatched from the Court of Coblentz to the South of France in order, under the disguise of patriots, to preach up the most exaggerated corollaries to the theories of liberty and equality.
Among other things at Ehrenbreitstein is a superb pleasure barge belonging to the Dukes of Na.s.sau for water excursions up and down the Rhine. A _coche d"eau_ starts from here daily to Mayence and another to Cologne. The price is ten franks the person. The superb _chaussee on_ the left bank of the Rhine, which extends all the way from Cologne to Mayence, was constructed by the direction of Napoleon. In the evening I went to the theatre at Coblentz, where Mozart"s opera of Don Giovanni was represented. I recollected my old acquaintance "La ci darem la mano," which I had often heard in England.
MAYENCE, 12th July.
I embarked in the afternoon of the 11th in the _coche d"eau_ bound to Mayence. Except an old "Schiffer," I was the only pa.s.senger on board, as few chuse to go up stream on account of the delay. I, however, being master of my own time, and wishing to view the lovely scenery on the banks of the river, preferred this conveyance, and I was highly gratified. After Boppart, the bed of the river narrows much. High rocks on each bank hem in the stream and render it more rapid. Nothing can be more sublime and magnificent than the scenery; at every turn of the river you would suppose its course blocked up by rocks, perceiving no visible outlet. Remains of Gothic castles are to be seen on their summits at a short distance from each other, and where the banks are not abrupt and _escarpes_ there are _coteaux_ covered with vines down to the water"s edge. The tolling of the bells at the different villages on the banks gives a most aweful solemn religious sound, and the reverberation is prolonged by the high rocks, which seem to shut you out from the rest of the world. There are the walls nearly entire of two castles of the Middle Ages, the one called "Die Katze"
(the cat); the other "Die Maus" (the Mouse); each has its tradition, for which and for many other interesting particulars I refer you to Klebe"s and Schreiber"s description of the banks of the Rhine.
We arrived early in the evening at St Goar, where we stopped and slept. St Goar is a fine old Gothic town, romantically situated, and is famous from having two whirlpools in its neighbourhood. It is completely commanded and protected by Rheinfels, an ancient hill fortress, but the fortification of which no longer exist. It requires half an hour"s walk to ascend to the summit of Rheinfels, but the traveller is well repaid for the fatigue of the ascent by the fine view enjoyed from the top. I remained at Rheinfels nearly an hour. What a solemn stillness seems to pervade this part of the river, only interrupted by the occasional splash of the oar, and the tolling of the steeple bell! Bingen on the right bank is the next place of interest, and on an island in the centre of the river facing Bingen stand the ruins of a celebrated tower call"d the "Mausethurm" (mouse tower), so named from the circ.u.mstance of Bishop Hatto having been devoured therein by rats according to the tradition. This was represented as a punishment from Heaven on the said bishop for his tyranny and oppression towards the poor; but the story was invented by the monks in order to vilify his memory, for it appears he was obnoxious to them on account of his attempts to enforce a rigid discipline among them and to check their licentiousness.
Bieberich, a superb palace belonging to the Dukes of Na.s.sau on the right bank, next presents itself to view on your left ascending; to your right, at a short distance from Bieberich, you catch the first view of Mayence on the left bank, with its towers and steeples rising from the glade. We reached Mayence at 4 o"clock p.m., and I went to put up at the three Crowns (_Drei-Kronen_). The first news I learned on arriving at Mayence was that Napoleon had surrendered himself to the Captain of an English frigate at Oleron; but though particulars are not given, Louis XVIII is said to be restored, which I am very sorry to hear. The Allies then have been guilty of the most scandalous infraction of their most solemn promise, since they declared that they made war on Napoleon alone and that they never meant to dictate to the French people the form of government they were to adopt.
Napoleon having surrendered and Louis being restored, the war may be considered as ended for the present, unless the Allies should attempt to wrest any provinces from France, and in this case there is no saying what may happen. This has finally ended the career of Napoleon.
There is in Mayence a remarkably fine broad s.p.a.cious street called "die grosse Bleiche" and in general the buildings are striking and solid, but too much crowded together as is the case in all ancient fortified cities.
