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diff --git a/38869.txt b/38869.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4e21623 --- /dev/null +++ b/38869.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11560 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of From the Lakes of Killarney to the Golden +Horn, by Henry M. Field + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: From the Lakes of Killarney to the Golden Horn + +Author: Henry M. Field + +Release Date: February 13, 2012 [EBook #38869] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK FROM THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY *** + + + + +Produced by Melissa McDaniel, Lynne Payne and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This +file was produced from images generously made available +by The Internet Archive) + + + + + + + +Transcriber's Note: + + Inconsistent hyphenation and spelling in the original document have + been preserved. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. + + Italic text is denoted by _underscores_. + + + + + FROM THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY + TO + THE GOLDEN HORN. + + BY HENRY M. FIELD, D.D. + + FOURTEENTH EDITION. + + NEW YORK: + CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, + 1884. + + + + + COPYRIGHT, 1876, BY + SCRIBNER, ARMSTRONG & CO. + + + TROW'S + PRINTING AND BOOKBINDING COMPANY, + _201-213 East 12th Street_, + NEW YORK. + + + + +When a man's house is "left unto him desolate" by the loss of one who +filled it with sunshine--when there is no light in the window and no +fire on the hearth--it is a natural impulse to leave his darkened +home, and become a wanderer on the face of the earth. Such was the +beginning of the journey recorded here. Thus driven from his home, the +writer crossed the seas, and passed from land to land, going on and +on, till he had compassed the round globe. The story of all this is +much too long to be comprised in one volume. The present, therefore, +does not pass beyond Europe, but stops on the shores of the Bosphorus, +in sight of Asia. Another will take us to the Nile and the Ganges, to +Egypt and India, to Burmah and Java, to China and Japan. + + * * * * * + +It should be added, to explain an occasional personal allusion, that +the writer was accompanied by his niece (who had lived so long in his +family as to be like his own child), whose gentle presence cheered his +lonely hours, and cast a soft and quiet light amid the shadows. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAPTER I. PAGE + The Melancholy Sea 7 + + CHAPTER II. + Ireland--its Beauty and its Sadness 17 + + CHAPTER III. + Scotland and the Scotch 24 + + CHAPTER IV. + Moody and Sankey in London 32 + + CHAPTER V. + Two Sides of London.--Is Modern Civilization a Failure? 42 + + CHAPTER VI. + The Resurrection of France 60 + + CHAPTER VII. + The French National Assembly 66 + + CHAPTER VIII + The Lights and Shadows of Paris 77 + + CHAPTER IX. + Going on a Pilgrimage 86 + + CHAPTER X. + Under the Shadow of Mont Blanc 96 + + CHAPTER XI. + Switzerland 108 + + CHAPTER XII. + On the Rhine 119 + + CHAPTER XIII. + Belgium and Holland 130 + + CHAPTER XIV. + The New Germany and its Capital 140 + + CHAPTER XV. + Austria--Old and New 150 + + CHAPTER XVI. + A Midsummer Night's Dream.--Outdoor Life of the German + People 164 + + CHAPTER XVII. + The Passion Play and the School of the Cross 179 + + CHAPTER XVIII. + The Tyrol and Lake Como 194 + + CHAPTER XIX. + The City in the Sea 207 + + CHAPTER XX. + Milan and Genoa.--A Ride over the Corniche Road 222 + + CHAPTER XXI. + In the Vale of the Arno 234 + + CHAPTER XXII. + Old Rome and New Rome.--Ruins and Resurrection 243 + + CHAPTER XXIII. + The Prisoner of the Vatican 253 + + CHAPTER XXIV. + Pictures and Palaces 261 + + CHAPTER XXV. + Naples--Pompeii and Paestum 272 + + CHAPTER XXVI. + The Ascent of Vesuvius 282 + + CHAPTER XXVII. + Greece and its Young King 291 + + CHAPTER XXVIII. + Constantinople 305 + + CHAPTER XXIX. + The Sultan Abdul Aziz 321 + + CHAPTER XXX. + The Eastern Question.--The Exodus of the Turks 330 + + CHAPTER XXXI. + The Sultan is Deposed, and Commits Suicide.--The War in + Servia.--Massacres in Bulgaria.--How will it all End? 342 + + + + +FROM THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY TO THE GOLDEN HORN. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE MELANCHOLY SEA. + + + QUEENSTOWN, IRELAND, Monday, May 24, 1875. + +We landed this morning at two o'clock, by the light of the moon, which +was just past the full, and which showed distinctly the beautiful +harbor, surrounded by hills and forts, and filled with ships at +anchor, through which the tender that brought us off from the steamer +glided silently to the town, which lay in death-like stillness before +us. Eight days and six hours took us from shore to shore! Eight days +we were out of sight of land. Water, water everywhere! Ocean to the +right of us, ocean to the left of us, ocean in front of us, and ocean +behind us, with two or three miles of ocean under us. But our good +ship, the City of Berlin (which seemed proud of bearing the name of +the capital of the new German Empire), bore us over the sea like a +conqueror. She is said to be the largest ship in the world, next to +the Great Eastern, being 520 feet long, and carrying 5,500 tons. This +was her first voyage, and much interest was felt as to how she +"behaved." She carried herself proudly from the start. On Saturday, +the 15th, seven steamships, bound for Europe, left New York at about +the same time. Those of the National and the Anchor lines moved off +quietly; then the Celtic, of the White Star line, so famous for its +speed, shot down the Bay; and the French steamer, the Amerique, swept +by, firing her guns, as if boasting of what she would do. But the +Berlin answered not a word. Since a fatal accident, by which a poor +fellow was blown to pieces by a premature explosion, the Inman line +has dropped the foolish custom of firing a salute every time a ship +leaves or touches the dock. So her guns were silent; she made no reply +to her noisy French neighbor. But at length her huge bulk swung slowly +into the stream, and her engines began to move. She had not gone +half-way down the bay before she left all her rivals behind, the +Frenchman still firing his guns; even the Celtic, though pressing +steam, was soon "nowhere." We did not see the German ship, which +sailed at a different hour; nor the Cunarder, the Algeria (in which +were our friends, Prof. R. D. Hitchcock and his family), as she left +an hour before us; but as she has not yet been signalled at +Queenstown, she must be some distance behind;[1] so that the Berlin +may fairly claim the honors of this ocean race. + +But in crossing the sea speed is secondary to safety and to comfort; +and in these things I can say truly that I never was on board a more +magnificent ship (excepting always the Great Eastern, in which I +crossed in 1867). She was never going at full speed, but took it +easily, as it was her first voyage, and the Captain was anxious to get +his new machinery into smooth working order. The great size of the +ship conduces much to comfort. She is more steady, she does not pitch +and roll, like the lighter boats that we saw tossing around us, while +she was moving majestically through the waves. The saloon, instead of +being at the stern, according to the old method of construction, is +placed more amidships (after the excellent model first introduced by +the White Star line), and covers the whole width of the steamer, which +gives light on both sides. There are four bath-rooms, with marble +baths, supplied with salt water, so that one may have the luxury of +sea-bathing without going to Rockaway or Coney Island. In crossing the +Gulf Stream the water is warm enough; but if elsewhere it is too +chill, the turn of a cock lets the steam into the bath, which quickly +raises it to any degree of temperature. The ventilation is excellent, +so that even when the port-holes are shut on account of the high sea, +the air never becomes impure. The state-rooms are furnished with +electric bells, one touch on which brings a steward in an instant. +Thus provided for, one may escape, as far as possible, the discomforts +of the sea, and enjoy in some degree the comforts and even the +luxuries of civilization. + +Captain Kennedy, who is the Commodore of the fleet, and so always +commands the newest and best ship of the line, is an admirable seaman, +with a quick eye for everything, always on deck at critical moments, +watching with unsleeping vigilance over the safety of all on board. +The order and discipline of the ship is perfect. There is no noise or +confusion. All moves on quietly. Not a sound is heard, save the +occasional cry of the men stretching the sails, and the steady throb, +day and night, of the engine, which keeps this huge mass moving on her +ocean track. + +But what a vast machine is such a ship, and how complicated the +construction which makes possible such a triumph over the sea. Come up +on the upper deck, and look down through this iron grating. You can +see to a depth of fifty or sixty feet. It is like looking down into a +miner's shaft. And what makes it the more fearful, is that the bottom +of the ship is a mass of fire. Thirty-six furnaces are in full blast +to heat the steam, and at night, as the red-hot coals that are raked +out of the furnaces like melted lava, flash in the faces of the brawny +and sweltering men, one might fancy himself looking into some Vulcan's +cave, or subterranean region, glowing with an infernal heat. Thus one +of these great ocean steamships is literally a sea monster, that +feeds on fire; and descending into its bowels is (to use the energetic +language of Scripture in speaking of Jonah in the whale) like going +down into the "belly of hell." + +All this suggests danger from fire as well as from the sea, and yet, +so perfect are the precautions taken, that these glowing furnaces +really guard against danger, as they shorten the time of exposure by +insuring quadruple speed in crossing the deep. + +And yet I can never banish the sense of a danger that is always near +from the two destroying elements of fire and water, flood and flame. +The very precautions against danger show that it is ever present to +the mind of the prudent navigator. Those ten life-boats hung above the +deck, with pulleys ready to swing them over the ship's side at a +moment's notice, and the axe ready to cut away the ropes, and even +casks of water filled to quench the burning thirst of a shipwrecked +crew that may be cast helpless on the waves, suggest unpleasant +possibilities, in view of recent disasters; and one night I went to my +berth feeling not quite so easy as in my bed at home, as we were near +the banks of Newfoundland, and a dense fog hung over the sea, through +which the ship went, making fourteen miles an hour, its fog-whistles +screaming all night long. This was very well as a warning to other +ships to keep out of the way, but would not receive much attention +from the icebergs that were floating about, which are very abundant in +the Atlantic this summer. We saw one the next day, a huge fellow that +might have proved an ugly acquaintance, as one crash on his frozen +head would have sent us all to the bottom. + +But at such times unusual precautions are taken. There are signs in +the sudden chilliness of the air of the near approach of an iceberg, +which would lead the ship to back out at once from the hug of such a +polar bear. + +In a few hours the fog was all gone; and the next night, as we sat on +deck, the full moon rose out of the waves. Instantly the hum of voices +ceased; conversation was hushed; and all grew silent before the awful +beauty of the scene. Such an hour suggests not merely poetical but +spiritual thoughts--thoughts of the dead as well as thoughts of God. +It recalled a passage in David Copperfield, where little David, after +the death of his mother, sits at a window and looks out upon the sea, +and sees a shining path over the waters, and thinks he sees his mother +coming to him upon it from heaven. May it not be that on such a +radiant pathway from the skies we sometimes see the angels of God +ascending and descending? + +But with all these moonlight nights, and sun-risings and sun-settings, +the sea had little attraction for me, and its general impression was +one of profound melancholy. Perhaps my own mood of mind had something +to do with it; but as I sat upon deck and looked out upon the "gray +and melancholy waste," or lay in my berth and heard the waves rushing +past, I had a feeling more dreary than in the most desolate +wilderness. That sound haunted me; it was the last I heard at night, +and the first in the morning; it mingled with my dreams. I tried to +analyze the feeling. Was it my own mental depression that hung like a +cloud over the waters; or was it something in the aspect of nature +itself? Perhaps both. I was indeed floating amid shadows. But I found +no sympathy in the sea. On the land Nature soothed and comforted me; +she spoke in gentle tones, as if she had a heart of tenderness, a +motherly sympathy with the sorrow of her children. There was something +in the deep silence of the woods that seemed to say, Peace, be still! +The brooks murmured softly as they flowed between their mossy banks, +as if they would not disturb our musings, but "glide into them, and +steal away their sharpness ere we were aware." The robins sang in +notes not too gay, but that spoke of returning spring after a long +dark winter; and the soft airs that touched the feverish brow seemed +to lift gently the grief that rested there, and carry it away on the +evening wind. But in the ocean, there was no touch of human feeling, +no sympathy with human woe. All was cold and pitiless. Even on the sea +beach "the cruel, crawling foam" comes creeping up to the feet of the +child skipping along the sands, as if to snatch him away, while out on +the deep the rolling waves + + "Mock the cry + Of some strong swimmer in his agony." + +Bishop Butler finds in many of the forces of Nature proofs of God's +moral government over the world, and even suggestions of mercy. But +none of these does he find in the sea. That speaks only of wrath and +terror. Its power is to destroy. It is a treacherous element. Smooth +and smiling it may be, even when it lures us to destruction. We are +sailing over it in perfect security, but let there be a fire or a +collision, and it would swallow us up in an instant, as it has +swallowed a thousand wrecks before. Knowing no mercy, cruel as the +grave, it sacrifices without pity youth and age, gray hairs and +childish innocence and tender womanhood--all alike are engulfed in the +devouring sea. There is not a single tear in the thousand leagues of +ocean, nor a sigh in the winds that sweep over it, for all the hearts +it breaks or the lives it destroys. The sea, therefore, is not a +symbol of divine mercy. It is the very emblem of tremendous and +remorseless power. Indeed, if Nature had no other face but this, we +could hardly believe in God, or at least, with gentle attributes; we +could only stand on the shore of existence, and shake with terror at +the presence of a being of infinite power, but cold and pitiless as +the waves that roll from the Arctic pole. Our Saviour walked on the +waves, but left thereon no impress of his blessed feet; nor can we +find there a trace of the love of God as it shines in the face of +Jesus Christ. + +But we must not yield to musings that grow darker with the gathering +night. Let us go down into the ship, where the lamps are lighted, and +there is a sound of voices, to make us forget our loneliness in the +midst of the sea. + +The cabin always presented an animated scene. We had nearly two +hundred passengers, who were seated about on the sofas, reading, or +playing games, or engaged in conversation. The company was a very +pleasant one. At the Captain's table, where we sat, was Mr. Mathew, +the late English Minister to Brazil, a very intelligent and agreeable +gentleman, who had been for seven years at the Court of Dom Pedro, +whom he described as one of the most enlightened monarchs of his time, +"half a century in advance of his people," doing everything that was +possible to introduce a better industry and all improvements in the +arts from Europe and America. The great matter of political interest +now in Brazil is the controversy with the Bishops, where, as in +Germany, it is a stubborn fight between the State and the +ecclesiastical power. Two of the Bishops are now in prison for having +excommunicated by wholesale all the Freemasons of the country, without +asking the consent of the government to the issue of such a sweeping +decree. They are confined in two fortresses on the opposite side of +the harbor of Rio Janeiro, where they take their martyrdom very +comfortably, their sentence to "hard labor" amounting to having a +French cook, and all the luxuries of life, so that they can have a +good time, while they fulminate their censures, "nursing their wrath +to keep it warm." + +At the same table were several young Englishmen, who were not at all +like the imaginary Briton abroad, cold and distant and reserved, but +very agreeable, and doing everything to make our voyage pleasant. We +remember them with a feeling of real friendship. Near us also sat a +young New York publisher, Mr. Mead, with his wife, to whom we were +drawn by a sort of elective affinity, and shall be glad to meet them +again on the other side of the ocean. + +Among our passengers was Grace Greenwood, who added much to the +general enjoyment by entertaining us in the evening with her dramatic +recitations from Bret Harte's California Sketches, while her young +daughter, who has a very sweet voice, sang charmingly. + +Like all ships' companies, ours were bent on amusing themselves, +although it was sometimes a pursuit of pleasure under difficulties; as +one evening, when a young gentleman and lady sang "What are the wild +waves saying?" each clinging to a post for support, while the +performer at the piano had to fall on his knees to keep from being +drifted away from his instrument! + +But Grace Greenwood is not a mere entertainer of audiences with her +voice, or of the public with her pen. She is not only a very clever +writer, but has as much wisdom as wit in her woman's brain. In our +conversations she did not discover any extreme opinions, such as are +held by some brilliant female writers, but seemed to have a mind well +balanced, with a great deal of good common sense as well as womanly +feeling, and a brave heart to help her struggling sisters in America, +and all over the world. + +One meets some familiar faces on these steamer decks, and here almost +the first man that I ran against was a clergyman whom I knew +twenty-five years ago in Connecticut, Rev. James T. Hyde. He is now a +Professor in the Congregational Theological Seminary at Chicago, and +is going abroad for the first time. What a world of good it does these +studious men, these preachers and scholars, to be thus "transported!" + +But here is a scholar and a professor who is not a stranger in Europe, +but to the manner born, our own beloved Dr. Schaff, whose passage I +had taken with mine (knowing that he had to go abroad this summer), +and thus beguiled him into our company. We shared the same +state-room, and never do I desire a more delightful travelling +companion on land or sea. Those who know him do not need to be told +that he is not only one of our first scholars, but one of the most +genial of men. While full of learning, he never oppresses you with +oracular wisdom; but is just as ready for a pleasant story as for a +grave literary or theological discussion. I think we hardly realize +yet what a service he has rendered to our country in establishing a +sort of literary and intellectual free trade between the educated and +religious mind of America and of Great Britain and Germany. To him +more than to any other man is due the great success of the Evangelical +Alliance. He is now going abroad on a mission of not less +importance--the revision of our present version of the English Bible: +a work which has enlisted for some years the combined labors of a +great number of the most eminent scholars in England and America. + +Finally, as a practical homily and piece of advice to all who are +going abroad, let me say, if you would have the fullest enjoyment, +_take a young person with you_--if possible, one who is untravelled, +so that you can see the world again with fresh eyes. I came away in +the deepest depression. Nothing has comforted me so much as a light +figure always at my side. Poor child! The watching, and care, and +sorrow that she has had for these many months, had driven the roses +from her cheeks; but now they are coming back again. She has never +been abroad before. To her literally "all things are new." The sun +rises daily on a new world. She enters into everything with the utmost +zest. She was a very good sailor, and enjoyed the voyage, and made +friends with everybody. Really it brought a thrill of pleasure for the +first time into my poor heart to see her delight. She will be the best +of companions in all my wanderings. + +In such good company, we have passed over the great and wide sea, and +now set foot upon the land, thanking Him who has led us safely +through the mighty waters. Yesterday morning, after the English +service had been read in the saloon, Dr. Schaff gave out the hymn, + + Nearer, my God, to Thee, + +and my heart responded fervently to the prayer, that all the +experiences of this mortal state, on the sea and on the land--the +storms of the ocean and the storms of life--may serve this one supreme +object of existence, to bring us NEARER TO GOD. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[1] She came in fifteen hours after us, and the Celtic twenty. The +German ship reached Southampton two days later. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +IRELAND--ITS BEAUTY AND ITS SADNESS. + + + THE LAKES OF KILLARNEY, May 26th. + +There is never but one _first_ impression; all else is _second_ in +time and in degree. It is twenty-eight years since I first saw the +shores of England and of Ireland, and then they were to me like some +celestial country. It was then, as now, in the blessed spring-time--in +the merry month of May: + + The corn was springing fresh and green, + The lark sang loud and high; + +and the banks of the Mersey, as I sailed up to Liverpool, were like +the golden shores of Paradise. + +Now I am somewhat of a traveller, and should take these things more +quietly, were it not for a pair of young eyes beside me, through which +I see things anew, and taste again the sweetness of that earlier time. +If we had landed in the moon, my companion could not have been at +first more bewildered and delighted with what she saw; everything was +so queer and quaint, so old and strange--in a word, so unlike all she +had ever seen before. The streets were different, being very narrow, +and winding up hill and down dale; the houses were different, standing +close up to the street, without the relief of grass, or lawn, or even +of stately ascending steps in front; the thatched cottages and the +flowering hedge-rows--all were new. + +To heighten the impression of what was so fresh to the eye, the +country was in its most beautiful season. We left New York still +looking cold and cheerless from the backward spring; here the spring +had burst into its full glory. The ivy mantled every old tower and +ruin with the richest green, the hawthorn was in blossom, making the +hedge-rows, as we whirled along the roads, a mass of white and green, +filling the eye with its beauty and the air with its fragrance. Thus +there was an intoxication of the senses, as well as of the +imagination; and if the girls (for two others, under the charge of +Prof. Hyde, had joined our party) had leaped from the carriage, and +commenced a romp or a dance on the greensward, we could hardly have +been surprised, as an expression of their childish joy, and their +first greeting as they touched the soil, not of merry England, but of +the Emerald Isle. + +But if this set them off into such ecstasies, what shall be said of +their first sight of a ruin? Of course it was Blarney Castle, which is +near Cork, and famous for its Blarney Stone. A lordly castle, indeed, +it must have been in the days of its pride, as it still towers up a +hundred feet and more, and its walls are eight or ten feet thick: so +that it would have lasted for ages, if Cromwell had not knocked some +ugly holes through it a little more than two hundred years ago. But +still the tower is beautiful, being covered to the very top with +masses of ivy, which in England is the great beautifier of whatever is +old, clinging to the mouldering wall, covering up the huge rents and +gaps made by cannon balls, and making the most unsightly ruins lovely +in their decay. We all climbed to the top, where hangs in air, +fastened by iron clamps in its place, the famous Blarney Stone, which +is said to impart to whoever kisses it the gift of eloquence, which +will make one successful in love and in life. As it was, only one +pressed forward to snatch this prize which it held out to our embrace. +Dr. Schaff even "poked" the stone disdainfully with his staff, perhaps +thinking it would become like Aaron's rod that budded. The lack of +enthusiasm, however, may have been owing to the fact that the stone +hangs at a dizzy height, and is therefore somewhat difficult of +approach; for on descending within the castle, where is another +Blarney Stone lying on the ground, and within easy reach, I can +testify that several of the party gave it a hearty smack, not to catch +any mysterious virtue from the stone, but the flavor of thousands of +fair lips that had kissed it before. + +Before leaving this old castle, as we shall have many more to see +hereafter, let me say a word about castles in general. They are well +enough _as ruins_, and certainly, as they are scattered about Ireland +and England, they add much to the picturesqueness of the landscapes, +and will always possess a romantic interest. But viewed in the sober +light of history, they are monuments of an age of barbarism, when the +country was divided among a hundred chiefs, each of whom had his +stronghold, out of which he could sally to attack his less powerful +neighbor. Everything in the construction--the huge walls, with narrow +slits for windows through which the archers could pour arrows, or in +later times the musketeers could shower balls, on their enemies; the +deep moat surrounding it; the drawbridge and portcullis--all speak of +a time of universal insecurity, when danger was abroad, and every man +had to be armed against his fellow. + +As a place of habitation, such a fortress was not much better than a +prison. The chieftain shut himself in behind massive walls, under huge +arches, where the sun could never penetrate, where all was dark and +gloomy as a sepulchre. I know a cottage in New England, on the crest +of one of the Berkshire Hills, open on every side to light and air, +kissed by the rising and the setting sun, in which there is a hundred +times more of real _comfort_ than could have been in one of these old +castles, where a haughty baron passed his existence in gloomy +grandeur, buried in sepulchral gloom. + +And to what darker purposes were these castles sometimes applied! Let +one go down into the passages underneath, and see the dungeons +underground, dark, damp, and cold as the grave, in which prisoners and +captives were buried alive. One cannot grope his way into these foul +subterranean dungeons without feeling that these old castles are the +monuments of savage tyrants; that if these walls could speak, they +would tell many a tale, not of knightly chivalry, but of barbarous +cruelty, that would curdle the blood with horror. These things take +away somewhat of the charm which Walter Scott has thrown about these +old "gallant knights," who were often no better than robber chiefs; +and I am glad that Cromwell with his cannon battered their strongholds +about their ears. Let these relics remain covered with ivy, and +picturesque as ruins, but let it never be forgotten that they are the +fallen monuments of an age of barbarism, of terror, and of cruelty. + +There is one other feature of this country that cannot be omitted from +a survey of Ireland--it is _the beggars_, who are sure to give an +American a warm welcome. They greet him with whines and grimaces and +pitiful beseechings, to which he cannot harden his heart. My first +salutation at Queenstown on Monday morning, on coming out in front of +the hotel to take a view of the beautiful bay, was from an old woman +in rags, who certainly looked what she described herself to be, "a +poor crathur, that had nobody to care for her," and who besought me, +"for the love of God, to give her at least the price of a cup of tea!" +Of course I did, when she gave me an Irish blessing: "May the gates o +Paradise open to ye, and to all them that loves ye!" This vision of +Paradise seems to be a favorite one with the Irish beggar, and is +sometimes coupled with extraordinary images, as when one blesses her +benefactor in this overflowing style: "May every hair on your head be +a candle to light you to Paradise!" + +This quick wit of the Irish serves them better than their poverty in +appealing for charity; and I must confess that I have violated all the +rules laid down by charitable societies, "not to give to beggars," for +I have filled my pockets with pennies, and given to hordes of +ragamuffins, as well as to old women, to hear their answers, which, +though largely infused with Irish blarney, have a flavor of native +wit. Who could resist such a blessing as this: "May ye ride in a fine +carriage, and the mud of your wheels splash the face of your inimies," +then with a quick turn, "though I know ye haven't any!" + +Yesterday we made an excursion through the Gap of Dunloe, a famous +gorge in the mountains around Killarney, and were set upon by the +whole fraternity--ragtag and bobtail. At the foot of the pass we left +our jaunting car to walk over the mountain, C---- alone being mounted +on a pony. I walked by her side, while our two theological professors +strode ahead. The women were after them in full cry, each with a bowl +of goat's milk and a bottle of "mountain dew" (Irish whiskey), to work +upon their generous feelings. But they produced no impression; the +professors were absorbed in theology or something else, and setting +their faces with all the sternness of Calvinism against this vile +beggary, they kept moving up the mountain path. At length the beggars +gave them up in despair, and returned to try their mild solicitations +upon me. An old siren, coming up in a tender and confiding way, +whispered to me, "You're the best looking of the lot; and it is a nice +lady ye have; and a fine couple ye make." That was enough; she got her +money. I felt a little elated with the distinguished and superior air +which even beggars had discovered in my aspect and bearing, till on +returning to the hotel, one of our professors coolly informed me that +the same old witch had previously told him that "he was the darling of +the party!" After that, who will ever believe a beggar's compliment +again? + +But we must not let the beggars on the way either amuse or provoke us, +so as to divert our attention from the natural grandeur and beauty +around us. The region of the Lakes of Killarney is at once the most +wild and the most beautiful portion of Ireland. These Lakes are set as +in a bowl, in the hollow of rugged mountains, which are not like the +Green Mountains, or the Catskills, wooded to the top, but bald and +black, their heads being swept by perpetual storms from the Atlantic, +that keep them always bleak and bare. Yet in the heart of these barren +mountains, in the very centre of all this savage desolation, lie these +lovely sheets of water. No wonder that they are sought by tourists +from America, and from all parts of the world. + +Nor are their shores without verdure and beauty. Though the mountain +sides are bare rock, like the peaks of volcanoes, yet the lower hills +and meadows bordering on the Lakes are in a high state of cultivation. +But these oases of fertility are not for the people; they all belong +to great estates--chiefly to the Earl of Kenmare and a Mr. Herbert, +who is a Member of Parliament. These estates are enclosed with high +walls, as if to keep them not only from the intrusion of the people, +but even from being seen by them. The great rule of English +exclusiveness here obtains, as in the construction of the old feudal +castles, the object in both cases being the same, to keep the owners +in, and to shut everybody else out. Hence the contrast between what is +within and what is without these enclosures. Within all is greenness +and fertility; without all is want and misery. It will not do to +impute the latter entirely to the natural shiftlessness of the Irish +people, as if they would rather beg than work. They have very little +motive to work. They cannot own a foot of the soil. The Earl of +Kenmare may have thousands of acres for his game, but not a foot will +he sell to an Irish laborer, however worthy or industrious. Hence the +inevitable tendency of things is to impoverish more and more the +wretched peasantry. How long would even the farmers of New England +retain their sturdy independence, if all the land of a county were in +a single estate, and they could not by any possibility get an acre of +ground? They would soon lose their self-respect, as they sank from the +condition of owners to tenants. The more I see of different +countries, the more I am convinced that the first condition of a +robust and manly race is that they should have within their reach some +means, either by culture of the soil or by some other kind of +industry, of securing for themselves an honest and decent support. It +is impossible to keep up self-respect when there is no means of +livelihood. Hence the feeling of sadness that mingles with all this +beauty around me; that it is a country where all is for the few, and +nothing for the many; where the poor starve, while a few nobles and +rich landlords can spend their substance in riotous living. Kingsley, +in one of his novels, puts into the mouth of an English sailor these +lines, which always seemed to me to have a singular pathos: + + "Oh! England is a pleasant place for them that's rich and high; + But England is a cruel place for such poor folks as I." + +That is the woe of Ireland--a woe inwrought with its very +institutions, and which it would seem only some social convulsion +could remove. Sooner or later it must come; we hope by peaceful +methods and gentle influences. We shall not live to see the time, but +we trust another generation may, when the visitor to Killarney shall +not have his delight in the works of God spoiled by sight of the +wretchedness of man; when instead of troops of urchins in rags, with +bare feet, running for miles to catch the pennies thrown from jaunting +cars, we shall see happy, rosy-cheeked children issuing from +school-houses, and see the white spires of pretty churches gleaming in +the valleys and on the hills. That will be the "sunburst" indeed for +poor old Ireland, when the glory of the Lord is thus seen upon her +waters and her mountains. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +SCOTLAND AND THE SCOTCH. + + + EDINBURGH, June 3d. + +In making the tour of Great Britain, there is an advantage in taking +Ireland first, Scotland next, and England last,--since in this way one +is always going from the less to the more interesting. To the young +American traveller "fresh and green," with enthusiasm unexpended, it +seems on landing in Ireland as if there never was such a bit of green +earth, and indeed it is a very interesting country. But many as are +its attractions, Scotland has far more, in that it is the home of a +much greater people, and is invested with far richer historical and +poetical associations; it has been the scene of great historical +events; it is the land of Wallace and Bruce, of Reformers and Martyrs, +of John Knox and the Covenanters, and of great preachers down to the +days of Chalmers and Guthrie; and it has been immortalized by the +genius of poets and novelists, who have given a fresh interest to the +simple manners of the people, as well as to their lakes and mountains. + +And after all, it is this _human_ interest which is the great interest +of any country--not its hills and valleys, its lakes and rivers +_alone_, but these features of natural beauty and sublimity, illumined +and glorified by the presence of man, by the record of what he has +suffered and what he has achieved, of his love and courage, his daring +and devotion; and nowhere are these more identified with the country +itself than here, nowhere do they more speak from the very rocks and +hills and glens. + +Scotland, though a great country, is not a very large one, and such +are now the facilities of travel that one can go very quickly to +almost any point. A few hours will take you into the heart of the +Highlands. We made in one day the excursion to Stirling, and to Loch +Lomond and Loch Katrine, and felt at every step how much the beauties +of nature are heightened by associations with romance or history. From +Stirling Castle one looks down upon a dozen battle-fields. He is in +sight of Bannockburn, where Bruce drove back the English invader, and +of other fields associated with Wallace, the hero of Scotland, as +William Tell is of Switzerland. Once among the lakes he surrenders +himself to his imagination, excited by romance. The poetry of Scott +gives to the wild glens and moors a greater charm than the bloom of +the heather. The lovely lake catches, more beautiful than the rays of +sunset, + + "A light that never was on sea or shore, + The inspiration and the poet's dream." + +Loch Katrine is a very pretty sheet of water, lying as it does at the +foot of rugged mountains, yet it is not more beautiful than hundreds +of small lakes among our Northern hills, but it derives a poetic charm +from being the scene of "The Lady of the Lake." A little rocky islet +is pointed out as Ellen's Isle. An open field by the roadside, which +would attract no attention, immediately becomes an object of romantic +interest when the coachman tells us it was the scene of the combat +between Fitz James and Roderick Dhu. The rough country over which we +are riding just now is no wilder than many of the roads among the +White Mountains--but it is the country of Rob Roy! I have climbed +through many a rocky mountain gorge as wild as the Trossachs, but they +had not Walter Scott to people them with his marvellous creations. + +A student of the religious part of Scottish history will find another +interest here, as he remembers how, in the days of persecution, the +old Covenanters sought refuge in these glens, and here found shelter +from those pursuing rough-riders, Claverhouse's dragoons. Thus it is +the history of Scotland, and the genius of her writers, that give such +interest to her country and her people; and as I stood at the grave of +John Wilson (Christopher North), I blessed the hand that had depicted +so tenderly the "Lights and Shadows of Scottish Life," presenting such +varied scenes in the cottage and the manse, in the glen and on the +moor, but everywhere illustrating the patient trust and courage of +this wonderful people. It is a fit winding-up to the tour of Scotland, +that commonly the traveller's last visit, as he comes down to England, +is to Abbotsford, the home of Walter Scott; to Melrose Abbey, which a +few lines of his poetry have invested with an interest greater than +that of other similar ruins; and to Dryburgh Abbey, where he sleeps. + +Edinburgh is the most picturesque city in Europe, as it is cleft in +twain by a deep gorge or ravine, on either side of which the two +divisions of the city, the Old Town and the New Town, stand facing +each other. From the Royal Hotel, where we are, in Princes Street, +just opposite the beautiful monument to Walter Scott, we look across +this gorge to long ranges of buildings in the Old Town, some of which +are ten stories high; and to the Castle, lifted in air four hundred +feet by a cliff that rears its rocky front from the valley below, its +top girt round with walls, and frowning with batteries. What +associations cluster about those heights! For hundreds of years, even +before the date of authentic history, that has been a military +stronghold. It has been besieged again and again. Cromwell tried to +take it, but its battlements of rock proved inaccessible even to his +Ironsides. There, in a little room hardly bigger than a closet, Mary +Queen of Scots gave birth to a prince, who when but eight days old was +let down in a basket from the cliff, that the life so precious to two +kingdoms as that of the sovereign in whom Scotland and England were +to be united, might not perish by murderous hands. And there is St. +Giles' Cathedral, where John Knox thundered, and where James VI. (the +infant that was born in the castle) when chosen to be James I. of +England, took leave of his Scottish subjects. + +At the other end of Edinburgh is Holyrood Castle, whose chief interest +is from its association with the mother of James, the beautiful but +ill-fated Mary. How all that history, stranger and sadder than any +romance, comes back again, as we stand on the very spot where she +stood when she was married; and pass through the rooms in which she +lived, and see the very bed on which she slept, unconscious of the +doom that was before her, and trace all the surroundings of her most +romantic and yet most tragic history. Such are some of the +associations which gather around Edinburgh! + +I find here my friend Mr. William Nelson (of the famous publishing +house of Nelson and Sons), whose hospitality I enjoyed for a week in +the summer of 1867; and he, with his usual courtesy, gave up a whole +day to show us Edinburgh, taking us to all the beautiful points of +view and places of historical interest--to the Castle and Holyrood, +and the Queen's Drive, around Arthur's Seat and Salisbury Crags. Mr. +Nelson's house is a little out of the city, under the shadow of +Arthur's Seat, near a modest manse, which has been visited by hundreds +of American ministers, as it was the home of the late Dr. Guthrie. His +brother, Mr. Thomas Nelson, has lately erected one of the most +beautiful private houses I have seen in Scotland, or anywhere else. I +doubt if there is a finer one in Edinburgh; and what gives it a +special interest to an American, is that it was built wholly out of +the rise of American securities. During our civil war, when most +people in England thought the Great Republic was gone, he had faith, +and invested thousands of pounds in our government bonds, the rise in +which has paid entirely for this quite baronial mansion, so that he +has some reason to call it his American house. So many in Great +Britain have _lost_ by American securities, that it was pleasant to +know of one who had reaped the reward of his faith in the strength of +our government and the integrity of our people. + +When we reached Edinburgh both General Assemblies were just closing +their annual meetings. I had met in Glasgow, on Sunday, at the Barony +church (where he is successor to Dr. Norman Macleod), John Marshall +Lang, D.D., who visited America as a delegate to our General Assembly, +and left a most favorable impression in our country; who told me that +their Assembly--that of the National Church--would close the next day, +and advised me to hasten to Edinburgh before its separation. So we +came on with him on Monday, and looked in twice at the proceedings, +but had not courage to stay to witness the end, which was not reached +till four o'clock the next morning! But by the courtesy of Dr. Lang, I +received an invitation from the excellent moderator, Dr. Sellars, (who +had been in America, and had the most friendly feeling for our +countrymen,) to a kind of state dinner, which it is an honored custom +of this old Church to give at the close of the Assembly. The moderator +is allowed two hundred pounds _to entertain_. He gives a public +breakfast every morning during the session, and winds up with this +grand feast. If the morning repasts were on such a generous scale as +that which we saw, the L200 could go but a little way. There were +about eighty guests, including the most eminent of the clergy, +principals and professors of colleges, dignitaries of the city of +Edinburgh, judges and law officers of the crown, etc. I sat next to +Dr. Lang, who pointed out to me the more notable guests, and gave me +much information between the courses; and Dr. Schaff sat next to +Professor Milligan. As became an Established Church, there were toasts +to the Queen, the Prince of Wales, and her Majesty's Ministers. +Altogether it was a very distinguished gathering, which I greatly +enjoyed. I am glad that we in America are beginning to cultivate +relations with the National Church of Scotland. As to the question of +Church and State, of course our sympathies are more with the Free +Church, but that should not prevent a friendly intercourse with so +large a body, to which we are drawn by the ties of a common faith and +order. Delegates from the National Church of Scotland will always be +welcome in our Assemblies, especially when they are such men as Dr. +Lang and Professor Milligan; and our representatives are sure of a +hearty reception here. Dr. Adams and Dr. Shaw, two or three years +since, electrified their Assembly, and they do not cease to speak of +it. Certainly we cannot but be greatly benefited by cultivating the +most cordial relations with a body which contains so large an array of +men distinguished for learning, eloquence, and piety. + +In the Free Church things are done with less of form and state than in +the National Church, but there is intense life and rigor. I looked in +upon their Assembly, but found it occupied, like the other, chiefly +with those routine matters which are hastened through at the close of +a session. But I heard from members that the year has been one of +great prosperity. The labors of the American revivalists, Moody and +Sankey, have been well received, and the impression of all with whom I +conversed was that they had done great good. In financial matters I +was told that there had been such an outpouring of liberality as had +never been known in Scotland before. The success of the Sustentation +Fund is something marvellous, and must delight the heart of that noble +son of Scotland, Dr. McCosh. + +I am disappointed to find that the cause of UNION has not made more +progress. There is indeed a prospect of the "Reformed" Church being +absorbed into the Free Church, thus putting an end to an old +secession. But it is a small body of only some eighty churches, while +the negotiations with the far larger body of United Presbyterians, +after being carried on for many years, are finally suspended, and may +not be resumed. As to the National Church, it clings to its +connection with the State as fondly as ever, and the Free Church, +having grown strong without its aid, now disdains its alliance. On +both sides the attitude is one of respectful but pretty decided +aversion. So far from drawing nearer to each other, they appear to +recede farther apart. It was thought that some advance had been made +on the part of the Old Kirk, in the act of Parliament abolishing +patronage, but the Free Church seemed to regard this as a temptation +of the adversary to allure them from the stand which they had taken +more than thirty years ago, and which they had maintained in a long +and severe, but glorious, struggle. They will not listen to the voice +of the charmer, no, not for an hour. + +This attitude of the Free Church toward the National Church, coupled +with the fact that its negotiations with the United Presbyterians have +fallen through, does not give us much hope of a general union among +the Presbyterians of Scotland, at least in our day. In fact there is +something in the Scotch nature which seems to forbid such coalescence. +_It does not fuse well._ It is too hard and "gritty" to melt in every +crucible. For this reason they cannot well unite with any body. Their +very nature is centrifugal rather than centripetal. They love to +argue, and the more they argue the more positive they become. The +conviction that they are right, is absolute on both sides. Whatever +other Christian grace they lack, they have at least attained to a full +assurance of faith. No one can help admiring their rugged honesty and +their strong convictions, upheld with unflinching courage. They become +heroes in the day of battle, and martyrs in the day of persecution; +but as for mutual concession, and mutual forgiveness, that, I fear, is +not in them. + +It is painful to see this alienation between two bodies, for both of +which we cannot but feel the greatest respect. It does not become us +Americans to offer any counsel to those who are older and wiser than +we; yet if we might send a single message across the sea, it should +be to say that we have learned by all our conflicts and struggles to +cherish two things--which are our watchwords in Church and +State--_liberty_ and _union_. We prize our liberty. With a great price +we have obtained this freedom, and no man shall take it from us. But +yet we have also learned how precious a thing is brotherly love and +concord. Sweet is the communion of saints. This is the last blessing +which we desire for Scotland, that has so many virtues that we cannot +but wish that she might abound in this grace also. Even with this +imperfection, we love her country and her people. Whoever has had +access to Scottish homes, must have been struck with their beautiful +domestic character, with the attachment in families, with the +tenderness of parents, and the affectionate obedience of children. A +country in which the scenes of "The Cotter's Saturday Night" are +repeated in thousands of homes, we cannot help loving as well as +admiring. Wherefore do I say from my heart, A thousand blessings on +dear old Scotland! Peace be within her walls, and prosperity within +her palaces! + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +MOODY AND SANKEY IN LONDON. + + + LONDON, June 10th. + +To an American, visiting London just now, the object of most interest +is the meetings of his countrymen, Moody and Sankey. He has heard so +much of them, that he is curious to see with his own eyes just what +they are. One thing is undeniable--that they have created a prodigious +sensation. London is a very big place to make a stir in. A pebble +makes a ripple in a placid lake, while a rock falling from the side of +a mountain disappears in an instant in the ocean. London is an ocean. +Yet here these meetings have been thronged as much as in other cities +of Great Britain, and that not by the common people alone (although +they have heard gladly), but by representatives of all classes. For +several weeks they were held in the Haymarket Theatre, right in the +centre of fashionable London, and in the very place devoted to its +amusements; yet it was crowded to suffocation, and not only by +Dissenters, but by members of the Established Church, among whom were +such men as Dean Stanley, and Mr. Gladstone, and Lord-Chancellor +Cairns. The Duchess of Sutherland was a frequent attendant. All this +indicates, if only a sensation, at least a sensation of quite +extraordinary character. No doubt the multitude was drawn together in +part by curiosity. The novelty was an attraction; and, like the old +Athenians, they ran together into the market-place to hear some new +thing. This alone would have drawn them once or twice, but the +excitement did not subside. If some fell off, others rushed in, so +that the place was crowded to the last. Those meetings closed just +before we reached London, to be opened in another quarter of the great +city. + +Last Sunday we went to hear Mr. Spurgeon, and he announced that on +Thursday (to-day) Messrs. Moody and Sankey would commence a new series +of meetings for the especial benefit of the South of London. A large +structure had been erected for the purpose. He warmly endorsed the +movement, and spoke in high praise of the men, especially for the +modesty and tact and the practical judgment they showed along with +their zeal; and urged all, instead of standing aloof and criticizing, +to join heartily in the effort which he believed would result in great +good. In a conversation afterward in his study, Mr. Spurgeon said to +me that Moody was the most simple-minded of men; that he told him on +coming here, "I am the most over-estimated and over-praised man in the +world." This low esteem of himself, and readiness to take any place, +so that he may do his Master's work, ought to disarm the disposition +to judge him according to the rules of rigid literary, or rhetorical, +or even theological, criticism. + +This new tabernacle which has been built for Mr. Moody is set up at +Camberwell Green, on the south side of the Thames, not very far from +Mr. Spurgeon's church. It is a huge structure, standing in a large +enclosure, which is entered by gates. The service was to begin at +three o'clock. It was necessary to have tickets for admission, which I +obtained from the Hon. Arthur Kinnaird, a Member of Parliament, who is +about as well known in London as Lord Shaftesbury for his activity in +all good works. He advised me to go early to anticipate the crowd. We +started from Piccadilly at half-past one, and drove quietly over +Westminster Bridge, thinking we should be in ample time. But as we +approached Camberwell Green it was evident that there was a tide +setting toward the place of meeting, which swelled till the crowd +became a rush. There were half a dozen entrances. We asked for the +one to the platform, and were directed some distance around. Arrived +at the gates we found them shut and barred, and guarded by policemen, +who said they had received orders to admit no more, as the place was +already more than full, although the pressure outside was increasing +every instant. We might have been turned back from the very doors of +the sanctuary, if Mr. Kinnaird had not given me, besides the tickets, +a letter to Mr. Hodder, who was the chief man in charge, directing him +to take us in and give us seats on the platform. This I passed through +the gates to the policeman, who sent it on to some of the managers +within, and word came back that the bearers of the letter should be +admitted. But this was easier said than done. How to admit us two +without admitting others was a difficult matter; indeed, it was an +impossibility. The policemen tried to open the gates a little way, so +as to permit us to pass in; but as soon as the gates were ajar, the +guardians themselves were swept away. In vain they tried to stem the +torrent. The crowd rushed past them, (and would have rushed over them, +if they had stood in the way,) and surged up to the building. Here +again the crush was terrific. Had we foreseen it, we should not have +attempted the passage; but once in the stream, it was easier to go +forward than to go back. There was no help for it but to wait till the +tide floated us in; and so, after some minutes we were landed at last +in one of the galleries, from which we could take in a view of the +scene. + +It was indeed a wonderful spectacle. The building is somewhat like +Barnum's Hippodrome, though not so large, and of better shape for +speaking and hearing, being not so oblong, but more square, with deep +galleries, and will hold, I should say, at a rough estimate, six or +eight thousand people. The front of the galleries was covered with +texts in large letters, such as "God is Love"; "Jesus only"; "Looking +unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith"; "Come unto Me, all +ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." At each +corner was a room marked "For inquirers." + +As we had entered by mistake the wrong door, instead of finding +ourselves on the platform beside Mr. Moody, we had been borne by the +crowd to the gallery at the other end of the building; but this had +one advantage, that of enabling us to test the power of the voices of +the speakers to reach such large audiences. While the immense +assemblage were getting settled in their places, several hymns were +sung, which quietly and gently prepared them for the services that +were to follow. + +At length Mr. Moody appeared. The moment he rose, there was a movement +of applause, which he instantly checked with a wave of his hand, and +at once proceeded to business, turning the minds of the audience to +something besides himself, by asking them to rise and sing the +stirring hymn, + + "Ring the bells of heaven! there is joy to-day!" + +The whole assembly rose, and caught up the words with such energy that +the rafters rang with the mighty volume of sound. A venerable +minister, with white locks, then rose, and clinging to the railing for +support, and raising his voice, offered a brief but fervent prayer. + +Mr. Moody's part in this opening service, it had been announced +beforehand, would be merely to _preside_, while others spoke; and he +did little more than to introduce them. He read, however, a few verses +from the parable of the talents, and urged on every one the duty to +use whatever gift he had, be it great or small, and not bury his +talent in a napkin. His voice was clear and strong, and where I sat I +heard distinctly. What he said was good, though in no wise remarkable. +Mr. Sankey touched us much more as he followed with an appropriate +hymn: + + "Nothing but leaves!" + +As soon as I caught his first notes, I felt that there was _one_ +cause of the success of these meetings. His voice is very powerful, +and every word was given with such distinctness that it reached every +ear in the building. All listened with breathless interest as he sang: + + "Nothing but leaves! the Spirit grieves + Over a wasted life; + O'er sins indulged while conscience slept, + O'er vows and promises unkept, + And reaps from years of strife-- + Nothing but leaves! nothing but leaves!" + +Rev. Mr. Aitken, of Liverpool, then made an address of perhaps half an +hour, following up the thought of Mr. Moody on the duty of all to join +in the effort they were about to undertake. His address, without being +eloquent, was earnest and practical, to which Mr. Sankey gave a +thrilling application in another of his hymns, in which the closing +line of every verse was, + + "Here am I; send me, send me!" + +Mr. Spurgeon was reserved for the closing address, and spoke, as he +always does, very forcibly. I noticed, as I had before, one great +element of his power, viz., his illustrations, which are most apt. For +example, he was urging ministers and Christians of all denominations +to join in this movement, and wished to show the folly of a +contentious spirit among them. To expose its absurdity, he said: + +"A few years ago I was in Rome, and there I saw in the Vatican a +statue of two wrestlers, in the attitude of men trying to throw each +other. I went back two years after, and they were in the same +struggle, and I suppose are at it still!" Everybody saw the +application. Such a constrained posture might do in a marble statue, +but could anything be more ridiculous than for living men thus to +stand always facing each other in an attitude of hostility and +defiance? "And there too," he proceeded, "was another statue of a boy +pulling a thorn out of his foot. I went to Rome again, and there he +was still, with the same bended form, and the same look of pain, +struggling to be free. I suppose he is there still, and will be to all +eternity!" What an apt image of the self-inflicted torture of some +who, writhing under real or imagined injury, hug their grievance and +their pain, instead of at once tearing it away, and standing erect as +men in the full liberty wherewith Christ makes his people free. + +Again, he was illustrating the folly of some ministers in giving so +much time and thought to refuting infidel objections, by which they +often made their people's minds familiar with what they would never +have heard of, and filled them with doubt and perplexity. He said the +process reminded him of what was done at a grotto near Naples, which +is filled with carbonic acid gas so strong that life cannot exist in +it, to illustrate which the vile people of the cave seize a wretched +dog, and throw him in, and in a few minutes the poor animal is nearly +dead. Then they deluge him with cold water to bring him round. Just +about as wise are those ministers who, having to preach the Gospel of +Christ, think they must first drop their hearers into a pit filled +with the asphyxiating gas of a false philosophy, to show how they can +apply their hydropathy in recovering them afterwards. Better let them +keep above ground, and breathe all the time the pure, blessed air of +heaven. + +Illustrations like these told upon the audience, because they were so +apt, and so informed with common sense. Mr. Spurgeon has an utter +contempt for scientific charlatans and literary dilettanti, and all +that class of men who have no higher business in life than to carp and +criticise. He would judge everything by its practical results. If +sneering infidels ask, What good religion does? he points to those it +has saved, to the men it has reformed, whom it has lifted up from +degradation and death; and exclaims with his tremendous voice, "There +they are! standing on the shore, saved from shipwreck and ruin!" That +result is the sufficient answer to all cavil and objection. + +"And now," continued Mr. Spurgeon, applying what he had said, "here +are these two brethren who have come to us from over the sea, whom God +has blessed wherever they have labored in Scotland, in Ireland, and in +England. It may be said they are no wiser or better than our own +preachers or laymen. Perhaps not. But somehow, whether by some novelty +of method, or some special tact, they have caught the popular ear, and +that of itself is a great point gained--they have got a hold on the +public mind." Again he resorted to illustration to make his point. + +"Some years ago," he said, "I was crossing the Maritime Alps. We were +going up a pretty heavy grade, and the engine, though a powerful one, +labored hard to drag us up the steep ascent, till at length it came to +a dead stop. I got out to see what was the matter, for I didn't like +the look of things, and there we were stuck fast in a snow-drift! The +engine was working as hard as ever, and the wheels continued to +revolve; but the rails were icy, and the wheels could not take +hold--they could not get any _grip_--and so the train was unable to +move. So it is with some men, and some ministers. They are splendid +engines, and they have steam enough. The wheels revolve all right, +only they don't get any _grip_ on the rails, and so the train doesn't +move. Now our American friends have somehow got this grip on the +public mind; when they speak or sing, the people hear. Without +debating _why_ this is, or _how_ it is, let us thank God for it, and +try to help them in the use of the power which God has given them." + +After this stirring address of Mr. Spurgeon, Mr. Moody announced the +arrangements for the meetings, which would be continued in that place +for thirty days; and with another rousing hymn the meeting closed. +This, it is given out, is to be the last month of Moody and Sankey in +England, and of course they hope it will be the crown of all their +labors. + +After the service was ended, and the audience had partly dispersed, we +made our way around to the other end of the building, and had a good +shake of the hand with Mr. Moody, with whom I had spent several days +at Mr. Henry Bewley's, in Dublin, in 1867, and then travelled with him +to London, little dreaming that he would ever excite such a commotion +in this great Babylon, or have such a thronging multitude to hear him +as I have seen to-day. + +And now, what of it all? It would be presumption to give an opinion on +a single service, and that where the principal actor in these scenes +was almost silent. Certainly there are some drawbacks. For my part, I +had rather worship in less of a crowd. If there is anything which I +shrink from, it is getting into a crush from which there is no escape, +and being obliged to struggle for life. Sometimes, indeed, it may be a +duty, but it is not an agreeable one. Paul fought with beasts at +Ephesus, but I don't think he liked it; and it seems to me a pretty +near approach to being thrown to the lions, to be caught in a rushing, +roaring London crowd. + +And still I must not do it injustice. It was not a mob, but only a +very eager and excited concourse of people; who, when once settled in +the building, were attentive and devout. Perhaps the assembly to-day +was more so than usual, as the invitation for this opening service had +been "to Christians," and probably the bulk of those present were +members of neighboring churches. They were, for the most part, very +plain people, but none the worse for that, and they joined in the +service with evident interest, singing heartily the hymns, and turning +over their Bibles to follow the references to passages of Scripture. +Their simple sincerity and earnestness were very touching. + +As to Mr. Moody, in the few remarks he made I saw no sign of +eloquence, not a single brilliant flash, such as would have lighted +up a five minutes' talk of our friend Talmage; but there was the +impressiveness of a man who was too much in earnest to care for +flowers of rhetoric; whose heart was in his work, and who, intent on +that alone, spoke with the utmost simplicity and plainness. I hear it +frequently said that his power is not in any extraordinary gift of +speech, but _in organizing Christian work_. One would suppose that +this long-continued labor would break him down, but on the contrary, +he seems to thrive upon it, and has grown stout and burly as any +Englishman, and seems ready for many more campaigns. + +As to the result of his labors, instead of volunteering an opinion on +such slight observation, it is much more to the purpose to give the +judgment of others who have had full opportunity to see his methods, +and to observe the fruits. I have conversed with men of standing and +influence in Dublin, Belfast, Glasgow, and Edinburgh--men not at all +likely to be carried away by any sudden fanaticism. All speak well of +him, and believe that he has done good in their respective cities. +This certainly is very high testimony, and for the present is the best +we can have. They say that he shows great _tact_ in keeping clear of +difficulties, not allying himself with sects or parties, and awakening +no prejudices, so that Baptists, like Mr. Spurgeon, and Methodists and +Independents and Presbyterians, all work together. In Scotland, men of +the Free Church and of the National Church joined in the meetings, and +one cannot but hope that the tendency of this general religious +movement will be to incline the hearts of those noble, but now divided +brethren, more and more towards each other. + +What will be the effect in London, it is too soon to say. It seems +almost impossible to make any impression on a city which is a world in +itself. London has nearly four millions of inhabitants--more than the +six States of New England put together! It is the monstrous growth of +our modern civilization. With its enormous size, it contains more +wealth than any city in the world, _and more poverty_--more luxury on +the one hand, and more misery on the other. To those who have explored +the low life of London, the revelations are terrific. The +wretchedness, the filth, the squalor, the physical pollution and moral +degradation in which vast numbers live, is absolutely appalling. + +And can such a seething mass of humanity be reached by any Christian +influences? That is the problem to be solved. It is a gigantic +undertaking. Whatever can make any impression upon it, deserves the +support of all good men. I hope fervently that the present movement +may leave a moral result that shall remain after the actors in it have +passed away. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +TWO SIDES OF LONDON.--IS MODERN CIVILIZATION A FAILURE? + + + June 15th. + +It is now "the height of the season" in London. Parliament is in +session, and "everybody" is in town. Except the Queen, who is in the +Highlands, almost all the Royal family are here; and (except +occasional absences on the Continent, or as Ministers at foreign +courts, or as Governors of India, of Canada, of Australia, and other +British colonies) probably almost the whole nobility of the United +Kingdom are at this moment in London. Of course foreigners flock here +in great numbers. So crowded is every hotel, that it is difficult to +find lodgings. We have found very central quarters in Dover street, +near Piccadilly, close by the clubs and the parks, and the great West +End, the fashionable quarter of London. + +Of course the display from the assemblage of so much rank and wealth, +and the concourse of such a multitude from all parts of the United +Kingdom, and indeed from all parts of the earth, is magnificent. We go +often to Hyde Park Corner, to see the turnout in the afternoon. In +Rotten Row (strange name for the most fashionable riding ground in +Europe) is the array of those on horseback; while the drive adjoining +is appropriated to carriages. The mounted cavalcade makes a gallant +sight. What splendid horses, and how well these English ladies ride! +Here come the equipages of the Prince of Wales and the Duke of +Edinburgh, with their fair brides from northern capitals, followed by +an endless roll of carriages of dukes and marquises and earls, and +lords and ladies of high degree. It seems as if all the glory of the +world were here. In strange contrast with this pomp and show, whom +should we meet, as we were riding in the Park on Saturday, but Moody +(whom John Wanamaker, of Philadelphia, was taking out for an airing to +prepare him for the fatigues of the morrow), who doubtless looked upon +all this as a Vanity Fair, much greater than that which Bunyan has +described! + +But not to regard it in a severe spirit of censure, it is a sight such +as brings before us, in one moving panorama, the rank and beauty, the +wealth and power, of the British Empire, represented in these lords of +the realm. Such a sight cannot be seen anywhere else in Europe, not in +the Champs Elysees or the Bois de Boulogne of Paris, nor the Prater at +Vienna. + +Take another scene. Let us start after ten o'clock and ride down into +"the city,"--a title which, as used here, belongs only to the old part +of London, beyond Temple Bar, which is now given up wholly to +business, and where "nobody that is anybody" lives. Here are the Bank +of England, the Royal Exchange, and the great commercial houses, that +have their connections in all parts of the earth. The concentration of +wealth is enormous, represented by hundreds and thousands of millions +sterling. One might almost say that half the national debts of the +world are owned here. There is not a power on the globe that is +seeking a loan, that does not come to London. France, Germany, Russia, +Turkey, all have recourse to its bankers to provide the material of +war, or means for the construction of the great works and monuments of +peace. Our American railways have been built largely with English +money. Alas, that so many have proved unfortunate investments! + +It is probably quite within bounds to say that the accumulation of +wealth at this centre is greater than ever was piled up before on the +globe, even in the days of the Persian or Babylonian Empires; or when +the kings of Egypt built the Pyramids; or when Rome sat on the seven +hills, and subject provinces sent tribute from all parts of the earth; +or in that Mogul Empire, whose monuments at Delhi and Agra are still +the wonder of India. + +Can it be that a city so vast, so populous, so rich, has a canker at +its root? Do not judge hastily, but see for yourself. Leave Hyde Park +Corner, and its procession of nobles and princes; leave "the city," +with its banks and counting-houses, and plunge into another quarter of +London. One need not go far away, for the hiding-places of poverty and +wretchedness are often under the very shadow of the palaces of the +rich. Come, then, and grope through these narrow streets. You turn +aside to avoid the ragged, wretched creatures that crouch along your +path. But come on, and if you fear to go farther, take a policeman +with you. Wind your way into narrow passages, into dark, foul alleys, +up-stairs, story after story, each worse than the last. Summon up +courage to enter the rooms. You are staggered by the foul smell that +issues as you open the doors. But do not go back; wait till your eye +is a little accustomed to the darkness, and you can see more clearly. +Here is a room hardly big enough for a single bed, yet containing six, +eight, ten, or a dozen persons, all living in a common herd, cooking +and eating such wretched food as they have, and sleeping on the floor +together. + +What can be expected of human beings, crowded in such miserable +habitations, living in filth and squalor, and often pinched with +hunger? Not only is refinement impossible, but comfort, or even +decency. What manly courage would not give way, sapped by the deadly +poison of such an air? Who wonders that so many rush to the gin-shop +to snatch a moment of excitement or forgetfulness? What feminine +delicacy could stand the foul and loathsome contact of such brutal +degradation? Yet this is the way in which tens, and perhaps hundreds +of thousands of the population of London live. + +But it is at night that these low quarters are most fearful. Then the +population turns into the streets, which are brilliantly lighted up by +the flaring gas-jets. Then the gin-shops are in their glory, crowded +by the lowest and most wretched specimens of humanity--men and women +in rags--old, gray-headed men and haggard women, and young girls,--and +even children, learning to be imps of wickedness almost as soon as +they are born. After a few hours of this excitement they reel home to +their miserable dens. And then each wretched room becomes more hideous +than before,--for drinking begets quarrelling; and, cursing and +swearing and fighting, the wretched creatures at last sink exhausted +on the floor, to forget their misery in a few hours of troubled sleep. + +Such is a true, but most inadequate, picture of one side of London. +Who that sees it, or even reads of it, can wonder that so many of +these "victims of civilization," finding human hearts harder than the +stones of the street, seek refuge in suicide? I never cross London +Bridge without recalling Hood's "Bridge of Sighs," and stopping to +lean over the parapet, thinking of the tragedies which those "dark +arches" have witnessed, as poor, miserable creatures, mad with +suffering, have rushed here and thrown themselves over into "the +black-flowing river"[2] beneath, eager to escape + + "Anywhere, anywhere, + Out of the world!" + +Such is the dreadful cancer which is eating at the heart of +London--poverty and misery, ending in vice and crime, in despair and +death. It is a fearful spectacle. But is there any help for it? Can +anything be done to relieve this gigantic human misery? Or is the case +desperate, beyond all hope or remedy? + +Of course there are many schemes of reformation and cure. Some think +it must come by political instrumentality, by changes in the laws; +others have no hope but in a social regeneration, or reconstruction of +society, others still rely only on moral and religious influences. + +There has arisen in Europe, within the last generation, a multitude of +philosophers who have dreamed that it was possible so to reorganize or +reconstruct society, to adjust the relations of labor and capital, as +to extinguish poverty; so that there shall be no more poor, no more +want. Sickness there may be, disease, accident, and pain, but the +amount of suffering will be reduced to a minimum; so that at least +there shall be no unnecessary pain, none which it is possible for +human skill or science to relieve. Elaborate works have been written, +in which the machinery is carefully adjusted, and the wheels so oiled +that there is no jar or friction. These schemes are very beautiful; +alas! that they should be mere creations of the fancy. The apparatus +is too complicated and too delicate, and generally breaks to pieces in +the very setting up. The fault of all these social philosophies is +that they ignore the natural selfishness of man, his pride, avarice, +and ambition. Every man wants the first place in the scale of +eminence. If men were morally right--if they had Christian humility or +self-abnegation, and each were willing to take the lowest place--then +indeed might these things be. But until then, we fear that all such +schemes will be splendid failures. + +In France, where they have been most carefully elaborated, and in some +instances tried, they have always resulted disastrously, sometimes +ending in horrible scenes of blood, as in the Reign of Terror in the +first Revolution, and recently in the massacres of the Commune. No +government on earth can reconstruct society, so as to prevent all +poverty and suffering. Still the State can do much by removing +obstacles out of the way. It need not be itself the agent of +oppression, and of inflicting needless suffering. This has been the +vice of many governments--that they have kept down the poor by laying +on them burdens too heavy to bear, and so crushing the life out of +their exhausted frames. In England the State can remove disabilities +from the working man; it can take away the exclusive privileges of +rank and title, and place all classes on the same level before the +law. Thus it can clear the field before every man, and give him a +chance to rise, _if he has it in him_--if he has talent, energy, and +perseverance. + +Then the government can in many ways _encourage_ the poorer classes, +and so gradually lift them up. In great cities the drainage of +unhealthy streets, of foul quarters, may remove the seeds of +pestilence. Something in this way has been done already, and the death +rates show a corresponding diminution of mortality. So by stringent +laws in regard to proper ventilation, forbidding the crowding together +in unhealthy tenements, and promoting the erection of model +lodging-houses, it may encourage that cleanliness and decency which is +the first step towards civilization. + +Then by a system of Common Schools, that shall be universal and +_compulsory_, and be rigidly enforced, as it is in Germany, the State +may educate in some degree, at least in the rudiments of knowledge, +the children of the nation, and thus do something towards lifting up, +slowly but steadily, that vast substratum of population which lies at +the base of every European society. + +But the question of moral influence remains. Is it possible to reach +this vast and degraded population with any Christian influences, or +are they in a state of hopeless degradation? + +Here we meet at the first step in England A CHURCH, of grand +proportions, established for ages, inheriting vast endowments, wealth, +privilege, and titles, with all the means of exerting the utmost +influence on the national mind. For this what has it to show? It has +great cathedrals, with bishops, and deans, and canons; a whole retinue +of beneficed clergy, men who read or "intone" the prayers; with such +hosts of men and boys to chant the services, as, if mustered together, +would make a small army. The machinery is ample, but the result, we +fear, not at all corresponding. + +But lest I be misunderstood, let me say here that I have no prejudice +against the Church of England. I cannot join with the English +Dissenters in their cry against it, nor with some of my American +brethren, who look upon it as almost an apostate Church, an obstacle +to the progress of Christianity, rather than a wall set around it to +be its bulwark and defence. With a very different feeling do I regard +that ancient Church, that has so long had its throne in the British +Islands. I am not an Englishman, nor an Episcopalian, yet no loyal son +of the Church of England could look up to it with more tender +reverence than I. I honor it for all that it has been in the past, for +all that it is at this hour. The oldest of the Protestant Churches of +England, it has the dignity of history to make it venerable. And not +only is it one of the oldest Churches in the world, but one of the +purest, which could not be struck from existence without a shock to +all Christendom. Its faith is the faith of the Reformation, the faith +of the early ages of Christianity. Whatever "corruptions" may have +gathered upon it, like moss upon the old cathedral walls, yet in the +Apostles' Creed, and other symbols of faith, it has held the primitive +belief with beautiful simplicity, divested of all "philosophy," and +held it not only with singular purity, but with steadfastness from +generation to generation. + +What a power is in a creed and a service which thus links us with the +past! As we listen to the Te Deum or the Litany, we are carried back +not only to the Middle Ages, but to the days of persecution, when "the +noble army of martyrs" was not a name; when the Church worshipped in +crypts and catacombs. Perhaps we of other communions do not consider +enough the influence of a Church which has a long history, and whose +very service seems to unite the living and the dead--the worship on +earth with the worship in heaven. For my part, I am very sensitive to +these influences, and never do I hear a choir "chanting the liturgies +of remote generations" that it does not bring me nearer to the first +worshippers, and to Him whom they worshipped. + +Nor can I overlook, among the influences of the Church of England, +that even of its architecture, in which its history, as well as its +worship, is enshrined. Its cathedrals are filled with monuments and +tombs, which recall great names and sacred memories. Is it mere +imagination, that when I enter one of these old piles and sit in some +quiet alcove, the place is filled to my ear with airy tongues, voices +of the dead, that come from the tablets around and from the tombs +beneath; that whisper along the aisles, and rise and float away in the +arches above, bearing the soul to heaven--spirits with which my own +poor heart, as I sit and pray, seems in peaceful and blessed +communion? Is it an idle fancy that soaring above us there is a +multitude of the heavenly host singing now, as once over the plains of +Bethlehem, "Glory to God in the highest, peace on earth, good will +towards men!" Here is the soul bowed down in the presence of its +Maker. It feels "lowly as a worm." What thoughts of death arise amid +so many memorials of the dead! What sober views of the true end of a +life so swiftly passing away! How many better thoughts are inspired by +the meditations of this holy place! How many prayers, uttered in +silence, are wafted to the Hearer of Prayer! How many offences are +forgiven here in the presence of "The Great Forgiver of the world"! +How many go forth from this ancient portal, resolved, with God's help, +to live better lives! It is idle to deny that the place itself is +favorable to meditation and to prayer. It makes a solemn stillness in +the midst of a great city, as if we were in the solitude of a mountain +or a desert. The pillared arches are like the arches of a sacred +grove. Let those who will cast away such aids to devotion, and say +they can worship God anywhere--in any place. I am not so insensible to +these surroundings, but find in them much to lift up my heart and to +help my poor prayers. + +With these internal elements of power, and with its age and history, +and the influence of custom and tradition, the Church of England has +held the nation for hundreds of years to an outward respect for +Christianity, even if not always to a living faith. While Germany has +fallen away to Rationalism and indifference, and France to mocking and +scornful infidelity, in England Christianity is a national +institution, as fast anchored as the island itself. The Church of +England is the strongest bulwark against the infidelity of the +continent. It is associated in the national mind with all that is +sacred and venerable in the past. In its creed and its worship it +presents the Christian religion in a way to command the respect of the +educated classes; it is seated in the Universities, and is thus +associated with science and learning. As it is the National Church, it +has the support of all the rank of the kingdom, and arrays on its side +the strongest social influences. Thus it sets even fashion on the side +of religion. This may not be the most dignified influence to control +the faith of a country, but it is one that has great power, and it is +certainly better to have it on the side of religion than against it. +We must take the world as it is, and men as they are. They are led by +example, and especially by the examples of the great; of those whose +rank makes them foremost in the public eye, and gives them a natural +influence over their countrymen. + +As for those who think that the Gospel is preached nowhere in England +but in the chapels of Dissenters, and that there is little +"spirituality" except among English Independents or Scotch +Presbyterians, we can but pity their ignorance. It is not necessary to +point to the saintly examples of men like Jeremy Taylor and Archbishop +Leighton; but in the English homes of to-day are thousands of men and +women who furnish illustrations, as beautiful as any that can be found +on earth, of a religion without cant or affectation, yet simple and +sincere, and showing itself at once in private devotion, in domestic +piety, and in a life full of all goodness and charity. + +It must be confessed that its ministers are not always worthy of the +Church itself. I am repelled and disgusted at the arrogance of some +who think that it is the _only_ true Church, and that they alone are +the Lord's anointed. If so, the grace is indeed in earthen vessels, +and those of wretched clay. The affectation and pretension of some of +the more youthful clergy are such as to provoke a smile. But such +paltry creatures are too insignificant to be worth a moment's serious +thought. The same spiritual conceit exists in every Church. We should +not like to be held responsible for all the narrowness of +Presbyterians, whom we are sometimes obliged to regard, as Cromwell +did, as "the Lord's foolish people." These small English curates and +rectors we should regard no more than the spiders that weave their web +in some dimly-lighted arch, or the traditional "church mice" that +nibble their crumbs in the cathedral tower, or the crickets or lizards +that creep over the old tombs in the neighboring churchyard. + +But if there is much narrowness in the Church of England, there is +much nobleness also; much true Christian liberality and hearty +sympathy with all good men and good movements, not only in England but +throughout the world. Dean Stanley (whom I love and honor as the +manliest man in the Church of England) is but the representative and +leader of hundreds who, if they have not his genius, have at least +much of his generous and intrepid spirit, that despises sacerdotal +cant, and claims kindred with the good of all countries and ages, with +the noble spirits, the brave and true, of all mankind. Such men are +sufficient to redeem the great Church to which they belong from the +reproach of narrowness. + +Such is the position of the Church of England, whose history is a part +of that of the realm; and which stands to-day buttressed by rank, and +learning, and social position, and a thousand associations which have +clustered around it in the course of centuries, to make it sacred and +venerable and dear to the nation's heart. If all this were levelled +with the ground, in vain would all the efforts of Dissenters, however +earnest and eloquent--if they could muster a hundred Spurgeons--avail +to restore the national respect for religion. + +Looking at all these possibilities, I am by no means so certain as +some appear to be, that the overthrow of the Establishment would be a +gain to the cause of Christianity in England. Some in their zeal for a +pure democracy both in Church and State--for Independency and +Voluntaryism in the former, and Republicanism in the latter--regard +every Establishment as an enemy alike to a pure Gospel and to +religious liberty. The Dissenters, naturally incensed at the +inequality and injustice of their position before the law (and perhaps +with a touch of envy of those more favored than they are) have their +grievance against the Church of England, simply because it is +_established_, to the exclusion of themselves. But from all such +rivalries and contentions we, as Americans, are far removed, and can +judge impartially. We look upon the Established Church as one of the +historical institutions of England, which no thoughtful person could +wish to see destroyed, any more than to see an overthrow of the +monarchy, until he were quite sure that something better would come in +its place. It is not a little thing that it has gathered around it +such a wealth of associations, and with them such a power over the +nation in which it stands; and it would be a rash hand that should +apply the torch, or fire the mine, that should bring it down. + +But the influence of the Church of England is mainly in the higher +ranks of society. Below these there are large social strata--deep, +broad, thick, and black as seams of coal in a mountain--that are not +even touched by all these influences. We like to stray into the old +cathedrals at evening, and hear the choir chanting vespers; or to +wander about them at night, and see the moonlight falling on the +ancient towers. But nations are not saved by moonlight and music. The +moonbeams that rest on the dome of St. Paul's, or on the bosom of the +Thames, as it flows under the arches of London Bridge, covering it +with silver, do not cleanse the black waters, or restore to life the +corpses of the wretched suicides that go floating downward to the sea. +_So far as they are concerned_, the Church of England, and indeed we +may say the Christianity of England, is a wretched failure. Some other +and more powerful illustration is needed to turn the heart of England; +something which shall not only cause the sign of the cross to be held +up in St. Paul's and Westminster Abbey, but which shall carry the +Gospel of human brotherhood to all the villages and hamlets of +England; to the poorest cottage in the Highlands; that shall descend +with the miner into the pit underground; that shall abide with every +laborer in the land, and go forth with the sailor on the sea. + +How inadequately the Church of England answers to this need of a +popular educator and reformer, may be illustrated by one or two of her +most notable churches and preachers. + +On Sunday last we attended two of the most famous places of worship +in London--the Temple Church and Westminster Abbey. The former belongs +to an ancient guild of lawyers, attached to what are known as the +Middle and the Inner Temple, a corporation dating back hundreds of +years, which has large grounds running down to the Thames, and great +piles of buildings divided off into courts, and full of lawyers' +offices. Standing among these is a church celebrated for its beauty, +which once belonged to the Knights Templars, some of whose bronze +figures in armor, lying on their tombs, show by their crossed limbs +how they went to Palestine to fight for the Holy Sepulchre. As it is a +church which belongs to a private corporation, no one can obtain +admission to the pews without an order from "a bencher," which was +sent to us as a personal courtesy. The church has the air of being +very aristocratic and exclusive; and those whose enjoyment of a +religious service depends on "worshipping God in good company," may +feel at ease while sitting in these high-backed pews, from which the +public are excluded. + +The church is noted for its music, which amateurs pronounce exquisite. +As I am not educated in these things, I do not know the precise beauty +and force of all the quips and quavers of this most artistic +performance. The service was given at full length, in which the Lord's +Prayer was repeated _five times_. With all the singing and "intoning," +and down-sitting and uprising, and the bowing of necks and bending of +knees, the service occupied an hour and a half before the rector, Rev. +Dr. Vaughan, ascended the pulpit. He is a brother-in-law of Dean +Stanley, and a man much respected in the Church. His text was, "He +took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses," from which he preached +a sermon appropriate to the day, which was "Hospital Sunday," a day +observed throughout London by collections in aid of the hospitals. It +was simple and practical, and gave one the impression of a truly good +man, such as there are thousands in the Church of England. + +But what effect had such a service--or a hundred such--on the poor +population of London? About as much as the exquisite music itself has +on the rise and fall of the tide in the Thames, which flows by; or as +the moonlight has on vegetation. I know not what mission agencies +these old churches may employ elsewhere to labor among the poor, but +so far as any immediate influence is concerned, outside of a very +small circle, it is infinitesimal. + +In the evening we went to Westminster Abbey to hear the choral +service, which is rendered by a very large choir of men and boys, with +wonderful effect. Simply for the music one could not have a more +exquisite sensation of enjoyment. How the voices rang amid the arches +of the old cathedral. At this evening service it had been announced +that "The Lord Archbishop of York" was to preach, and we were curious +to see what wisdom and eloquence could come out of the mouth of a man +who held the second place in the Established Church of England. "His +grace" is a large, portly man, of good presence and sonorous voice. +His text was "Behold, I stand at the door and knock." He began with an +allusion to Holman Hunt's famous picture of Christ standing at the +door, which he described in some detail; the door itself overgrown +with vines, and its hinges rusted, so long had it been unopened; and +then the patient Man of Sorrows, with bended head and heavy heart, +knocking and waiting to come in. From this he went into a discussion +of modern civilization, considering whether men are really better +(though they may be better _off_) now than in the days of our fathers; +the conclusion from all which was, that external improvements, however +much they add to the physical comfort and well-being of man, do not +change his character, and that for his inward peace, the only way is +to open the door to let the blessed Master in. It seemed to me rather +a roundabout way to come at his point; but still as the aim was +practical, and the spirit earnest and devout, one could not but feel +that the impression was good. As to ability, I failed to see in it +anything so marked as should entitle the preacher to the exalted +dignity he holds; but I do not wish to criticize, but only to consider +whether a Church thus organized and appointed can have the influence +over the people of England we might expect from a great National +Establishment. Perhaps it has, but I fail to see it. It seems to skim, +and that very lightly, over the top, the thin surface of society, and +not to _touch_ the masses beneath. + +The influence of the Establishment is supplemented by the Dissenting +Churches, which are numerous and active, and in their spheres doing +great good. Then, too, there are innumerable separate agencies, +working in ways manifold and diverse. I have been much interested in +the details, as given me by Mrs. Ranyard, of her Bible women, who have +grown, in the course of twenty years, from half a dozen to over two +hundred, and who, working noiselessly, in quiet, womanly ways, do much +to penetrate the darkest lanes of London, and to lead their poor +sisters into ways of industry, contentment, and peace. + +But after all is said and done, the great mass of poverty and +wretchedness remains. We lift the cover, and look down into +unfathomable abysses beneath, into a world where all seems evil--a +hell of furious passions and vices and crimes. Such is the picture +which is presented to me as I walk the streets of London, and which +will not down, even when I go to the Bank of England, and see the +treasures piled up there, or to Hyde Park, and see the dashing +equipages, the splendid horses and their riders, and all the display +of the rank and beauty of England. + +What will the end be? Will things go on from bad to worse, to end at +last in some grand social or political convulsion--some cataclysm like +the French Revolution? + +This is the question which now occupies thousands of minds in Great +Britain. Of course similar questions engage attention in other +countries. In all great cities there is a poor population, which is +the standing trouble and perplexity of social and political reformers. +We have a great deal of poverty in New York, although it is chiefly +imported from abroad. But in London the evil is immensely greater, +because the city is four times larger; and the crowding together of +four millions of people, brings wealth and poverty into such close +contact that the contrasts are more marked. Other evils and dangers +England has which are peculiar to an old country; they are the growth +of centuries, and cannot be shaken off, or cast out, without great +tearing and rending of the body politic. All this awakens anxious +thought, and sometimes dark foreboding. Many, no doubt, of the upper +classes are quite content to have their full share of the good things +of this life, and enjoy while they may, saying, "After us the deluge!" +But they are not all given over to selfishness. Tens of thousands of +the best men on this earth, having the clearest heads and noblest +hearts, are in England, and they are just as thoughtful and anxious to +do what is best for the masses around them, as any men can be. The +only question is, What _can_ be done? And here we confess our +philosophy is wholly at fault. It is easy to judge harshly of others, +but not so easy to stand in their places and do better. + +For my part, I am most anxious that the experiment of Christian +civilization in England should not fail; for on it, I believe, the +welfare of the whole world greatly depends. But is it strange that +good men should be appalled and stand aghast at what they see here in +London, and that they should sometimes be in despair of modern +civilization and modern Christianity? What can I think, as a +foreigner, when a man like George Macdonald, a true-hearted Scotchman, +who has lived many years in London, tells me that things may come +right (so he hopes) _in a thousand years_--that is, in some future too +remote for the vision of man to explore. Hearing such sad confessions, +I no longer wonder that so many in England, who are sensitive to all +this misery, and yet believers in a Higher Power, have turned to the +doctrine of the Personal Reign of Christ on earth as the only refuge +against despair, believing that the world will be restored to its +allegiance to God, and men to universal brotherhood, only with the +coming of the Prince of Peace. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[2] "The bleak wind of March + Made her tremble and shiver, + But not the dark arch, + Nor the black flowing river. + + Mad from life's history, + Glad to death's mystery + Swift to be hurled + Anywhere, anywhere, + Out of the world" + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +THE RESURRECTION OF FRANCE. + + + PARIS, June 30th. + +Coming from London to Paris, one is struck with the contrast--London +is so vast and interminable, _and dark_,--a "boundless contiguity of +shade,"--while Paris is all brightness and sunshine. The difference in +the appearance of the two capitals is due partly to the climate, and +partly to the materials of which they are built--London showing miles +on miles of dingy brick, with an atmosphere so charged with smoke and +vapors that it blackens even the whitest marble; while Paris is built +of a light, cream-colored stone, that is found here in abundance, +which is soft and easily worked, but hardens by exposure to the air, +and that preserves its whiteness under this clearer sky and warmer +sun. Then the taste of the French makes every shop window bright with +color; and there is something in the natural gayety of the people +which is infectious, and which quickly communicates itself to a +stranger. Many a foreigner, on first landing in England, has walked +the streets of London with gloomy thoughts of suicide, who once in +Paris feels as if transported to Paradise. Perhaps if he had stayed a +little longer in England he would have thought better of the country +and people. But it is impossible for a stranger at first to feel _at +home_ in London, any more than if he were sent adrift all alone in the +middle of the Atlantic Ocean. The English are reserved and cautious in +their social relations, which may be very proper in regard to those of +whom they know nothing. But once well introduced, the stranger is +taken into their intimacy, and finds no spot on earth more warm than +the interior of an English home. But in Paris everybody seems to greet +him at once without an introduction; he speaks to a Frenchman on the +street (if it be only to inquire his way), and instead of a gruff +answer, meets with a polite reply. "It amounts to nothing," some may +say. It costs indeed but a moment of time, but even that, many in +England, and I am sorry to say in America also, are too impatient and +too self-absorbed to give. In the shops everybody is so polite that +one spends his money with pleasure, since he gets not only the matter +of his purchase, but what he values still more, a smile and a pleasant +word. It may be said that these are little things, but in their +influence upon one's temper and spirits they are _not_ trifles, any +more than sunshine is a trifle, or pure air; and in these minor +moralities of life the French are an example to us and to all the +world. + +But it is not only for their easy manners and social virtues that I am +attracted to the French. They have many noble qualities, such as +courage and self-devotion, instances of which are conspicuous in their +national history; and are not less capable of Christian devotion, +innumerable examples of which may be found in both the Catholic and +the Protestant Churches. Many of our American clergymen, who have +travelled abroad, will agree with me, that more beautiful examples of +piety they have never seen than among the Protestants of France. I +should be ungrateful indeed if I did not love the French, since to one +of that nation I owe the chief happiness of my earthly existence. + +Of course the great marvel of Paris, and of France, is its +_resurrection_--the manner in which it has recovered from the war. In +riding about these streets, so full of life and gayety, and seeing on +every side the signs of prosperity, I cannot realize that it is a city +which, since I was here in 1867--nay, within less time, has endured +all the horrors of war; which has been _twice_ besieged, has been +encompassed with a mighty army, and heard the sound of cannon day and +night, its people hiding in cellars from the bombs bursting in the +streets. Yet it is not five years since Louis Napoleon was still +Emperor, reigning undisturbed in the palace of the Tuileries, across +the street from the Hotel du Louvre, where I now write. It was on the +15th of July, 1870, that war was declared against Prussia in the midst +of the greatest enthusiasm. The army was wild with excitement, +expecting to march almost unopposed to Berlin. Sad dream of victory, +soon to be rudely dispelled! A few weeks saw the most astounding +series of defeats, and on the 4th of September the Emperor himself +surrendered at Sedan, at the head of a hundred thousand men, and the +Empire, which he had been constructing with such infinite labor and +care for twenty years, fell to the ground. + +But even then the trials of France were not ended. She was to have +sorrow upon sorrow. Next came the surrender of Metz, with another +great army, and then the crowning disaster of the long siege of Paris, +lasting over four months, and ending also in the same inglorious way. +Jena was avenged, when the Prussian cavalry rode through the Arch of +Triumph down the Champs Elysees. It was a bitter humiliation for +France, but she had to drink the cup to the very dregs, when forced to +sign a treaty of peace, ceding two of her most beautiful provinces, +Alsace and Lorraine, and paying an indemnity of one thousand millions +of dollars for the expenses of the war! Nor was this all. As if the +seven vials of wrath were to be poured out on her devoted head, +scarcely was the foreign war ended, before civil war began, and for +months the Commune held Paris under its feet. Then the city had to +undergo a second siege, and to be bombarded once more, not by Germans, +but by Frenchmen, until its proud historical monuments were destroyed +by its own people. The Column of the Place Vendome, erected to +commemorate the victories of Napoleon, out of cannon taken in his +great battles, was levelled to the ground; and the Palace of the +Tuileries and the Hotel de Ville were burnt by these desperate +revolutionists, who at last, to complete the catalogue of their +crimes, butchered the hostages in cold blood! This was the end of the +war, and such the state of Paris in May, 1871, scarcely four years +ago. + +In the eyes of other nations, this was not only disaster, but absolute +ruin. It seemed as if the country could not recover in one generation, +and that for the next thirty years, so far as any political power or +influence was concerned, France might be considered as blotted from +the map of Europe. + +But four years have passed, and what do we see? The last foreign +soldier has disappeared from the soil of France, the enormous +indemnity is PAID, and the country is apparently as rich and +prosperous, and Paris as bright and gay, as ever. + +This seems a miracle, but the age of miracles is past, and such great +results do not come without cause. The French are a very rich +people--not by the accumulation of a few colossal fortunes, but by the +almost infinite number of small ones. They are at once the most +industrious and the most economical people in the world. They will +live on almost nothing. Even the Chinese hardly keep soul and body +together on less than these French _ouvriers_ whom we see going about +in their blouses, and who form the laboring population of Paris. So +all the petty farmers in the provinces save something, and have a +little against a rainy day; and when the time comes that the +Government wants a loan, out from old stockings, and from chimney +corners, come the hoarded napoleons, which, flowing together like +thousands of little rivulets, make the mighty stream of national +wealth. + +But for a nation to pay its debts, especially when they have grown to +be so great, it is necessary not only to have money, but to know how +to use it. And here the interests of France have been managed with +consummate ability. In spite of the constant drain caused by the heavy +payment of the war indemnity to Germany, the finances of the country +have not been much disturbed, and to-day the bills of the Bank of +France are at par. I feel ashamed for my country when the cable +reports to us from America, that our national currency is so +depreciated that to purchase gold in New York one must pay a premium +of seventeen per cent.! I wish some of our political financiers would +come to Paris for a few months, to take lessons from the far more +successful financiers of France. + +What delights me especially in this great achievement is that it has +all been done under the Republic! It has not required a monarchy to +maintain public order, and to give that security which is necessary to +restore the full confidence of the commercial world. It is only by a +succession of events so singular as to seem indeed providential, that +France has been saved from being given over once more into the hands +of the old dynasty. From this it has been preserved by the rivalship +of different parties; so that the Republic has been saved by the +blunders of its enemies. The Lord has confounded them, and the very +devices intended for its destruction--such as putting Marshal MacMahon +in power for seven years--have had the effect to prevent a +restoration. Thus the Republic has had a longer life, and has +established its title to the confidence of the nation. No doubt if the +Legitimists and the Orleanists and Imperialists could all _unite_, +they might have a sovereign to-morrow; but each party prefers a +Republic to any sovereign _except its own_, and is willing that it +should stand for a few years, in the hope that some turn of events +will then give the succession to them. So, amid all this division of +parties, the Republic "still lives," and gains strength from year to +year. The country is prosperous under it; order is perfectly +maintained; and order _with liberty_: why should it not remain the +permanent government of France? + +If only the country could be _contented_, and willing to let well +enough alone, it might enjoy many long years of prosperity. But +unfortunately there is a cloud in the sky. The last war has left the +seeds of another war. Its disastrous issue was so unexpected and so +galling to the most proud and sensitive people in Europe, that they +will never rest satisfied till its terrible humiliation is redressed. +The resentment might not be so bitter but for the taking of its two +provinces. The defeats in the field of battle might be borne as the +fate of war (for the French have an ingenious way, whenever they lose +a battle, of making out that they were not _defeated_, but +_betrayed_); even the payment of the enormous indemnity they might +turn into an occasion of boasting, as they now do, as a proof of the +vast resources of the country; but the loss of Alsace and Lorraine is +a standing monument of their disgrace. They cannot wipe it off from +the map of Europe. There it is, with the hated German flag flying from +the fortress of Metz and the Cathedral of Strasburg. This is a +humiliation to which they will never submit contentedly, and herein +lies the probability--nay almost the certainty--of coming war. I have +not met a Frenchman of any position, or any political views, +Republican or Monarchical, Bonapartist or Legitimist, Catholic or +Protestant, whose blood did not boil at the mention of Alsace and +Lorraine, and who did not look forward to a fresh conflict with +Germany as inevitable. When I hear a Protestant pastor say, "I will +give all my sons to fight for Alsace and Lorraine," I cannot but think +the prospects of the Peace Society not very encouraging in Europe. + +In the exhibition of the Dore gallery, in London, there is a very +striking picture by that great artist (who is himself an Alsatian, and +yet an intense Frenchman), intended to represent Alsace. It is a +figure of a young woman, tall and beautiful, with eyes downcast, yet +with pride and dignity in her sadness, as the French flag, which she +holds, droops to her feet. Beside her is a mother sitting in a chair +nursing a child. The two figures tell the story in an instant. That +mother is nursing her child to avenge the wrongs of his country. It is +sad indeed to see a child thus born to a destiny of war and blood; to +see the shadow of carnage and destruction hovering over his very +cradle. Yet such is the prospect now, which fills every Christian +heart with sadness. Thus will the next generation pay in blood and +tears, for the follies and the crimes of this. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +THE FRENCH NATIONAL ASSEMBLY. + + +We have been to Versailles. Of course our first visit was to the great +palace built by Louis XIV., which is over a quarter of a mile long, +and which stands, like some of the remains of antiquity, as a monument +of royal pride and ambition. It was built, as the kings of Egypt built +the Pyramids, to tell to after ages of the greatness of his kingdom +and the splendor of his reign. A gallant sight it must have been when +this vast pile, with its endless suites of apartments, was filled with +the most brilliant court in Europe; when statesmen and courtiers and +warriors, "fair women and brave men," crowded the immense saloons, and +these terraces and gardens. It was a display of royal magnificence +such as the world has seldom seen. The cost is estimated at not less +than two hundred millions of dollars--a sum which considering the +greater value of money two centuries ago, was equal to five times that +amount at the present day, or a thousand millions, as much as the +whole indemnity paid to Germany. It was a costly legacy to his +successors--costly in treasure and costly in blood. The building of +Versailles, with the ruinous and inglorious wars of Louis XIV., +drained the resources of France for a generation, and by the burdens +they imposed on the people, prepared the way for the Revolution. I +could not but recall this with a bitter feeling as I stood in the +gilded chamber where the great king slept, and saw the very bed on +which he died. That was the end of all his glory, but not the end of +the evil that he wrought: + + "The evil that men do lives after them; + The good is oft interred with their bones." + +The extravagance of this monarch was paid for by the blood of his +descendants. If he had not lifted his head so high, the head of Louis +XVI. might not have fallen on the scaffold. It is good for France that +she has no longer any use for such gigantic follies; and that the day +is past when a whole nation can be sacrificed to the vanity and +selfishness of one man. In this case the very magnitude of the +structure defeated its object, for it was so great that no government +since the Revolution has known what to do with it. It required such an +enormous expenditure to keep it up, that the prudent old King Louis +Philippe _could not afford to live in it_, and at last turned it into +a kind of museum or historical gallery, filled with pictures of French +battles, and dedicated in pompous phrase, TO ALL THE GLORIES OF +FRANCE. + +But it was not to see the palace of Louis XIV. that I had most +interest in revisiting Versailles, but to see the National Assembly +sitting in it, which is at present the ruling power in France. If +Louis XIV. ever revisits the scene of his former magnificence, he must +shake his kingly head at the strange events which it has witnessed. +How he must have shuddered to see his royal house invaded by a mob, as +it was in the time of the first Revolution; to see the faithful Swiss +guards butchered in his very palace, and the Queen, Marie Antoinette, +escaping with her life; to see the grounds sacred to Majesty trampled +by the "fierce democracie" of France; and then by the iron heel of the +Corsican usurper; and by the feet of the allied armies under +Wellington. His soul may have had peace for a time when, under Louis +Philippe and Louis Napoleon, Versailles was comparatively silent and +deserted. But what would he have said at seeing, only four winters +ago, the Emperor of Germany and his army encamped here and +beleaguering the capital? Yet perhaps even that would not so have +offended his royal dignity as to see a National Assembly sitting in a +part of this very palace in the name of a French Republic! + +Strange overturning indeed; but if strange, still true. They have a +proverb in France that "it is always the improbable which happens," +and so indeed it seems to be in French history; it is full of +surprises, but few greater than that which now appears. France has +drifted into a Republic, when both statesmen and people meant not so. +It was not the first choice of the nation. Whatever may have been true +of the populace of Paris, the immense majority of the French people +were sincerely attached to monarchy in some form, whether under a king +or an emperor; and yet the country has neither, so that, as has been +wittily said, France has been "a Republic without Republicans." But +for all that the Republic is _here_, and here it is likely to remain. + +When the present Assembly first met, a little more than four years +since, it was at Bordeaux--for to that corner of France was the +government driven; and when the treaty was signed, and it came north, +it met at Versailles rather than at Paris, as a matter of necessity. +Paris was in a state of insurrection. It was in the hands of the +Commune, and could only be taken after a second siege, and many bloody +combats around the walls and in the streets. This, and the experience +so frequent in French history of a government being overthrown by the +mob of Paris invading the legislative halls, decided the National +Assembly to remain at Versailles, even after the rebellion was +subdued; and so there it is to this day, even though the greater part +of the deputies go out from Paris twelve miles every morning, and +return every night; and in the programme which has been drawn up for +the definite establishment of the Republic, it is made an article of +the Constitution that the National Assembly shall always meet at +Versailles. + +The place of meeting is the former theatre of the palace, which +answers the purpose very well--the space below, in what was _the pit_, +sufficing for the deputies, while the galleries are reserved for +spectators. We found the approaches crowded with persons seeking +admission, which can only be by ticket. But we had no difficulty. +Among the deputies is the well-known Protestant pastor of Paris, +Edouard de Pressense, who was chosen to the Assembly in the stormy +scenes of 1871, and who has shown himself as eloquent in the tribune +as in the pulpit. I sent him my card, and he came out immediately with +two tickets in his hand, and directed one of the attendants to show us +into the best seats in the house, who, thus instructed, conducted us +to the diplomatic box (which, from its position in the centre of the +first balcony, must have been once the royal box), from which we +looked down upon the heads of the National Assembly of France. + +And what a spectacle it was! The Assembly consists of over seven +hundred men, who may be considered as fair representatives of what is +most eminent in France. Of course, as in all such bodies, there are +many elected from the provinces on account of some local influence, as +landed proprietors, or as sons of noble families, who count only by +their votes. But with these are many who have "come to the front" in +this great national crisis, by the natural ascendancy which great +ability always gives, and who by their talents have justly acquired a +commanding influence in the country. + +The President of the Assembly is the Duke d'Audiffret Pasquier, whose +elevated seat is at the other end of the hall. In front of him is "the +tribune," from which the speakers address the Assembly: it not being +the custom here, as in our Congress or in the English Parliament, for +a member to speak from his place in the house. This French custom has +been criticized in England, as betraying this talkative people into +more words, for a Frenchman does not wish to "mount the tribune" for +nothing, and once there the temptation is very strong to make "a +speech." But we did not find that the speeches were much longer than +in the House of Commons, though they were certainly more violent. + +Looking down upon the Assembly, we see how it is divided between the +two great parties--the Royalists and the Republicans. Those sitting on +the benches to the right of the President comprise the former of every +shade--Legitimists, Orleanists, and Imperialists, while those on the +left are the Republicans. Besides these two grand divisions of the +Right and the Left there are minor divisions, such as the Right Centre +and the Left Centre, the former wishing a Constitutional Monarchy, and +the latter a Conservative Republic. + +Looking over this sea of heads, one sees some that bear great names. +One indeed, and that the greatest, is not here, and is the more +conspicuous by his absence. M. Thiers, to whom France owes more than +to any other living man, since he retired from the Presidency, driven +thereto by the factious opposition of some of the deputies, and +perhaps now still more since the death of his life-long friend, De +Remusat, has withdrawn pretty much from public life, and devotes +himself to literary pursuits. But other notable men are here. That +giant with a shaggy mane, walking up the aisle, is Jules Favre--a man +who has been distinguished in Paris for a generation, both for his +eloquence at the bar, and for his inflexible Republicanism, which was +never shaken, even in the corrupting times of the Empire, and who in +the dark days of 1870, when the Empire fell, was called by acclamation +to become a member of the Provisional Government. He is the man who, +when Bismarck first talked of peace on the terms of a cession of +territory, proudly answered to what he thought the insulting proposal, +"Not a foot of our soil, not a stone of our fortresses!" but who, some +months after, had to sign with his own hand, but with a bitter heart, +a treaty ceding Alsace and Lorraine, and agreeing to pay an indemnity +of one thousand millions of dollars! Ah well! he made mistakes, as +everybody does, but we can still admire his lion heart, even though we +admit that his oratorical fervor was greater than his political +sagacity. And yonder, on the left, is another shaggy head, which has +appeared in the history of France, and may appear again. That is Leon +Gambetta! who, shut up in Paris by the siege, and impatient for +activity, escaped in a balloon, and sailing high over the camps of the +German army, alighted near Amiens, and was made Minister of War, and +began with his fiery eloquence, like another Peter the Hermit, to +arouse the population of the provinces to a holy crusade for the +extermination of the invader. This desperate energy seemed at first as +if it might turn the fortunes of the war. Thousands of volunteers +rushed forward to fill the ranks of the independent corps known as the +_Franc-tireurs_. But though he rallied such numbers, he could not +improvise an army; these recruits, though personally brave enough--for +Frenchmen are never wanting in courage--had not the discipline which +inspires confidence and wins victory. As soon as these raw levies were +hurled against the German veterans, they were dashed to pieces like +waves against a rock. The attempt was so daring and patriotic that it +deserved success; but it was too late. Gambetta's work, however, is +not ended in France. Since the war he has surprised both his friends +and his enemies by taking a very conciliatory course. He does not +flaunt the red flag in the eyes of the nation. So cautious and prudent +is he that some of the extreme radicals, like Louis Blanc, oppose him +earnestly, as seeking to found a government which is republican only +in name. But he judges more wisely that the only Republic which +France, with its monarchical traditions, will accept, is a +conservative one, which shall not frighten capital by its wild +theories of a division of property, but which, while it secures +liberty, secures order also. In urging this policy, he has exercised a +restraining influence over the more violent members of his own party, +and thus done much toward conciliating opposition and rendering +possible a French Republic. + +On the same side of the house, yet nearer the middle, thus occupying a +position in the Left Centre, is another man, of whom much is hoped at +this time, M. Laboulaye, a scholar and author, who by his prudence +and moderation has won the confidence of the Assembly and the country. +He is one of the wise and safe men, to whom France looks in this +crisis of her political history. + +But let us suspend our observation of members to listen to the +discussions. As we entered, the Assembly appeared to be in confusion. +The talking in all parts of the house was incessant, and could not be +repressed. The officers shouted "Silence!" which had the effect to +produce quiet _for about one minute_, when the buzz of voices rose as +loud as ever. The French are irrepressible. And this general talking +was not the result of indifference: on the contrary, the more the +Assembly became interested, the more tumultuous it grew. Yet there was +no question of importance before it, but simply one about the tariff +on railways! But a Frenchman will get excited on anything, and in a +few minutes the Assembly became as much agitated as if it were +discussing some vital question of peace or war, of a Monarchy or a +Republic. Speaker after speaker rushed to the tribune, and with loud +voices and excited looks demanded to be heard. The whole Assembly took +part in the debate--those who agreed with each speaker cheering him +on, while those who opposed answered with loud cries of dissent. No +college chapel, filled with a thousand students, was ever a scene of +more wild uproar. The President tried to control them, but in vain. In +vain he struck his gavel, and rang his bell, and at length in despair +arose and stood with folded arms, waiting for the storm to subside. +But he might as well have appealed to a hurricane. The storm had to +blow itself out. After awhile the Assembly itself grew impatient of +further debate, and shouted "_Aux voix! aux voix!_" and the question +was taken; but how anybody could deliberate or vote in such a roaring +tempest, I could not conceive. + +This disposed of, a deputy presented some personal matter involving +the right of a member to his seat, for whom he demanded _justice_, +accusing some committee or other of having suppressed evidence in his +favor. Then the tumult rose again. His charge provoked instant and +bitter replies. Members left their seats, and crowded around the +tribune as if they would have assailed the obnoxious speaker with +violence. From one quarter came cries, "_C'est vrai; C'est vrai!_" (It +is true; it is true), while in another quarter a deputy sprang to his +feet and rushed forward with angry gesture, shouting, "You are not an +honest man!" So the tumult "loud and louder grew." It seemed a perfect +Bedlam. I confess the impression was not pleasant, and I could not but +ask myself, _Is this the way in which a great nation is to be +governed, or free institutions are to be constituted?_ It was such a +contrast to the dignified demeanor of the Parliament of England, or +the Congress of the United States. We have sometimes exciting scenes +in our House of Representatives, when members forget themselves; but +anything like this I think could not be witnessed in any other great +National Assembly, unless it were in the Spanish Cortes. I did not +wonder that sober and thoughtful men in France doubt the possibility +of popular institutions, when they see a deliberative body, managing +grave affairs of State, so little capable of self-control. + +And yet we must not make out things worse than they are, or attach too +much importance to these lively demonstrations. Some who look on +philosophically, would say that this mere talk amounts to nothing; +that every question of real importance is deliberated upon and really +decided in private, in the councils of the different parties, before +it is brought into the arena of public debate; and that this +discussion is merely a safety-valve for the irrepressible Frenchman, a +way of letting off steam, a process which involves no danger, although +accompanied with a frightful hissing and roaring. This is a kindly as +well as a philosophical way of putting the matter, and perhaps is a +just one. + +Some, too, will add that there is another special cause for +excitement, viz., that this legislative body is at this moment _in the +article of death_, and that these scenes are but the throes and pangs +of dissolution. This National Assembly has been in existence now more +than four years, and it is time for it to die. Indeed it has had no +right to live so long. It was elected for a specific purpose at the +close of the war--to make peace with the Germans, and that duty +discharged, its functions were ended, and it had no legal right to +live another day, or to perform another act of sovereignty. But +necessity knows no law. At that moment France was without a head. The +Emperor was gone, the old Senate was gone, the Legislative Body was +gone, and the country was actually without a government, and so, as a +matter of self-preservation, the National Assembly held on. It elected +M. Thiers President of the State, and he performed his duties with +such consummate ability that France had never been so well governed +before. Then in an evil hour, finding that he was an obstacle to the +plans of the Legitimists to restore the Monarchy, they combined to +force him to resign, and put Marshal MacMahon in his place, a man who +may be a good soldier (although he never did anything very great, and +blundered fearfully in the German war, having his whole army captured +at Sedan), but who never pretended to be a statesman. He was selected +as a convenient tool in the hands of the intriguers. But even in him +they find they have more than they bargained for; for in a moment of +confidence they voted him the executive power for seven years, and now +he will not give up, even to make way for a Legitimate sovereign, for +the Comte de Chambord, or for the son of his late Emperor, Napoleon +III. All this time the Assembly has been acting without any legal +authority; but as power is sweet, it held on, and is holding on still. +But now, as order is fully restored, all excuse is taken away for +surviving longer. The only thing it has to do is to die gracefully, +that is, to dissolve, and leave it to the country to elect a new +Assembly which, being fresh from the people, shall more truly +represent the will of the nation. And yet these men are very reluctant +to go, knowing as many of them do, that they will not return. Hence +the great question now is that of _dissolution_--"to be or not to be"; +and it is not strange that many postpone as long as they can "the +inevitable hour." It is for this reason, it is said, because of its +relation to the question of its own existence, that the Assembly +wrangles over unimportant matters, hoping by such discussions to cause +delay, and so to throw over the elections till another year. + +But as time and tide wait for no man, so death comes on with stealthy +step, and this National Assembly must soon go the way of all the +earth. What will come after it? Another Assembly--so it seems +now--more Republican still. That is the fear of the Monarchists. But +the cause of the Republic has gained greatly in these four years, as +it is seen to be not incompatible with order. It is no longer the Red +Republic, which inspired such terror; it is not communism, nor +socialism, nor war against property. _It is combined order and +liberty._ As this conviction penetrates the mass of the people, they +are converted to the new political faith, and so the Republic begins +to settle itself on sure foundations. It is all the more likely to be +permanent, because it was not adopted in a burst of popular +enthusiasm, but _very slowly_, and from necessity. It is accepted +because no other government is possible in France, at least for any +length of time. If the Comte de Chambord were proclaimed king +to-morrow, he might reign for a few years--_till the next revolution_. +It is this conviction which has brought many conservative men to the +side of the Republic. M. Thiers, the most sagacious of French +statesmen, has always been in favor of monarchy. He was the Minister +of Louis Philippe, and one of his sayings used to be quoted: "A +constitutional monarchy is the best of republics." Perhaps he would +still prefer a government like that of England. But he sees that to +be impossible in France, and, like a wise man that he is, he takes the +next best thing--which is A CONSERVATIVE REPUBLIC, based on a written +constitution, like that of the United States, and girt round by every +check on the exercise of power--a government in which there is the +greatest possible degree of personal freedom consistent with public +order. To this, as the final result of all her revolutions, France +seems to be steadily gravitating now, as her settled form of +government. That this last experiment of political regeneration may be +successful, must be the hope of all friends of liberty, not only in +America, but all over the world. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE LIGHTS AND SHADOWS OF PARIS. + + +I have written of the startling contrasts of London; what shall I say +of those of Paris? It is the gayest city in the world, yet the one in +which there are more suicides than in any other. It is the city of +pleasure, yet where pleasure often turns to pain, and the dance of +dissipation, whirling faster and faster, becomes the dance of death. +It is a city which seems devoted to amusement, to which the rich and +the idle flock from all countries to spend life in an endless round of +enjoyment; with which some of our countrymen have become so infatuated +that their real feeling is pretty well expressed in the familiar +saying--half witty and half wicked--that "all good Americans go to +Paris _when they die_." Certainly many of them do not dream of any +higher Paradise. + +And yet it is a city in which there are many sad and mournful scenes, +and in which he who observes closely, who looks a little under the +surface, will often walk the streets in profound melancholy. In short, +it is a city of such infinite variety, so many-colored, that the +laughing and the weeping philosopher may find abundant material for +his peculiar vein. Eugene Sue, in his "Mysteries of Paris," has made +us familiar with certain tragic aspects of Parisian life hidden from +the common eye. With all its gayety, there is a great deal of +concealed misery which keeps certain quarters in a chronic state of +discontent, which often breaks out in bloody insurrections; so that +the city which boasts that it is "the centre of civilization," is at +the same time the focus of revolution, of most of the plots and +conspiracies which trouble the peace of Europe. As the capital of a +great nation, the centre of its intellectual, its literary, and its +artistic life, it has a peculiar fascination for those who delight in +the most elevated social intercourse. Its salons are the most +brilliant in the world, so that we can understand the feeling of +Madame de Stael, the woman of society, who considered her banishment +from Paris by the first Napoleon as the greatest punishment, and who +"would rather see the stones of the Rue du Bac than all the mountains +of Switzerland"; and yet this very brilliancy sometimes wearies to +satiety, so that we can understand equally the feeling of poor, morbid +Jean Jacques Rousseau, who more than a hundred years ago turned his +back upon it with disgust, saying, "Farewell, Paris! city of noise, +and dust, and strife! He who values peace of mind can never be far +enough from thee!" + +If we are quite just, we shall not go to either of these extremes. We +shall see the good and the evil, and frankly acknowledge both. Paris +is generally supposed to be a sinner above all other cities; to have a +kind of bad eminence for its immorality. It is thought to be a centre +of vice and demoralization, and some innocent young preachers who have +never crossed the sea, would no doubt feel justified in denouncing it +as the wickedest city in the world. As to the extent to which +immorality of any kind prevails, I have no means of judging, except +such as every stranger has; but certainly as to intemperance, there is +nothing here to compare with that in London, or Glasgow, or Edinburgh; +and as to the other form of vice we can only judge by its public +display, and there is nothing half so gross, which so outrages all +decency, as that which shocks and disgusts every foreigner in the +streets of London. No doubt here, as in every great capital which +draws to itself the life of a whole nation, there is a concentration +of the bad as well as the good elements of society, and we must expect +to find much that is depraved and vicious; but that in these respects +Paris is worse than London, or Berlin, or Vienna, or even New York, I +see no reason to believe. + +Without taking, therefore, a lofty attitude of denunciation on the one +hand, or going into sudden raptures on the other, there are certain +aspects of Paris which lie on the surface, and which any one may +observe without claiming to be either wiser or better than his +neighbors. + +I have tried to see the city both in its brighter lights and its +darker shadows. I have lived in Paris, first and last, a good deal. I +was here six months in 1847-8, and saw the Revolution which overthrew +Louis Philippe, and have been here often since. I confess I am fond of +it, and always return with pleasure. That which strikes the stranger +at once is its bright, sunny aspect; there is something inspiring in +the very look of the people; one feels a change in the very air. Since +we came here now, we have been riding about from morning to night. Our +favorite drive is along the Boulevards just at evening, when the lamps +are lighted, and all Paris seems to be sitting out of doors. The work +of the day is over, and the people have nothing to do but to enjoy +themselves. By hundreds and thousands they are sitting on the wide +pavements, sipping their coffee, and talking with indescribable +animation. Then we extend our ride to the Champs Elysees, where the +broad avenue is one blaze of light, and places of amusement are open +on every side, from which comes the sound of music. It is all a fairy +scene, such as one reads of in the Arabian Nights. Thousands are +sitting under the trees, enjoying the cool evening air, or coming in +from a ride to the Bois de Boulogne. + +But it may be thought that these are the pleasures of the rich. On the +contrary, they are the pleasures of all classes; and that is the +charming thing about it. That which pleases me most in Paris is the +_general_ cheerfulness. I do not observe such wide extremes of +condition as in London, such painful contrasts between the rich and +the poor. Indeed, I do not find here such abject poverty, nor see +such dark, sullen, scowling faces, which indicate such brutal +degradation, as I saw in the low quarters of London. Here everybody +seems to be, at least in a small way, comfortable and contented. I +have spoken once before of the industry of the people (no city in the +world is such a hive of busy bees) and of their economy, which shows +itself even in their pleasures, of which they are fond, but which they +get _very cheap_. No people will get so much out of so little. What an +English workman would spend in a single drunken debauch, a Frenchman +will spread over a week, and get a little enjoyment out of it every +day. It delights me to see how they take their pleasures. Everybody +seems to be happy in his own way, and not to be envious of his +neighbor. If a man cannot ride with two horses, he will go with one, +and even if that one be a sorry hack, with ribs sticking out of his +sides, and that seems just ready for the crows, no matter, he will +pile his wife and children into the little, low carriage, and off they +go, not at great speed, to be sure, but as gay and merry as if they +were the Emperor and his court, with outriders going before, and a +body of cavalry clattering at their heels. When I have seen a whole +family at Versailles or St. Cloud dining on five francs (oh no, that +is too magnificent; they carry their dinner with them, and it probably +does not cost them two francs), I admire the simple tastes which are +so easily satisfied, and the miracle-working art which extracts honey +from every daisy by the roadside. + +Such simple and universal enjoyment would not be possible, but for one +trait which is peculiar to the French--an entire absence of _mauvaise +honte_, or false shame; the foolish pride, which is so common in +England and America, of wishing to be thought as rich or as great as +others. In London no one would dare, even if he were allowed, to show +himself in Hyde Park in such unpretentious turnouts as those in which +half Paris will go to the Bois de Boulogne. But here everybody jogs +along at his own gait, not troubling himself about his neighbor. "Live +and let live" seems to be, if not the law of the country, at least the +universal habit of the people. Whatever other faults the French have, +I believe they are freer than most nations from "envy, malice, and all +uncharitableness." + +With this there is a feeling of self-respect, even among the common +people, that is very pleasing. If you speak to a French servant, or to +a workman in a blouse, he does not sink into the earth as if he were +an inferior being, or take a tone of servility, but answers politely, +yet self-respectingly, as one conscious that he too is a man. The most +painful thing that I found in England was the way in which the +distinctions of rank, which seem to be as rigid as the castes of +India, have eaten into the manhood and self-respect of our great +Anglo-Saxon race. But here "a man's a man," and especially if he is a +Frenchman, he is as good as anybody. + +From this absence of false pride and false shame comes the readiness +of the people to talk about their private affairs. How quickly they +take you into their confidence, and tell you all their little personal +histories! The other day we went to the Salpetriere, the great +hospital for aged women, which Mrs. Field describes in her "Home +Sketches in France," where are five thousand poor creatures cared for +by the charity of Paris. Hundreds of these were seated under the +trees, or walking about the grounds. As I went to find one of the +officials, I left C---- standing under an arch. Seeing her there, one +of the old women, with that politeness which is instinctive with the +French, invited her into her little room. When I came back, I found +they had struck up a friendship. The good mother--poor, dear, old +soul!--had told all her little story: who she was, and how she came +there, and how she lived. She made her own soup, she said, and had put +up some pretty muslin curtains, and had a tiny bit of a stove, and so +got along very nicely. This communicativeness is not confined to the +inmates of hospitals. It is a national trait, which makes us love a +people that give us their confidence so freely. + +I might add many other amiable traits, which give a great charm to the +social life of the French, and fill their homes with brightness and +sunshine. + +But of course there is another side to the picture. There is lightning +in the beautiful cloud, and sometimes the thunder breaks fearfully +over this devoted city. I do not refer to great public calamities, +such as war and siege, bringing "battle, and murder, and sudden +death," but to those daily tragedies, which are enacted in a great +city, which the world never hears of, where men and women drop out of +existence, as one + + "Sinks into the waves with bubbling groan," + +and disappear from view, and the ocean rolls over them, burying the +story of their unhappy lives and their wretched end. Something of this +darker shading to bright and gay Paris, one may discover who is +curious in such matters. There is a kind of fascination which +sometimes lures me to search out that which is sombre and tragic in +human life and in history. So I have been to the Prison de la +Roquette, over which is an inscription which might be written over the +gates of hell: DEPOT DES CONDAMNES. Here the condemned are placed +before they are led to death, and in the open space in front take +place all the executions in Paris. Look you at those five stones deep +set in the pavement, on which are planted the posts of the Guillotine! +Over that in the centre hangs the fatal knife, which descends on the +neck of the victim, whose head rolls into the basket below. + +But prisons are not peculiar to Paris, and probably quite as many +executions have been witnessed in front of Newgate, in London. But +that which gives a peculiar and sadder interest to this spot, is that +here took place one of the most terrible tragedies even in French +history--the massacre of the hostages in the days of the Commune. In +that prison yard the venerable Archbishop of Paris was shot, with +others who bore honored names. No greater atrocity was enacted even in +the Reign of Terror. There fiends in human shape, with hearts as hard +as the stones of the street, butchered old age. In another quarter of +Paris, on the heights of Montmartre, the enraged populace shot down +two brave generals--Lecompte and Clement-Thomas. I put my hand into +the very holes made in the wall of a house by the murderous balls. +Such cowardly assassinations, occurring more than once in French +history, reveal a trait of character not quite so amiable as some that +I have noticed. They show that the polite and polished Frenchman may +be so aroused as to be turned into a wild beast, and give a color of +reason to the savage remark of Voltaire--himself one of the race--that +"a Frenchman was half monkey and half tiger." + +I will present but one other dark picture. I went one day, to the +horror of my companion, to visit THE MORGUE, the receptacle of all the +suicides in Paris, where their bodies are exposed that they may be +recognized by friends. Of course some are brought here who die +suddenly in the streets, and whose names are unknown. But the number +of suicides is fearfully great. Bodies are constantly fished out of +the Seine, of those who throw themselves from the numerous bridges. +Others climb to the top of the Column in the Place Vendome, or of that +on the Place of the Bastille, or to the towers of Notre Dame, and +throw themselves over the parapet, and their mangled bodies are picked +up on the pavement below. Others find the fumes of charcoal an easier +way to fall into "an eternal sleep." But thus, by one means or other, +by pistol or by poison, by the tower or the river, almost every day +has its victim. I think the exact statistics show more than one +suicide a day throughout the year. When I was at the Morgue there were +two bodies stretched out stark and cold--a man and a woman, _both +young_. I looked at them with very sad reflections. If those poor lips +could but speak, what tragedies they might tell! Who knows what hard +battle of life they had to fight--what struggles wrung that manly +breast, or what sorrow broke that woman's heart? Who was she? + + "Had she a father? had she a mother? + Had she a sister? had she a brother? + Or one dearer still than all other?" + +Perhaps she had led a life of shame, but all trace of passion was gone +now: + + "Death had left on her + Only the beautiful." + +And as I marked the rich tresses which hung down over her shoulders, I +thought Jesus would not have disdained her if she had come to him as a +penitent Magdalen, and with that flowing hair had wiped His sacred +feet. + +I do not draw these sad pictures to point a moral against the French, +as if they were sinners above all others, but I think this great +number of suicides may be ascribed, in part at least, to the mercurial +and excitable character of the people. They are easily elated and +easily depressed; now rising to the height of joyous excitement, and +now sinking to the depths of despair. And when these darker moods come +on, what so natural as that those who have not a strong religious +feeling to restrain them, or to give them patience to bear their +trials, should seek a quick relief in that calm rest which no rude +waking shall ever disturb? If they had that faith in God, and a life +to come, which is the only true consolation in all time of our +trouble, in all time of our adversity, they would not so often rush to +the grave, thinking to bury their sorrows in the silence of the tomb. + +Thus musing on the lights and shadows of Paris, I turn away half in +admiration and half in pity, but all in love. With all its shadows, it +is a wonderful city, by far the greatest, except London, in the modern +world, and the French are a wonderful people; and while I am not blind +to their weaknesses, their vanity, their childish passion for military +glory, yet "with all their faults I love them still." And I have +written thus, not only from a feeling of love for Paris from personal +associations, but from a sense of _justice_, believing that the harsh +judgment often pronounced upon it is hasty and mistaken. All such +sweeping declarations are sure to be wrong. No doubt the elements of +good and evil are mingled here in large proportions, and act with +great intensity, and sometimes with terrific results. But Frenchmen +are not worse than other men, nor Paris worse than other cities. If it +has some dark spots, it has many bright ones, in its ancient seats of +learning and its noble institutions of charity. Taking them all +together, they form a basis for a very kindly judgment. And I believe +that He who from His throne in Heaven looks down upon all the dwellers +upon earth, seeing that in the judgment of truth and of history this +city is not utterly condemned, would say "Neither do I condemn thee: +go and sin no more." + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +GOING ON A PILGRIMAGE. + + + GENEVA, July 12th. + +We have been on a pilgrimage. In coming to France, I had a great +desire to visit one of those shrines which have become of late objects +of such enthusiastic devotion, and attracted pilgrims from all parts +of Europe, and even from America. In a former chapter I spoke of the +Resurrection of France, referring to its material prosperity as +restored since the war. There has been also a revival of religious +fervor--call it superstition or fanaticism--which is quite remarkable. +Those who have kept watch of events in the religious as well as in the +political world, have observed a sudden access of zeal throughout +Catholic Christendom. Whatever the cause, whether the "persecution," +real or imaginary, of the Holy Father, or the heavy blows which the +Church has received from the iron hand of Germany in its wars with +Austria and France--the fact is evident that there has been a great +increase of activity among the more devout Catholics--which shows +itself in a spirit of propagandism, in "missions," which are a kind of +revivals, and in pilgrimages to places which are regarded as having a +peculiar sanctity. + +These pilgrimages are so utterly foreign to our American ideas, they +appear so childish and ridiculous, that it seems impossible to speak +of them with gravity. And yet there has been at least one of these +pious expeditions from the United States (of which there was a long +account in the New York papers), in which the pilgrims walked in +procession down Broadway, and embarked with the blessing of our new +American Cardinal. From England they have been quite frequent. Large +numbers, among whom we recognize the names of several well known +Catholic noblemen, assemble in London, and receive the blessing of +Cardinal Manning, and then leave to make devout pilgrimages to the +"holy places" (which are no longer only in Palestine, but for greater +convenience have been brought nearer, and are now to be found in +France), generally ending with a pilgrimage to Rome, to cast +themselves at the feet of the Holy Father, who gives them his +blessing, while he bewails the condition of Europe, and anathematizes +those who "oppress" the Church--thus blessing and cursing at the same +time. + +If my object in writing were to cast ridicule on the whole affair, +there is something very tempting in the easy and luxurious way in +which these modern pilgrimages are performed. Of old, when a pilgrim +set out for the Holy Land, it was with nothing but a staff in his +hand, and sandals on his feet, and thus he travelled hundreds of +leagues, over mountain and moor, through strange countries, begging +his way from door to door, reaching his object at last perhaps only to +die. Even the pilgrimage to Mecca has something imposing to the +imagination, as a long procession of camels files out of the streets +of Cairo, and takes the way of the desert. But these more fashionable +pilgrims travel by steam, in first-class railway carriages, with +Cook's excursion tickets, and are duly lodged and cared for, from the +moment they set out till they are safely returned to England. One of +Cook's agents in Paris told me he had thus conveyed a party of two +thousand. It must be confessed, this is devotion made easy, in +accordance with the spirit of the modern time, which is not exactly a +spirit of self-sacrifice, but "likes all things comfortable"--even +religion. + +But my object was not to ridicule, but to observe. If I did not go as +a pilgrim, on the one hand, neither was it merely as a travelling +correspondent, aiming only at a sensational description. If I did not +go in a spirit of faith, it was at least in a spirit of candor, to +observe and report things exactly as I saw them. + +But how was I to reach one of these holy shrines? They are a long way +off. The grotto of Lourdes, where the Holy Virgin is said to have +appeared to a girl of the country, is in the Pyrenees; while +Paray-le-Monial is nearly three hundred miles southeast from Paris. +However, it is not very far aside from the route to Switzerland, and +so we took it on our way to Geneva, resting over a day at Macon for +the purpose. + +It was a bright summer morning when we started from Macon, and wound +our way among the vine-clad hills of the ancient province of Burgundy. +It is a picturesque country. Old chateaux hang upon the sides, or +crown the summits of the hills, while quaint little villages nestle at +their foot. In yonder village was born the poet and statesman, +Lamartine. We can see in passing the chateau where he lived, and here, +"after life's fitful fever, he sleeps well." All these sunny slopes +are covered with vineyards, which are now smiling in their summer +dress. I do not wonder that pilgrims, as they enter this +"hill-country," are often reminded of Palestine. Three hours brought +us to Paray-le-Monial, a little town of three or four thousand +inhabitants--just like hundreds of others in France, with nothing to +attract attention, except the marvellous tradition which has given it +a sudden and universal celebrity, and which causes devout Catholics to +approach it with a feeling of reverence. + +The story of the place is this: In the little town is a convent, which +has been standing for generations. Here, _two hundred years ago_, +lived a nun, whose name was Marguerite Marie Alacoque, who was eminent +for her piety, who spent a great part of her life in prayer, and whose +devotion was at length rewarded by the personal appearance of our +Lord, who opened to her his bosom, and showed her his heart burning +with love for men, and bade her devote herself to the worship of that +"sacred heart"! These visitations were very frequent. Some of them +were in the chapel, and some in the garden attached to the convent. +The latter is not open to visitors, the Pope having issued an order +that the privacy of the _religieuses_ should be respected. But a +church near by overlooks it, and whoever will take the fatigue to +climb to the top, may look down into the forbidden place. As we were +determined to see everything, we mounted all the winding stone steps +in the tower, from which the keeper pointed out to us the very spot +where our Saviour appeared to the Bienheureuse, as he called her. In a +clump of small trees are two statues, one of the Lord himself, and the +other of the nun on her knees, as she instantly sank to the ground +when she recognized before her the Majesty of her blessed Lord. There +is another place in the garden where also she beheld the same heavenly +vision. Sometimes the "Seigneur" appeared to her unattended; at others +he was accompanied by angels and seraphim. + +It is a little remarkable that this wonderful fact of the personal +appearance of Christ, though it occurred, according to the tradition, +_two hundred years ago_, did not attract more attention; that it was +neglected even by Catholic historians, until twelve years since--in +1863--when (as a part of a general movement "all along the line" to +revive the decaying faith of France) the marvellous story of this long +neglected saint was revived, and brought to the notice and adoration +of the religious world. + +But let not cold criticism come in to mar the full enjoyment of what +we have come so far to