The Cathedral is well worth seeing and contains many things of value and costly relics. When one views the things of value in the churches here, at Aix-la-Chapelle and at Cologne, what a contradiction does it give to the calumnies spread against the French republicans that they plundered the churches of the towns they occupied! There is an agreeable promenade lined with trees on the banks of the river called _L"Allee du Rhin._ Mayence is strongly fortified and has besides a citadel (a pentagon) of great strength, which is separated from the town by an esplanade. The _Place du Marche_ is striking and in the _Place Verte_ I saw for the first time in my life the Austrian uniform, there being an Austrian garrison as well as troops belonging to the other Germanic states, such as Prussians, Bavarians, Saxons, Hessians, and troops of the Duchy of Berg. This City belongs to the Germanic Confederation and is to be always occupied by a mixed garrison. The Archduke Charles has his head-quarters here at present.
I attended an inspection of a battalion of Berg troops on the _Place Verte_; they had a very military appearance and went thro" their manoeuvres with great precision. From the top of the steeple of the Church of Sanct Stephen you have a fine view of the whole Rheingau. Opposite to Mayence, on the right bank, communicating by an immensely long bridge of boats, is the small town and fort of Castel, which forms a sort of _tete-de-pont_ to Mayence. The works of Castel take in flank and enfilade the embouchure of the river Mayn which flows into the Rhine. One of the redoubts of Castel is called the redoubt of Montebello, thus named after Marshal Lannes, Duke of Montebello.
The German papers continue their invectives against France. In one of them I read a patriotic song recommending the youth of Germany to go into France to revenge themselves, to drink the wine and live at the cost of the inhabitants, and then is about to recommend their making love to the wives and daughters of the French, when a sudden flash of patriotism comes across him, and he says: "No! for that a German warrior makes love to German girls and German women only!" (_Und kusst nur Deutsche Madchen._) With regard to the women here, those that I have hitherto met with, and those I saw at Ehrenbreitstein, were exceedingly handsome, so that the German warriors, if love is their object, will do well to remain here, as they may go further and fare worse, for I understand the women of Lorraine and Champagne are not very striking for personal beauty. There were some good paintings in the picture gallery here and this and the fortifications are nearly all that need call forth the attention of a traveller who makes but a fleeting visit.
FRANKFORT-ON-THE-MAYN, 14th July.
I arrived here the day before yesterday in the diligence from Mayence, the price of which is two and a half florins the person, and the distance twenty-five English miles; there is likewise a water conveyance by the Mayn for half the money. The road runs thro" the village of Hockheim, which in England gives the name of _Hock_ to all the wines of Rhenish growth. The country is undulating in gentle declivities and vales and is highly cultivated in vines and corn. I put up here at the _Hotel Zum Schwan_ (The Swan), which is a very large and s.p.a.cious hotel and has excellent accommodation. There is a very excellent table d"hote at one o"clock at this hotel, for which the price is one and a half florins the person, including a pint of Moselle wine and a _krug_ or jar of Seltzer water.