see. The principal visitations were not in the +garden but in the chapel of the convent, which on that account bears +the name of the Chapel of the Visitation. Here is the tomb which +contains the body of the sainted nun, an image of whom in wax lies +above it under a glass case, dressed in the robe of her order, with a +crown on her head, to bring before the imagination of the faithful the +presence of her at whose shrine they worship. The chapel is separated +from the convent by a large grating, behind which the nuns can be +hidden and yet hear the service, and chant their offices. There it +was, so it is said, behind that grate, while in an ecstasy of prayer, +that our Saviour first appeared to the gaze of the enraptured nun. The +grate is now literally covered with golden hearts, the offerings of +the faithful. Similar gifts hang over the altar, while gilded banners +and other votive offerings cover the walls. + +As we entered the chapel, it was evident that we were in what was to +many a holy place. At the moment there was no service going on, but +some were engaged in silent meditation and prayer. We seemed to be the +only persons present from curiosity. All around us were absorbed in +devotion. We sat a long time in silence, musing on the strange scene, +unwilling to disturb even by a whisper the stillness of the place, or +the thoughts of those who had come to worship. At three o'clock the +nuns began to sing their offices. But they did not show themselves. +There are other Sisters, who have the care of the chapel, and who come +in to trim the candles before the shrine, but the nuns proper live a +life of entire seclusion, never being seen by any one. Only their +voices are heard. Nothing could be more plaintive than their low +chanting, as it issued from behind the bars of their prison house, and +seemed to come from a distance. There, hidden from the eyes of all, +sat that invisible choir, and sang strains as soft as those which +floated over the shepherds of Bethlehem. As an accompaniment to the +scene in the chapel, nothing could be more effective; it was well +fitted to touch the imagination, as also when the priest intoned the +service in the dim light of this little church, with its censers +swinging with incense, and its ever-burning lamps. + +The walls of the chapel are covered with banners, some from other +countries, but most from France, and here it is easy to see how the +patriotic feeling mingles with the religious. Here and there may be +seen the image of the sacred heart with a purely religious +inscription, such as _Voici le coeur qui a tant aime les hommes_ +(here is the heart which has so loved men); but much more often it is, +COEUR DE JESUS, SAUVEZ LA FRANCE! This idea in some form constantly +reappears, and one cannot help thinking that this sudden outburst of +religious zeal has been greatly intensified by the disasters of the +German war; that for the first time French armies beaten in the field, +have resorted to prayer; that they fly to the Holy Virgin, and to the +Sacred Heart of Jesus to implore the protection which their own arms +could not give. Hung in conspicuous places on columns beside the +chancel are banners of Alsace and Lorraine, _covered with crape_, the +former with a cross in the centre, encircled with the words first +written in the sky before the adoring eyes of Constantine: IN HOC +SIGNO VINCES; while for Lorraine stands only the single name of METZ, +invested with such sad associations, with the inscription, SACRE +COEUR DE JESUS, SAUVEZ LA FRANCE! + +There is no doubt that these pilgrimages have been encouraged by +French politicians, as a means of reviving and inflaming the +enthusiasm of the people, not only for the old Catholic faith, but for +the old Catholic monarchy. Of the tens of thousands who flock to these +shrines, there are few who are not strong Legitimists. On the walls of +the chapel the most glittering banner is that of HENRI DE BOURBON, +which is the name by which the Comte de Chambord chooses to be known +as the representative of the old royal race. Not to be outdone in +pious zeal, Marshal MacMahon, who is a devout Catholic--and his wife +still more so--has also sent a banner to Paray-le-Monial, but it is +not displayed with the same ostentation. The Legitimists have no wish +to keep his name too much before the French people. He is well enough +as a temporary head of the State till the rightful sovereign comes, +but when Henri de Bourbon appears, they want no "Marshal-President" to +stand in his way as he ascends the throne of his ancestors. + +Thus excited by a strange mixture of religious zeal and political +enthusiasm, France pours its multitudes annually to these shrines of +Lourdes and Paray-le-Monial. We were too late for the rush this +year--the season was just over; for there is a season for going on +pilgrimages as for going to watering-places, and June is the month in +which they come in the greatest numbers. There have been as many as +twenty thousand in one day. On the 16th of June--which was a special +occasion--the crowd was so great that Mass was begun at two o'clock in +the morning, and repeated without ceasing till noon, the worshippers +retiring at the end of every half hour, that a new throng might take +their places. Thus successive pilgrims press forward to the holy +shrine, and go away with an elated, almost ecstatic feeling, that they +have left their sins and their sorrows at the tomb of the now sainted +and glorified nun. + +What shall we say to this? That it is all nonsense--folly, born of +fanaticism and superstition? Medical men will have an easy way of +disposing of this nun and her visions, by saying that she was simply a +crazy woman; that nothing is more common than these fancies of a +distempered imagination; that such cases may be found in every lunatic +asylum; that hysterical women often think that they have seen the +Saviour, &c. Such is a very natural explanation of this singular +phenomenon. There is no reason to suppose that this nun was a +designing woman, that she intended to deceive. People who have visions +are the sincerest of human beings. They have unbounded faith in +themselves, and think it strange that an unbelieving world does not +give the same credit to their revelations. + +From all that I have read of this Marie Alacoque, I am quite ready to +believe that she was indeed a very devout woman, who, buried in that +living tomb, a convent, praying and fasting, worked herself into such +a fever of excitement, that she thought the Saviour came down into the +garden, and into the chapel; that she saw his form and heard his +voice. To her it was all a living reality. But that her simple +statement, supported by no other evidence, should be gravely accepted +in this nineteenth century by men who are supposed to be still in the +possession of sober reason, is one of the strange things which it +would be impossible to believe, were it not that I have seen it with +my own eyes, and which is one more proof that wonders will never +cease. + +But sincerity of faith always commands a certain respect, even when +coupled with ignorance and superstition. If this shows an extreme of +credulity absolutely pitiful, yet we must consider it not as _we_ look +at it, but as these devout pilgrims regard it. To them this spot is +one of the holy places of the world, for here they believe the +Incarnate Divinity descended to the earth; they believe that this +garden has been touched by His blessed feet; and that this little +chapel, so honored in the past, is still filled with the presence of +Him who once was here, but is now ascended up far above all heavens. +And hence this Paray-le-Monial in their minds is invested with the +same sacred associations with which we regard Nazareth and Bethlehem. + +But with every disposition to look upon these manifestations in the +most indulgent light, it is impossible not to feel that there is +something very French in this way of attempting to revive the faith of +a great nation. Among this people everything seems to have a touch of +the theatrical--even in their religion there is frequency more of show +than of conviction. Thus this new worship is not addressed to the name +of our Saviour, but to His "sacred heart"! There is something in that +image which seems to take captive the French imagination. The very +words have a rich and mellow sound. And so the attempt which was +begun in an obscure village of Burgundy, is now proclaimed in Paris +and throughout the kingdom, to dedicate France to the sacred heart of +Jesus. + +This peculiar form of worship is the new religious fashion. A few +weeks since an imposing service attracted the attention of Paris. A +procession of bishops and priests, followed by great numbers of the +faithful, wound through the streets, up to the heights of Montmartre, +there to lay, with solemn ceremonies, the corner-stone of a new church +dedicated to the sacred heart. We drove to the spot, which is the +highest in the whole circle of Paris, and which overlooks it almost as +Edinburgh Castle overlooks that city. There one looks down on the +habitations of two millions of people. A church erected on that +height, with its golden cross lifted into mid-heaven, would seem like +a banner in the sky, to hold up before this unbelieving people an +everlasting sign of the faith. + +But though the Romish Church should consecrate ever so many shrines; +though it build churches and cathedrals, and rear its flaming crosses +on every hill and mountain from the Alps to the Pyrenees; it is not +thus that religion is to be enthroned in the hearts of a nation. The +fact is not to be disguised that France has fallen away from the +faith. It looks on at all these attempts with indifference, or with an +amused curiosity. If popular writers notice them at all, it is to make +them an object of ridicule. At one of the Paris theatres an actor +appears dressed as a Brahmin, and offers to swear "by the sacred heart +of _a cow_" (that being a sacred animal in India). The hit is caught +at once by the audience, who answer it with applause. It is thus that +the populace of Paris sneer at the new superstition. + +Would to God that France might be speedily recovered to a true +Christian faith; but it is not to be by any such fantastic tricks or +theatrical devices, by shows or processions, by gilded crosses or +waving banners, or by going on pilgrimages as in the days of the +Crusades. Even the Catholic Church has more efficient instruments at +command. The Sisters of Charity in hospitals are far more effective +missionaries than nuns behind the bars of a convent, singing hymns to +the Virgin, or lamps burning before the shrine of a saint dead +hundreds of years ago. If France is ever to be brought back to the +faith, it must be by arguments addressed to the understanding, which +shall meet the objections of modern science and philosophy; and, above +all, by living examples of its power. If Religion is to conquer the +modern world; if it is even to keep its present hold among the +nations, it must be brought into contact with the minds and hearts of +the people as never before; it must grapple with the problems of +modern society, with poverty and misery in all its forms. Especially +in the great capitals of Europe it has its hardest field, and there it +must go into all the narrow lanes and miserable dwellings, it must +minister to the sick, and clothe the naked and feed the hungry. France +will never be converted merely by dramatic exhibitions, that touch the +imagination. It must be by something that can touch the conscience and +the heart. Thus only can the heart of France ever be won to "the +sacred heart of Jesus." + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +UNDER THE SHADOW OF MONT BLANC. + + + THE VALE OF CHAMOUNI, July 15th. + +I did not mean to write anything about Switzerland, because it is such +trodden ground. Almost everybody that has been in Europe has been +here, and even to those who have not, repeated descriptions have made +it familiar. And yet when once among these mountains, the impression +comes back fresh and strong as ever, and while the spell is on the +traveller, he cannot but wish to impart a little of his enjoyment to +friends at home. + +We are in the Vale of Chamouni, under the shadow of Mont Blanc. In +this valley, shut in by the encircling mountains, one cannot escape +from that "awful form" any more than from the presence of God. It is +everywhere day and night. We throw open our windows, and it is +standing right before us. Even at night the moonlight is glistening on +its eternal snows. Thus it forces itself upon us, and must receive +respectful homage. + +We left Geneva on one of the most beautiful mornings of the year. +There has been great lamentation throughout Switzerland this summer, +on account of the frequent rains, which have enveloped the mountains +in a continual mist. But we have been favored in this respect, both at +Geneva and at Chamouni. To set out on a mountain excursion on such a +morning, and ride on the top of a diligence, is enough to stir the +blood of the most languid tourist. A French diligence is a monstrous +affair--a kind of Noah's Ark on wheels--that carries a multitude of +living creatures. We had twenty-four persons (three times as many as +Noah had in the Ark) mounted on this huge vehicle, to which were +harnessed six horses, three abreast. We had the front seat on the top. +In such grandeur we rolled out of Geneva, feeling at every step the +exhilaration of the mountain air, and the bright summer morning. The +postilion was in his glory. How he cracked his whip as we rattled +through the little Swiss villages, making the people run to get out of +his way, and stare in wonder at the tremendous momentum of his +imperial equipage. To us, who sat sublime "above the noise and dust of +this dim spot called earth," there was something at once exciting and +ludicrous in the commotion we made. But there were other occasions for +satisfaction. The day was divine. The country around Geneva rises from +the lake, and spreads out in wide, rolling distances, bordered on +every side by the great mountains. The air was full of the smell of +new-mown hay, while over all hung the bending sky, full of sunshine. +Thus with every sense keen with delight, we sat on high and took in +the full glory of the scene, as we swept on towards the Alps. + +As we advance the mountains close in around us, till we cannot see +where we are to find a passage through them. For the last half of the +way the construction of the road has been a difficult task of +engineering; for miles it has to be built up against the mountain; at +other places a passage is cut in the side of the cliff, or a tunnel +made through the rock. Yet difficult as it was, the work has been +thoroughly done. It was completed by Napoleon III., after Savoy was +annexed to France, and is worthy to compare with the road which the +first Napoleon built over the Simplon. Over such a highway we rolled +on steadily to the end of our journey. + +And now we are in the Vale of Chamouni, in the very heart of the Alps, +under the shadow of the greatest of them all: + + "Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains + They crowned him long ago + On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, + With a diadem of snow." + +Once in the valley, we can hardly turn aside our eyes from that +overpowering object. We keep looking up at that mighty dome, which +seems to touch the sky. Fortunately for us, there was no cloud about +the throne. Like other monarchs, he is somewhat fitful and capricious, +often hiding his royal head from the sight of his worshippers. Many +persons come to Chamouni, and do not see Mont Blanc at all. Sometimes +they wait for days for an audience of his majesty, without success. +But he favored us at once with the sight of his imperial countenance. +Glorious was it to behold him as he shone in the last rays of the +setting sun. And when evening drew on, the moon hung above that lofty +summit, as if unwilling to leave. As she declined towards the west, +she did not disappear at once; but as the mountains themselves sank +away from the height of Mont Blanc, the moon seemed to glide slowly +down the descending slope, setting and reappearing, and touching the +whole with her silver radiance. + +But sunset and moonlight were both less impressive than sunrise. +Remembering Coleridge's "Hymn to Mont Blanc," which is supposed to be +written "before sunrise in the Vale of Chamouni," we were up in the +morning to catch the earliest dawn. It was long in coming. At first a +few faint streaks of light shot up the eastern sky; then a rosy tinge +flushed the head of Mont Blanc; then other snowy summits caught the +golden glow; till a hundred splintered peaks, that formed a part of +the mighty range, reflected the light of coming day, and at last the +full orb himself rose above the tops of the mountains, and shone down +into the valley. + +Of course all visitors to Chamouni have to climb some of the lower +mountains to see the glaciers, and get a general view of the chain of +Mont Blanc. My companion was ambitious to do something more than +this. She is a very good walker and climber, and had taken many long +tramps among our Berkshire Hills, and to her Mont Blanc did not seem +much more than Monument Mountain. In truth, the eye is deceived in +judging of these tremendous heights, and cannot take in at first the +real elevation. But when they are accurately measured, Mont Blanc is +found to be about twenty times as high as the cliff which overlooks +our Housatonic Valley! But a young enthusiast feels equal to anything, +and she seemed really quite disappointed that she could not at least +go as far as the Grands Mulets (where, with a telescope, we can just +see a little cabin on the rocks), which is the limit of the first +day's journey for adventurous tourists, most of whom do not get any +further. A party that went up yesterday, intending to reach the top of +Mont Blanc, had to turn back. A recent fall of snow had buried the +mountain, so that they sank deep at every step; and finding it +dangerous to proceed, they prudently abandoned the attempt. + +The ascent of Mont Blanc, at all times difficult, is often a dangerous +undertaking. Many adventurous travellers have lost their lives in the +attempt. An avalanche may bury a whole party in a moment; or if lashed +to the guides by a rope, one slipping may drag the whole down into one +of the enormous crevasses, where now many bodies lie unburied, yet +preserved from decay in the eternal ice. Only five years ago, in +September, 1870, a party of eleven--three tourists (of whom two were +Americans), with eight guides and porters--were all lost. They had +succeeded in reaching the summit of the mountain, when a snow-storm +came on, and it was impossible for them to descend. The body of one of +them, Dr. Bean, of Baltimore, was recovered, and is buried in the +little graveyard here. With such warnings, a sober old uncle might be +excused for restraining a young lady's impetuosity. If we could be +here a month, and "go into training," by long walks and climbs every +day, I do believe we should gradually work our courage up to the +sticking-point, and at last climb to the top, and plant a very modest +American flag on the hoary head of Mont Blanc. + +But for the present we must be content with a less ambitious +performance, and make only the customary ascent of the Montanvert, and +cross the Mer de Glace. We left at eight o'clock yesterday morning. +Our friends in New York would hardly have recognized me in my +travelling dress of Scotch gray, with a slouched straw hat on my head, +and an alpenstock in my hand. The hat was very useful, if not +ornamental. I bought it for one franc, and it answered as well as if +it had cost a guinea. To be sure, as it had a broad brim, it had a +slight tendency to take wings and fly away, and light in some mountain +torrent, from which it was speared out with the alpenstock, and +restored to its place of honor; but it did excellent service in +protecting my eyes from the blinding reflection of the snow. C---- was +mounted on a mule, which she had at first refused, preferring her own +agile feet; but I insisted on it, as a very useful beast to fall back +upon in case the fatigue was too great. Thus accoutred, our little +cavalcade, with our guide leading the way, filed out of Chamouni. If +any of my readers laugh at our droll appearance, they are quite +welcome--for we laughed at ourselves. Comfort is worth more than +dignity in such a case; and if anybody is abashed at the ludicrous +figure he cuts, he may console himself by reflecting that he is in +good company. I saw in Paris the famous picture by David of Napoleon +crossing the Alps, which represents him mounted on a gallant charger, +his military cloak flying in the air, while he points his soldiers +upward to the heights they are to scale. This is very fine to look at; +but the historical fact is said to be that Napoleon rode over the Alps +on a mule, and if he encountered rains and storms, he was no doubt as +bedraggled as any Alpine tourist. But that did not prevent his gaining +the battle of Marengo. + +But all thoughts of our appearance vanish when once we begin to climb +the mountain side. For two hours we kept winding in a zigzag path +through the perpetual pine forest. At every turn in the road, or +opening in the trees, we stopped to look at the valley below, where +the objects grew smaller, as we receded further from them. Is it not +so in life? As some one has said, "Everything will look small enough +if we only get high enough." All rude noises died away in the +distance, till there rose into the upper air only the sound of the +streams that were rushing through the valley below. + +At a chalet half way up the mountain a living chamois was kept for +show. It was very young, and was suckled by a goat. It was touching to +see how the little creature pined for freedom, and leaped against the +sides of his pen. Child of the mountain, he seemed entitled to +liberty, and I longed to break open his cage and set the little +prisoner free, and see him bound away upon the mountain side. + +Climbing, still climbing, another hour brings us to the top of the +Montanvert, where we look down upon the Mer de Glace. Here all the +party quit their mules, which are sent to another point, to meet us as +we come down from the mountain--and taking our alpenstocks in hand +(which are long staffs, with a spike at the end to stick in the ice, +to keep ourselves from slipping), we descend to the Mer de Glace, an +enormous glacier formed by the masses of snow and ice which collect +during the long winters, filling up the whole space between two +mountains. It was in studying the glaciers of Switzerland for a course +of years, that Agassiz formed his glacial theory; and in seeing here +how the steady pressure of such enormous masses of ice, weighing +millions of tons, have carried down huge boulders of granite, which +lie strewn all along its track, one can judge how the same causes, +operating at a remote period, and on a vast scale, may have changed +the whole surface of the globe. + +But we must not stop to philosophize, for we are now just at the edge +of the glacier, and need our wits about us, and eyes too, to keep a +sharp lookout for dangerous places, and steady feet, and hands keeping +a tight hold of our trusty alpenstocks. The Mer de Glace is just what +its name implies--a Sea of Ice--and looks as if, when some wild +torrent came tumbling through the awful pass, it had been suddenly +stopped by the hand of the Almighty, and frozen as it stood. And so it +stands, its waves dashed up on high, and its chasms yawning below. It +is said to reach up into the mountains for miles. We can see how it +goes up to the top of the gorge and disappears on the other side; but +those who wish to explore its whole extent, may walk over it or beside +it all day. Though dangerous in some places, yet where tourists cross, +they can pick their way with a little care. The more timid ones cling +closely to the guide, holding him fast by the hand. One lady of our +party, who had four bearers to carry her in a Sedan chair, found her +head swim as she crossed. But C----, who had been gathering flowers +all the way up the mountain, made them into a bouquet, which she +fastened to one end of her alpenstock, and striking the other firmly +in the ice, moved on with as free a step as if she were walking along +some breezy path among our Berkshire Hills. + +But the most difficult part of the course is not in crossing the Mer +de Glace, but in coming down on the other side. It is not always +_facilis descensus_; it is sometimes _difficilis descensus_. There is +one part of the course called the _Mauvais Pas_, which winds along the +edge of the cliff, and would hardly be passable but for an iron rod +fastened in the side of the rock, to which one clings for support, and +looking away from the precipice on the other side, makes the passage +in safety. + +And now we come to the Chapeau, a little chalet perched on a shelf of +rock, from which one can look down thousands of feet into the Vale of +Chamouni. As we pass along by the side of the glacier, we see nearer +the end some frightful crevasses, which the boldest guide would not +dare to cross. The ice is constantly wearing away; indeed so great is +the discharge of water from the melting of the ice and the snow, that +a rapid river is all the time rushing out of it. The Arveiron takes +its rise in the Mer de Glace, while the Arve rises in another glacier +higher up the valley. As Coleridge says, in his Hymn to Mont Blanc, + + The Arve and Arveiron at thy base + Rave ceaselessly; + +the sound of the streams, mingling with the waterfalls on the sides of +the mountains, filling the air with a perpetual sound like the roaring +of the sea. + +Coleridge speaks also of Mont Blanc as rising from a "silent sea of +pines." Nothing can be more accurate than this picture of the +universal forest, which overflows all the valleys, and reaches up the +mountains, to the edge of eternal snows. At such heights the pines are +the only trees that live, and there they stand through all the storms +of winter. Looking around on this landscape, made up of forest and +snow, alternately dark and bright, it seems as if Mont Blanc were the +Great White Throne of the Almighty, and as if these mighty forests +that stand quivering on the mountain side, were the myriads of mankind +gathered into this Valley of Judgment, and here standing rank on rank, +waiting to hear their doom. + +But yet the impression is not one wholly of terror, or even of unmixed +awe. There is beauty as well as wildness in the scene. Nothing can +exceed the quiet and seclusion of these mountain paths, and there is +something very sweet to the ear in + + "The murmuring pines and the hemlocks," + +which fill "the forest primeval" with their gentle sound. And when at +evening one hears the tinkling cow-bells, as the herds return from the +mountain pastures, there is a pastoral simplicity in the scene which +is very touching, and we could understand how the Swiss air of the +_Ranz des Vaches_ (or the returning of the cows) should awaken such a +feeling of homesickness in the soldier far from his native mountains, +that bands have been prohibited from playing it in Swiss regiments +enlisted in foreign armies. + +When we came down from the Mer de Glace, it was not yet three o'clock, +and before us on the opposite side of the valley rose another +mountain, which we might ascend before night if we had strength left. +We felt a little remorse at giving the guide another half-day's work; +but he, foreseeing extra pay, said cheerfully that _he_ could stand +it; the mule said nothing, but pricked up his long ears as if he was +thinking very hard, and if the miracle of Balaam could have been +repeated, I think the poor dumb beast would have had a pretty decided +opinion. But it being left to us, we declared for a fresh ascent, and +once more set our faces skyward, and went climbing upward for two +hours more. + +We were well paid for the fatigue. The Flegere, facing Mont Blanc, +commands a full view of the whole range, and as the clouds drifted +off, we saw distinctly every peak. + +Thus elated and jubilant we set out to return. Until now, we had kept +along with the mule, alternating a ride and walk, as boys are +accustomed to "ride and tie"; but now our eagerness could not be +restrained, and we gave the reins to the guide to lead the patient +creature down into the valley, while we, with unfettered limbs, strode +joyous down the mountain side. It was seven o'clock when we reached +our hotel. We had been steadily in motion--except a short rest for +lunch at the Chapeau on the mountain--for eleven hours. + +Here ends the journey of the day, but not the moral of it. I hope it +is not merely a professional habit that leads me to wind up +everything with an application; but I cannot look upon a grand scene +of nature without gliding insensibly into religious reflections. +Nature leads me directly to Nature's God. The late Prof. Albert +Hopkins, of Williams College, of blessed memory, a man of science and +yet of most devout spirit, who was as fond of the hills as a born +mountaineer, and who loved nothing so much as to lead his Alpine Club +over the mountains around Williamstown--was accustomed, when he had +conducted them to some high, commanding prospect, to ask whether the +sight of such great scenes _made them feel great or small_? I can +answer for myself that the impression is a mixed one; that it both +lifts me up and casts me down. Certainly the sight of such sublimity +elevates the soul with a sense of the power and majesty of the +Creator. While climbing to-day, I have often repeated to myself that +old, majestic hymn: + + I sing the mighty power of God, + That made the mountains rise; + +and another: + + 'Tis by thy strength the mountains stand, + God of eternal power, + The sea grows calm at thy command, + And tempests cease to roar. + +But in another view the sight of these great objects of nature is +depressing. It makes one feel his own littleness and insignificance. I +look up at Mont Blanc with a telescope, and can just see a party +climbing near the Grands Mulets. How like creeping insects they look; +and how like insects they _are_ in the duration of their existence, +compared with the everlasting forms of nature. The flying clouds that +cast their shadows on the head of Mont Blanc are not more fleeting. +They pass like a bird and are gone, while the mountains stand fast +forever, and with their eternity seem to mock the fugitive existence +of man upon the earth. + +I confess the impression is very depressing. These terrible mountains +crush me with their awful weight. They make me feel that I am but an +atom in the universe; a moth whose ceasing to exist would be no more +than the blowing out of a candle. And I am not surprised that men who +live among the mountains, are sometimes so overwhelmed with the +greatness of nature, that they are ready to acquiesce in their own +annihilation, or absorption in the universal being. + +Talking with Father Hyacinthe the other evening (as we sat on the +terrace of the Hotel Beau Rivage at Geneva, overlooking the lake), he +spoke of the alarming spread of unbelief in Europe, and quoted a +distinguished professor of Zurich, of whom he spoke with great +respect, as a man of learning and of excellent character, who had +frankly confessed to him that he did not believe in the immortality of +the soul; and when Father Hyacinthe replied in amazement, "If I +believed thus I would go and throw myself into the Lake of Zurich," +the professor answered with the utmost seriousness, "That is not a +just religious feeling; if you believe in God as an infinite Creator +you ought to be _willing_ to cease to exist, feeling that God is the +only Being who is worthy to live eternally." + +Marvellous as this may seem, yet something of this feeling comes to +thoughtful and serious minds from the long and steadfast contemplation +of nature. One is so little in the presence of the works of God, that +he feels that he is absolutely _nothing_; and it seems of small moment +whether he should exist hereafter or not; and he could _almost_ be +willing that his life should expire, like a lamp that has burned +itself out; that he should indeed cease to exist, with all things that +live; that God might be God alone. If shut up in these mountains, as +in a prison from which I could not escape, I could easily sink into +this gloom and despondency. + +Pascal has tried to break the force of this overwhelming impression of +the awfulness of nature in one of his most striking thoughts, when, +speaking of the greatness and the littleness of man, he says: "It is +not necessary for the whole universe to arm itself to destroy him: a +drop of water, a breath of air, is sufficient to kill him. And yet +even in death man is greater than the universe, for _he knows that he +is dying_, while the universe knows not anything." This is finely +expressed, but it does not lighten the depth of our despair. For that +we must turn to one greater than Pascal, who has said, "Not a sparrow +falleth to the ground without your Father; be of good cheer therefore, +ye are of more value than many sparrows." Nature is great, but God is +greater. + +In riding through the Alps--especially through deep passes, where +walls of rock on either hand almost touch the sky--it seems as if the +whole world were a realm of Death, and this the universal tomb. But +even here I see erected on almost every hilltop a cross (for the +Savoyards are a very religious people), and this sign of our +salvation, standing on every high place, amid the lightning and storm, +and amid the winter snows, seems to be a protest against that law of +death which reigns on every side. Great indeed is the realm of Death, +but greater still is the realm of Life; and though God only hath +immortality, and is indeed "the only Being worthy to live forever," +yet joined to Him, we shall have a part in His own eternity, and shall +live when even the everlasting mountains, and the great globe itself, +shall have passed away. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +SWITZERLAND. + + + LUCERNE, July 22d. + +To know Switzerland well, one should spend weeks and months among its +lakes and mountains. He should not merely pay a formal visit to +Nature, but take up his abode with her. One can never "exhaust" such a +country. Professor Tyndall has been for years in the habit of spending +his summer vacation here, and always finds new mountains to climb, and +new passes to explore. But this would hardly suit Americans, who are +in the habit of "rushing things," and who wish in a first visit to +Europe, to get at least a general impression of the Continent. But +even a few days in Switzerland are not lost. In that time one may see +sights that will be fixed in his brain while life lasts, and receive +impressions that will never depart from him. + +We left the Vale of Chamouni with the feeling of sadness with which +one always comes down from the mount, where he has had an immortal +vision. Slowly we rode up the valley, often turning to take a last +lingering look at the white head of Mont Blanc, and then, like +Pilgrim, we "went on our way and saw him no more." + +But we did not come out of Chamouni as we went into it, on the top of +a diligence, with six horses, "rolling forward with impetuous speed" +over a magnificent highway. We had now nothing before us but a common +mountain-road, and our chariot was only a rude wagon, made with low +wheels to go up and down steep ascents. It was only for us two, which +suited us the better, as we had Nature all to ourselves, and could +indulge our pleasure and our admiration, without restraint. Thus +mounted, we went creeping up the pass of the Tete Noire. Nature is a +wise economist, and, after showing the traveller Mont Blanc, lets him +down gradually. If we had not come from those more awful heights and +abysses, we should consider this day's ride unsurpassed in savage +grandeur. Great mountains tower up on either hand, their lower sides +dark with pines, and their crests capped with snow. Here by the +roadside a cross marks the spot where an avalanche, falling from +yonder peak, buried two travellers. At some seasons of the year the +road is almost impassable. All along are heaps of stones to mark its +track where the winter drifts are piled so high in these gorges that +all trace of a path is lost. Even now in mid-summer the pass is wild +enough to satisfy the most romantic tastes. The day was in harmony +with the scene. Our fine weather was all gone. Clouds darkened the +sky, and angry gusts of wind and rain swept in our faces. But what +could check one's spirits let loose in such a scene? Often we got out +and walked, to work off our excitement, stopping at every turn in the +road that opened some new view, or sheltering ourselves under a rock +from the rain, and listening with delight to hear the pines murmur and +the torrents roar. + +The ride over the Tete Noire takes a whole day. The road zigzags in +every direction, winding here and there to get a foothold--now hugging +the side of the mountain, creeping along the edge of a precipice, +where it makes one dizzy to look down; now rounding a point which +seems to hang over some awful depth, or seeking a safer path by a +tunnel through the rocks. Up and down, hither and thither we go, but +still everywhere encompassed with mountains, till at last one long +climb--a hard pull for the horses--brings us to a height from which we +descry in the distance the roofs and spires of a town, and begin to +descend. But we are still more than an hour winding our way through +the gentle slopes and among the Swiss chalets, till we rattle through +the stony streets of Martigny, a place of some importance, from being +at the foot of the Alps, and the point from which to make the ascent +of the Great Saint Bernard. It was by this route that Napoleon in 1800 +led his daring soldiers over the Alps; the long lines of infantry and +artillery passed up this valley, and climbed yonder mountain side, a +hundred men being harnessed to a single cannon, and dragging it upward +by sheer strength of muscle. Of all the host that made that stupendous +march, perhaps not one survives; but the mountains are still here, as +the proof and the monument of their great achievement. And the same +Hospice, where the monks gave bread and wine to the passing soldiers, +is on the summit still, and the good monks with their faithful dogs, +watch to rescue lost travellers. Attached to it is a monastery here in +Martigny, to which the old monks, when worn out with years of exposure +and hardship in living above the clouds, can retire to die in peace. + +At Martigny we take our leave of mountain roads and mountain +transport, as we here touch a railroad, and are once more within the +limits of civilization. We step from our little wagon (which we do not +despise, since it has carried us safely over an Alpine pass) into a +luxurious railway carriage, and reclining at our ease, are whirled +swiftly down the Valley of the Rhone to the Lake of Geneva. + +Of course all romantic tourists stop at Villeneuve, to visit the +Castle of Chillon, which Byron has made so famous. I had been under +its arches and in its vaulted chambers years ago, and was surprised at +the fresh interest which I had in revisiting the spot. It is at once +"a palace and a prison." We went down into the dungeon in which +Bonnivard was confined, and saw the pillar to which he was chained for +so many years that his feet wore holes in the stone floor. The pillar +is now covered with names of pilgrims that have visited his prison as +"a holy place." We were shown, also, the Chamber of Question, +(adjoining what was called, as if in mockery, the Hall of Justice!) +where prisoners were put to the torture, with the post still standing +to which they were bound, with the marks upon it of the hot irons +which were applied to their writhing limbs. Under this is the dungeon +where the condemned passed their last night before execution, chained +to a sloping rock, above which, dimly seen in the gloom, is the +cross-beam to which they were hung, and near the floor is an opening +in the wall, through which their bodies were cast into the lake. In +another part of the castle is shown the _oubliette_--a pit or well, +into which the victim was thrown, and fell into some unknown depth, +and was seen no more. Such are some of the remains of an age of +"chivalry." One cannot look at these instruments of torture without a +shudder at "man's inhumanity to man," and rejoicing that such things +are past, since in no country of Europe--not even in Spain, the land +of the Inquisition--could such barbarities be permitted now. Surely +civilization has made some progress since those ages of cruelty and +blood. + +Leaving these gloomy dungeons, we come up into air and sunshine, and +skim along the Lake of Geneva by the railway, which, lying "between +sea and shore," presents a succession of charming views. On one side +all the slopes are covered with vines, which are placed on this +southern exposure to ripen in the sun; on the other is the lake, with +the mountains beyond. + +At Lausanne I had hoped to meet an old friend, Prof. J. F. Astie, once +pastor of the French church in New York, and now Professor in the +Theological Seminary here, but he was taking his vacation in the +country. We drove, however, to his house, which is on high ground, in +the rear of the town, and commands a lovely view of the lake, with the +mountains in the distance as a background for the picture. + +When I was in Switzerland twenty seven years ago, such a thing as a +railroad was unknown. Now they are everywhere, and though it may seem +very prosaic to travel among the mountains by steam, still it is a +great convenience, in getting from one point to another. Of course, +when it comes to climbing the Alps, one must take to mules or to his +feet. + +The railroad from Lausanne to Berne, after reaching the heights around +the former city, lingers long, as if reluctant to quit the enchanting +scenery around the lake, but at length plunging through a tunnel, it +leaves all that glory behind, to turn to other landscapes in the heart +of Switzerland. For a few leagues, the country, though not +mountainous, is undulating, and richly cultivated. At Fribourg the two +suspension bridges are the things to _see_, and the great organ the +thing to _hear_, which being done, one may pass on to Berne, the +capital of Switzerland, a compact and prosperous town of some 35,000 +inhabitants. The environs are very beautiful, comprising several parks +and long avenues of trees. But what one may see _in_ Berne, is nothing +to what one may see _from_ it, which is the whole chain of the Bernese +Oberland. We were favored with only a momentary sight, but even that +we shall never forget. As we were riding out of the town, the sun, +which was setting, burst through the clouds, and lighted up a long +range of snowy peaks. This was the Alpine afterglow. It was like a +vision of the heavenly battlements, with all their pinnacles and +towers shining resplendent in the light of setting day. We gazed in +silent awe till the dazzling radiance crept to the last mountain top, +and faded into night. + +A few miles from Berne, we crossed the Lake of Thun, a sheet of water, +which, like Loch Lomond and other Scotch lakes, derives its chief +beauty from reflecting in its placid bosom the forms of giant +mountains. Between Thun and Brienz lies the little village fitly +called from its position Interlachen (between the lakes). This is the +heart of the Bernese Oberland. The weather on Saturday permitted no +excursions. But we were content to remain indoors after so much +climbing, and here we passed a quiet and most restful Sunday. There is +but one building for religious services--an old Schloss, but it +receives into its hospitable walls three companies of worshippers. In +one part is a chapel fitted up for the Catholics; in another the +Church of England gathers a large number of those travellers from +Britain, who to their honor carry their religious observances with +them. Besides these I found in the same building a smaller room, where +the Scotch Presbyterians meet for worship, and where a minister of the +Free Church was holding forth with all that _ingenium perfervidum +Scotorum_ for which his countrymen are celebrated. It was a great +pleasure and comfort to meet with this little congregation, and to +listen to songs and prayers which brought back so many tender memories +of home. + +While enjoying this rest, we had mourned the absence of the sun. +Interlachen lies in the very lap of the mountains. But though so near, +our eyes were holden that we could not see them, and we thought we +should have to leave without even a sight of the Jungfrau. But Monday +morning, as we rose early to depart, the clouds were gone--and there +it stood revealed to us in all its splendor, a pyramid of snow, only a +little less lofty than Mont Blanc himself. Having this glorious vision +vouchsafed to us, we departed in peace. + +Sailing over the Lake of Brienz, as we had over that of Thun, we came +again to a mountain pass, which had to be crossed by diligence; and +here, as before, mounted in the front seat beside the postilion, we +feasted our eyes on all the glory of Alpine scenery. For nearly two +hours we were ascending at the side of the Vale of Meyringen, from +which, as we climbed higher and higher, we looked down to a greater +depth, and often at a turn of the road could see back to the Lake of +Brienz, which lay far behind us, and thus in one view took in all the +beauties of lake and valley and mountain. While slowly moving upward, +boys ran along by the diligence, singing snatches from the _Ranz des +Vaches_, the wild airs of these mountain regions. If it was so +exciting to go up, it was hardly less so to come down. The road is not +like that over the Tete Noire, but is smooth and even like that from +Geneva to Chamouni, and we were able to trot rapidly down the slope, +and as the road turns here and there to get an easy grade, we had a +hundred lovely views down the valley which was opening before us. Thus +we came to the Lake of the Four Cantons, over which a steamer brought +us to Lucerne. + +My friend Dr. Holland has spoken of the place where I now write as +"the spot on earth which seemed to him nearest to heaven," and surely +there are few where one feels so much like saying, "This is my rest, +and here will I dwell." The great mountains shut out the world with +all its noises, and the lake, so peaceful itself, invites to repose. + +There are two ways to enjoy a beautiful sheet of water--one from its +shores, and the other from its surface. We have tried both. The first +evening we took a boat and spent a couple of hours on the lake. How it +recalled the moonlight evenings at Venice, when we floated in our +gondola! Indeed the boatmen here are not unlike the gondoliers. They +have the same way of standing, instead of sitting, in the boat and +pushing, instead of pulling, the oars. They manage their little crafts +with great skill, and cause them to glide very swiftly through the +water. We took a row of several miles to call on a friend, who was at +a villa on the lake. She had left for Zurich, but the villa was +occupied. A day or two before it had been taken by a lady, who, though +she came with a retinue large enough to fill all the rooms, wished to +be _incognita_. She proved to be the Queen of Saxony, who, like all +the rest of the world, was glad to have a little retirement, and to +escape from the stiffness of court life in her palace at Dresden, to +enjoy herself on these quiet shores. While we were in the grounds, +she came out, and walked under the trees, in most simple dress: a +woman whom it was pleasant to look upon, a fair-haired daughter of the +North, (she is a Swedish princess,) who won the hearts of the Saxon +people by her care for the wounded in the Franco-German war. She shows +her good sense and quiet tastes to seek seclusion and repose in such a +spot as this, (instead of going off to fashionable watering-places,) +where she can sit quietly by these tranquil waters, under the shadow +of these great mountains. + +All travellers who go to Lucerne must make an excursion to the Righi, +a mountain a few miles from the town, which is exalted above other +mountains of Switzerland, not because it is higher--for, in fact, it +is much lower than many of them--but that it stands alone, apart from +a chain, and so commands a view on all sides--a view of vast extent +and of infinite variety. I had been on the Righi-Culm before, but the +impression had somewhat faded, and I was glad to go again, when all my +enthusiasm was renewed. The mountain is easier of access now. Then I +walked up, as most tourists did; now there is a railroad to the very +top, which of itself is worth a visit, as a remarkable piece of +engineering, mounting a very steep grade--in many places _one foot in +every four_! This is a terrible climb, and is only overcome by +peculiar machinery. The engine is behind, and pushes the car up the +ascent. Of course if any accident were to happen by which the train +were to break loose, it would descend with tremendous velocity. But +this is guarded against by a central rail, into which a wheel fits +with cogs; so that, in case of any accident to the engine, by shutting +down the brakes, the whole could be held fast, as in a vice, and be +immovable. The convenience of the road is certainly very great, but +the sensation is peculiar--of being literally "boosted" up into the +clouds. + +But once there, we are sensible that we are raised into a higher +region; we breathe a purer air. The eye ranges over the fairest +portion of Switzerland. Seen from such a height, the country seems +almost a plain; and yet viewed more closely, we see hills and valleys, +diversified with meadows and forests. We can count a dozen lakes. On +the horizon stretches the great chain of the Alps, covered with snow, +and when the sun breaks through the clouds, it gleams with unearthly +brightness. But it is impossible to describe all that is comprised in +that one grand panorama. Surely, I thought, these must be the +Delectable Mountains from which Bunyan's Pilgrim caught a sight of the +Celestial City; and it seemed as if, in the natural order of things, +when one is travelling over the earth, he ought to come here _last_ +(as Moses went up into Mount Nebo to catch a glimpse of the Promised +Land, _and die_), so that from this most elevated point of his +pilgrimage he might step into heaven. + +But at last we had to come down from the mount, and quieted our +excited imaginations by a sail up the lake. Fluellen, at the end of +the lake, was associated in my mind with a sad memory, and as soon as +we reached it, I went to the principal hotel, and asked if an American +gentleman had not died there two years since? They answered Yes, and +took me at once to the very room where Judge Chapman, the Chief +Justice of Massachusetts, breathed his last. He was a good man, and as +true a friend as we ever had. The night before he sailed we spent with +him at the Fifth Avenue Hotel. He came abroad for his health, but did +not live to return; and a few months after our parting, it was our sad +privilege to follow him to the grave in Springfield, where all the +judges of the Supreme Court of Massachusetts, and great numbers of the +Bar, stood around his bier. + +If Lucerne presents such beautiful scenes in nature, it has also one +work of art, which impresses me as much as anything of the kind in +Europe. I refer to the lion of Thorwaldsen, intended to commemorate +the courage and fidelity of the Swiss regiment who were the guards of +the King Louis XVI., and who, in attempting to defend him, were +massacred in Paris on the fatal 10th of August, 1792. Never was a +great act of courage more simply, yet more grandly illustrated. The +size is colossal, the work being cut in the side of a rock. The lion +is twenty-eight feet long. Nothing can be more majestic than his +attitude. The noble beast is dying, he has exhausted his strength in +battle, but even as he sinks in death, he stretches out one huge paw +over the shield which bears on it the lilies of France, the emblem