About four or five o"clock in the afternoon it is the fashion to come and drink old Rhine wine _a l"Anglaise_. That sort called _Rudesheimer_ I recommend as delicious. There is also a very pleasant wine called the _Ingelheimer_, which is in fact the "red Hock." At one of these afternoon meetings a gentleman who had just returned from Paris related to us some anecdotes of what pa.s.sed at the Conference between the French commissioners who were sent after the abdication of Napoleon, by the provisional government, to treat with the Allies; in which it appeared that the British commissioner, Lord S[tewart],[28] brother to the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, made rather a simple figure by his want of historical knowledge or recollection. He began, it seems, in rather a bullying manner, in the presence of the commissioners, to declaim against what he called the perfidy and mutiny of the French army against their lawful Sovereign; when the venerable Lafayette, who was one of the commissioners and who is ever foremost when his country has need of his a.s.sistance, remarked to him that the English revolution in 1688, which the English were accustomed always to stile glorious, and which he (Lafayette) stiled glorious also, was effectuated in a similar manner by the British army abandoning King James and ranging themselves under the standard of the Prince of Orange; that if it was a crime on the part of the French army to join Napoleon, their ancient leader who had led them so often to victory, it was a still greater crime on the part of the English army to go over to the Prince of Orange who was unknown to them and a foreigner in the bargain; and that therefore this blame of the French army, coming from the mouth of an Englishman, surprised him, the more so as the Duke of Marlborough, the boast and pride of the English, set the example of defection from his Sovereign, who had been his greatest benefactor. Lord S[tewart], who did not appear to be at all conscious of this part of our history, was staggered, a smile was visible on the countenances of all the foreign diplomatists a.s.sembled there, and Lord S[tewart], to hide his confusion, and with an ill-disguised anger, turned to Lafayette and said that the Allies would not treat until Napoleon should be delivered to them. "Je m"etonne, my lord, qu"en faisant une proposition si infame et si deshonorante, vous vous plaisez de vous adresser au prisonnier d"Olmutz," was the dignified answer of that virtuous patriot and ever ardent veteran of liberty.[29]
The main street in Frankfort called the _Zeil_ is very broad and s.p.a.cious, and can boast of a number of splendid houses belonging to individuals, particularly the house of Schweitzer[30]; and on the Quai, on the banks of the Mayn, there is a n.o.ble range of buildings. The bridge across the Mayn is very fine and on the other side of the river is the suburb of Sachsenhansen, which is famous for being the head-quarters of the priestesses of the Venus vulgivaga who abound in this city. There are in Frankfort an immense number of Jews, who have a quarter of the city allotted to them. The gardens that environ the town are very tastefully laid out, and serve as the favourite promenade of the _beau monde_ of Frankfort. The Cathedral will always be a place of interest as the temple wherein in later times the German Caesars were crowned and inaugurated. At the _Hotel de Ville_ called the _Romer_, which is an ugly Gothic building, but interesting from its being in this edifice that the Emperors were chosen, is to be seen the celebrated Golden Bull which is written on parchment in the Latin language with a golden seal attached to it. In the Hall where the Electors used to sit on the election of an Emperor of the Romans, are to be seen the portraits of several of the Emperors, and a very striking one in particular of the Emperor Joseph II, in full length, in his Imperial robes. There is no table d"hote at the _Swan_ for supper, but this meal is served up _a la carte_, which is very convenient for those who do not require copious meals. At the same table with me at supper sat a very agreeable man with whom I entered into conversation. He was a Hessian and had served in a Hessian battalion in the English service during the American war. He was so kind as to procure me admission to the Casino at the Hotel Rumpf,[31] where there is a literary inst.i.tution and where they receive newspapers, pamphlets and reviews in the German, French, English and Italian languages. In Frankfort there are several houses of individuals which merit the name of palaces, and there is a great display of opulence and industry in this city. In the environs there is abundance of _maisons de plaisance_. For commerce it is the most bustling city (inland) in all Germany, besides it being the seat of the present German Diet; and from here, as from a centre, diverge the high roads to all parts of the Empire.
I have been once at the theatre, which is very near the _Swan_. A German opera, the scene whereof was in India, was given. The scenery and decorations were good, appropriate, and the singing very fair. The theatre itself is dirty and gloomy. The German language appears to me to be better adapted to music than either the French or English. The number of dactylic terminations in the language give to it all the variety that the _sdruccioli_ give to the Italian. As to poetry, no language in the world suits itself better to all the vagaries and phantasies of the Muse, since it possesses so much natural rythm and allows, like the Greek, the combination of compound words and a redundancy of epithets, and it is besides so flexible that it lends itself to all the ancient as well as the modern metres with complete success: indeed it is the only modern language that I know of which does so.
As for political opinions here, the Germans seem neither to wish nor to care about the restoration of the Bourbons; but they talk loudly of the necessity of tearing Alsace and Lorraine from France. In fact, they wish to put it out of the power of the French ever to invade Germany again; a thing however little to be hoped for. For the minor and weaker Germanic states have always. .h.i.therto (and will probably again at some future day) invoked the a.s.sistance of France against the greater and stronger. I observe that the Austrian Government is not at all popular here, and that its bad faith in financial matters is so notorious and has been so severely felt here, that a merchant told me, alluding to the bankruptcy of the Austrian Government on two occasions when there was no absolute necessity for the measure, that Frankfort had suffered more from the bad faith of the Austrian Government than from all the war contributions levied by the French.