of +that royal power which he has vainly endeavored to protect. There is +something almost human in the face, in the deep-set eyes, and the +drooping mouth. It is not only the death agony, but the greater agony +of defeat, which is expressed in every line of that leonine +countenance. Nothing in ancient sculpture, not even the Dying +Gladiator, gives more of mournful dignity in death. I could hardly +tear myself away from it, and when we turned to leave, kept looking +back at it. It shows the wonderful genius of Thorwaldsen. When one +compares it with the lions around the monument of Nelson in Trafalgar +Square in London, one sees the difference between a work of genius, +and that of mere imitation. Sir Edwin Landseer, though a great painter +of animals, was not so eminent as a sculptor; and was at work for +years on his model, and finally copied, it is said, as nearly as he +could, an old lion in the Zoological Gardens; and then had the four +cast from one mould, so that all are just alike. How differently would +Thorwaldsen have executed such a work! + +With such attractions of art and nature, Lucerne seems indeed one of +the most beautiful spots on the face of the earth. Sometimes a +peculiar state of the atmosphere, or sunset or moonlight, gives +peculiar effects to scenes so wonderful. Last night, as we were +sitting in front of the Hotel, our attention was attracted by what +seemed a conflagration lighting up the horizon. Wider and wider it +spread, and higher and higher it rose on the evening sky. All were +eager as to the cause of this illumination, when the mystery was +explained by the full moon rising above the horizon, and casting a +flood of light over lake and mountain. Who could but feel that God was +near at such an hour, in such a blending of the earth and sky? + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +ON THE RHINE. + + + COLOGNE, July 26th. + +He that goeth up into a high mountain, must needs come down. We have +been these many days among the Alps, passing from Chamouni to the +Bernese Oberland, and now we must descend into the plains. The change +is a pleasant one after so much excitement and fatigue. One cannot +bear too much exaltation. After having dwelt awhile among the +sublimities of Nature, it is a relief to come down to her more common +and familiar aspects; the sunshine is doubly grateful after the gloom +of Alpine passes; meadows and groves are more pleasant to the eye than +snow-clad peaks; and more sweet to the ear than the roar of mountain +torrents, is the murmur of softly-flowing streams. From Lucerne, our +way lies over that undulating country which we had surveyed the day +before from the summit of the Righi, winding around the Lake of Zug, +and ending at the Lake of Zurich. + +The position of Zurich is very much like that of Lucerne, at the end +of a lake, and surrounded by hills. A ride around the town shows many +beautiful points of view, on one of which stands the University, which +has an European reputation. Zurich has long been a literary centre of +some importance, not only for Switzerland, but for Germany, as it is +on the border of both. The University gathers students from different +countries, even from Russia. We ended the day with a sail on the +water, which at evening is alive with boats, glancing here and there +in the twilight. Then rows of lamps are lighted all along the shore, +which are reflected in the water; the summer gardens are thronged, and +bands fill the air with music. The gayety of such a scene I enjoy most +from a little distance; but there are few more exquisite pleasures +than to lie motionless, floating, and listening to music that comes +stealing over the water. Then the boatman dipped his oar gently, as if +fearing to break the charm, and rowed us back to our hotel; but the +music continued to a late hour, and lulled us to sleep. + +From Zurich, a morning ride brought us to Schaffhausen, where we +stopped a few hours to see the Falls of the Rhine, which are set down +in the guide-books as "the most considerable waterfall in Europe." Of +course it is a very small affair compared with Niagara. And yet I do +not like to hear Americans speak of it, as they are apt to do, with +contempt. A little good sense would teach us to enjoy whatever is set +before us in nature, without boastful comparisons with something in +our own country. It is certainly very beautiful. + +From Schaffhausen a new railway has recently been opened through the +Black Forest--a region which may well attract the readers of romance, +since it has been the scene of many of the legends which abound in +German literature, and may be said to be haunted with the heroes of +fiction, as Scott has peopled the glens of Scotland. In the Forest +itself there is nothing imposing. It is spread over a large tract of +country, like the woods of Northern New York. The most remarkable +thing in it now is the railroad itself, which is indeed a wonderful +piece of engineering. It was constructed by the same engineer who +pierced the Alps by a tunnel under the Mont Cenis, nearly eight miles +long, through which now pours the great volume of travel from France +to Italy. Here he had a different, but perhaps not less difficult, +task. The formation of the country offers great obstacles to the +passage of a railroad. If it were only one high mountain, it could be +tunnelled, but instead of a single chain which has to be crossed, the +Forest is broken up into innumerable hills, detached from each other, +and offering few points of contact as a natural bridge for a road to +pass over. The object, of course, is to make the ascents and descents +without too abrupt a grade, but for this it is necessary to wind about +in the most extraordinary manner. The road turns and twists in endless +convolutions. Often we could see it at three different points at the +same time, above us and below us, winding hither and thither in a +perfect labyrinth; so that it was impossible to tell which way we were +going. We counted thirty-seven tunnels within a very short distance. +It required little imagination to consider our engine, that went +whirling about at such a rate, puffing and screaming with excitement, +as a wild beast caught in the mountains, and rushing in every +direction, and even thrusting his head into the earth, to escape his +pursuers. At length the haunted fugitive plunges through the side of a +mountain, and escapes down the valley. + +And now we are in a land of streams, where mighty rivers begin their +courses. See you that little brook by the roadside, which any +barefooted boy would wade across, and an athletic leaper would almost +clear at a single bound? That is the beginning of the longest river in +Europe, which, rising here among the hills of the Black Forest, takes +its way south and east till it sweeps with majestic flow past the +Austrian capital, as "the dark-rolling Danube," and bears the commerce +of an empire to the Black Sea. + +Our fellow-travellers now begin to diverge to the watering places +along the Rhine--to Baden and Homburg and Ems--where so much of the +fashion of the Continent gathers every summer. But we had another +place in view which had more interest to me, though a sad and mournful +one--Strasburg, the capital of ill-fated Alsace--which, since I saw it +before, had sustained one of the most terrible sieges in history. We +crossed the Rhine from Kehl, where the Germans planted their +batteries, and were soon passing through the walls and moats which +girdle the ancient town, and made it one of the most strongly +fortified places in Europe, and were supposed to render it a +Gibraltar, that could not be taken. But no walls can stand before +modern artillery. The Germans planted their guns at two and three +miles distance, and threw their shells into the heart of the city. One +cannot enter the gates without perceiving on every side the traces of +that terrible bombardment. For weeks, day and night, a rain of fire +poured on the devoted town. Shells were continually bursting in the +streets; the darkness of midnight was lighted up with the flames of +burning dwellings. The people fled to their cellars, and to every +underground place, for safety. But it was like fleeing at the last +judgment to dens and caves, and calling on rocks to cover them from +the inevitable destruction. At length, after a prolonged and heroic +resistance, when all means of defence were gone, and the city must +have been utterly destroyed, it surrendered. + +And now what do we see? Of course, the traces of the siege have been +removed, so far as possible. But still, after five years, there are +large public buildings of which only blackened walls remain. Others +show huge gaps and rents made by the shot of the besiegers, and, worst +of all, everywhere are the hated German soldiers in the streets. +_Strasburg is a conquered city._ It has been torn from France and +transferred to Germany, without the consent of its own people; and +though the conquerors try to make things pleasant, and to soften as +much as may be the bitterness of subjugation, they cannot succeed in +doing the impossible. The people feel that they have been conquered, +and the iron has entered into their souls. One can see it in a silent, +sullen look, which is not natural to Frenchmen. This is the more +strange, because a large part of the population of Alsace are Germans +by race and language. In the markets, among the men and women who +bring their produce for sale, I heard little else than the guttural +sounds so familiar on the other side of the Rhine. But no matter for +this; for two hundred years the country has belonged to France, and +the people are French in their traditions--they are proud of the +French glory; and if it were left to them, they would vote to-morrow, +by an overwhelming majority, to be re-annexed to France. + +Meanwhile the German Government is using every effort to "make over" +the people from Frenchmen into Germans. It has introduced the German +language into the schools. _It has even renamed the streets._ It +looked strange indeed to see on all the corners German names in place +of the old familiar French ones. This is oppression carried to +absurdity. If the new rulers had chosen to translate the French names +into German, for the convenience of the new military occupants, that +might have been well, and the two might have stood side by side. But +no; the old names are _taken down_, and _Rue_ is turned into _Strasse_ +on every street corner in Strasburg. Was ever anything more +ridiculous? They might as well compel the people to change _their_ +names. The consequence of all this petty and constant oppression is +that great numbers emigrate. And even those who remain do not take to +their new masters. The elements do not mix. The French do not become +Germans. A country is not so easily denationalized. The conquerors +occupy the town, but in their social relations they are alone. We were +told that if a German officer entered a public cafe or restaurant, the +French instantly arose and left. It is the same thing which I saw at +Venice and at Milan in the days of the old Austrian occupation. That +was a most unnatural possession by an alien race, which had to be +driven out with battle and slaughter before things could come into +their natural and rightful relations. And so I fear it will have to be +here. This annexation of Alsace to Germany may seem to some a +wonderful stroke of political sagacity, or a military necessity, the +gaining of a great strategic point, but to our poor American judgment +it seems both a blunder and a crime, that will yet have to be atoned +for with blood. It is a perpetual humiliation and irritation to +France; a constant defiance to another and far more terrible war. + +The ancient cathedral suffered greatly during the bombardment. It is +said the Germans tried to spare it, and aimed their guns away from it; +but as it was the most prominent object in the town, towering up far +above everything else, it could not but be hit many times. Cannon +balls struck its majestic spire, the loftiest in the world; arches and +pinnacles were broken; numbers of shells crashed through the roof, and +burst on the marble floor. Many of the windows, with their old stained +glass, which no modern art can equal, were fatally shattered. It is a +wonder that the whole edifice was not destroyed. But its foundations +were very solid, and it stood the shock. Since the siege, of course, +everything has been done to cover up the rents and gaps, and to +restore it to its former beauty. And what a beauty it has, with +outlines so simple and majestic. How enormous are the columns along +the nave, which support the roof, and yet how they seem to _spring_ +towards heaven, soaring upwards like overarching elms, till the eye +aches to look up to the vaulted roof, that seems only like a lower +sky. Except one other cathedral--that of Cologne (under the very +shadow of which I am now writing)--it is the grandest specimen of +Gothic architecture which the Middle Ages have left to us. + +There is one other feature of Strasburg that has been unaffected by +political changes. One set of inhabitants have not emigrated, but +remain in spite of the German occupation--_the storks_. Was anything +ever so queer as to see these long-legged, long-necked birds, sitting +so tranquilly on the roofs of the houses, flapping their lazy wings +over the dwellings of a populous city, and actually building their +nests on the tops of the chimneys? Anything so different from the +ordinary habits of birds, I had never seen before, and would hardly +have believed it now if I had not seen it. It makes one feel as if +everything was turned upside down, and the very course of nature +reversed, in this strange country. + +Another sign that we are getting out of our latitude, and coming +farther North, is the change of language. We found that even in +Switzerland. Around the Lake of Geneva, French is universally spoken; +but at Berne everybody addressed us in German. In the Swiss Parliament +speeches are made in three languages--German, French, and +Italian--since all are spoken in some of the Cantons. As we did not +understand German, though familiar with French, we had many ludicrous +adventures with coachmen and railway employes, which, though sometimes +vexatious, gave us a good deal of merriment. Of course there was +nothing to do but to take it good-naturedly. Generally when the +adventure was over, we had a hearty laugh at our own expense, though +inwardly thinking this was a heathen country, since they did not know +the language of Canaan, which, of course, is French or English. In +short, we have become fully satisfied that English was the language +spoken by Adam and Eve in Paradise, and which ought to be spoken by +all their descendants. + +But no harsh and guttural sounds, and no gloomy political events, can +destroy the pleasure of a journey along the Rhine. The next day we +resumed our course through the grand duchy of Baden. At one of the +stations a gentleman looking out of a carriage window called me by +name, and introduced himself as Dr. Evans, of Paris--a countryman of +ours, well known to all who have visited the French capital, where he +has lived for a quarter of a century, and made for himself a most +honorable position in his profession, in both the American and foreign +community. I had known him when he first came to Paris, just after the +revolution of 1848. He was then a young man, in the beginning of his +successful career. He has been yet more honorably distinguished as +the gallant American who saved the Empress in 1870. The story is too +well known to be repeated at length. The substance may be given in a +few sentences. When the news of the surrender at Sedan of the Emperor +and his whole army reached Paris, it caused a sudden revolution--the +Empire was declared to have fallen, and the excited populace were +ready to burst into the palace, and the Empress might have been +sacrificed to their fury. She fled through the Louvre, and calling a +cab in the street, drove to the house of Dr. Evans, whom she had long +known. Here she was concealed for the night, and the next day he took +her in his own carriage, hiding her from observation, and travelling +rapidly, but in a way to attract no attention, to the sea-coast, and +did not leave her till he had seen her safe in England. Connected with +this escape were many thrilling details, which cannot be repeated +here. I am very proud that she owed her safety to one of my +countrymen. It was pleasant to be remembered by him after so many +years. We got into the same carriage, and talked of the past, till we +separated at Carlsruhe, from which he was going to Kissingen, while we +went to Stuttgart, to visit an American family who came to Europe +under my care in the Great Eastern in 1867, and have continued to +reside abroad ever since for the education of their children. For such +a purpose, Stuttgart is admirably fitted. Though the capital of the +Kingdom of Wuertemberg, it is a very quiet city. Young people in search +of gayety might think it dull, but that is its recommendation for +those who seek profit rather than amusement. The schools are said to +be excellent; and for persons who wish to spend a few years abroad, +pursuing their studies, it would be hard to find a better place. + +To make this visit we were obliged to travel by night to get back to +the Rhine. We left Stuttgart at midnight. Night riding on European +railways, where there are no sleeping-cars, is not very agreeable. +However, in the first class carriages one can make a sort of half +couch by pulling out the cushioned seats, and thus bestowed we managed +to pass the night, which was not very long, as daybreak comes early in +this latitude, and at this season of the year. + +But fatigues vanish when at Mayence we go on board the steamer, and +are at last afloat on the Rhine--"the exulting and abounding river." +We forget the discomforts of the way as we drop down this enchanted +stream, past all the ruined castles, "famed in story," which hang on +the crests of the hills. Every picturesque ruin has its legend, which +clings to it like vines to the mouldering wall. All day long we are +floating in the past, and in a romantic past. Tourists sit on deck, +with their guide-books in hand, marking every old wall covered with +ivy, and every crumbling tower, connected with some tradition of the +Middle Ages. Even prosaic individuals go about repeating poetry. The +best of guide-books is Childe Harold. Byron has seized the spirit of +the scene in a few picturesque and animated stanzas, which bring the +whole panorama before us. How musical are the lines beginning, + + The castled crag of Drachenfels, + Frowns o'er the wide and winding Rhine, + Whose breast of waters broadly swells + Between the banks which bear the vine, + And hills all rich with blossomed trees, + And fields which promise corn and wine, + And scattered cities crowning these, + Whose far white walls along them shine. + +Thus floating onward as in a dream, we reached Cologne at five o'clock +Saturday afternoon, and found at the Hotel du Nord a very spacious and +attractive hostelry, which made us well content to stay quietly for +two or three days. + +Cologne has got an ill name from Coleridge's ill-favored compliment, +which implied that its streets had not always the fragrance of that +Cologne water which it exports to all countries. But I think he has +done it injustice for the sake of a witty epigram. If he has not, the +place has much improved since his day, and if not yet quite a flower +garden, is at least as clean and decent as most of the Continental +cities. It has received a great impulse from the extension of +railroads, of which it is a centre, being in the direct line of travel +from England to the Rhine and Switzerland, and to the German +watering-places, and indeed to every part of Central Europe. Hence it +has grown rapidly, and become a large and prosperous city. + +But to the traveller in search of sights, every object in Cologne +"hides its diminished head" in presence of one, the cathedral, the +most magnificent Gothic structure ever reared by human hands. Begun +six hundred years ago, it is not finished yet. For four hundred years +the work was suspended, and the huge crane that stood on one of its +towers, as it hung in air, was a sad token of the great, but +unfinished design. But lately the German Government, with that vigor +which characterizes everything in the new empire, has undertaken its +completion. Already it has expended two millions of dollars upon it, +and holds out a hope that it may be finished during this generation. +To convey any idea of this marvellous structure by a description, is +impossible. It is a forest in stone. Looking through its long nave and +aisles, one is more reminded of the avenues of New Haven elms, than of +any work of man. We ascended by the stone steps to the roof, at least +to the first roof, and then began to get some idea of the vastness of +the whole. Passing into the interior at this height, we made the +circuit of the gallery, from which men looked very small who were +walking about on the pavement of the cathedral. The sacristan who had +conducted us thus far, told us we had now ascended one hundred steps, +and that, if we chose to mount a hundred more, we could get to the +main roof--the highest present accessible point--for the towers are +not yet finished, which are further to be surmounted by lofty spires. +When complete, the crosses which they lift into the air will be more +than five hundred feet above the earth! + +The Cathedral boasts great treasures and holy relics--such as the +bones of the Magi, the three Kings of the East, who came to see the +Saviour at his birth, which, whoso can believe, is welcome to his +faith. But the one thing which all _must_ believe, since it stands +before their eyes, is the magnificence of this temple of the Almighty. +I am surprised to see the numbers of people who attend the services, +and with an appearance of devotion, joining in the singing with heart +and voice. The Cathedral is our constant resort, as it is close to our +hotel, and we can go in at all hours, morning, noon, and night. There +we love to sit especially at twilight, when the priests are chanting +vespers, and listen to their songs, and think of the absent and the +dead. We may wander far, and see many lofty structures reared to the +Most High, but nowhere do we expect to bow our heads in a nobler +temple, till we join with the worshippers before the Throne. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +BELGIUM AND HOLLAND. + + + AMSTERDAM, July 30th. + +If any of my readers should follow our route upon the map, he will see +that we take a somewhat zigzag course, flying off here and there to +see whatever most attracts attention. The facilities of travel in +Europe are so great, that one can at any time be transported in a few +hours into a new country. The junior partner in this travelling +company of two has lately been reading Motley's histories, and been +filled with enthusiasm for the Netherlands, which fought so bravely +against Spain, and nothing would do but to turn aside to see these Low +Countries. So, instead of going east from Cologne into the heart of +Germany, we turned west to make a short detour into Belgium and +Holland. And indeed these countries deserve a visit, as they are quite +unique in appearance and in character, and furnish a study by +themselves. They lie in a corner of the Continent, looking out upon +the North Sea, and seem to form a kind of eddy, unaffected by the +great current of the political life of Europe. They do not belong to +the number of the Great Powers, and do not have to pay for "glory" by +large standing armies and perpetual wars. + +Belgium--which we first enter in coming from the Rhine--is one of the +smaller kingdoms still left on the map of Europe not yet swallowed up +by the great devourers of nations; and which, if it has less glory, +has more liberty and more real happiness than some of its more +powerful neighbors. If it has not the form of a republic, yet it has +all the liberty which any reasonable man could desire. Its standing +army is small--but forty or fifty thousand men; though in case of war, +it could put a hundred thousand under arms. But this would be a mere +mouthful for some of the great German armies. Its security, therefore, +lies not in its ability to resist attack, but in the fact that from +its very smallness it does not excite the envy or the fear or the +covetousness of its neighbors, and that, between them all, it is very +convenient to have this strip of neutral territory. During the late +war between France and Germany it prospered greatly; the danger to +business enterprises elsewhere led many to look upon this little +country, as in the days of the Flood people might have looked upon +some point of land that had not yet been reached by the waters that +covered the earth, to which they could flee for safety. Hence the +disasters of others gave a great impulse to its commercial affairs. + +Antwerp, where we ended our first day's journey, is a city that has +had a great history; that three hundred years ago was one of the first +commercial cities of Europe, the Venice of the North, and received in +its waters ships from all parts of the earth. It has had recently a +partial revival of its former commercial greatness. The forest of +masts now lying in the Scheldt tells of its renewed prosperity. + +But strangers do not go to Antwerp to see fleets of ships, such as +they might see at London or Liverpool, but to see that which is old +and historic. Antwerp has one of the notable Cathedrals of the +Continent, which impresses travellers most if they come directly from +America. But coming from Cologne, it suffers by comparison, as it has +nothing of the architectural magnificence, the heaven-soaring columns +and arches, of the great Minster of Cologne. And then its condition is +dilapidated and positively shabby. It is not finished, and there is no +attempt to finish it. One of the towers is complete, but the other is +only half way up, where it has been capped over, and so remained for +centuries, and perhaps will remain forever. And its surroundings are +of the meanest description. Instead of standing in an open square, +with ample space around it to show its full proportions, it is hedged +in by shops, which are backed up against its very walls. Thus the +architectural effect is half destroyed. It is a shame that it should +be left in such a state--that, while Prussia, a Protestant country, is +spending millions to restore the Cathedral of Cologne, Belgium, a +Catholic country, and a rich one too (with no war on hand to drain its +resources), should not devote a little of its wealth to keeping in +proper order and respect this venerable monument of the past. + +And yet not all the littleness of its present surroundings can wholly +rob the old Cathedral of its majesty. There it stands, as it has stood +from generation to generation, and out from all this meanness and dirt +it lifts its head towards heaven. Though only one tower is finished, +that is very lofty (as any one will find who climbs the hundreds of +stone steps to the top, from which the eye ranges over almost the +whole of Belgium, a vast plain, dotted with cities and villages), and +being wrought in open arches, it has the appearance of fretted work, +so that Napoleon said "it looked as if made of Mechlin lace." And +there, high in the air, hangs a chime of bells, that every quarter of +an hour rings out some soft aerial melody. It has a strange effect, in +walking across the Place St. Antoine, to hear this delicious _rain_ +dropping down as it were out of the clouds. We almost wonder that the +market people can go about their business, while there is such +heavenly music in the upper air. + +But the glory of the Cathedral of Antwerp is within--not in the church +itself, but in the great paintings which it enshrines. The interior is +cold and naked, owing to the entire absence of color to give it +warmth. The walls are glaring white. We even saw them _whitewashing_ +the columns and arches. Could any means be found more effectual for +belittling the impression of one of the great churches of the Middle +Ages? If taste were the only thing to be considered in this world, I +could wish Belgium might be annexed, for awhile at least, to Germany, +that that Government might take this venerable Cathedral in hand, and, +by clearing away the rubbish around it, and proper toning of the walls +within, restore it to its former majesty and beauty. + +But no surroundings, however poor and cold, can destroy the immortal +paintings with which it is illumined and glorified. Until I saw these, +I could not feel much enthusiasm for the works of Rubens, although +those who worship the old masters would consider it rank heresy to say +so. Many of his pictures seem to me artistic monstrosities, they are +on such a colossal scale. The men are all giants, and the women all +amazons, and even his holy children, his seraphs and cupids, are fat +Dutch babies. It seems as if his object, in every painting of the +human figure, were to display his knowledge of anatomy; and the bodies +are often twisted and contorted as if to show the enormous development +of muscle in the giant limbs. This is very well if one is painting a +Hercules or a gladiator. But to paint common men and women in this +colossal style is not pleasing. The series of pictures in the Louvre, +in which Marie de Medicis is introduced in all sorts of dramatic +attitudes, never stirred my admiration, as I have said more than once, +when standing before those huge canvases, although one for whose +opinions in such matters I had infinite respect, used to reply archly, +that I "could hardly claim to be an authority in painting." I admit +it; but that is my opinion nevertheless, which I adhere to with all +the proverbial tenacity of the "free and independent American +citizen." + +But ah, I do repent me now, as I come into the presence of paintings +whose treatment, like their subject, is divine. There are two such in +the Cathedral of Antwerp--the Elevation of the Cross, and the Descent +from the Cross. The latter is generally regarded as the masterpiece +of Rubens; but they are worthy of each other. + +In the Elevation of the Cross our Saviour has been nailed to the fatal +tree, which the Roman soldiers are raising to plant it in the earth. +The form is that of a living man. The hands and feet are streaming +with blood, and the body droops as it hangs with all its weight on the +nails. But the look is one of life, and not of death. The countenance +has an expression of suffering, yet not of mere physical pain; the +agony is more than human; as the eyes are turned upward, there is more +than mortal majesty in the look--there is divinity as well as +humanity--it is the dying God. Long we sat before this picture, to +take in the wondrous scene which it presents. He must be wanting in +artistic taste, or religious feeling, who can look upon it without the +deepest emotion. + +In the Descent from the Cross the struggle is over: there is Death in +every feature, in the face, pale and bloodless, in the limbs that hang +motionless, in the whole body as it sinks into the arms of the +faithful attendants. If Rubens had never painted but these two +pictures, he would deserve to be ranked as one of the world's great +masters. I am content to look on these, and let more enthusiastic +worshippers admire the rest. + +Leaving the tall spire of Antwerp in the distance, the swift +fire-horse skims like a swallow over the plains of Belgium, and soon +we are in Holland. One disadvantage of these small States (to +compensate for the positive good of independence, and of greater +commercial freedom) is, that every time we cross a frontier we have to +undergo a new inspection by the custom-house authorities. To be sure, +it does not amount to much. The train is detained half an hour, the +trunks are all taken into a large room, and placed on counters; the +passengers come along with the keys in their hands, and open them; the +officials give an inquiring look, sometimes turn over one or two +layers of clothing, and see that it is all right; the trunks are +locked up, the porters replace them in the baggage-car, and the train +starts on again. We are amused at the farce, the only annoyance of +which is the delay. Within two days after we left Cologne, we had +crossed two frontiers, and had our baggage examined twice: first, in +going into Belgium, and, second, in coming into Holland; we had heard +three languages--nay, four--German on the Rhine; then French at +Antwerp (how good it seemed to hear the familiar accents once more!); +and the Flemish, which is a dialect unlike either; and now we have +this horrible Dutch (which is "neither fish, flesh, nor good red +herring," but a sort of jaw-breaking gutturals, that seem not to be +spoken with lips or tongue, but to be coughed up from some +unfathomable depth in the Dutch breast); and we have had three kinds +of money--marks and francs, and florins or guilders--submitting to a +shave every time we change from one into the other. Such are the petty +vexations of travel. But never mind, let us take them good-naturedly, +leaping over them gayly, as we do over this dike--and here we are in +Holland. + +Switzerland and Holland! Was there ever a greater contrast than +between the two countries? What a change for us in these three weeks, +to be up in the clouds, and now down, actually _below_ the level of +the sea; for Holland is properly, and in its normal state, _under +water_, only the water is drained off, and is kept off by constant +watchfulness. The whole land has been obtained by robbery--robbery +from the ocean, which is its rightful possessor, and is kept out of +his dominions by a system of earthworks, such as never were drawn +around any fortification. Holland may be described in one word as an +enormous Dutch platter, flat and even hollow in the middle, and turned +up at the edges. Standing in the centre, you can see the _rim_ in the +long lines of circumvallation which meet the eye as it sweeps round +the horizon. This immense _platitude_ is intersected by innumerable +canals, which cross and recross it in every direction; and as if to +drive away the evil spirits from the country, enormous windmills, like +huge birds, keep a constant flapping in the air. To relieve the dull +monotony, these plains are covered with cattle, which with their +masses of black and white and red on the green pastures, give a pretty +bit of color to the landscape. The raising of cattle is one of the +chief industries of Holland. They are exported in great numbers from +Rotterdam to London, so that "the roast beef of old England" is often +Dutch beef, after all. With her plains thus bedecked with countless +herds, all sleek and well fed, the whole land has an aspect of comfort +and abundance; it looks to be, as it is, a land of peace and plenty, +of fat cattle and fat men. As moreover it has not much to do in the +way of making war, except on the other side of the globe, it has no +need of a large standing army; and the military element is not so +unpleasantly conspicuous as in France and Germany. + +Rotterdam is a place of great commercial importance. It has a large +trade with the Dutch Possessions in the East Indies, and with other +parts of the world. But as it has less of historical interest, we pass +it by, to spend a day at the Hague, which is the residence of the +Court, and of course the seat of rank and fashion in the little +kingdom. It is a pretty place, with open squares and parks, long +avenues of stately trees, and many beautiful residences. We received a +good impression of it in these respects on the evening of our arrival, +as we took a carriage and drove to Scheveningen, two or three miles +distant on the sea-shore, which is the great resort of Dutch fashion. +It was Long Branch over again. There were the same hotels, with long +wide piazzas looking out upon the sea; a beautiful beach sloping down +to the water, covered with bathing-houses, and a hundred merry groups +scattered here and there; young people engaged in mild flirtations, +which were quite harmless, since old dowagers sat looking on with +watchful eyes. Altogether it was a very pretty scene, such as it does +one good to see, as it shows that all life and happiness are not gone +out of this weary world. + +As we drove back to the Hague, we met the royal carriage with the +Queen, who was taking her evening drive--a lady with a good motherly +face, who is greatly esteemed, not only in Holland, but in England, +for her intelligence and her many virtues. She is a woman of literary +tastes, and is fond of literary society. I infer that she is a friend +of our countryman, Mr. Motley, who has done so much to illustrate the +history of Holland, from seeing his portrait the next day at her +Palace in the Wood--which was the more remarkable as hanging on the +wall of one of the principal apartments _alone_, no other portrait +being beside it, and few indeed anywhere, except of members of the +royal family. + +This "Wood," where this summer palace stands, is one of the features +of the Hague. It is called the Queen's Wood, and is quite worthy of +its royal name, being a forest chiefly of beech-trees, through which +long avenues open a retreat into the densest silence and shade. It is +a great resort for the people of the Hague, and thither we drove after +we came in from Scheveningen. An open space was brilliantly lighted +up, and the military band was playing, and a crowd of people were +sitting in the open air, or under the trees, sipping their coffee or +ices, and listening to the music, which rang through the forest +aisles. It would be difficult to find, in a place of the size of the +Hague, a more brilliant company. + +But it was not fashion that we were looking for, but historical places +and associations. So the next morning we took a carriage and a guide +and drove out to Delft, to see the spot where William the Silent, the +great Prince of Orange, on whose life it seemed the fate of the +Netherlands hung, was assassinated; and the church where he was +buried, and where, after three hundred years, his spirit still rules +from its urn. + +Returning to the city, we sought out--as more interesting than Royal +Palaces or the Picture Gallery, though we did justice to both--the +houses of the great commoners, John and Cornelius De Witt, who, after +lives of extraordinary devotion to the public good, were torn to +pieces by an infuriated populace; and of Barneveld, who, after saving +Holland by his wisdom and virtue, was executed on some technical and +frivolous charge. We saw the very spot where he died, and the window +out of which Maurice (the son of the great William) looked on at this +judicial murder--the only stain on his long possession of the chief +executive power. + +Leaving the Hague with its tragic and its heroic memories, we take our +last view of Holland in Amsterdam. Was there ever such a queer old +place? It is like the earth of old--"standing out of the water and in +the water." It is intersected with canals, which are filled with +boats, loading and unloading. The whole city is built on piles, which +sometimes sink into the mud, causing the superincumbent structures to +incline forward like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. In fact, the houses +appear to be drunk, and not to be able to stand on their pins. They +lean towards each other across the narrow streets, till they almost +touch, and indeed seem like old topers, that cannot stand up straight, +but can only just hold on by the lamp-post, and are nodding to each +other over the way. I should think that in some places a long +Dutchman's pipe could be held out of one window, and be smoked by a +man on the other side of the street. + +But in spite of all that, in these old tumble-down houses, under these +red-tiled roofs, there dwells a brave, honest, free people; a people +that are slaves to no master; that fear God, and know no other fear; +and that have earned their right to a place in this world by hard +blows on the field of battle, and on every field of human industry--on +land and on sea--and that are to-day one of the freest and happiest +people on the round earth. + +How we wished last evening that we had some of our American friends +with us, as we rode about this old city--along by the canals, over the +bridges, down to the harbor, and then for miles along the great +embankment that keeps out the sea. There are the ships coming and +going to all parts of the earth--the constant and manifold proofs that +Holland is still a great commercial country. + +And to-day we wished for those friends again, as we rode to Broek, the +quaintest and queerest little old place that ever was seen--that looks +like a baby-house made of Dutch tiles. It is said to be the cleanest +place in the world, in which respect it is like those Shaker houses, +where every tin pan is scoured daily, and every floor is as white as +broom and mop can make it. We rode back past miles of fertile meadows, +all wrung from the sea, where cattle were cropping the rich grass on +what was once the bottom of the deep; and thus on every hand were the +signs of Dutch thrift and abundance. + +And so we take our leave of Holland with a most friendly feeling. We +are glad to have seen a country where there is so much liberty, so +much independence, and such universal industry and comfort. To be +sure, an American would find life here rather _slow_; it would seem to +him as if he were being drawn in a low and heavy boat with one horse +through a stagnant canal; but _they_ don't feel so, and so they are +happy. Blessings on their honest hearts! Blessings on the stout old +country, on the lusty burghers, and buxom women, with faces round as +the harvest moon! Now that we are going away, the whole land seems to +relax into a broad smile; the very cattle look happy, as they recline +in the fat meadows and chew the cud of measureless content; the storks +seem sorry to have us go, and sail around on lazy wing, as if to give +us a parting salutation; and even the windmills begin to creak on +their hinges, and with their long arms wave us a kind farewell. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE NEW GERMANY AND ITS CAPITAL. + + + BERLIN, August 5th. + +The greatest political event of the last ten years in Europe--perhaps +the greatest since the battle of Waterloo--is the sudden rise and +rapid development of the German Empire. When Napoleon was overthrown +in 1815, and the allies marched to Paris, the sovereignty of Europe, +and the peace of the world, was supposed to be entrusted to the Five +Great Powers, and of these five the least in importance was Prussia. +Both Russia and Austria considered themselves giants beside her; +England had furnished the conqueror of Waterloo, and the troops which +bore the brunt of that terrible day, and the money that had carried on +a twenty years' war against Napoleon; and even France, terribly +exhausted as she was, drained of her best blood, yet, as she had stood +so long against all Europe combined, might have considered herself +still a match for any one of her enemies _alone_, and certainly for +the weakest of them all, Prussia. Yet to-day this, which was the +weakest of kingdoms, has grown to be the greatest power in Europe--a +power which has crushed Austria, which has crushed France, which +Russia treats with infinite respect, and which would despise the +interference of England in Continental affairs. + +This acquisition of power, though recent in its manifestation, has +been of slow growth. The greatness of Prussia may be said to have been +born of its very humiliation. It was after its utter overthrow at the +battle of Jena, in 1806, when Napoleon marched to Berlin, levied +enormous subsidies, and appropriated such portions of the kingdom as +he pleased, that the rulers of Prussia saw that the reconstruction of +their State must begin from the very bottom, and went to work to +educate the people and reorganize the army. The result of this severe +discipline and long military training was seen when, sixty years after +Jena, Prussia in a six weeks' campaign laid Austria at her feet, and +was only kept from taking Vienna by the immediate conclusion of peace. +Four years later came the French war, when King William avenged the +insults to his royal mother by Napoleon the First--whose brutality, it +is said, broke the proud spirit of the beautiful Queen Louise, and +sent her to an early grave--in the terrible humiliation he +administered to Napoleon the Third. + +But such triumphs were not wrought by military organization alone, but +by other means for developing the life and vigor of the German race, +especially by a system of universal education, which is the admiration +of the world. The Germans conquered the French, not merely because +they were better soldiers, but because they were more intelligent men, +who knew how to read and write, and who could act more efficiently +because they acted intelligently. + +With her common schools and her perfect military organization, Prussia +has combined great political sagacity, by which the fortunes of other +States have been united with her own. Such stupendous achievements as +were seen in the French war, were not wrought by Prussia alone, but by +all Germany. It was in foresight and anticipation of just such a +contingency that Bismarck had long before entered into an alliance +with the lesser German States, by which, in the event of war, they +were all to act together; and thus, when the Prussian army entered the +field, it was supported by powerful allies from Saxony and Wuertemberg +and Bavaria. + +And so when the war was over, out of the old Confederation arose an +EMPIRE, and the King of Prussia was invited to take upon himself the +more august title of Emperor of Germany--a title which recalls the +line of the Caesars; and thus has risen up, in the very heart of the +Continent--like an island thrown up by a volcano in the midst of the +sea--a power which is to-day the most formidable in Europe. + +As Protestants, we cannot but feel a degree of satisfaction that this +controlling power should be centred in a Protestant State, rather than +in France or Austria; although I should be sorry to think that our +Protestant principles oblige us to approve every high-handed measure +undertaken against the Catholics. We in America believe in perfect +liberty in religious matters, and are scrupulous to give to others the +same freedom that we demand for ourselves. Of course the relations of +things are somewhat changed in a country where the Church is allied +with the State, and the ministers of religion are supported by the +Government. But, without entering into the question which so agitates +Germany at the present moment, our natural sympathies, both as +Protestants and as Americans, must always be on the side of the +fullest religious liberty. + +Besides the Church question there are other grave problems raised by +the present state of Germany:--such as, whether the Empire is likely +to endure, or to be broken to pieces by the jealousy of the smaller +States of the preponderance of Prussia? and whether peace will +continue, or there will be a general war? But these are rather large +questions to be dispatched in a few pages. They are questions that +will _keep_, and may be discussed a year hence as well as to-day, _and +better_--since we may then regard them by the light of accomplished +_events_; whereas now we should have to indulge too much in +_prophecies_. I prefer therefore, instead of undertaking to give +lessons of political wisdom, to entertain my readers with a brief +description of Berlin. + +This can never be the most beautiful of European cities, even if it +should come in time to be the largest, for its situation is very +unfavorable; it lies too low. It seems strange that this spot should +ever have been chosen for the site of a great city. It has no +advantages of position whatever, except that it is on the little river +Spree. But having chosen this flat _prairie_, they have made the most +of it. It has been laid out in large spaces, with long, wide streets. +At first, it must have been, like Washington, a city of magnificent +distances, but in the course of a hundred years these distances have +been filled up with buildings, many of them of fine architecture, so +that gradually the city has taken on a stately appearance. Since I was +here in 1858, it has enlarged on every side; new streets and squares +have added to the size and the magnificence of the capital; and the +military element is more conspicuous than ever; "the man on horseback" +is seen everywhere. Nor is this strange, for in that time the country +has had two great wars, and the German armies, returning triumphant +from hard campaigns, have filed in endless procession, with banners +torn with shot and shell, through the Unter den Linden, past the +statue of the great Frederick, out of the Brandenburg gate to the +Thiergarten, where now a lofty column (like that in the Place Vendome +at Paris), surmounted by a flaming statue of Victory, commemorates the +triumph of the German arms. + +Of course we did our duty heroically in the way of seeing sights--such +as the King's Castle and the Museum. But I confess I felt more +interest in seeing the great University, which has been the home of so +many eminent scholars, and is the chief seat of learning on the +Continent, than in seeing the Palace; and in riding by the plain house +in a quiet street, where Bismarck lives, than in seeing all the +mansions of the Royal Princes, with soldiers keeping guard before the +gates. + +The most interesting place in the neighborhood of Berlin, of course, +is Potsdam, with its historical associations, especially with its +memories of Frederick the Great. The day we spent there was full of +interest. An hour was given to the New Palace--that is, one that _was_ +new a hundred years ago, but which at present is kept more for show +than for use, though one wing is occupied by the Crown Prince. +Externally it has no architectural beauty whatever, nothing to render +it imposing but _size_; but the interior shows many stately +apartments. One of these, called the Grotto, is quite unique, the +walls being crusted with shells and all manner of stones, so that, +entering here, one might feel that he had found some cave of the +ocean, dripping with coolness, and, when lighted up, reflecting from +all its precious stones a thousand splendors. It was here that the +Emperor entertained the King of Sweden at a royal banquet a few weeks +ago. But palaces are pretty much all the same; we wander through +endless apartments, rich with gilding and ornament, till we are weary +of all this grandeur, and are glad when we light on some quiet nook, like +the modest little palace--if palace it may be called--Charlottenhof, +where Alexander von Humboldt lived and wrote his works. I found more +interest in seeing the desk on which he wrote his Kosmos, and the +narrow bed on which the great man slept (he did not need much of a +bed, since he slept only four hours), than in all the grand state +apartments of ordinary kings. + +But Frederick the Great was not an ordinary king, and the palace in +which _he_ lived is invested with the interest of an extraordinary +personality. Walking a mile through a park of noble trees, we come to +_Sans Souci_ (a pretty name, _Without Care_). This is much smaller +than the New Palace, but it is more home-like--it was built by +Frederick the Great for his own residence, and here he spent the last +years of his life. Every room is connected with him. In this he gave +audience to foreign ministers; at this desk he wrote. This is the room +occupied by Voltaire, whom Frederick, worshipping his genius, had +invited to Potsdam, but who soon got tired of his royal patron (as the +other perhaps got tired of _him_), and ended the romantic friendship +by running away. And here is the room in which the great king breathed +his last. He died sitting in his chair, which still bears the stains +of his blood, for his physicians had bled him. At that moment, they +tell us, a little mantel clock, which Frederick always wound up with +his own hand, stopped, and there it stands now, with its fingers +pointing to the very hour and minute when he died. That was ninety +years ago, and yet almost every day of every year since strangers have +entered that room, to see where this king, this leader of armies, met +a greater Conqueror than he, and bowed his royal head to the +inevitable Destroyer. + +But that was not the last king who died in this palace. When we were +here in 1858, the present Emperor was not on the throne, but his elder +brother, whose private apartments we then saw; and now we were shown +them again, with only this added: "In this room the old king died; in +that very bed he breathed his last." All remains just as he left it; +his military cap, with his gloves folded beside it; and here is a cast +of his face taken after his death. So do they preserve his memory, +while the living form returns no more. + +From the palace of the late king we drove to that of the present +Emperor. Babelsberg is still more interesting than Sans Souci, as it +is associated with living personages, who occupy the most exalted +stations. It is the home of the Emperor himself when at Potsdam. It is +not so large as the New Palace, but, like Sans Souci, seems designed +more for comfort than for grandeur. It was built by King William +himself, according to his own taste, and has in it all the +appointments of an elegant home. The site is beautiful. It stands on +elevated ground (it seems a commanding eminence compared with the flat +country around Berlin), and looks out on a prospect in which a noble +park, and green slopes, descending to lovely bits of water, unite to +form what may be called an English landscape--like that from Richmond +on the Hill, or some scene in the Lake District of England. The house +is worthy of such surroundings. We were fortunate in being there when +the Family were absent. The Empress was expected home in a day or two; +they were preparing the rooms for her return; and the Emperor was to +follow the next week, when of course the house would be closed to +visitors. But now we were admitted, and shown through, not only the +State apartments, but the private rooms. Such an inspection of the +_home_ of a royal family gives one some idea of their domestic life; +we seem to see the interior of the household. In this case the +impression was most charming. While there was very little that was for +show, there was everything that was tasteful and refined and elegant. +It was pleasant to hear the attendant who showed us the rooms speak in +terms of such admiration, and even affection, of the Emperor, as "a +very kind man." One who is thus beloved by his dependents, by every +member of his household, cannot but have some excellent traits of +character. We were shown the drawing-room and the library, and the +private study of the Emperor, the chair in which he sits, the desk at +which he writes, and the table around which he gathers his +ministers--Bismarck and Moltke, etc. We were shown also what a New +England housekeeper would call the "living rooms," where he dined and +where he slept. The ladies of our party declared that the bed did not +answer at all to their ideas of royal luxury, or even comfort, the +sturdy old Emperor having only a single mattress under him, and that a +pretty hard one. Perhaps however he despises luxury, and prefers to +harden himself, like Napoleon, or the Emperor Nicholas, who slept on a +camp bedstead. He is certainly very plain in his habits and simple in +his tastes. Descending the staircase, the attendant took from a corner +and put in our hand the Emperor's cane. It was a rough stick, such as +any dandy in New York would have despised, but the old man had cut it +himself many years ago, and now he always has it in his hand when he +walks abroad. And there through the window we look down into the +poultry yard, where the Empress, we were told, feeds her chickens +with her own hand every morning. I was glad to hear this of the grand +old lady. It shows a kind heart, and how, after all, for the greatest +as well as the humblest of mankind, the simplest pleasures are the +sweetest. I dare say she takes more pleasure in feeding her chickens +than in presiding at the tedious court ceremonies. Such little touches +give a most pleasant impression of the simple home-life of the Royal +House of Prussia. + +Our last visit was to the tomb of Frederick the Great, who is buried +in the Garrison Church. There is nothing about it imposing to the +imagination, as in the tomb of Napoleon at Paris. It is only a little +vault, which a woman opens with a key, and lights a tallow candle, and +you lay your hand on the metallic coffin of the great King. There he +lies--that fiery spirit that made war for the love of war, that +attacked Austria, and seized Silesia, more for the sake of the +excitement of the thing, and, as he confessed, "to make people talk +about him," than because he had the slightest pretence to that +Austrian province; who, though he wanted to be a soldier, yet in his +first battle ran away as fast as his horse could carry him, and hid +himself in a barn; but who afterwards recovered control of himself, +and became the greatest captain of his time. He it was who carried +through the Seven Years' War, not only against Austria, but against +Europe, and who held Silesia against them all. "The Continent in +arms," says Macaulay, "could not tear it from that iron grasp." But +now the warrior is at rest; that figure, long so well known, no more +rides at the head of armies. In this bronze coffin lies all that +remains of Frederick the Great: + + "He sleeps his last sleep, he has fought his last battle, + No sound shall awake him to glory again." + +Speaking of tombs--as of late my thoughts "have had much discourse +with death"--the most beautiful which I have ever seen anywhere is +that of Queen Louise, the mother of the present Emperor, in the +Mausoleum at Charlottenburg. The statue of the Queen is by the famous +German sculptor, Rauch. When I first saw it years ago, it left such an +impression that I could not leave Berlin without seeing it again and +we drove out of the city several miles for the purpose. It is in the +grounds attached to one of the royal palaces but we did not care to +see any more palaces, if only we could look again on that pure white +marble form. At the end of a long avenue of trees is the Mausoleum--a +small building devoted only to royal sepulture--and there, in a +subdued light, stretched upon her tomb, lies the beautiful Queen. Her +personal loveliness is a matter of tradition; it is preserved in +innumerable portraits, which show that she was one of the most +beautiful women of her time. That beauty is preserved in the reclining +statue. The head rests on a marble pillow, and is turned a little to +one side, so as to show the perfect symmetry of the Grecian outlines. +It is a sweet, sad face (for she had sorrows that broke her queenly +heart); but now her trials are ended, and how calmly and peacefully +she sleeps! The form is drooping, as if she slumbered on her bed; she +seems almost to breathe; hush, the marble lips are going to speak! Was +there ever such an expression of perfect repose? It makes one "half in +love with blissful death." It brought freshly to mind the lines of +Shelley in Queen Mab: + + How wonderful is Death! + Death and his brother Sleep! + One, pale as yonder waning moon, + With lips of lurid blue; + The other, rosy as the morn + When throned on ocean's wave, + It blushes o'er the world: + Yet both so passing wonderful! + +By the side of the statue of the Queen reposes, on another tomb, that +of her husband--a noble figure in his military cloak, with his hands +folded on his breast. The King survived the Queen thirty years. She +died in her youth, in 1810; he lived till 1840; but his heart was in +her tomb, and it is fitting that now they sleep together. + +On the principle of rhetoric, that a description should end with that +which leaves the deepest impression, I end my letter here, with the +softened light of that Mausoleum falling on that breathing marble; for +in all my memories of Berlin, no one thing--neither palace, nor +museum, nor the statue of Frederick the Great, nor the Column of +Victory--has left in me so deep a feeling as the silent form of that +beautiful Queen. Queen Louise is a marked figure in German history, +being invested with touching interest by her beauty and her sorrow, +and early death. I like to think of such a woman as the mother of a +royal race, now actors on the stage. It cannot but be that the memory +of her beauty, associated with her patriotism, her courage, and her +devotion, should long remain an inheritance of that royal line, and +their most precious inspiration. May the young princes, growing up to +be future kings and emperors, as they gather round her tomb, tenderly +cherish her memory and imitate her virtues! + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +AUSTRIA--OLD AND NEW. + + + VIENNA, August 12th. + +We are taking such a wide sweep through Central Europe, travelling +from city to city, and country to country, that my materials +accumulate much faster than I can use them. There are three cities +which I should be glad to describe in detail--Hamburg, Dresden, and +Prague. Hamburg, to which we came from Amsterdam, perhaps appears more +beautiful from the contrast, and remains in our memory as the fairest +city of the North. Dresden, the capital of Saxony, is also a beautiful +city, and attracts a great number of English and American residents by +its excellent opportunities of education, and from its treasures of +art, in which it is richer than any other city in Germany. Our stay +there was made most pleasant by an American family whom we had known +on the other side of the Atlantic, who gave us a cordial welcome, and +under whose roof we felt how sweet is the atmosphere of an American +home. The same friends, when we left, accompanied us on our way into +the Saxon Switzerland, conducting us to the height of the Bastei, a +huge cliff, which from the very top of a mountain overhangs the Elbe, +which winds its silver current through the valley below, while on the +other side of the river the fortress-crowned rock of Konigstein lifts +up its head, like Edinburgh Castle, to keep ward and watch over the +beautiful kingdom of Saxony. + +And there is dear old Prague, rusty and musty, that in some quarters +has such a tumble down air that it seems as if it were to be given up +to Jews, who were going to convert it into a huge Rag Fair for the +sale of old clothes, and yet that in other quarters has new streets +and new squares, and looks as if it had caught a little of the spirit +of the modern time. But the interest of Prague to a stranger must be +chiefly historical--for what it has been rather than for what it is. +These associations are so many and so rich, that to one familiar with +them, the old churches and bridges, and towers and castles, are full +of stirring memories. As we rode across the bridge, from which St. +John of Nepomuc was thrown into the river, five hundred years ago, +because he would not betray to a wicked king the secret which the +queen had confided to him in the confessional, up to the Cathedral +where a gorgeous shrine of silver keeps his dust, and perpetuates his +memory, the lines of Longfellow were continually running in my mind: + + I have read in some old marvellous tale, + Some legend strange and vague, + That a midnight host of spectres pale + Beleaguered the walls of Prague. + + Beside the Moldau's rushing stream, + With the wan moon overhead, + There stood, as in an awful dream, + The army of the dead. + +It needs but little imagination on the spot to call up indeed an "army +of the dead." Standing on this old bridge, one could almost hear, +above the rushing Moldau, the drums of Zisca calling the Hussites to +arms on the neighboring heights, a battle sound answered in a later +century by the cannon of Frederick the Great. Above us is the vast +pile of the Hradschin, the abode of departed royalties, where but a +few weeks ago poor old Ferdinand, the ex-Emperor of Austria, breathed +his last. He was almost an imbecile, who sat for many years on the +throne as a mere figurehead of the State, and who was perfectly +harmless, since he had little more to do with the Government than if +he had been a log of wood; but who, when the great events of 1848 +threatened the overthrow of the Empire, was hurried out of the way to +make room for younger blood, and his nephew, Francis Joseph, came to +the throne. He lived to be eighty-two years old, yet so utterly +insignificant was he that almost the only thing he ever said that +people remember, was a remark that at one time made the laugh of +Vienna. Once in a country place he tasted of some dumplings, a +wretched compound of garlic and all sorts of vile stuff, but which +pleased the royal taste, and which on his return to Vienna he ordered +for the royal table, greatly to the disgust of his attendants, to whom +he replied, "I am Kaiser, and I will have my dumplings!" This got out, +and caused infinite merriment. Poor old man! I hope he had his +dumplings to the last. He was a weak, simple creature; but he is gone, +and has been buried with royal honors, and sleeps with the Imperial +house of Austria in the crypt of the Church of the Capuchins in +Vienna. + +But all these memories of Prague, personal or historical, recent or +remote, I must leave, to come at once to the Austrian capital, one of +the most interesting cities of Europe. Vienna is a far more +picturesque city than Berlin. It is many times older. It was a great +city in the Middle Ages, when Berlin had no existence. The Cathedral +of St. Stephen was erected hundreds of years before the Elector of +Brandenburg chose the site of a town on the Spree, or Peter the Great +began to build St. Petersburg on the banks of the Neva. Vienna has +played a great part in European history. It long stood as a barrier +against Moslem invasion. Less than two hundred years ago it was +besieged by the Turks, and nothing but its heroic resistance, aided by +the Poles, under John Sobieski, prevented the irruption of Asiatic +barbarians into Central Europe. From the tower of St. Stephen's +anxious watchers have often marked the tide of battle, as it ebbed and +flowed around the ancient capital, from the time when the plain of +the Marchfeld was covered with the tents of the Moslems, to that when +the armies of Napoleon, matched against those of Austria, fought the +terrible battles of Aspern, Essling, and Wagram. + +But if Vienna is an old city, it is also a new one. In revisiting +Germany, I am constantly struck with the contrast between what I see +now, and what I saw in 1858. Then Vienna was a pleasant, old-fashioned +city, not too large for comfort, strongly fortified, like most of the +cities of the Middle Ages, with high walls and a deep moat +encompassing it on all sides. Now all has disappeared--the moat has +been filled up, and the walls have been razed to the ground, and where +they stood is a circle of broad streets called the Ring-strasse, like +the Boulevards of Paris. The city thus let loose has burst out on all +sides, and great avenues and squares, and parks and gardens, have +sprung into existence on every hand. The result is a far more +magnificent capital than the Vienna which I knew seventeen years ago. + +Nor are the changes less in the country than in the capital. There +have been wars and revolutions, which have shaken the Empire so that +its very existence was in danger, but out of which it has come +stronger than ever. Austria is the most remarkable example in Europe +of _the good effects of a thorough beating_. Twice, since I was here +before, she has had a terrible humiliation--in 1859 and in 1866--at +Solferino and at Sadowa. + +In 1858 Austria was slowly recovering from the terrible shock of ten +years before, the Revolutionary Year of 1848. In '49 was the war in +Hungary, when Kossuth with his fiery eloquence roused the Magyars to +arms, and they fought with such vigor and success, that they +threatened to march on Vienna, and the independence of Hungary might +have been secured but for the intervention of Russia. Gorgei +surrendered to a Russian army. Then came a series of bloody +executions. The Hungarian leaders who fell into the hands of the +Austrians, found no pity. The illustrious Count Louis Batthyani was +sent to the scaffold. Kossuth escaped only by fleeing into Turkey. +Gen. Bem turned Mussulman, saying that "his only religion was love of +liberty and hatred of tyranny," and served as a Pacha at the head of a +Turkish army. It is a curious illustration of the change that a few +years have wrought, that Count Andrassy, who was concerned with +Batthyani in the same rebellion, and was also sentenced to death, but +escaped, is now the Prime Minister of Austria. But then vengeance +ruled the hour. The bravest Hungarian generals were shot--chiefly, it +was said at the time, by the Imperious will of the Archduchess Sophia, +the mother of Francis Joseph. There is no hatred like a woman's, and +she could not forego the savage delight of revenge on those who had +dared to attack the power of Austria. Proud daughter of the Caesars! +she was yet to taste the bitterness of a like cruelty, when her own +son, Maximilian, bared his breast to a file of Mexican soldiers, and +found no mercy. I thought of this to-day, as I saw in the burial-place +of the Imperial family, near the coffin of that haughty and +unforgiving woman, the coffin of her son, whose poor body lies there +pierced with a dozen balls. + +But for the time Austria was victorious, and in the flush of the +reaction which was felt throughout Europe, began to revive the old +Imperial absolutism, the stern repression of liberty of speech and of +the press, the system of passports and of spies, of jealous +watchfulness by the police, and of full submission to the Church of +Rome. + +Such was the state of things in 1858; and such it might have remained +if the possessors of power had not been rudely awakened from their +dreams. How well I remember the sense of triumph and power of that +year. The empire of Austria had been fully restored, including not +only its present territory, but the fairest portion of Italy--Lombardy +and Venice. To complete the joy of the Imperial house, an heir had +just been born to the throne. I was present in the cathedral of Milan +when a solemn Te Deum was performed in thanksgiving for that crowning +gift. Maximilian was then Viceroy in Lombardy. I see him now as, with +his young bride Carlotta, he walked slowly up that majestic aisle, +surrounded by a brilliant staff of officers, to give thanks to +Almighty God for an event which seemed to promise the continuance of +the royal house of Austria, and of its Imperial power to future +generations. Alas for human foresight! In less than one year the +armies of France had crossed the Alps, a great battle had been fought +at Solferino, and Lombardy was forever lost to Austria, and a Te Deum +was performed in the cathedral of Milan for a very different occasion, +but with still more enthusiastic rejoicing. + +But that was not the end of bitterness. Austria was not yet +sufficiently humiliated. She still clung to her old arbitrary system, +and was to be thoroughly converted only by another administration of +discipline. She had still another lesson to learn, and that was to +come from another source, a power still nearer home. Though driven out +of a part of Italy, Austria was still the great power in Germany. She +was the most important member of the Germanic Confederation, as she +had a vote in the Diet at Frankfort proportioned to her population, +although two-thirds of her people were not Germans. The Hungarians and +the Bohemians are of other races, and speak other languages. But by +the dexterous use of this power, with the alliance of Bavaria and +other smaller States, Austria was able always to control the policy +and wield the influence of Germany. Prussia was continually outvoted, +and her political influence reduced to nothing--a state of things +which became the more unendurable the more she grew in strength, and +became conscious of her power. At length her statesmen saw that the +only hope of Prussia to gain her rightful place and power in the +councils of Europe, was _to drive Austria out of Germany_--to compel +her to withdraw entirely from the Confederation. It was a bold design. +Of course it meant war; but for this Prussia had been long preparing. +Suddenly, like a thunderbolt from a clear sky, came the war of 1866. +Scarcely was it announced before a mighty army marched into Bohemia, +and the battle of Sadowa, the greatest in Europe since Waterloo, ended +the campaign. In six weeks all was over. The proud house of Austria +was humbled in the dust. Her great army, that was to capture Berlin, +was crushed in one terrible day, and the Prussians were on the march +for Vienna, when their further advance was stopped by the conclusion +of peace. + +This was a fearful overthrow for Austria. But good comes out of evil. +It was the day of deliverance for Hungary and for Italy. Man's +extremity is God's opportunity, and the king's extremity is liberty's +opportunity. Up to this hour Francis Joseph had obstinately refused to +grant to Hungary that separate government to which she had a right by +the ancient constitution of the kingdom, but which she had till then +vainly demanded. But at length the eyes of the young emperor were +opened, and on the evening of that day which saw the annihilation of +his military power, it is said, he sent for Deak, the leader of the +Hungarians, and asked "If he should _then_ concede all that they had +asked, if they would rally to his support so as to save him?" "Sire," +said the stern Hungarian leader, "_it is too late_!" Nothing remained +for the proud Hapsburg but to throw himself on the mercy of the +conqueror, and obtain such terms as he could. Venice was signed away +at a stroke. In his despair he telegraphed to Paris, giving that +beautiful province to Napoleon, to secure the support of France in his +extremity, who immediately turned it over to Victor Emmanuel, thus +completing the unity of Italy. + +The results in Germany were not less important. As the fruit of this +short, but decisive campaign, Austria, besides paying a large +indemnity for the expenses of the war, finally withdrew wholly from +the German Confederation, leaving Prussia master of the field, which +proceeded at once to form a new Confederation with itself at the head. + +After such repeated overthrows and humiliations, one would suppose +that Austria was utterly ruined, and that the proud young emperor +would die of shame. But, "sweet are the uses of adversity." +Humiliation is sometimes good for nations as for individuals, and +never was it more so than now. The impartial historian will record +that these defeats were Austria's salvation. The loss of Italy, +however mortifying to her pride, was only taking away a source of +constant trouble and discontent, and leaving to the rest of the empire +a much more perfect unity than it had before. + +So with the independence of Hungary; while it was an apparent loss, it +was a real gain. The Magyars at last obtained what they had so long +been seeking--a separate administration, and Francis Joseph, Emperor +of Austria, was crowned at Pesth, King of Hungary. By this act of wise +conciliation five millions of the bravest people in Europe were +converted from disaffected, if not disloyal, subjects, into contented +and warmly attached supporters of the House of Austria, the most +devoted as they are the most warlike defenders of the throne and the +Empire. + +Another result of this war was the emancipation of the Emperor himself +from the Pope. Till then, Austria had been one of the most extreme +Catholic powers in Europe. Not Spain itself had been a more servile +adherent of Rome. The Concordat gave all ecclesiastical appointments +to the Pope. But the thunder of the guns of Sadowa destroyed a great +many illusions--among them that of a ghostly power at Rome, which had +to be conciliated as the price of temporal prosperity as well as of +eternal salvation. This illusion is now gone; the Concordat has been +repealed, and Austria has a voice in the appointment of her own +bishops. The late Prime Minister, Count Beust, was a Protestant. In +her treatment of different religious faiths, Austria is so liberal as +to give great sorrow to the Holy Father, who regards it as almost a +kingdom that has apostatized from the faith. + +The same liberality exists in other things. There is none of the petty +tyranny which in former days vexed the souls of foreigners, by its +strict surveillance and espionage. Now no man in a cocked hat demands +your passport as you enter the city, nor asks how long you intend to +stay; no agent of the police hangs about your table at a public cafe +to overhear your private conversation, and learn if you are a +political emissary, a conspirator in disguise; no officer in the +street taps you on your shoulder to warn you not to speak so loud, or +to be more careful of what you say. You are as free to come and go as +in America, while the restrictions of the Custom House are far less +annoying and vexatious than in the United States. All this is the +blessed fruit of Austria's humiliation. + +It should be said to the praise of the Emperor, that he has taken his +discipline exceedingly well. He has not pouted or sulked, like an +angry schoolboy, or refused to have anything to do with the powers +which have inflicted upon him such grievous humiliations. He has the +good sense to recognize the political necessities of States as +superior to the feelings of individuals. Kings, like other men, must +bow to the inevitable. Accordingly he makes the best of the case. He +did not refuse to meet Napoleon after the battle of Solferino, but +held an interview of some hours at Villafranca, in which, without long +preliminaries, they agreed on an immediate peace. He afterwards +visited his brother Emperor in Paris at the time of the Great +Exposition in 1867. Within the last year he has paid a visit to Victor +Emmanuel at Venice, and been received with the utmost enthusiasm by +the Italian people. They can afford to welcome him now that he is no +longer their master. Since they have not to see in him a despotic +ruler, they hail him as the nation's guest, and as he sails up the +Grand Canal, receive him with loud cheers and waving of banners. And +he has received more than once the visits of the Emperor William, who +came to Vienna at the time of the Exposition two years since, and who +has met him at a watering-place this summer, of which the papers gave +full accounts, dwelling on their hearty cordiality, as shown in their +repeated hand-shakings and embracings. It may be said that these are +little things, but they are not little things, for such personal +courtesies have a great deal to do with the peace of nations. + +In another respect, the discipline of adversity has been most useful +to Austria. By hard blows it has knocked the military spirit out of +her, and led her to "turn her thoughts on peace." Of course the +military element is still very strong. Vienna is full of soldiers. +Every morning we hear the drum beat under our windows, and files of +soldiers go marching through the streets. Huge barracks are in every +part of the city, and a general parade would show a force of many +thousands of men. The standing army of Austria is one of the largest +in Europe. But in spite of all this parade and show, the military +_spirit_ is much less rampant than before. Nobody wants to go to war +with any of the Great Powers. They have had enough of war for the +present. + +Austria has learned that there is another kind of greatness for +nations than that gained in fighting battles, viz., cultivating the +arts of peace. Hence it is that within the last nine years, while +there have been no victories abroad, there have been great victories +at home. There has been an enormous development of the internal +resources of the country. Railroads have been extended all over the +Empire; commerce has been quickened to a new life. Great steamers +passing up and down the Danube, exchange the products of the East and +the West, of Europe and Asia. Enterprises of all kinds have been +encouraged. The result was shown in the Exposition of two years ago, +when there was collected in this city such a display of the products +of all lands, as the world had never seen. Those who had been at all +the Great Exhibitions said that it far surpassed those of London and +Paris. All the luxurious fabrics of the East, and all the most +delicate and the most costly products of the West, the fruit of +manifold inventions and discoveries--with all that had been achieved in +the useful arts, the arts whose success constitutes civilization--were +there spread before the dazzled eye. Such a Victory of Peace could not +have been achieved without the previous lesson of Defeat in War. + +Still further learning wisdom from her conquerors, Austria has entered +upon a general system of education, modelled upon that of Prussia, +which in the course of another generation will transform the +heterogeneous populations spread over the vast provinces, extending +from Italy and Germany to Turkey, which make up the thirty-four +millions of the Austrian Empire. + +Thus in many ways Austria has abandoned her traditional conservative +policy, and entered on the road of progress. She may now be fairly +reckoned among the liberal nations of Europe. The Roman Catholic +religion is still the recognized religion of the State, but the Pope +has lost that control which he had a few years ago; Vienna is much +more independent of Rome, and Protestants have quite as much liberty +of _opinion_, and I think more liberty of _worship_, than in +Republican France. + +Of course there is still much in the order of things which is not +according to our American ideas. Austria is an ancient monarchy, and +all civil and even social relations are framed on the monarchical +system. Everything revolves around the Emperor, as the centre of the +whole. We visit palace after palace, and are told that all are for the +Emperor. Even his stables are one of the sights of Vienna, where +hundreds of blooded horses are for the use of the Imperial household. +There are carriages, too many to be counted, covered with gold, for +four, six, or eight horses. One of these is two hundred years old, +with panels decorated with paintings by Rubens. It seems, indeed, as +if in these old monarchies the sovereign applied to himself, with an +arrogance approaching to blasphemy, the language which belongs to God +alone--that "of him, and through him, and to him, are all things." + +Personally I can well believe that the Emperor is a very amiable as +well as highly intelligent man, and that he seeks the good of his +people. He has been trained in the school of adversity, and has +learned that empires may not last forever and that dynasties may be +overthrown. History is full of warnings against royal pride and +ambition. Who can stand by the coffin of poor Maria Louisa, as it lies +in the crypt of the Church of the Capuchins, without thinking of the +strange fate of that descendant of Maria Theresa, married to the Great +Napoleon? In the Royal Treasury here, they show the cradle, wrought in +the rarest woods, inlaid with pearl and gold, and lined with silk, +that was made for the infant son of Napoleon, the little King of Rome. +What dreams of ambition hovered about that royal cradle! How strange +seemed the contrast when we visited the Palace at Schonbrunn, and +entered the room which Napoleon occupied when he besieged Vienna, and +saw the very bed in which he slept, and were told that in that same +bed the young Napoleon afterwards breathed his last! So perished the +dream of ambition. The young child for whom Napoleon had divorced +Josephine and married Maria Louisa, who was to perpetuate the proud +Imperial line, died far from France, while his father had already +ended his days on the rock of St. Helena! + +But personally no one can help a kindly feeling towards the Emperor, +and towards the young Empress also, as he hears of her virtues and her +charities. + +Nor can one help liking the Viennese and the Austrians. They are very +courteous and very polite--rather more so, if the truth must be told, +than their German neighbors. Perhaps great prosperity has been bad for +the Prussians, as adversity has been good for the Austrians. At any +rate the former have the reputation in Europe of being somewhat +brusque in their manners. Perhaps they also need a lesson in +humiliation, which may come in due time. But the Austrians are +proverbially a polite people. They are more like the French. They are +gay and fond of pleasure, but they have that instinctive courtesy, +which gives such a charm to social intercourse. + +And so we go away from Vienna with a kindly feeling for the dear old +city--only hoping it may not be spoiled by too many improvements--and +with best wishes for both Kaiser and people. They have had a hard +time, but it has done them good. By such harsh instruments, by a +discipline very bitter indeed, but necessary, has the life of this old +empire been renewed. Thus aroused from its lethargy, it has shaken off +the past, and entered on a course of peaceful progress with the +foremost nations of Europe. Those who talk of the "effete despotisms" +of the Old World, would be amazed at the signs of vitality in this old +but _not_ decaying empire. Austria is to-day one of the most +prosperous countries in Europe. There is fresh blood at her heart, and +fresh life coursing through her aged limbs. And though no man or +kingdom can be said to be master of the future, it has as fair a +chance of long existence as any other power on the continent. The form +of government may be changed; there may be internal revolutions; +Bohemia may obtain a separate government like Hungary; but whatever +may come, there will always be a great and powerful State in Eastern +Europe, on the waters of the Danube. + +We observed to-day that they were repairing St Stephen's, and were +glad to think that that old cathedral, which has stood for so many +ages, and whose stone pavement has been worn by the feet of many +generations, may stand for a thousand years to come. May that tower, +which has looked down on so many battle-fields, as the tide of war +has ebbed and flowed around the walls of Vienna, hereafter behold from +its height no more scenes of carnage like that of Wagram, but only see +gathered around its base one of the most beautiful of European +capitals--the heart of a great and prosperous Empire. + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.--OUT-DOOR LIFE OF THE GERMAN PEOPLE. + + + VIENNA, August 13th. + +No description of Germany--no picture of German life and manners--can +be complete which does not give some account of the out-door +recreations of the people; for this is a large part of their +existence; it is a feature of their national character, and an +important element in their national life. To know a people well, one +must see them not only in business, but in their lighter hours. One +may travel through Germany from the Baltic to the Adriatic, and see +all the palaces and museums and picture galleries, and yet be wholly +ignorant of the people. But if he has the good fortune to know a +single German family of the better class, into which he may be +received, not as a stranger, but as a guest and a friend--where he can +see the interior of a German _home_, and mark the strong affection of +parents and children, of brothers and sisters--he will get a better +idea of the real character of the people, than by months of living in +hotels. Next to the sacred interior of the home, the _public garden_ +is the place where the German appears with least formality and +disguise, and in his natural character. + +Since I came to Europe, I have been in no mood to seek amusement. +Indeed if I had followed my own impulse, it would have been to shun +every public resort, to live a very solitary life, going only to the +most retired places, and seeking only absolute seclusion and repose. +But that is not good for us in moments of sorrow. The mind is apt to +become morbid and gloomy. This is not the lesson which those who have +gone before would have us learn. On the contrary, they desire to have +us happy, and bid us with their dying breath seek new activity, new +scenes, and new mental occupation, to bind us to life. + +Besides, I have had not only myself to consider, but a young life +beside me. In addition to that, we have now a third member of our +party. At Hamburg we were joined by my nephew, a lieutenant in the +Navy, who is attached to the Flagship Franklin, now cruising in the +Baltic, and who obtained leave of absence for a month to join his +sister, and is travelling with us in Germany. He is a fine young +officer full of life, and enters into everything with the greatest +zest. So, beguiled by these two young spirits, I have been led to see +more than I otherwise should of the open-air life and recreations of +these simple-hearted Germans; and I will briefly describe what I have +seen, as the basis of one or two reflections. + +To begin with Hamburg. This is one of the most beautiful cities in +Germany. One part is indeed old and dingy, in which the narrow streets +are overhung with houses of a former century, now gone to decay. But +as we go back from the river, we mount higher, and come into an +entirely different town, with wide streets, lined with large and +imposing buildings. This part of the city was swept by a great fire a +few years ago, and has been very handsomely rebuilt. But the peculiar +beauty of Hamburg is formed by a small stream, the Alster, which runs +through the city, and empties into the Elbe, and which is dammed up so +as to form what is called by courtesy a lake, and what is certainly a +very pretty sheet of water. Around this are grouped the largest +hotels, and some of the finest buildings of the city, and this is the +centre of its joyous life, especially at the close of the day. When +evening comes on, all Hamburg flocks to the "Alster-dam." Our hotel +was on this lake, and from our windows we had every evening the most +animated scene. The water was covered with boats, among which the +swans glided about without fear. The quays were lighted up +brilliantly, and the cafes swarmed with people, all enjoying the cool +evening air. Both sexes and all ages were abroad to share in the +general gayety of the hour. + +Some rigid moralists might look upon this with stern eyes, as if it +were a scene of sinful enjoyment, as if men had no right thus to be +happy in this wicked world. But I confess I looked upon it with very +different feelings. The enjoyment was of the most simple and innocent +kind. Families were all together, father and mother, brothers and +sisters, while little children ran about at play. I have rarely looked +on a prettier scene, and although I had no part nor lot in it, +although I was a stranger there, and walked among these crowds alone, +still it did my heart good to see that there was so much happiness in +this sad and weary world. + +From Hamburg we came to Berlin, where the same features were +reproduced on a larger scale. As we drove through the streets at ten +o'clock at night we passed a large public garden, brilliantly lighted +up, and thronged with people, from which came the sound of music, and +were told that it was one of the most fashionable resorts of the +capital; and so the next evening--after a day at Potsdam, where we +were wearied with sight-seeing--we took our rest here. Imagine a vast +enclosure lighted up with hundreds of gas-jets, and thronged with +thousands of people, with _three_ bands of music to relieve each +other. There were hundreds of little tables, each with its group +around it, all chatting with the utmost animation. + +The next day we drove to Charlottenburg, to visit the old palaces and +the exquisite mausoleum of the beautiful Queen Louise, and on our +return stopped to take our dinner at the Flora--an enclosure of +several acres, laid out like a botanical garden. A large conservatory, +called the Palm Garden, keeps under cover such rare plants and trees +as would not grow in the cold climate; and here one is in a tropical +scene. This answers the purpose of a Winter Garden, as great banks of +flowers and of rare plants are in full bloom all the winter long; and +here the rank and fashion of Berlin can gather in winter, and with the +air filled with the perfume of flowers, forget the scene without--the +naked trees and bitter winds and drifting snows--while listening to +musical concerts given in an immense hall, capable of holding several +thousand people. These are the festivities of winter. But now, as it +is midsummer, the people prefer to be out of doors; and here, seated +among the rest, we take our dinner, entertained (as sovereigns are +wont to entertain their royal guests at State dinners) with a band of +music in the intervals of the feast, which gives a new zest, a touch +of Oriental luxury, to our very simple repast. + +At Dresden we were at the Hotel Bellevue, which is close to the Elbe, +and there was a public garden on the bank of the river, right under +our windows. Every evening we sat on the terrace attached to the +hotel, and heard the music, and watched the pleasure boats darting up +and down the river. + +But of all the cities of Germany, the one where this out-door life is +carried to the greatest perfection, is here in Vienna. We arrived when +the weather was very hot. For the first time this summer in Europe we +were really oppressed with the heat. The sun blazed fiercely, and as +we drove about the city seeing sights, we felt that we were martyrs +suffering in a good cause. We were told that the heat was very +unusual. The only relief and restoration after such days was an +evening ride. So as the sun was setting we took a carriage and made +the circuit of the Ring-strasse, the boulevards laid out on the site +of the old walls, ending with the Prater, that immense park, where two +years ago the Great Exposition was held, and where the buildings still +stand. This is the place of concourse of the Viennese on gala days, +when the Emperor turns out, and all the Austrian and Hungarian +nobility, with their splendid equipages (the Hungarians have an +Oriental fondness for gilded trappings), making a sight which is said +to be more dazzling than can be seen even in the Hyde Park of London, +or the Bois de Boulogne at Paris. Just now, of course, all this +fashionable element has fled the city, and is enjoying life at the +German watering places. But as there are still left seven or eight +hundred thousand people, they must find some way to bear the heats of +summer; and so they flock to the Prater. The trees are all ablaze with +light; half a dozen bands of music are in full blast, and "all the +world is gay." It is truly "a midsummer night's dream." I was +especially attracted to a concert garden where the band, a very large +one, was composed of women. To be sure there were half a dozen men +sprinkled among the performers, but they seemed to have subordinate +parts--only blowing away at the wind instruments--while all the +stringed instruments were played by delicate female hands. It was +quite pretty to see how deftly they held the violins, and what sweet +music they wrung from the strings. Two or three young maidens stood +beside the bass-viols, which were taller than themselves, and a trim +figure, that might have been that of a French _vivandiere_, beat the +drum. The conductor was of course a woman, and marshalled her forces +with wonderful spirit. I don't know whether the music was very fine or +not (for I am not a judge in such matters), but I applauded +vigorously, because I liked the independence of the thing, and have +some admiration, if not sympathy, for the spirit of those heroic +reformers, who wish to "put down these men." + +But the chief musical glory of Vienna is the Volksgarten, where +Strauss's famous band plays, and there we spent our last night in +Vienna. It is an enclosure near the Palace, and the grounds belong to +the Emperor, who gives the use of them (so we were told) to the son of +his old nurse, who devotes them to the purpose of a public garden, +and to musical concerts. Besides Strauss's band, there was a military +band, which played alternately. As we entered it was executing an air +which my companions recognized as from "William Tell," and they +pointed out to me the beautiful passages--those which imitated the +Alpine horns, etc. Then Strauss came to the front--not Johann (who has +become so famous that the Emperor has appropriated him to himself, so +that he can now play only for the royal family and their guests), but +his brother, Edward. He is a little man, whose body seems to be set on +springs, and to be put in motion by music. While leading the +orchestra, of some forty performers, he was as one inspired--he fairly +danced with excitement; it seemed as if he hardly touched the earth, +but floated in air, his body swaying hither and thither to the sound +of music. When he had finished, the military band responded, and so it +continued the whole evening. + +The garden was illuminated not only with gas lamps, but with other +lights not set down in the programme. The day had been terribly hot, +and as we drove to the garden, dark masses of cloud were gathering, +and soon the rain began to come down in earnest. The people who were +sitting under the trees took refuge in the shelter of the large hall; +and there, while incessant flashes of lightning lighted up the garden +without, the martial airs of the military band were answered by the +roll of the thunder. This was an unexpected accompaniment to the +music, but it was very grateful, as it at once cleared and cooled the +air, and gave promise of a pleasant day for travelling on the morrow. + +I might describe many similar scenes, though less brilliant, in every +German city, but these are enough to give a picture of the open-air +life and recreations of the German people. And now for the moral of +the tale. What is the influence of this kind of life--is it good or +bad? What lesson does it teach to us Americans? Does it furnish an +example to imitate, or a warning to avoid? Perhaps something of both. + +Certainly it is a good thing that it leads the people to spend some +hours of every day in the open air. During hours of business they are +in their offices or their shops, and they need a change; and +_anything_ which tempts them out of doors is a physical benefit; it +quiets their nerves, and cools their blood, and prepares them for +refreshing sleep. So far it is good. Every open space in the midst of +a great population is so much breathing space; the parks of a city are +rightly called its _lungs_; and it is a good thing if once a day all +classes, rich and poor, young and old, can get a long draught of +fresh, pure air, as if they were in the country. + +Next to the pleasure of sitting in the open air, the attraction of +these places is the _music_. The Germans are a music-loving people. +Luther was an enthusiast for music, and called any man a _fool_, a +dull, heavy dolt, whose blood was not stirred by martial airs or +softer melodies. In this he is a good type of the German people. This +taste is at once cultivated and gratified by what they hear at these +public resorts. I cannot speak with authority on such matters, but my +companions identified almost every air that was played as from some +celebrated piece of music, the work of some great master, all of whom +are familiar in Germany from Mozart to Mendelssohn. The constant +repetition of such music by competent and trained bands, cannot but +have a great effect upon the musical education of the people. + +And this delightful recreation is furnished very _cheaply_. In New +York to hear Nilsson, opera-goers pay three or four dollars. But here +admission to the Volksgarten, the most fashionable resort in Vienna, +is but a florin (about fifty cents); to the Flora, in Berlin, it was +but a mark, which is of the value of an English shilling, or a quarter +of a dollar; while many of the public gardens are _free_, the only +compensation being what is paid for refreshments. + +One other feature of this open-air life and recreation has been very +delightful to me--its domestic character. It is not a solitary, +selfish kind of pleasure, as when men go off by themselves to drink or +gamble, or indulge in any kind of dissipation. When men go to these +public gardens, on the contrary, _they take their wives and their +sisters with them_. Often we see a whole family, down to the children, +grouped around one of these tables. They sit there as they would +around their own tea-table at home. The family life is not broken by +this taking of their pleasure in public. On the contrary, it is rather +strengthened; all the family ties are made the closer by sharing their +enjoyments together. + +And these pleasures are not only _domestic_, but _democratic_. They +are not for the rich only, but for all classes. Even the poor can +afford the few pence necessary for such an evening, and find in +listening to such music in the open air the cheapest, as well as the +simplest and purest enjoyment. + +The _drawbacks_ to these public gardens are two--the smoking and the +beer-drinking. There are hundreds of tables, each with a group around +it, all drinking beer, and the men all smoking. These features I +dislike as much as anybody. I never smoked a cigar in my life, and do +not doubt that it would make me deadly sick. Mr. Spurgeon may say that +he "smokes a cigar to the glory of God"; that as it quiets his nerves +and gives him a sound night's sleep, it is a means of grace to him. +All I can say is, that it is not a means of grace to _me_, and that as +I have been frequently annoyed and almost suffocated by it, I am +afraid it has provoked feelings anything but Christian. + +As for the drinking, there is one universal beverage--_beer_. This is +a thin, watery fluid, such as one might make by putting a spoonful of +bitter herbs in a teapot and boiling them. To me it seemed like cold +water spoiled. Yet others argue that it is cold water improved. On +this question I have had many discussions since I came to Germany. The +people take to beer as a thing of course, as if it were the beverage +that nature had provided to assuage their thirst, and when they talk +to you in a friendly way, will caution you especially to beware of +drinking the water of the country! Why they should think this +dangerous, I cannot understand, for surely they do not drink enough of +it to do them any harm. Of course, in passing from country to country, +one needs to use prudence in drinking the water, as in other changes +of diet, but the danger from that source is greatly exaggerated. +Certainly I have drunk of water freely everywhere in Europe, without +any injury. Yet an American physician, who certainly has no national +prejudice in favor of beer, gravely argues with me that it is the most +simple, refreshing, and healthful beverage, and points to the physique +of the Germans in proof that it does them no injury. Perhaps used in +moderation, it may not. But certainly no argument will convince me +that drinking it in such quantities as some do--eight, ten, or a dozen +quart mugs a day!