BRUXELLES, 28th July.
On arrival at Coblentz we heard that Napoleon had surrendered himself unconditionally to Capt. Maitland of the _Bellerophon_. He never should have humiliated himself so far as to surrender himself to the British ministry. He owed to himself, to his brave fellow soldiers, to the French nation whose Sovereign he had been, not to take such a step, but rather die in the field like our Richard III, a glorious death which cast a l.u.s.tre around his memory in spite of the darker shades of his character; or if he could not fall in the field, he should have died like Hannibal, rather than commit himself into the hands of a government in which generosity is by no means a distinguishing feature, and which on many occasions has shown a petty persecuting and vindictive spirit, and thus I have no hesitation in portraying the characteristics of our Tory party, which, unfortunately for the cause of liberty, rules with undivided sway over England. He will now end his days in captivity, for his destination appears to be already fixed, and St Helena is named as the intended residence; he will, I say, be exposed to all the taunts and persecutions that petty malice can suggest; and this with the most uncomfortable reflections: for had he been more considerate of the spirit of the age, he might have set all the Monarchs, Ultras and Oligarchs and their ministers at defiance. But he wished to ape Charlemagne and the Caesars and to establish an universal Empire: a thing totally impossible in our days and much to be deprecated were it possible.
Consigned to St Helena, Napoleon will furnish to posterity a proverb like that of Dionysius at Corinth. This banishment to St Helena will be very ungenerous and unjust on the part of the English Government, but I suppose their satellites and adherents will term it an act of clemency, and some _Church and Kingmen_ would no doubt recommend hewing him in pieces, as Samuel did to Agag.
I stopped three days at Aix-la-Chapelle to drink the waters and then came straight to this place stopping half a day in Liege. I shall start for Paris in a couple of days, as the communication is now open and the public conveyances re-established. My pa.s.sport is _vise_ in the following terms: "Bon pour aller a Paris en suivant la route des armees alliees." I am quite impatient to visit that celebrated city.
[18] Philipp Klingmann (1762-1824) was better known as an actor than as an author.--ED.
[19] Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_, VII, 12, 1.--ED.
[20] "What business have you? None, I travel for amus.e.m.e.nt. Strange! What is there strange in travelling to see a fine country?"
[21] _Le Compere Mathieu_, a satirical novel by the Abbe Henri Joseph Dulaurens, published 1765 and sometimes (though wrongly) attributed to Voltaire. One of the prominent talkers in the dialogues is Pere Jean de Domfront.--ED.
[22] Horace, _Epist_., I, i, 15.--ED.
[23] This altar, inscribed _Deae Victoriae Sacrum (Corpus inscr. lat_.
XIII, 8252), was erected by the Roman fleet on the Rhine at the place now called _Altsburg_ near Cologne and, after its discovery, taken to Bonn, where it was set up on the _Remigius-Platz_ (now called _Roemer-Platz_) on Dec, 3, 1809. It is now in the Provincial Museum.--ED.
[24] Ariosto, _Orlando Furioso_, vi, 20, 3.--ED.
[25] August Lafontaine (1758-1831), born in Brunswick of a family of French protestants, was the very prolific and now quite forgotten author of many novels and novelettes.--ED.
[26] From Ernst Moritz Arndt"s (1779-1860) celebrated poem, _Des Deutschen Vaterland_.--ED.
[27] There seems to be much truth in this opinion, though the question of the intrigues of Louis XVIII with Robespierre is still shrouded in obscurity. Some pages of General Thiebault"s memoirs might have cleared it up, but they have been torn out from the ma.n.u.script (_Memoires du General Baron Thiebault_, vol. I, p. 273). Louis XVIII paid a pension to Robespierre"s sister, Charlotte.--ED.
[28] Sir Charles Stewart, created Lord Stewart In 1814; he was a half-brother of Lord Castlereagh.--ED.