--is not injurious. When a man thus _swills_ +beer--there is no other word to express it--he seems to me like a pig +at the trough. + +But of course I do not mean that the greater number of Germans drink +it in any such quantities, or to a degree that would be considered +excessive, if it is to be drunk _at all_. I was at first shocked to +see men and women with these foaming goblets before them, but I +observed that, instead of drinking them off at a draught as those who +take stronger drinks are wont to do, they let them stand, occasionally +taking a sip, a single glass often lasting the whole evening. Indeed +it seemed as if many ordered a glass of beer on entering a public +garden, rather as a matter of custom, and as a way of paying for the +music. For this they gave a few kreutzers (equal to a few pence), and +for such a trifle had the freedom of the garden, and the privilege of +listening to excellent music. + +But if we cannot enter into any eulogium of German beer at least it +has this _negative_ virtue: it does not make people drunk. It is not +like the heavy ales or porters of England. This is a fact of immense +consequence, that the universal beverage of forty millions of people +is not intoxicating. Of course I do not mean to say that it is +impossible for one to have his head swim by taking it in some enormous +quantity. I only give my own observation, which is that I have seen +thousands taking their beer, and never saw one in any degree affected +by it. I give, therefore, the evidence of my senses, when I say that +this beer does not make men drunk, it does not steal away their +brains, or deprive them of reason. + +No reader of any intelligence can be so silly as to interpret this +simple statement of a fact as arguing for the introduction of beer +gardens in America. They are coming quite fast enough. [If I were to +have a beer garden, it should be _without the beer_.] But as between +the two, I do say that the beer gardens of Germany are a thousand +times better than the gin shops of London, or even the elegant "sample +rooms" of New York. In the latter men drink chiefly fiery wines, or +whiskey, or brandy, or rum; they drink what makes them beasts--what +sends them reeling through the streets, to carry terror to their +miserable homes; while in Germany men drink what may be very bitter +and bad-tasting stuff, but what does not make one a maniac or a brute. +No man goes home from a beer garden to beat his wife and children, +because he has been made a madman by intoxication. On the contrary, he +has had his wife and children with him; they have all had a breath of +fresh air, and enjoyed a good time together. + +Such are the simple pleasures of this simple German people--a people +that love their homes, their wives and children, and whatever they +enjoy wish to enjoy it together. + +Now may we not learn something from the habits of a foreign people, as +to how to provide cheap and innocent recreations for our own? Is there +not some way of getting the good without the evil, of having this +open-air life without any evil accompaniments? The question is one of +recreation, _not of amusements_, which is another thing, to be +considered by itself. In these public gardens there are no games of +any kind--not so much as a Punch and Judy, or a hand-organ with a +monkey--nothing but sitting in the open air, enjoying conversation, +and listening to music. + +This question of popular recreations, or to put it more broadly, _how +a people shall spend their leisure hours_--hours when they are not at +work nor asleep--is a very serious question, and one closely connected +with public morals. In the life of every man in America, even of the +hard-worked laborer, there are several hours in the day when he is not +bending to his task, and when he is not taking his meals. The work of +the day is over, he has had his supper, but it is not time to go to +bed. From seven to nine o'clock he has a couple of hours of leisure. +What shall he do with them? It may be said he ought to spend them in +reading. No doubt this would be very useful, but perhaps the poor man +is too jaded to fix his mind on a book. What he needs is diversion, +recreation, something that occupies the mind without fatiguing it; and +what so charming as to sit out of doors in the summer time, in the +cool of the evening, and listen to music, not being fixed to silence +as in a concert room, but free to move about, and talk with his +neighbors? If there could be in every large town such a retreat under +the shade of the trees, where tired workmen could come, and bring +their wives and children with them, it would do a great deal to keep +them out of drinking saloons and other places of evil resort. + +For want of something of this kind the young men in our cities and in +our country villages seek recreation where they can find it. In +cities, young men of the better class resort to clubs. This club life +has eaten into the domestic life of our American families. The +husband, the son and brother, are never at home. Would it not be +better if they could have some simple recreation which the whole +family could enjoy together? In country villages young men meet at the +tavern, or in the street, for want of a little company. I have seen +them, by twenty or thirty, sitting on a fence in a row, like barnyard +fowls, where, it is to be feared, their conversation is not of the +most refined character. How much better for these young fellows to be +_somewhere_ where they could be with their mothers and sisters, and +all have a good time together! If they must have something in the way +of refreshment (although I do not see the need of anything; "have they +not their houses to eat and drink in?"), let it be of the simplest +kind--something very _cheap_, for they have no money to waste--and +something which shall at least do them no injury--ices and lemonade, +with plenty of what is better than either for a hot summer evening, +pure, delicious cold water. + +I have great confidence in the power of _music_, especially in that +which is popular and universal. Expensive concerts, with celebrated +singers, are the pleasure of the rich. But a village glee-club or +singing-school calls out home talent, and no concert is so like a +country fete as that in which the young folks do their own singing. + +With these pictures of German life and manners, and the reflections +they suggest, I leave this subject of Popular Recreations to those who +are older and wiser than I. I know that the subject is a very delicate +one to touch. It is easy to go too far, and to have one's arguments +perverted to abuse. And yet, in spite of all this, I stand up for +recreation as a necessity of life. _Recreation is not dissipation._ +Calvin pitching quoits may not seem to us quite as venerable a figure +as Calvin writing his Institutes, or preaching in the Cathedral of +Geneva; and yet he was doing what was just and necessary. The mind +must unbend, and the body too. I believe hundreds of lives are lost +every year in America for want of this timely rest and recreation. + +Some traveller has said that America is the country in which there is +less suffering, and less enjoyment, than in any other country in the +world. I am afraid there is some truth in this. Certainly we have not +cultivated the art of enjoying ourselves. We are too busy. We are all +the time toiling to accumulate, and give ourselves little time to +enjoy. And when we do undertake it, it is a very solemn business with +us. Nothing is more dreary than the efforts of some of our good people +to enjoy themselves. They do not know how, and make an awkward shift +of it. They put it off to a future year, when their work shall be all +done, and they will go to Europe, and do up their travelling as a big +job. Thus their very pleasures are forced, artificial, and expensive. +And little pleasure they get after all! Many of these people we have +met wandering about Europe, forlorn and wretched creatures, exiles +from their own country, yet not at home in any other. They have not +learned the art, which the Germans might teach them, of simple +pleasures, and of _enjoying a little every day_. This American habit +of work without rest, is a wretched economy of life, which can be +justified neither by reason nor religion. There is no piety in such +self-sacrifice as this, since it is for no good object, but only from +a selfish and miserly greed for gain. Men were not made to be mere +drudges or slaves. Hard work, _duly intermixed with rest and +recreation_, is the best experience for every one of us, and the true +means by which we can best fulfil our duty to God and to man. + +Religion has received a great injury when it has been identified with +asceticism and gloom. If there is any class of men who are my special +aversion, it is those moping, melancholy owls, who sit on the tree of +life, and frown on every innocent human joy. Sorrow I can understand +(for I have tasted of its bitter cup), and grief of every kind, +penitence for wrong, and deep religious emotion; but what I cannot +understand, nor sympathize with, is that sour, sullen, morose temper, +which looks sternly even on the sports of children, and would hush +their prattle and glee. Such a system of repression is false in +philosophy, and false in morals. It is bad intellectually. Never was a +truer saying than that in the old lines: + + All work and no play + Makes Jack a dull boy. + +And it is equally bad for the moral nature. Fathers and mothers, you +must make your children happy, if you would make them good. You must +surround them with an atmosphere of affection and enjoyment, if you +would teach them to love you, and to love GOD. It is when held close +in their mothers' arms, with tender eyes bent over them, that children +first get some faint idea of that Infinite Love, of which maternal +fondness is but the faint reflection. How wisely has Cowper, that +delicate and tender moralist, expressed the proper wish of children: + + With books, or work, or healthful play, + May my first years be passed, + That I may give for every day + A good account at last. + +Such a happy childhood is the best nursery for a brave and noble +manhood. + +I write on this subject very seriously, for I know of few things more +closely connected with public morals. I do not argue in favor of +recreation because seeking any indulgence for myself. I have been as a +stranger in all these scenes, and never felt soberer or sadder in my +life than when listening for hours to music. But what concerns one +only, matters little; but what concerns the public good, matters a +great deal. And I give my opinion, as the result of much observation, +that any recreation which promotes innocent enjoyment, which is +physically healthy and morally pure, which keeps families together, +and thus unites them by the tie of common pleasures (a tie only less +strong than that of common sorrow), is a social influence that is +friendly to virtue, and to all which we most love and cherish, and on +the whole one of the cleanest and wholesomest things in this wicked +world. + +Often in my dreams I think of that better time which is coming, when +even pleasure shall be sanctified; when no human joy shall be cursed +by being mixed with sin and followed by remorse; when all our +happiness shall be pure and innocent, such as God can smile upon, and +such as leaves no sting behind. That will be a happy world, indeed, +when mutual love shall bless all human intercourse: + + Then shall wars and tumults cease, + Then be banished grief and pain; + Righteousness, and joy, and peace, + Undisturbed, shall ever reign. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +THE PASSION PLAY AND THE SCHOOL OF THE CROSS. + + + OBER-AMMERGAU, Bavaria, Aug. 22d. + +My readers probably did not expect to hear from me in this lonely and +remote part of the world. Perhaps some of them never heard of such a +place as Ober-Ammergau, and do not know what should give it a special +interest above hundreds of other places. Let me explain. Ober-Ammergau +is a small village in the Bavarian Alps, where for the last two +hundred years has been performed, at regular intervals, THE PASSION +PLAY--that is, a dramatic representation, in which are enacted before +us the principal events, and particularly the closing scenes, in the +life of our Lord. The idea of such a thing, when first suggested to a +Protestant mind, is not only strange, but repulsive in the highest +degree. It seems like holding up the agonies of our Saviour to public +exhibition, dragging on the stage that which should remain an object +of secret and devout meditation. When I first heard of it--which was +some years ago, in America--I was shocked at what seemed the gross +impiety of the thing; and yet, to my astonishment, several of the most +eminent ministers of the city of New York, both Episcopal and +Presbyterian, who had witnessed it, told me that it was performed in +the most religious spirit, and had produced on them an impression of +deep solemnity. Such representations were very common in the Middle +Ages; I believe they continued longest in Spain, but gradually they +died out, till now this is the only spot in Europe where the custom is +still observed. It has thus been perpetuated in fulfilment of a vow +made two centuries ago; and here it may be continued for centuries to +come. A performance so extraordinary, naturally excites great +curiosity. As it is given only once in ten years, the interest is not +dulled by too frequent repetition; and whoever is on the Continent in +the year of its observance, must needs turn aside to see this great +sight. At such times this little mountain village is thronged with +visitors, not only from Bavaria and other Catholic countries, but from +England and America. + +This is not the year for its performance. It was given in 1870, and +being interrupted by the Franco-German war, was resumed and completed +in 1871. The next regular year will be 1880. But this year, which is +midway between the two decennial years, has had a special interest +from a present of the King of Bavaria, who, wishing to mark his sense +of the extraordinary devotion of this little spot in his dominions, +has made it a present of a gigantic cross, or rather three crosses, to +form a "Calvary," which is to be erected on a hill overlooking the +town. In honor of this royal gift, it was decided to have this year a +special representation, not of the full Passion Play, but of a series +of Tableaux and Acts, representing what is called THE SCHOOL OF THE +CROSS--that is, such scenes from the Old and New Testaments as +converge upon that emblem of Christ's death and of man's salvation. +This is not in any strict sense a Play, though intended to represent +the greatest of all tragedies, but a series of Tableaux Vivants, in +some cases (only in those from the Old Testament) the statuesque +representation being aided by words from the Bible in the mouths of +the actors in the scene. The announcement of this new sacred drama (if +such it must be called) reached us in Vienna, and drew us to this +mountain village; and in selecting such subjects as seem most likely +to interest my readers, I pass by two of the most attractive places in +Southern Germany--Salzburg which is said to be "the most beautiful +spot in Europe," where we spent three days; and Munich, with its Art +Galleries, where we spent four--to describe this very unique +exhibition, so unlike anything to be seen in any other part of the +world. + +We left Munich by rail, and, after an hour's ride, varied our journey +by a sail across a lake, and then took to a diligence, to convey us +into the heart of the mountains. Among our companions were several +Catholic priests, who were making a pilgrimage to Ober-Ammergau as a +sacred place. The sun had set before we reached our destination. As we +approached the hamlet, we found wreaths and banners hung on poles +along the road--the signs of the fete on the morrow. As the resources +of the little place were very limited, the visitors, as they arrived, +had to be quartered among the people of the village. We had taken +tickets at Munich which secured us at least a roof over our heads, and +were assigned to the house of one of the better class of peasants, +where the good man and good wife received us very kindly, and gave us +such accommodations as their small quarters allowed, showing us to our +rooms up a little stair which was like a ladder, and shutting us in by +a trap-door. It gave us a strange feeling of distance and loneliness, +to find ourselves sleeping in such a "loft," under the roof of a +peasant among the mountains of Bavaria. + +The morning broke fair and bright, and soon the whole village was +astir. Peasants dressed in their gayest clothes came flocking in from +all the countryside. At nine o'clock three cannon shots announced the +commencement of the fete. The place of the performance was on rising +ground, a little out of the village, where a large barn-like structure +had been recently erected, which might hold a thousand people. +Formerly when the Passion Play was performed, it was given in the open +air, no building being sufficient to contain the crowds which thronged +to the unaccustomed spectacle. This rude structure is arranged like a +theatre, with a stage for the actors, and the rest of the house +divided off into seats, the best of which are generally occupied by +strangers while the peasant population crowd the galleries. We had +front seats, which were only separated from the stage by the +orchestra, which deserves a word of praise, since the music was both +_composed_ and performed wholly by such musical talent as the little +village itself could provide. + +At length the music ceased, and the _choir_, which was composed of +thirteen persons in two divisions, entered from opposite sides of the +stage, and "formed in line" in front of the curtain. The choir takes a +leading part in this extraordinary performance--the same, indeed, that +the chorus does in the old Greek tragedy, preceding each act or +tableau with a recitation or a hymn, designed as a prelude to +introduce what is to follow, and then at the close of the act +concluding with what preachers would call an "improvement" or +"application." In this opening chant the chorus introduced the mighty +story of man's redemption, as Milton began his Paradise Lost, by +speaking + + Of man's first disobedience, and the fruit + Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste + Brought death into the world, and all our woe. + +It was a sort of recitative or plaintive melody, fit keynote of the +sad scenes that were to follow. The voices ceased, and the curtain +rose. + +The first Biblical characters who appeared on the stage were Cain and +Abel, who were dressed in skins after the primitive fashion of our +race. Abel, who was of light complexion and hair, was clad in the +whitest and softest sheep's wool; while Cain, who was dark-featured, +and of a sinister and angry countenance, was covered with a flaming +leopard's skin, as best betokened the ferocity of his character. In +the background rose the incense of Abel's offering. Cain was disturbed +and angry; he spoke to his brother in a harsh voice. Abel replied in +the gentlest accents, trying to soften his brother's heart and turn +away his wrath. Father Adam, too, appears on the scene, using his +parental authority to reconcile his children; and Eve comes in, and +lays her light hand on the arm of her infuriated son, and tries to +soothe him to a gentler mood. Even the Angel of the Lord steps forth +from among the trees of the Garden, to warn the guilty man of the evil +of unbridled rage, and to urge him to timely repentance, that his +offering may be accepted. These united persuasions for the moment seem +to be successful, and there is an apparent reconciliation between the +brothers; Cain falls on Abel's neck, and embraces him. Yet even while +using the language of affection, he has a club in his hand, which he +holds behind him. But the fatal deed is not done upon the stage; for +throughout the play there is an effort to keep out of sight any +repulsive act. So they retire from the scene. But presently nature +itself announces that some deed of violence and blood is being done; +the lightnings flash and thunders roll; and Adam reappears, bearing +Abel in his aged arms, and our first parents together indulge in loud +lamentations over the body of their murdered son. + +This story of Cain and Abel occupied several short acts, in which the +curtain rose and fell several times, and at the end of each the chorus +came upon the stage to give the moral of the scene. + +In the dialogues the speakers follow closely the Old Testament. If +occasional sentences are thrown in to give a little more fulness of +detail, at least there is no departure from the general outline of the +sacred narrative. It is the story of the first crime, the first +shedding of human blood, told in a dramatic form, by the personages +themselves appearing on the stage. + +These scenes from the Old Testament were mingled with scenes from the +New, the aim being to use one to illustrate the other--the antitype +following the type in close succession. Thus the _pendant_ of the +former scenes (to adopt a word much used by artists when one picture +is hung on a wall over against another) was now given in the +corresponding crime which darkens the pages of the New Testament +history--the betrayal of Christ. But there was this difference between +the scenes from the Old Testament and those from the New: in the +latter _there was no dialogue whatever, and no action_, as if it was +all too sacred for words--nothing but the tableau, the figures +standing in one attitude, fixed and motionless. First there was the +scene of Christ driving the money-changers from the temple. Here a +large number of figures--I should think twenty or thirty--appeared +upon the stage, and held their places with unchanging look. Not one +moved; they scarcely breathed; but all stood fixed as marble. All the +historic characters were present--the priests in their robes (the +costumes evidently having been studied with great care), and the +Pharisees glaring with rage upon our Lord, as with holy indignation He +spurns the profane intruders from the sacred precincts. + +Then there is the scene of Judas betraying Christ. We see him leading +the way to the spot where our Saviour kneels in prayer; the crowd +follow with lanterns; there are the Roman soldiers, and in the +background are the priests, the instigators of this greatest of +crimes. + +In another scene Judas appears again overwhelmed with remorse, casting +down his ill-gotten money before the priests, who look on scornfully, +as if bidding him keep the price of blood, and take its terrible +consequences. + +As might be supposed, the part of Judas is one not to be particularly +desired, and we cannot look at a countenance showing a mixture of +hatred and greed, without a strong repugnance. There was a story that +the man who acted Judas in the Passion Play in 1870 had been killed in +the French war, but this we find to be an error. It was a very natural +invention of some one who thought that a man capable of such a crime +ought to be killed. But the old Judas is still living, and, off from +the stage, is said to be one of the most worthy men of the village. + +Having thus had set before us the most sticking illustrations of human +guilt, in the first crime that ever stained the earth with blood, and +in the greatest of all crimes, which caused the death of Christ, we +have next presented the method of man's redemption. The chorus again +enters upon the stage, and recites the story of the fall, how man +sinned, and was to be recovered by the sacrifice of one who was to be +an atonement for a ruined world. Again the curtain rises, and we have +before us the high priest Melchisedec, in whose smoking altar we see +illustrated the idea of sacrifice. + +The same idea takes a more terrible form in the sacrifice of Isaac. We +see the struggles of his father Abraham, who is bowed with sorrow, and +the heart-broken looks of Sarah, his wife. The latter part, as it +happened, was taken by a person of a very sweet face, the effect of +which was heightened by being overcast with sadness, and also by the +Oriental costume, which, covering a part of the face, left the dark +eyes which peered out from under the long eyelashes, to be turned on +the beholders. Everything in the appearance of Abraham, his bending +form and flowing beard, answered to the idea of the venerable +patriarch. The _couleur locale_ was preserved even in the attendants, +who looked as if they were Arabian servants who had just dismounted +from camels at the door of the tent. Isaac appears, an innocent and +confiding boy, with no presumption of the dark and terrible fate that +is impending over him. And when the gentle Sarah appears, tenderly +solicitous for the safety of her child, the coldest spectator could +hardly be unmoved by a scene pictured with such touching fidelity. It +is with a feeling of relief that, as this fearful tragedy approaches +its consummation, we hear the voice of the angel, and behold that the +Lord has himself provided a sacrifice. + +But all these scenes of darkness and sorrow, of guilt and sacrifice, +are now to find their culmination and their explanation in the death +of our Lord, to which all ancient types converge, and on which all +ancient symbols cast their faint and flickering, but not uncertain, +light. As the scenes approach this grand climax, they grow in pathos +and solemnity. Each is more tender and more effective than the last. + +One of the most touching, as might be supposed, is that of the Last +Supper, in which we recognize every one of the disciples, so closely +has the grouping been studied from the painting of Leonardo da Vinci +and other old masters with whom this was a favorite subject. There are +Peter and John and the rest, all turning with an eager, anxious look +towards their Master, and all with an indescribable sadness on their +faces. Again the scene changes, and we see our Lord in the Garden of +Gethsemane. There are the three disciples slumbering, overcome with +weariness and sorrow; and there on the sacred mount at midnight + + "The suffering Saviour prays alone." + +Again the curtain falls, and the chorus, in tones still more plaintive +and mournful, announce that the end is near. The curtain rises, and we +behold THE CRUCIFIXION. Here there are thirty or forty persons +introduced. In the foreground are three or four figures "casting +lots," careless of the awful scene that is going on above them. The +Roman soldier is looking upward with his spear. The three Marys are at +the feet of their Lord; _Mary Magdalen nearest of all, with her arms +clasped around the cross_; Mary, the mother of Christ, looking up with +weeping eyes; and a little farther Mary, the wife of Cleophas. The two +thieves are hanging, with their arms thrown over the cross-tree, as +they are represented in many of the paintings of the Crucifixion. But +we scarcely notice them, as all eyes are fixed on the Central Figure. +The man who takes the part of the Christus in this Divine Tragedy, has +made a study of it for years, and must have trained himself to great +physical endurance for a scene which must tax his strength to the +utmost. His arms are extended, his hands and feet seem to be pierced +with the nails, and flowing with blood. Even without actual wounds the +attitude itself must be extremely painful. How he could support the +weight of his body in such a posture was a wonder to all. It was said +that he rested one foot on something projecting from the cross, but +even then it seemed incredible that he could sustain such a position +for more than a single instant. Yet in the performance of the Passion +Play it is said that he remains thus suspended twenty minutes, and is +then taken down, almost in a fainting condition. + +Some may ask, How did the sight affect me? Twenty-four hours before I +could not have believed that I could look upon it without a feeling of +horror, but so skilfully had the points of the sacred drama been +rendered thus far, that my feelings had been wound up to the highest +pitch, and when the curtain rose on that last tremendous scene, I was +quite overcome, the tears burst from my eyes, I felt as never before, +under any sermon that I ever heard preached, how solemn and how awful +was the tragedy of the death of the Son of God. So excited were we, +and to appearance all in the building, that it was a relief when the +curtain fell. + +As if to give a further relief to the over-wrought feelings of the +audience, occasioned by this mournful sight, the next scene was of a +different character. It was not the Resurrection, though it might have +been intended to symbolize it, as in it the actor appears as if he had +been brought back from the dead. It is the story of Joseph, which is +introduced to illustrate the method of Divine Providence, by which is +brought "Light out of Darkness." We see the aged form of Jacob, bowed +with grief at the loss of his son. Then comes the marvellous +succession of events by which the darkness is turned to light. +Bewildered at the news of his son being in Egypt, at first he cannot +believe the good tidings, till at length convinced, he rises up +saying "Joseph my son, is yet alive; I will go and see him before I +die." Then follows the return to Egypt, and the meeting with him who +was dead and is alive again, when the old man falls upon his neck, and +Joseph's children (two curly-headed little fellows whom we had the +privilege of kissing before the day was over) were brought to his +knees to receive his blessing. This was a domestic rather than a +tragic scene, and such is the natural pathos of the story, that it +touched every heart. + +The last scene of all was the Ascension, which was less impressive +than some that had gone before, as it could of course only be +imperfectly represented. The Saviour appears standing on the mount, +with outstretched hands, in the midst of his disciples, but there the +scene ends, as it could go no further; there could be no descending +cloud to receive him out of their sight. + +With this last act the curtain fell. The whole representation had +occupied three hours. + +Now as to the general impression of this extraordinary scene: As a +piece of _acting_ it was simply wonderful. The parts were filled +admirably. The characters were perfectly kept. Even the costumes were +as faithfully reproduced as in any of those historical dramas which +are now and then put upon the stage, such as tragedies founded on +events in ancient Greek or Roman history, where the greatest pains are +taken to render every detail with scrupulous fidelity. This is very +extraordinary, especially when it is considered that this is all done +by a company of Bavarian peasants, such as might be found in any +Alpine village. The explanation is, that this representation is _the +great work of their lives_. They have their trades, like other poor +people, and work hard for a living. But their great interest, that +which gives a touch of poetry to their humble existence, and raises +them above the level of other peasants, is the representation of this +Passion Play. This has come down to them from their fathers. It has +been acted among them for two hundred years. There are traditions +handed down from one generation to another of the way in which this or +that part should be performed. In the long intervals of ten years +between one representation and another, they practice constantly upon +their several parts, so that at the last they attain a wonderful +degree of perfection. + +As to the _propriety_ of the thing: To our cold Protestant ideas it +seems simply monstrous, a horrid travesty of the most sacred scenes in +the Word of God. So I confess it would appear to me if done by others. +_Anywhere else_ what I have witnessed would appear to me almost like +blasphemy; it would be _merely acting_, and that of the worst kind, in +which men assume the most sacred characters, even that of our blessed +Lord himself. + +But this impression is very much changed when we consider that here +all this is done in a spirit of devotion. These Bavarian peasants are +a very religious people (some would prefer to call it superstition), +but whatever it be, it is _universal_. Pictures of saints and angels, +or of Christ and the Virgin Mary, are seen in every house; crosses and +images, and shrines are all along the roads. Call it superstition if +you will, but at least the feeling of religion, the feeling of a +Divine Power, is present in every heart; they refer everything to +supernatural agencies; they hear the voice of God in the thunder that +smites the crest of the hills, or the storm that sweeps through their +valleys. + +And so when they come to the performance of this Passion Play, it is +not as unbelievers, whose offering would be an offence, "not being +mixed with faith in them that did it." They believe, and therefore +they speak, and therefore they act. And so they go through their parts +in the most devout spirit. Whenever the Passion Play is to be +performed, all who are to take part in it _first go to the communion_; +and thus with hearts penitent and subdued, they come to assume these +sacred characters, and speak these holy words. + +And so, while the attempt to transport the Passion Play anywhere else +would be very repulsive, it may be left where it is, in this lonely +valley of the Bavarian mountains, an unique and extraordinary relic of +the religious customs of the Middle Ages. + +But while one such representation is quite enough, and we are well +content that it should stand alone, and there should be not another, +yet he must be a dull observer who does not derive from it some useful +hints both as to the power of the simplest religious truth, and the +way of presenting it. + +Preachers are not actors, and when some sensational preachers try to +introduce into the pulpit the arts which they have learned from the +stage, they commonly make lamentable failures. To say that a preacher +is theatrical, is to stamp him as a kind of clerical mountebank. And +yet there is a use of the dramatic element which is not forced nor +artificial, which on the contrary is the most simple and natural way +of speaking. The dramatic element is in human nature. Children use +gestures in talking, and vary their tones of voice. They never stand +stiff as a post, as some preachers do. The most popular speakers are +dramatic in their style. Cough, the temperance lecturer, who has +probably addressed more and larger audiences in America and Great +Britain than any other man living, is a consummate actor. His art of +mimicry, his power of imitating the expression of countenance and +tones of voice, is wonderful. And our eloquent friend Talmage, in +Brooklyn, owes much of his power to the freedom with which he walks up +and down his platform, which is a kind of stage, and throws in +incidents to illustrate his theme, often acting, as well as relating +them, with great effect. + +But not only is the dramatic element in human nature, it is in the +Bible, which runs over with it. The Bible is not merely a volume of +ethics. It is full of narrative, of history and biography, and of +dialogue. Many of the teachings of our Saviour are in the form of +conversations, of which it is quite impossible to give the full +meaning and spirit, without changes of manner and inflections of +voice. Take such an exquisite portion of the Old Testament as the +story of Ruth, or that of Joseph and his brethren. What an outrage +upon the sacred word to read such sweet and tender passages in a dull +and monotonous voice, as if one had not a particle of feeling of their +beauty. One might ask such a reader "Understandest thou what thou +readest?" and if he is too dull to learn otherwise, these simple +Bavarian peasants might teach him to throw into his reading from the +pulpit a little of the pathos and tenderness which they give to the +conversations of Joseph with his father Jacob. + +Of course, in introducing the dramatic element into the pulpit, it is +to be done with a close self-restraint, and with the utmost delicacy +and tenderness. But so used, it may subserve the highest ends of +preaching. Of this a very illustrious example is furnished in the +annals of the American pulpit, in the Blind Preacher of Virginia, the +impression of whose eloquence is preserved by the pen of William Wirt. +When that venerable old man, lifting his sightless eyeballs to heaven, +described the last sufferings of our Lord, it was with a manner +adapted to the recital, as if he had been a spectator of the mournful +scene, and with such pathos in his tones as melted the whole assembly +into tears, and the excitement seemed almost beyond control; and the +stranger held his breath in fear and wonder how they were ever to be +let down from that exaltation of feeling. But the blind man held them +as a master. He paused and lifted his hands to heaven, and after a +moment of silence, repeated only the memorable exclamation of +Rousseau: "Socrates died like a philosopher, but Jesus Christ like a +God!" In this marvellous eloquence the preacher used the dramatic +element as truly as any actor in the Passion Play, the object in both +cases being the same, to bring most vividly before the mind the life +and death of the Son of God. + +And is not that the great object, and the great subject, of all our +preaching? The chief lesson which I have learned to-day, concerns not +the _manner_, but the _substance_, of what we preach. This Passion +Play teaches most impressively, that the one thing which most +interests all, high and low, rich and poor, is the simple story of +Jesus Christ, and that the power of the pulpit depends on the +vividness with which Christ and His Cross are brought, if not before +the _eyes_, at least before the _minds_ and hearts of men. It is not +eloquent essays on the beauty of virtue, or learned discussions on the +relations of Science and Religion, that will ever touch the heart of +the world, but the old, old story of that Divine life, told with the +utmost simplicity and tenderness. I think it lawful to use any object +which can bring me nearer to Him. That which has been conceived in +superstition may minister to a devout spirit. And so I never see one +of these crosses by the roadside without its turning my thoughts to +Him who was lifted up upon it, and in my secret heart I whisper, "O +Christ, Redeemer of the world, be near me now!" + +Some, I know, will think this a weak sentimentalism, or even a sinful +tolerance of superstition. But with all proper respect for their +prejudices, I must hail my Saviour wherever I can find Him, whether in +the city or the forest, or on the mountain. What a consolation there +is in carrying that blessed image with us, wherever we go! How it +stills our beating hearts, and dries our tears, to think of Him who +has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows! Often do I repeat to +myself those sweet lines of George Herbert: + + Christ leads us through no darker rooms + Than He went through before; + Whoso into God's kingdom comes + Must enter by this door. + +I do not like to speak of my own feelings; for they are too private +and sacred, and I shrink from any expression of them. But all this +summer, while wandering in so many beautiful scenes, among lakes and +mountains, I have felt the strongest religious craving. I have been +looking for something which I did not find either in the populous +city, or in the solitary place where no man was. Something had +vanished from the earth, the absence of which could only be supplied +by an invisible presence and spiritual grace. Amid great scenes of +nature one is very lonely; and especially if there be a hidden weight +that hangs heavy on the heart, he feels the need of a Presence of +which "The deep saith, It is not in me," and Nature saith, "It is not +in me." What is this but the human soul groping after God, if haply it +may find him? The psalmist has expressed it in one word, when he says, +"My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." How often has +that cry been wrung from my heart in lonely and desolate hours, when +standing on the deck of a ship, or on the peak of a mountain! And +wherever I see any sign of religion, I am comforted; and so as I look +around, and see upon all these hills the sign of the cross, I think of +Him who died for me, and the cry which has so often been lifted up in +distant lands, goes up here from the heart of the Bavarian Alps: "O +Lamb of God, that takest away the sin of the world, grant me Thy +peace!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +THE TYROL AND LAKE COMO. + + + CADENABBIA, LAKE COMO, August 30th. + +The Rev. Dr. Bellows of New York is to blame--or "to praise"--for our +last week's wanderings; for he it was who advised me by no means to +leave out the Tyrol in our European tour--and if he could have seen +all the delight of these few days, I think he would willingly take the +responsibility. The Tyrol is less visited than Switzerland; it is not +so overrun with tourists (and this is a recommendation); but it is +hardly less worthy of a visit. To be sure, the mountains are not quite +so high as Mont Blanc and the Matterhorn (there are not so many +snow-clad peaks and glaciers), but they are high enough; there are +many that pierce the clouds, and the roads wind amid perpetual +wildness, yet not without beauty also, for at the foot of these savage +mountains lie the loveliest green valleys, which are inhabited by a +simple, brave people, who have often defended their Alpine passes with +such valor as has made them as full of historical interest as they are +of natural grandeur. + +Innsbruck is the capital of the Tyrol, and the usual starting point +for a tour--but as at Ober-Ammergau we were to the west, we found a +nearer point of departure at Partenkirchen, a small town lying in the +lap of the mountains, from which a journey through Lermos, Nassereit, +Imst, Landeck and Mals, leads one through the heart of the Tyrol, +ending with the Stelvio Pass, the highest over the Alps. It is a long +day's ride to Landeck, but we ordered a carriage with a pair of stout +horses, and went to our rest full of expectation of what we should see +on the morrow. + +But the night was not promising; the rain fell in torrents, and the +morning was dark and lowering; but "he that regardeth the clouds shall +not reap," so with faith we set out, and our faith was rewarded, for +soon the clouds broke away, and though they lingered in scattered +masses, sufficient to shade us from the oppressive heat of the sun, +they did not obscure the sight of the mountains and the valleys. The +rains had laid the dust and cooled the air, and all day long we were +floating through a succession of the most varied scenes, in which +there was a mingled wildness and beauty that would have delighted our +landscape artists. + +The villages are less picturesque than the country. They are generally +built very compact, apparently as a security against the winter, when +storms rage through these valleys, and there is a feeling of safety in +being thus "huddled" together. The houses are of stone, with arched +passage-ways for the horses to be driven into a central yard. They +look very solid, but they are not tasteful. There are not good +accommodations for travellers. There are as yet none of those +magnificent hotels which the flood of English tourists has caused to +be built at every noted point in Switzerland; in the Tyrol one has to +depend on the inns of the country, and these, with a few exceptions, +are poor. Looking through the one long, narrow street of a Tyrolean +village, one sees little that is attractive, but much to the contrary. +Great heaps of manure lie exposed by the roadside, and often not only +before the barns, but before the houses. These seem to be regarded as +the agricultural riches of the cultivators of the soil, and are +displayed with as much pride as a shepherd would take in showing his +flocks and herds. These features of a hamlet in the Tyrol a traveller +regards with disgust, and we used often to think of the contrast +presented to one of our New England villages, the paradise of neatness +and comfort. + +Such things seem to show an utter absence of taste; and yet this +people are very fond of flowers. Almost every house has a little patch +of ground for their cultivation, and the contrast is most strange +between the filth on one side and the beauty and bloom on the other. + +Another feature which strikes one, is the universal reverence and +devotion. The Tyrolese, like the peasants of Bavaria, are a very +religious people. One can hardly travel a mile without coming to a +cross or a shrine by the wayside, with an image of Christ and the +Virgin. Often on the highest points of the mountains, where only the +shepherd builds his hut, that he may watch his flocks in the summer as +they feed on those elevated pastures, may be seen a little chapel, +whose white spire, gleaming in the sunset, seems as strange and lonely +as would a rude chapel built by a company of miners on some solitary +peak of the Rocky Mountains. + +These summer pastures are a feature of the Tyrol. High up on the sides +of the mountains one may descry here and there, amid the masses of +rock, or the pine forest, a little oasis of green (called an _Alp_), +where a few rods of more level ground permit of cultivation. It would +seem as if these heights were almost inaccessible, as if only the +chamois could clamber up such rocks, or find a footing where only +stunted pines can grow. Yet so industrious are these simple Tyroleans, +and so hard-pressing is the necessity which compels them to use every +foot of the soil, that they follow in the path of the chamois, and +turn even the tops of the mountains into greenness, and plant their +little patches almost on the edge of the snows. Wherever the grass can +grow, the cattle and goats find sustenance on the scanty herbage. To +these mountain pastures they are driven, so soon as the snows have +melted off from the heights, and the tender grass begins to appear, +and there they are kept till the return of cold compels them to +descend. We used often to look through our spyglass at the little +clusters of huts on the very tops of the mountains, where the +shepherds, by coming together, try to lighten a little the loneliness +of their lot, banished for the time from all other human habitations. +But what a solitary existence--the only sound that greets their ears +the tinkling of the cow-bells, or the winding of the shepherd's horn, +or the chime of some chapel bell, which, perched on a neighboring +height, sends its sweet tones across the valley. Amid such scenes, we +rode through a dozen villages, past hills crowned with old castles, +and often looked down from the mountain sides into deep hollows +glistening with lakes. As we came into the valley of the Inn, we +remembered that this was all historic ground. The bridges over which +we passed have often been the scene of bloody conflicts, and in these +narrow gorges the Tyrolese have rolled down rocks and trees on the +heads of their invaders. + +We slept that night at Landeck, in a very decent, comfortable inn, +kept by a good motherly hostess. The next morning we exchanged our +private carriage for the _stellwaggen_, a small diligence which runs +to Mals. Our journey was now made still more pleasant by falling in +with a party of three clergymen of the Church of England--all rectors +of important churches in or near London, who had been, like ourselves, +to Ober-Ammergau, and were returning through the Tyrol. They had been +also to the Old Catholic Conference at Bonn, where they met our friend +Dr. Schaff. They had much to say of the addresses of Dr. Doellinger, +and of the Old Catholic movement, of which they had not very high +expectations, although they thought its influence, as far as it went, +was good. We travelled together for three days. I found them (as I +have always found clergymen of the Church of England) men of culture +and education, as well as gentlemen in their manners. They proved most +agreeable travelling companions, and their pleasant conversation, as +we rode together, or walked up the steep ascents of the mountains, +gave an additional enjoyment to this most delightful journey. + +This second day's ride led us over the Finstermuenz Pass in which all +the features of Tyrolean scenery of the day before were repeated with +increasing grandeur. For many miles the line of the Tyrol is close to +that of Switzerland; across a deep gorge, through which flows a rapid +river, lies the Engadine, which of late years has been a favorite +resort of Swiss tourists, and where our friend Prof. Hitchcock with +his family has been spending the summer at St. Moritz. + +Towards the close of the day we descried in the distance a range of +snowy summits, and were told that this was the chain that we were to +cross on the morrow. + +But all the experiences of those two days--in which we thought our +superlatives were exhausted--were surpassed on the third as we crossed +the Pass of the Stelvio. This is the highest pass in Europe, and on +this day it seemed as if we were scaling heaven itself. Having a party +of five, we procured a diligence to ourselves. We set out from Mals at +six o'clock in the morning, and crossing the rushing, foaming Adige, +began the ascent. Soon the mountains close in upon us, the Pass grows +narrower and steeper; the horses have to pull harder; we get out and +walk, partly to relieve the hard-breathing animals, but more to see at +every turn the savage wildness of the scenery. How the road turns and +twists in every way to get a foothold, doubling on itself a hundred +times in its ascent of a few miles. And look, how the grandeur grows +as we mount into this higher air! The snow-peaks are all around us, +and the snow melting in the fiery sun, feeds many streams which pour +down the rocky sides of the mountains to unite in the valley below, +and which filled the solitudes with a perpetual roar. + +After such steady climbing for seven hours, at one o'clock we reached +a resting place for dinner (where we halted an hour), a shelf between +the mountains, from which, as we were now above the line of trees, +and no forests intercepted the view, we could see our way to the very +summit. The road winds in a succession of zigzags up the side of the +mountain. The distance in an air line is not perhaps more than two +miles, though it is six and a half by the road, and it took us just +two hours to reach the top. At length at four o'clock we reached the +point, over nine thousand feet above the level of the sea, where a +stone monument marks at once the summit of the Pass and the dividing +line between the Tyrol and Lombardy. All leaped from the carriage in +delight, to look around on the wilderness of mountains. To the left +was the great range of the Ortler Alps, with the Ortler Spitze rising +like a white dome above them all. At last we were among the snows. We +were above the line of vegetation, where not a tree grows, nor a blade +of grass--where all is barrenness and desolation. + +The Stelvio is utterly impassable the greater part of the year. In a +few weeks more the snows will fall. By the end of September it is +considered unsafe, and the passage is attempted at one's peril, as the +traveller may be caught in a storm, and lost on the mountain. + +Perhaps some of my readers will ask, what we often asked, What is the +use of building a road amid these frightful solitudes, when it cannot +be travelled the greater part of the year? What is the use of carrying +a highway up into the clouds? Why build such a Jacob's ladder into +heaven itself, since after all this is not the way to get to heaven? +It must have cost millions. But there is no population along the road +to justify the expense. It could not be built for a few poor +mountaineers. And yet it is constructed as solidly as if it were the +Appian way leading out of Rome. It is an immense work of engineering. +For leagues upon leagues it has to be supported by solid stone-work to +prevent its being washed away by torrents. The answer is easy. It is a +military road, built, if not for purposes of conquest, yet to hold +one insecure dominion. Twenty years ago the upper part of Italy was a +dependency of Austria, but an insecure one, always in a chronic state +of discontent, always on the verge of rebellion. This road was built +to enable the government at Vienna to move troops swiftly through the +Tyrol over this pass, and pour them down upon the plains of Lombardy. +Hannibal and Caesar had crossed the Alps, but the achievement was the +most daring in the annals of ancient warfare. Napoleon passed the +Great St. Bernard, but he felt the need of an easier passage for his +troops, and constructed the Simplon, not from a benevolent wish to +benefit mankind, but simply to render more secure his hold upon Italy, +as he showed by asking the engineers who came to report upon the +progress of the work, "When will the road be ready to pass over the +cannon?" Such was the design of Austria in building the road over the +Stelvio. But man proposes and God disposes. It was built with the +resources of an empire, and now that it is finished, Lombardy, by a +succession of events not anticipated in the royal councils, falls to +reunited Italy, and this road, the