[29] The same story is given, with slight differences, by Lafayette himself (_Memoires_, vol. V, p. 472-3; Paris and Leipzig, 1838). See also _Souvenirs historiques et parlementaires du Comte de Pontecoulant_, vol. III, p. 428 (Paris, 1863). Major Frye"s narrative is by far the oldest and seems the most trustworthy.--ED.
[30] The house in question was built about 1780 by Nicolas de Pigage for the rich merchant, Franz von Schweizer; Pigage was the son of the architect of King Stanislas at Nancy. The Schweizer palace became later on the _Hotel de Russie_ and was demolished about 1890, the Imperial Post Office having been erected in its place. The Schweizer family is now extinct.--ED.
[31] A _Casinogesellschaft_, still in existence (1908), was founded at Frankfort in 1805, with the object of uniting the aristocratic elements of the city, admittance being freely allowed to distinguished strangers, in particular to the envoys of the _Bundestag_. The _Gesellschaft_ or club occupied s.p.a.cious rooms in the house of the once famous _tap.i.s.sier_ and decorator Major Rumpf, grandfather of the German sculptor of the same name. That building, situated at the corner of the _Rossmarkt_, was demolished about 1880.--ED.
CHAPTER III
From Bruxelles to Paris--Restoration of Louis XVIII--The officers of the allied armies--The Palais Royal--The Louvre--Protest of the author against the proposed despoiling of the French Museums--Unjust strictures against Napoleon"s military policy--The _cant_ about revolutionary robberies--The Grand Opera--Monuments in Paris--The Champs Elysees--Saint-Cloud--The Hotel des Invalides--The Luxembourg--General Labedoyere--Priests and emigrants--Prussian Plunder--Handsome behaviour of the English officers-- Reminiscences of Eton--Versailles.
PARIS, August 3rd.
Here I am in Paris. I left Bruxelles the 29th July, stopped one night at Mons and pa.s.sing thro" Valenciennes, Peronne and St Quentin arrived here on the third day. The villages and towns on the road had been pretty well stripped of eatables by the Allied army, as well as by the French, so that we did not meet with the best fare. In every village the white flag was displayed by way of propitiating the clemency of the Allies and averting plunder.
August 7th.
I have put up at the _Hotel de Cahors_, Rue de Richelieu, where I pay five francs per diem for a single room; such is the dearness of lodgings at this moment. It is well furnished, however, with sofas, commodes, mirrors and a handsome clock and is very s.p.a.cious withal, there being an alcove for the bed. This situation is extremely convenient, being close to the Palais Royal, Rue St Honore, Theatre Francais, Louvre and the Tuileries on one side, and to the Grand Opera, the Theatre Feydeau, the Italian Opera and the Boulevards on the other. The National Library is not many yards distant from my hotel, and a few yards from that _en face_ is the Grand Opera house or _Academie Royale de Musique_.
This city is filled with officers and travellers of all kinds who have followed the army. The House of Legislature of the Hundred Days,--as it is the fashion to style Napoleon"s last reign--dissolved themselves on the demand of a million of francs as a war contribution made by Marshall Blucher. Louis XVIII has been hustled into Paris, and now occupies the throne of his ancestors under the protection of a million of foreign bayonets, and the _banniere des Lis_ has replaced the tricolor on the castle of the Tuileries. A detachment of the British army occupies Montmartre, where the British flag is flying, and in the Champs Elysees and Bois de Boulogne are encamped several brigades of English and Hanoverians.
The Sovereigns of Russia, Austria and Prussia are expected and then it is said that the fate of France will be decided. The Army of the Loire has at length made its submission to the King, after stipulating but in vain for the beloved tricolor. Report says it is to be immediately dissolved and a new army raised with more legitimate inclinations. Should the King accede to this, France will be completely disarmed and at the mercy of the Allies, and the King himself a state prisoner. The entrance into Paris, thro" the Faubourg St Denis, does not give to the stranger who arrives there for the first time a great idea of the magnificence of Paris; he should enter by the Avenue de Neuilly or by the Porte St Antoine, both of which are very striking and superb.
Now you must not expect that I shall or can give you a description of all the fine things that I have seen or am about to see, for they have been so often described before that it would be a perfect waste of time, and I can do better in referring you at once to the _Guide des Voyageurs a Paris_; so that I shall content myself with merely indicating these objects which make the most impression on me.
My first visit was, as you will have no doubt guessed, to the Palais Royal: there I breakfasted, there I dined, and there I pa.s.sed the whole day without the least _ennui_. It is a world in itself. It swarms at present with officers of the Allied army. The variety of uniforms adds to the splendour and novelty of the scene. The restaurants and cafes are filled with them. The Palais Royal is certainly the temple of animal gratification, the paradise of gastronomes. The officers are indulging in all sorts of luxury, revelling in Champaign and Burgundy, in all the pleasures of the belly, as well as _in iis quae sub ventre sunt_. "Twill be a famous harvest for the restaurateurs and for the Cyprians who parade up and down the Arcades, sure of a constant succession of suitors. In fact, whatever be the taste of a man, whether sensual or intellectual or both, he can gratify himself here without moving out of the precincts of the Palais Royal. Here are cafes, restaurants, shops of all kinds whose display of clocks, jewellery, stuffs, silks, merchandize from all parts of the world, is most brilliant and dazzling; here you find reading-rooms where newspapers, reviews and pamphlets of all tongues, nations and languages are to be met with; here are museums of paintings, statues, plans in relief, cosmoramas; here are libraries, gaming houses, houses of fair reception; cellars where music, dancing and all kinds of orgies are carried on; exhibitions of all sorts, learned pigs, dancing dogs, military canary birds, hermaphrodites, giants, dwarf jugglers from Hindostan, catawbas from America, serpents from Java, and crocodiles from the Nile. Here, so Kotzebue has calculated, you may go through all the functions of life in one day and end it afterwards should you be so inclined. You may eat, drink, sleep, bathe, go to the _Cabinet d"aisance_, walk, read, make love, game and, should you be tired of life, you may buy powder and ball or opium to hasten your journey across Styx; or should you desire a more cla.s.sic _exit_, you may die like Seneca opening your veins in a bath. Deep play goes forward day and night, and I verily believe there are some persons in Paris who never quit these precincts. The restaurants and cafes are most brilliantly fitted up. One, _Le Cafe des Mille Colonnes_, so called from the reflection of the columns in the mirrors with which the wainscoat is lined, boasts of a _limonadiere_ of great beauty. She is certainly a fine woman, dresses very well, as indeed most French women do, and has a remarkably fine turned arm which she takes care to display on all occasions. I do not, however, perceive much animation in her; she always appears the same, nor has she made any more impression on me--tho" I am of a very susceptible nature in this particular--than a fine statue or picture would do. There she sits on a throne and receives the hommage and compliments of most of the visitors and the money of all, which seems to please her most, for she receives the compliments which are paid her with the utmost _sang-froid_ and indifference, and the money she takes especial care to count. English troops, conjointly with the National Guard, do duty at the entrance of the Palais Royal from the Rue St Honore; and it became necessary to have a strong guard to keep the peace, as frequent disputes take place between the young men of the Capital and the Prussian officers, against whom the French are singularly inveterate.
The French, when left to themselves, are very peaceable in their pleasures and the utmost public decorum is observed; their sobriety contributes much to this; but if there were in London an establishment similar to that of the Palais Royal, it would become a perfect pandemonium and would require an army to keep the peace. The French police keep a very sharp look-out on all political offences, but are more indulgent towards all moral ones, as long as public decorum is not infringed, and then it is severely punished.
But they have none of that censoriousness or prying spirit in France which is so common in England to hunt out and criticise the private vices of their neighbours, which, in my opinion, does not proceed from any real regard for virtue, but from a fanatical, jealous, envious, and malignant spirit. Those vice-hunters never have the courage to attack a man of wealth and power; but a poor artisan or labourer, who buys a piece of meat after twelve o"clock on Sat.u.r.day night, or a gla.s.s of spirits during church-time on Sunday, is termed a Sabbath-breaker and imprisoned without mercy.