highest in Europe, remains, not a +channel of conquest, but a highway of civilization. + +But here we are on the top of the Pass, from which we can look into +three countries--an empire, a kingdom, and a republic. Austria is +behind us, and Italy is before us, and Switzerland, throned on the +Alps, stands close beside us. After resting awhile, and feasting our +eyes on the glorious sight, we prepare to descend. + +We are not out of the Tyrol, even when we have crossed the frontier, +for there is an Italian as well as an Austrian Tyrol, which has the +same features, and may be said to extend to Lake Como. + +The descent from the Stelvio is quite as wonderful as the ascent. +Perhaps the impression is even greater, as the descent is more rapid, +and one realizes more the awful height and depth, as he is whirled +down the pass by a hundred zigzag turns, over bridges and through +galleries of rock, till at last, at the close of a long summer's day, +he reaches the Baths of Bormio, and plunging into one of the baths, +for which the place is so famous, washes away the dust of the journey, +and rests after the fatigue of a day never to be forgotten, in which +he made the Pass of the Stelvio. + +For one fond of mountain climbing, who wished to make foot excursions +among the Alps, there are not many better points than this of the +Baths of Bormio. It is under the shadow of the great mountains, yet is +itself only about four thousand feet high, so that it is easily +accessible from below, yet it is nearly half-way up to the heights +above. + +But we were on our way to Italy, and the next day continued our course +down the valley of the Adda. Hour after hour we kept going down, down, +till it seemed as if we must at last reach the very bottom of the +mountains, where their granite foundations are embedded in the solid +mass of the planet. But this descent gave us a succession of scenes of +indescribable beauty. Slowly the valley widened before us. The +mountains wore a rugged aspect. Instead of sterile masses of rock, +mantled with snows, and piercing the clouds, they began to be covered +with pines, which, like moss upon rocks, softened and beautified their +rugged breasts. As we advanced still farther, the slopes were covered +with vineyards; we were entering the land of the olive and the vine; +terrace on terrace rose on the mountain side; every shelf of rock, or +foot of ground, where a vine could grow, was covered. The rocky soil +yields the most delicious grapes. Women brought us great clusters; a +franc purchased enough for our whole party. The industry of the people +seemed more like the habits of birds building their nests on every +point of vantage, or of bees constructing their precious combs in the +trunks of old trees or in the clefts of the rocks, than the industry +of human creatures, which requires some little "verge and scope" for +its manifestations. And now along the banks of the Adda are little +plots of level ground, which admit of other cultivation. Olives trees +are mingled with the vines. There are orchards too, which remind us of +New England. Great numbers of mulberry trees are grown along the road, +for the raising of silk is one of the industries of Lombardy, and +there are thousands of willows by the water-courses, from which they +are cutting the lithe and supple branches, to be woven into baskets. +It is the glad summer time, and the land is rejoicing with the joy of +harvest. "The valleys are covered over with corn; they shout for joy; +they also sing." It was a warm afternoon, and the people were +gathering in the hay; and a pretty sight it was to see men and women +in the fields raking the rows, and very sweet to inhale the smell of +the new-mown hay, as we whirled along the road. + +These are pretty features of an Italian landscape; I wish that the +impression was not marred by some which are less pleasant. But the +comfort of the people does not seem to correspond to their industry. +There is no economy in their labor, everything is done in the +old-fashioned way, and in the most wasteful methods. I did not see a +mowing or a reaping machine in the Tyrol, either on this or the other +side of the mountains. They use wooden ploughs, drawn by cows as often +as by oxen, and so little management have they, that one person is +employed, generally a woman, to lead the miserable team, or rather +pull them along. I have seen a whole family attached to a pair of +sorry cattle--the man holding the plough, the woman pulling the rope +ahead, and a poor little chap, who did his best, whipping behind. The +crops are gathered in the same slipshod way. The hay is all carried in +baskets on the backs of women. It was a pitiful sight to see them +groaning under their loads, often stopping by the roadside to rest. I +longed to see one of our Berkshire farmers enter the hay-field with a +pair of lusty oxen and a huge cart, which would transport at a single +load a weight, such as would break the backs of all the women in an +Italian village. + +Of course women subjected to this kind of work, are soon bent out of +all appearance of beauty; and when to this is added the goitre, which +prevails to a shocking extent in these mountain valleys, they are +often but wretched hags in appearance. + +And yet the Italians have a "gift of beauty," if it were only not +marred by such untoward circumstances. Many a bright, Spanish-looking +face looked out of windows, and peered from under the arches, as we +rattled through the villages; and the children were almost always +pretty, even though in rags. With their dark brown faces, curly hair, +and large, beautiful eyes, they might have been the models of +Murillo's beggars. + +We dined at Tirano, in a hotel which once had been a monastery, and +whose spacious rooms--very comfortable "cells" indeed--and ample +cellars for their wines, and large open court, surrounded with covered +arches, where the good fathers could rest in the heat of the day, +showed that these old monks, though so intent on the joys of the next +world, were not wholly indifferent to the "creature comforts" of this. + +Night brought us to Sondrio, where in a spacious and comfortable inn, +which we remember with much satisfaction after our long rides, we +slept the sleep of innocence and peace. + +And now we are fairly entered into Italy. The mountains are behind us, +and the lakes are before us. Friday brought us to Lake Como, and we +found the relief of exchanging our ride in a diligence along a hot and +dusty road for a sail over this most enchanting of Italian, perhaps I +might say of European, lakes; for after seeing many in different +countries, it seems to me that this is "better than all the waters" of +Scotland or Switzerland. It is a daughter of the Alps, lying at their +feet, fed by their snows, and reflecting their giant forms in its +placid bosom. And here on its shores we have pitched our tent to rest +for ten days. For three months we have been travelling almost without +stopping, sometimes, to avoid the heat, riding all night--as from +Amsterdam to Hamburg, and from Prague to Vienna. The last week, though +very delightful, has been one of great fatigue, as for four days in +succession we rode twelve or thirteen hours a day in a carriage or +diligence. After being thus jolted and knocked about, we are quite +willing to rest. Nature is very well, but it is a pleasant change once +in a while to return to civilization; to have the luxury of a bath, +and to sleep quietly in our beds, like Christians, instead of racing +up and down in the earth, as if haunted by an evil spirit. And so we +have decided to "come apart and rest awhile," before starting on +another campaign. + +We are in the loveliest spot that ever a tired mortal chose to pillow +his weary head. If any of my readers are coming abroad for a summer, +and wish for a place of _rest_, let me recommend to them this quiet +retreat. Cadenabbia! it hath a pleasant sound, and it is indeed an +enchanting spot. The mountains are all around us, to shut out the +world, and the gentle waters ripple at our feet. We do not spend the +time in making excursions, for in this balmy air it is a sufficient +luxury to exist. We are now writing at a table under an avenue of fine +old trees, which stretch along the lake to the Villa Carlotta, a +princely residence, which belongs to a niece of the Emperor of +Germany, where oranges and lemons are growing in the open air, and +hang in clusters over our heads, and where one may pick from the trees +figs and pomegranates. Here we sit in a paradise of beauty, and send +our loving thoughts to friends over the sea. + +And then, if tired of the shore, we have but to step into a boat, and +float "at our own sweet will." This is our unfailing resource when the +day is over. Boats are lying in front of the hotel, and strong-armed +rowers are ready to take us anywhere. Across the lake, which is here +but two miles wide, is Bellaggio, with its great hotels along the +water, and its numerous villas peering out from the dense foliage of +trees. How they glow in the last rays of the sunset, and how brilliant +the lights along the shore at evening. Sometimes we sail across to +visit the villas, or to look among the hotels for friendly American +names. But more commonly we sail up and down, only for the pleasure of +the motion, now creeping along by the shore, under the shadow of the +mountains, and now "launching out into the deep," and rest, like one +becalmed, in the middle of the lake. We do not want to go anywhere, +but only to float and dream. Row gently, boatman! Softly and slowly! +_Lentissimo!_ Hush, there is music on the shore. We stop and listen: + + "My soul was an enchanted boat, + That like a sleeping swan did float, + Upon the waves of that sweet singing." + +But better than music or the waters is the heaven that is above the +waters, and that is reflected in the tranquil bosom of the lake. +Leaning back on the cushioned seat, we look up to the stars as old +friends, as they are the only objects that we recognize in the heavens +above or the earth beneath. How we come to love any object that is +familiar. I confess it is with a tender feeling that I look up to +constellations that have so often shined upon me in other lands, when +other eyes looked up with mine. How sweet it is, wherever we go, to +have at least one object that we have seen before; one face that is +not strange to us, the same on land or sea, in Europe and America. +Thus in our travels I have learned to look up to the stars as the most +constant friends. They are the only things in nature that remain +faithful. The mountains change as we move from country to country. The +rivers know us not as they glide away swiftly to the sea. But the +stars are always the same. The same constellations glow in the heavens +to-night that shone on Julius Caesar when he led his legions through +these mountains to conquer the tribes of Germany. Caesar is gone, and +sixty generations since, but Orion and the Pleiades remain. The same +stars are here that shone on Bethlehem when Christ was born; the same +that now shine in distant lands on holy graves; and that will look +down with pitying eyes on our graves when we are gone. Blessed lights +in the heavens, to illumine the darkness of our earthly existence! Are +they not the best witnesses for our Almighty Creator, + + "Forever singing as they shine + The hand that made us is Divine?" + +He who hath set his bow in the cloud, hath set in the firmament that +is above the clouds, these everlasting signs of His own faithfulness. +Who that looks up at that midnight sky can ever again doubt His care +and love, as he reads these unchanging memorials of an unchanging God? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE CITY IN THE SEA. + + + VENICE, Sept 18th. + +It was with real regret that we left Lake Como, where we had passed +ten very quiet but very happy days. But all things pleasant must have +an end, and so on Monday morning we departed. Steamers ply up and down +the lake, but as none left at an hour early enough to connect with a +train that reached Venice the same evening, we took a boat and were +rowed to Lecco. It was a three hours' pull for two strong men; but as +we left at half-past seven, the eastern mountains protected us from +the heat of the sun, and we glided swiftly along in their cool +shadows. Not a breath of air ruffled the bosom of the lake. Everything +in this parting view conspired to make us regret a scene of which we +were taking a long, perhaps a last, farewell. + +At Lecco we came back to railroads, which we had not seen since the +morning we left Munich for Ober-Ammergau, more than two weeks before, +and were soon flying over a cultivated country, where orchards of +mulberry trees (close-trimmed, so as to yield a second crop of leaves +the same season) gave promise of the rich silks of Lombardy, and vines +covered all the terraced slopes of the hills. + +In the carriage with us was a good old priest, who was attached to St. +Mark's in Venice, with whom we fell in conversation, and who gave us +much information about the picturesque country through which we were +passing. Here, where the land is smiling so peacefully, among these +very hills, "rich with corn and wine," was fought the great battle in +which Venice defeated Frederick Barbarossa, and thus saved the cause +of Italian independence. + +At Bergamo we struck the line from Milan to Venice, and while waiting +an hour for the express train, sauntered off with the old priest into +the town, which was just then alive with the excitement of its annual +fair. The peasants had come in from all the country round--men and +women, boys and girls--to enjoy a holiday, bringing whatever they had +to sell, and seeking whatever they had to buy. One might imagine that +he was in an old-fashioned "cattle show" at home. Farmers had brought +young colts which they had raised for the market, and some of the +brawny fellows, with broad-brimmed hats, answered to the drovers one +may see in Kansas, who have driven the immense herds of cattle from +Texas. In another part of the grounds were exposed for sale the +delicate fabrics and rich colors which tempt the eye of woman: silks +and scarfs and shawls, with many of the sex, young and old, looking on +with eager eyes. And there were sports for the children. A +merry-go-round picked up its load of little creatures, who, mounted on +wooden horses, were whirled about to their infinite delight at a penny +apiece--a great deal of happiness for a very little money. And there +were all sorts of shows going on--little enclosures, where something +wonderful was to be seen, the presence of which was announced by the +beating of a drum; and a big tent with a circus, which from the +English names of the performers may have been a strolling company from +the British Islands, or possibly from America! It would be strange +indeed, if a troupe of Yankee riders and jumpers had come all the way +to Italy, to make the country folk stare at their surprising feats. +And there was a menagerie, which one did not need to enter: for the +wild beasts painted on the outside of the canvas, were no doubt much +more ferocious and terrible to behold than the subdued and lamb-like +creatures within. Is not a Country Fair the same thing all over the +world? + +At length the train came rushing up, and stopping but a moment for +passengers, dashed off like a race-horse over the great plain of +Lombardy. But we must not go so fast as to overlook this historic +ground. Suddenly, like a sheet of silver, unrolls before us the broad +surface of the Lago di Garda, the greatest of the Italian lakes, +stretching far into the plain, but with its head resting against the +background of the Tyrolean Alps. What memories gather about these +places from the old Roman days! In yonder peninsula in the lake, +Catullus wrote his poems; in Mantua, a few miles to the south, Virgil +was born; while in Verona an amphitheatre remains in excellent +preservation, which is second only to the Coliseum. In events of more +recent date this region is full of interest. We are now in the heart +of the famous Quadrilateral, the Four great Fortresses, built to +overawe as well as defend Upper Italy. All this ground was fought over +by the first Napoleon in his Italian campaigns; while near at hand is +the field of Solferino, where under Napoleon III. a French army, with +that of Victor Emmanuel, finally conquered the independence of Italy. + +More peaceful memories linger about Padua, whose University, that is +over six hundred years old, was long one of the chief seats of +learning in Europe, within whose walls Galileo studied; and Tasso and +Ariosto and Petrarch; and the reformer and martyr Savonarola. + +But all these places sink in interest, as just at evening we reach the +end of the main land, and passing over the long causeway which crosses +the Lagune, find ourselves in VENICE. It seems very prosaic to enter +Venice by a railroad, but the prose ceases and the poetry begins the +instant we emerge from the station, for the marble steps descend to +the water, and instead of stepping into a carriage we step into a +gondola; and as we move off we leave behind the firm ground of +ordinary experience, and our imagination, like our persons, is afloat. +Everything is strange and unreal. We are in a great city, and yet we +cannot put our feet to the ground. There is no sound of carriages +rattling over the stony streets, for there is not a horse in Venice. +We cannot realize where and what we are. The impression is greatly +heightened in arriving at night, for the canals are but dimly lighted, +and darkness adds to the mystery of this city of silence. Now and then +we see a light in a window, and somebody leans from a balcony; and we +hear the plashing of oars as a gondola shoots by; but these occasional +signs of life only deepen the impression of loneliness, till it seems +as if we were in a world of ghosts--nay, to be ghosts ourselves--and +to be gliding through misty shapes and shadows; as if we had touched +the black waters of Death, and the silent Oarsman himself were guiding +our boat to his gloomy realm. Thus sunk in reverie, we floated along +the watery streets, past the Rialto, and under the Bridge of Sighs, to +the Hotel Danieli on the Grand Canal, just behind the Palace of the +Doges. + +When the morning broke, and we could see things about us in plain +daylight, we set ourselves, like dutiful travellers, to see the +sights, and now in a busy week have come to know something of Venice; +to feel that it is not familiar _ground_, but familiar _water_, +familiar canals and bridges, and churches and palaces. We have been up +on the Campanile, and looked down upon the city, as it lies spread out +like a map under our eye, with all its islands and its waters; and we +have sailed around it and through it, going down to the Lido, and +looking off upon the Adriatic; and then coursing about the Lagune, and +up and down the Grand Canal and the Giudecca, and through many of the +smaller canals, which intersect the city in every direction. We have +visited the church of St. Mark, rich with its colored marbles and +mosaics, and richer still in its historic memories; and the Palace +where the Doges reigned, and the church where they are buried, the +Westminster Abbey of Venice, where the rulers of many generations lie +together in their royal house of death; we have visited the Picture +Galleries, and seen the paintings of Titian and the statues of Canova, +and then looked on the marble tombs in the church of the Frati, where +sleep these two masters of different centuries. Thus we have tried to +weave together the artistic, the architectural, and the historical +glories of this wonderful city. + +There is no city in Europe about which there is so much of romance as +Venice, and of _real_ romance (if that be not a contradiction), that +is, of romance founded on reality, for indeed the reality is stranger +than fiction. Its very aspect dazzles the eye, as the traveller +approaches from the east, and sees the morning sun reflected from its +domes and towers. And how like an apparition it seems, when he +reflects that all that glittering splendor rests on the unsubstantial +sea. It is a jewel set in water, or rather it seems to rise, like a +gigantic sea-flower, out of the waves, and to spread a kind of +tropical bloom over the far-shining expanse around it. + +And then its history is as strange and marvellous as any tale of the +Arabian Nights. It is the wildest romance turned into reality. Venice +is the oldest State in Europe. The proudest modern empires are but of +yesterday compared with it. When Britain was a howling wilderness, +when London and Paris were insignificant towns, the Queen of the +Adriatic was in the height of its glory. Macaulay says the Republic of +Venice came next in antiquity to the Church of Rome. Thus he places it +before all the kingdoms of Europe, being antedated only by that hoary +Ecclesiastical Dominion, which (as he writes so eloquently in his +celebrated review of Ranke's History of the Popes) began to live +before all the nations, and may endure till that famous New Zealander +"shall take his stand, in the midst of a vast solitude, on a broken +arch of London Bridge, to sketch the nuns of St. Paul's." + +And this history, dating so far back, is connected with monuments +still standing, which recall it vividly to the modern traveller. The +church of St. Mark is a whole volume in itself. It is one of the +oldest churches in the world, boasting of having under its altar the +very bones of St. Mark, and behind it alabaster columns from the +Temple of Solomon, while over its ancient portal the four bronze +horses still stand proudly erect, which date at least from the time of +Nero, and are perhaps the work of a Grecian sculptor who lived before +the birth of Christ. And the Palace of the Doges--is it not a history +of centuries written in stone? What grand spectacles it has witnessed +in the days of Venetian splendor! What pomp and glory have been +gathered within its walls! And what deliberations have been carried on +in its council chambers; what deeds of patriotism have been there +conceived, and also what conspiracies and what crimes! And the Prison +behind it, with the Bridge of Sighs leading to it, does not every +stone in that gloomy pile seem to have a history written in blood and +tears? + +But the part of Venice in European history was not only a leading one +for more than a thousand years, but a noble one; it took the foremost +place in European civilization, which it preserved after the +barbarians had overrun the Roman Empire. The Middle Ages would have +been Dark Ages indeed, but for the light thrown into them by the +Italian Republics. It was after the Roman empire had fallen under the +battle-axes of the German barbarians that the ancient Veneti took +refuge on these low-lying islands, finding a defence in the +surrounding waters, and here began to build a city in the sea. Its +position at the head of the Adriatic was favorable for commerce, and +it soon drew to itself the rich trade of the East. It sent out its +ships to all parts of the Mediterranean, and even beyond the Pillars +of Hercules. And so, century after century, it grew in power and +splendor, till it was the greatest maritime city in the world. It was +the lord of the waves, and in sign of its supremacy, it was _married +to the sea_ with great pomp and magnificence. In the Arsenal is shown +the model of the Bucentaur, that gilded barge in which the Doge and +the Senate were every year carried down the harbor, and dropping a +ring of gold and gems (large as one of those huge doorknockers that in +former days gave dignity to the portals of great mansions) into the +waves, signified the marriage of Venice to the sea.[3] It was the +contrast of this display of power and dominion with the later decline +of Venetian commerce, that suggested the melancholy line, + + "The spouseless Adriatic mourns her lord." + +But then Venice was as much mistress of the sea as England is to-day. +She sat at the gates of the Orient, and + + "The gorgeous East with richest hand + Showered upon her barbaric pearl and gold." + +Then arose on all her islands and her waters those structures which +are to this day the wonder of Europe. The Grand Canal, which is nearly +two miles long, is lined with palaces, such as no modern capital can +approach in costliness and splendor. + +And Venice used her power for a defence to Christendom and to +civilization, the former against the Turks, and the latter against +Northern barbarians. When Frederick Barbarossa came down with his +hordes upon Italy, he found his most stubborn enemy in the Republic of +Venice, which kept up the contest for more than twenty years, till the +fierce old Emperor acknowledged a power that was invincible, and here +in Venice, in the church of St. Mark, knelt before the Pope Alexander +III. (who represented, not Rome against Protestantism, but Italian +independence against German oppression), and gave his humble +submission, and made peace with the States of Italy which, thanks to +the heroic resistance of Venice, he could not conquer. + +Hardly was this long contest ended before the power of Venice was +turned against the Turks in the East. Venetians, aided by French +crusaders, and led by a warrior whose courage neither age nor +blindness could restrain ("Oh for one hour of blind old Dandolo!"), +captured Constantinople, and Venetian ships sailing up and down the +Bosphorus kept the conquerors of Western Asia from crossing into +Europe. The Turks finally passed the straits and took Constantinople; +but the struggle of the Cross and the Crescent, as in Spain between +the Spaniard and the Moor, was kept up over a hundred years longer, +and was not ended till the battle of Lepanto in 1571. In the Arsenal +they still preserve the flag of the Turkish admiral captured on that +great day, with its motto in Arabic, "There is no God but God, and +Mohammed is his prophet." We can hardly realize, now that the danger +is so long past, how great a victory, both for Christendom and for +civilization, was won on that day when the scattered wrecks of the +Turkish Armada sank in the blood-dyed waters of the Gulf of Corinth. + +These are glorious memories for Venice, which fully justify the +praises of historians, and make the splendid eulogy of Byron as true +to history as it is beautiful in poetry. In Venice, as on the Rhine, I +have found Childe Harold the best guide-book, as the poet paints a +picture in a few immortal lines. Never was Venice painted, even by +Canaletto, more to the eye than in these few strokes, which bring the +whole scene before us: + + I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, + A palace and a prison on each hand, + I saw from out the waves her structures rise, + As by the stroke of the enchanter's wand, + A thousand years their cloudy wings expand + Around me, and a dying glory smiles + O'er the far times when many a subject land + Looked to the winged lion's marble piles, + Where Venice sate in state, throned on her hundred isles. + +But poets are apt to look at things _only_ in a poetical light, and to +admire and to celebrate, or to mourn, according to their own royal +fancies, rather than according to the sober prose of history. The +picture of the magnificence of Venice is true to the letter, for +indeed no language can surpass the splendid reality. But when the poet +goes farther and laments the loss of its independence, as if it were a +loss to liberty and to the world, the honest student of history will +differ from him. That he should mourn its subjection, or that of any +part of Italy, to a foreign power, whether Austria or France, we can +well understand. And this was perhaps his only real sorrow--a manly +and patriotic grief--but at times he seems to go farther, and to +regret the old gorgeous mediaeval state. Here we cannot follow him. +Poetry is well, and romance is well, but truth is better; and the +truth, as history records it, must be confessed, that Venice, though +in name a republic, was as great a despotism as any in the Middle +Ages. The people had no power whatever. It was all in the hands of the +nobles, some five hundred of whom composed the Senate, and elected the +famous Council of Ten, by which, with the Senate, was chosen the +Council of Three, who were the real masters of Venice. The Doge, who +was generally an old man, was a mere puppet in their hands, a +venerable figure-head of the State, to hide what was done by younger +and more resolute wills. The Council of Three were the real Dictators +of the Republic, and the Tribunal of the Inquisition itself was not +more mysterious or more terrible. By some secret mode of election the +names of those who composed this council were not known even to their +associates in the Senate or in the Council of Ten. They were a secret +and therefore wholly irresponsible tribunal. Their names were +concealed, so that they could act in the dark, and at their will +strike down the loftiest head. Once indeed their vengeance struck the +Doge himself. I have had in my hands the very sword which cut off the +head of Marino Faliero more than five hundred years ago. It is a +tremendous weapon, and took both hands to lift it, and must have +fallen upon that princely neck like an axe upon the block. But +commonly their power fell on meaner victims. The whole system of +government was one of terror, kept up by a secret espionage which +penetrated every man's household, and struck mortal fear into every +heart. The government invited accusations. The "lion's mouth"--an +aperture in the palace of the Doges--was always open, and if a charge +against one was thrown into it, instantly he was arrested and brought +before this secret tribunal, by which he might be tried, condemned, +sentenced, and executed, without his family knowing what had become of +him, with only horrible suspicions to account for his mysterious +disappearance. + +In going through the Palace of the Doges one is struck with the +gorgeousness of the old Venetian State. All that is magnificent in +architecture; and all that is splendid in decoration, carving, and +gilding, spread with lavish hand over walls and doors and ceiling; +with every open space or panel illumined by paintings by Titian or +some other of the old Venetian masters--are combined to render this +more than a "royal house," since it is richer than the palaces of +kings. + +But before any young enthusiast allows his imagination to run away +with him, let him explore this Palace of the Doges a little farther. +Let him go into the Hall of the Council of Three, and observe how it +connects conveniently by a little stair with the Hall of Torture, +where innocent persons could soon be persuaded to accuse themselves of +deadly crimes; and how it opens into a narrow passage, through which +the condemned passed to swift execution. Then let him go down into the +dungeons, worse than death, where the accused were buried in a living +tomb. Byron himself, in a note to Childe Harold, has given the best +answer to his own lamentation over the fall of the Republic of +Venice.[4] + +We shall therefore waste no tears over the fall of the old Republic of +Venice, even though it had existed for thirteen hundred years. In its +day it had acted a great part in European history, and had often +served the cause of progress, when it preserved Christendom from the +Turks, and civilization from the Barbarians. But it had accomplished +its end, and its time had come to die; and though the poet so +musically mourns that + + In Venice Tasso's echoes are no more, + And silent rows the songless gondolier, + +yet in the changes which have come, we cannot but recognize the +passing away of an old state of things, to be succeeded by a better. +Even the spirit of Byron would be satisfied, could he open his eyes +_now_, and see Venice rid at last of a foreign yoke, and restored to +her rightful place, as a part of free and united Italy. + +Though Venice is a city which does not change in its external +appearance, and looks just as it did when I was here seventeen years +ago, I observe _one_ difference; the flag that is flying from all the +public buildings is not the same. Then the black eagles of Austria +hovered over the Square of St. Mark; and as we sat there in the summer +evening, Austrian officers were around us, in front of the cafes, and +the music was by an Austrian band. Now there is music still, and on +summer nights the old Piazza is thronged as ever; but I hear another +language in the groups--the hated foreigner, with his bayonets, is not +here. The change is every way for the better. The people breathe +freely, and political and national life revives in the air of liberty. + +Venice is beginning to have also a return of its commercial +prosperity. Of course it can never again be the mistress of the sea, +as other great commercial states have sprung up beyond the +Mediterranean. The glory of Venice culminated about the year 1500. +Eight years before that date, an Italian sailor--though not a +Venetian, but a Genoese--had discovered, lying beyond the western +main, a New World. In less than four centuries, the commerce which had +flourished on the Adriatic was to pass to England, and that other +English Empire still more remote. Venice can never regain her former +supremacy. Civilization has passed, and left her standing in the sea. +But though she can never again take the lead of other nations, she may +still have a happy and a prosperous future. There is the commerce of +the Mediterranean, for which, as before, she holds a commanding +position at the head of the Adriatic. For some days has been lying in +the Grand Canal, in front of our hotel, a large steamer of the +Peninsular and Oriental Steamship Company, the Delhi, and on Friday +she sailed for Alexandria and Bombay! The transference of these ships +to Venice as a point of departure, will help its commerce with the +East and with India. + +One thing we may be allowed to hope, as a friend of Venice and of +Italy--that its policy will be one of peace. In the Arsenal we found +models of ironclads and other ships of war, built or building; but I +confess I felt rather glad to hear the naval officer who showed them +to us confess (though he did it with a tone of regret) that their navy +was not large compared with other European navies, and that the +Government was not doing _much_ to increase it, though it is building +dry docks here in Venice, and occasionally adds a ship to the fleet. +Yet what does Italy want of a great navy? or a great army? They eat +up the substance of the country; and it has no money to waste on +needless armaments. Besides, Italy has no enemy to fear, for both +France and Germany are friendly; to France she owes the deliverance of +Lombardy, and to Germany that of Venice. And even Austria is +reconciled. Last April the Emperor made a visit to Venice, and was +received by Victor Emmanuel, and was rowed up the Grand Canal with a +state which recalled the pomp of her ancient days of glory. + +The future therefore of Venice and of Italy is not in war, but in +peace. Venice has had enough of war in former centuries--enough of +conflicts on land and sea. She can now afford to live on this rich +inheritance of glory. Let her cherish the memory of the heroic days of +old, but let her not tempt fortune by venturing again into the smoke +of battle. Let her keep in her Arsenal the captured flags taken from +the Turks at Lepanto; let the three tall masts of cedar, erected in +the Square of St. Mark three hundred and seventy years ago, to +commemorate the conquest of Cyprus, Candia, and Morea, still stand as +historical mementoes of the past; but it is no sacrifice of pride that +they no longer bear the banners of conquered provinces, since from +their lofty and graceful heads now floats a far prouder ensign--the +flag of one undivided Italy. + +If I were to choose an emblem of what the future of this country +should be, I would that the arms of Venice might be henceforth, not +the _winged lion_ of St. Mark, but the _doves_ of St. Mark: for these +equally belong to Venice, and form not only one of its prettiest +sights, but one connected with historical associations, that make them +fit emblems both of peace and of victory. The story is that at the +siege of Candia, in the beginning of the Thirteenth century, Admiral +Dandolo had intelligence brought to him by carrier-pigeons which +helped him to take the island, and that he used the same swift-winged +heralds to send the news to Venice. And so from that day to this they +have been protected, and thus they have been the pets of Venice for +six hundred years. They seem perfectly at home, and build their nests +on the roofs and under the eaves of the houses, even on the Doge's +Palace and the Church of St. Mark. Not the swallow, but the dove hath +found a nest for herself on the house of the Lord. I see them nestling +together on the Bridge of Sighs, thinking not of all the broken hearts +that have passed along that gloomy arch. A favorite perch at evening +is the heavy cross-bars of the prison windows; there they sleep +peacefully, where lonely captives have looked up to the dim light, and +sighed in vain for liberty. From all these nooks and corners they +flock into the great square in the day-time, and walk about quite +undisturbed. It has been one of our pleasures to go there with bread +in our pockets, to feed them. At the first sign of the scattered +crumbs, they come fluttering down from the buildings around, running +over each other in their eagerness, coming up to my feet, and eating +out of my hand. Let these beautiful creatures--the emblems of peace +and the messengers of victory--be wrought as an armorial bearing on +the flag of the new Italy--white doves on a blue ground, as if flying +over the sea--their outspread wings the fit emblems of those sails of +commerce, which, we trust, are again to go forth from Venice and from +Genoa, not only to all parts of the Mediterranean, but to the most +distant shores! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[3] Lest any of my saving countrymen should think this a sacrifice of +precious jewels, it should be added that the cunning old Venetians, +with a prudent economy worthy of a Yankee housekeeper, instead of +wasting their treasures on the sea, dropped the glittering bauble into +a net carefully spread for the purpose, in which it was fished up, to +be used in the ceremonies of successive years. + +[4] The note is on the opening lines of the fourth Canto: + + "I stood in Venice on the Bridge of Sighs, + A palace and a prison on each hand," + +--in explanation of which the poet says: + +"The communication between the ducal palace and the prisons of Venice +is by a gloomy bridge, or covered gallery, high above the water, and +divided by a stone wall into a passage and a cell. The State dungeons, +called 'pozzi,' or wells, were sunk into the thick walls of the +palace; and the prisoner, when taken out to die, was conducted across +the gallery to the other side, and being then led back into the other +compartment or cell upon the bridge, was there strangled. The low +portal through which the criminal was taken into this cell is now +walled up; but the passage is still open, and is still known as the +Bridge of Sighs. The pozzi are under the flooring of the chamber at +the foot of the bridge. They were formerly twelve, but on the first +arrival of the French, the Venetians blocked or broke up the deeper of +these dungeons. You may still, however, descend by a trap-door, and +crawl down through holes, half-choked by rubbish, to the depth of two +stories below the first range. If you are in want of consolation for +the extinction of patrician power, perhaps you may find it there; +scarcely a ray of light glimmers into the narrow gallery which leads +to the cells, and the places of confinement themselves are totally +dark. A small hole in the wall admitted the damp air of the passages, +and served for the introduction of the prisoner's food. A wooden +pallet, raised a foot from the ground, was the only furniture. The +conductor tells you that a light was not allowed. The cells are about +five paces in length, two and a half in width, and seven feet in +height. They are directly beneath one another, and respiration is +somewhat difficult in the lower holes. Only one prisoner was found +when the Republicans descended into these hideous recesses, and he is +said to have been confined sixteen years." + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +MILAN AND GENOA.--A RIDE OVER THE CORNICHE ROAD. + + + GENOA, September 20th. + +The new life of Italy is apparent in its cities more than in the +country. A change of government does not change the face of nature. +The hills that bear the olive and the vine, were as fresh and green +under the rule of Austria as they are now under that of Victor +Emmanuel. But in the cities and large towns I see a marked change, +both in the places themselves, and in the manner and spirit of the +people. Then there was an universal lethargy. Everything was fixed in +a stagnation, like that of China. There was no improvement, and no +attempt at any. The incubus of a foreign yoke weighed like lead on the +hearts of the people. Their depression showed itself in their very +countenances, which had a hopeless and sullen look. Now this is gone. +The Austrians have retired behind the mountains of the Tyrol, and +Italy at last is free from the Alps to the Adriatic. The moral effect +of such a political change is seen in the rebound from a state of +despair to one of animation and hope. When a people are free, they +have courage to attempt works of improvement, knowing that what they +do is not for the benefit of foreign masters, but for themselves and +their children. Hence the new life which I see in the very streets of +Milan and Genoa. Everywhere improvements are going on. They are +tearing down old houses, and building new ones; opening new streets +and squares, and levelling old walls, that wide boulevards may take +their place. In Milan I found them clearing away blocks of houses in +front of the Duomo, to form an open square, sufficient to give an +ample foreground for the Cathedral. And they were just finishing a +grand Arcade, with an arched roof of iron and glass, like the Crystal +Palace, beneath which are long rows of shops, as well as wide open +spaces, where the people may gather in crowds, secure both from heat +and cold, protected alike from the rains of summer and the snows of +winter. The Emperor of Germany, who is about to pay a visit to Italy, +will find in Milan a city not so large indeed, but certainly not less +beautiful, than his own northern capital. + +One beauty it has which Berlin can never have--its Cathedral. If I had +not exhausted my epithets of admiration on the Cathedrals of Strasburg +and Cologne, I might attempt a description of that of Milan; but +indeed all words seem feeble beside the reality. One contrast to the +German Cathedrals is its lighter exterior. It is built of marble, +which under an Italian sky has preserved its whiteness, and hence it +has not the cold gray of those Northern Minsters blackened by time. +Nor has it any such lofty towers soaring into the sky. The impression +at first, therefore, is one of beauty rather than of grandeur. In +place of one or two such towers, standing solitary and sublime, its +buttresses along the sides shoot up into as many separate pinnacles, +surmounted by statues, which, as they gleam in the last rays of +sunset, or under the full moon, seem like angelic sentinels ranged +along the heavenly battlements. These details of the exterior draw +away the eye from the vastness of the structure as a whole, which only +bursts upon us as we enter within. There we recognize its immensity in +the remoteness of objects. A man looks very small at the other end of +the church. Service may be going on at half a dozen side chapels +without attracting attention, except as we hear chanting in the +distance; and the eye swims in looking up at the vaulted roof. Behind +the choir, three lofty windows of rich stained glass cast a soft light +on the vast interior. If I lived in Milan, I should haunt that +Cathedral, since it is a spot where one may always be _alone_, as if +he were in the depths of the forest, and may indulge his meditations +undisturbed. + +But there is another church, of much more humble proportions, which +has a great historical interest, that of St. Ambrose, the author of +the Te Deum, through which he has led the worship of all the +generations since his day, and whose majestic anthem "We praise Thee, +O God, we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord," will continue to resound +in the earthly temples till it is caught up by voices around the +throne. St. Ambrose gave another immortal gift to the Church in the +conversion of St. Augustine, the greatest of the Fathers, whose +massive theology has been the study alike of Catholics and +Protestants--of Bossuet and Luther and Calvin. + +Near the church of St. Ambrose one may still see the mutilated remains +of the great work of Leonardo da Vinci--the Last Supper--painted, as +everybody knows, on the walls of the refectory of an old monastery, +where it has had all sorts of bad usage till it has been battered out +of shape, but where still Christ sits in the midst of His disciples, +looking with tender and loving eyes around on that circle which He +should not meet again till He had passed through His great agony. The +mutilation of such a work is a loss to the world, but it is partly +repaired by the many excellent copies, and by the admirable +engravings, in which it has been reproduced. + +From Milan to Genoa is only a ride of five hours, and we are once more +by the sea. One must be a dull and emotionless traveller who does not +feel a thrill as he emerges from a long tunnel and sees before him the +Mediterranean. There it lies--the Mare Magnum of the ancients, which +to those who knew not the oceans as we know them, seemed vast and +measureless; "the great and wide sea," of which the Psalmist wrote; +towards which the prophet looked from Mount Carmel, till he descried +rising out of it a cloud like a man's hand; the sea "whose shores are +empires," around which the civilization of the world has revolved for +thousands of years, passing from Egypt to Greece, to Rome, to France +and Spain, but always lingering, whether on the side of Europe or +Africa, somewhere along that enchanted coast. + +Here is Genoa--Genoa Superba, as they named her centuries ago--and +that still sits like a queen upon the waters, as she looks down so +proudly from her amphitheatre of hills upon the bay at her feet. Genoa +with Venice divided the maritime supremacy of the Middle Ages, when +her prows were seen in all parts of the Mediterranean. The glory of +those days is departed, but, like Venice, her prosperity is reviving +under the influence of liberty. To Americans Genoa will always have a +special interest as the city of Christopher Columbus. It was pleasant, +in emerging from the station, to see in the very first public square a +monument worthy of his great name, to the discoverer of the New World. + +Genoa is a convenient point from which to take an excursion over the +Corniche road--one of the most famous roads in Europe, running along +the Riviera, or the coast of the Mediterranean, as far west as Nice. A +railroad now follows the same route, but as it passes through a +hundred tunnels, more or less, the traveller is half the time buried +in the earth. The only way to see the full beauty of this road is to +take a carriage and drive over it, so as to get all the best points of +view. The whole excursion would take several days. To economize our +time we went by rail from Genoa to San Remo, where the most +picturesque part of the road begins, and from there took a basket +carriage with two spirited ponies to drive to Nice, a good day's +journey over the mountains. The day was fair, not too hot nor too +cool. The morning air was exhilarating, as we began our ride along the +shore, winding in and out of all the little bays, sweeping around the +promontories that jut into the sea, and then climbing high up on the +spurs of the mountains, which here slope quite down to the coast, from +which they take the name of the Maritime Alps. The special beauty of +this Riviera is that it lies between the mountains and the sea. The +hills, which rise from the very shore, are covered not with vines but +with olives--a tree which with its pale yellow leaves, somewhat like +the willow is not very attractive to the eye, especially when, as now +withered by the fierce summer's heat, and covered with the summer's +dust. There has been no rain for two months, and the whole land is +burnt like a furnace. The leaves are scorched as with the breath of a +sirocco. But when the autumn rains descend, we can well believe that +all this barrenness is turned into beauty, as these slopes are then +green, both with olive and with orange groves. + +In the recesses of the hills are many sheltered spots, protected from +the northern winds, and open to the southern sun, which are the +favorite resorts of invalids for the winter, as here sun and sea +combine to give a softened air like that of a perpetual spring. When +winter rages over the north of Europe, when snow covers the open +country, and even drifts in the streets of great capitals, then it +seems as if sunshine and summer retreated to the shores of the +Mediterranean, and here lingered among the orange gardens that look +out from the terraced slopes upon the silver sea. The warm south wind +from African deserts tempers the fierceness of the northern blasts. +And not only invalids, but people of wealth and fashion, who have the +command of all countries and climates, and who have only to choose +where to spend the winter with least of discomfort and most of luxury +and pleasure, flock to these resorts. Last winter the Empress of +Russia took up her quarters at San Remo, to inhale the balmy air--a +simple luxury, which she could not find in her palace at St. +Petersburg. And Prince Amadeus, son of the king of Italy, who himself +wore a crown for a year, occupied a villa near by, and found here a +tranquil happiness which he could never find on the troubled throne of +Spain. A still greater resort than San Remo is Mentone, which for the +winter months is turned into an English colony, with a sprinkling of +Americans, who altogether form a society of their own, and thus enjoy, +along with this delicious climate, the charms of their English and +American life. + +It is a pity that there should be a serpent in this garden of +Paradise. But here he is--a huge green monster, twining among the +flowers and the orange groves. Midway between Mentone and Nice is the +little principality of Monaco, the smallest sovereignty in Europe, +covering only a rocky peninsula that projects into the sea, and a +small space around it. But small as it is, it is large enough to +furnish a site for a pest worse than a Lazaretto--worse than the +pirates of the Barbary coast that once preyed on the commerce of the +Mediterranean--for here is the greatest gambling house in Europe. The +famous--or infamous--establishments that so long flourished on the +Rhine, at Homburg and Baden Baden, drawing hundreds and thousands into +their whirlpools of ruin, have been broken up since the petty +principalities have been absorbed in the great German empire. Thus +driven from one point to another, the gamblers have been, like the +evil spirit, seeking rest and finding none, till at last, by offering +a large sum--I heard that it was four hundred thousand francs (eighty +thousand dollars) a year--to the Prince of Monaco, they have induced +him to sell himself to the Devil, and to allow his petty State to +become a den of thieves. Hearing of this notorious establishment, I +had a curiosity to see it, and so we were driven to Monte Carlo, which +is the pretty name for a very bad place. Surely never was the palace +of pleasure decked with more attractions. The place has been made like +a garden. Extensive grounds have been laid out, where orange trees and +palms are in full bloom. Winding walks conduct the visitor to retired +and shady retreats. The building itself is of stately proportions, +and one goes up the steps as if he were ascending a temple. Within the +broad vestibule servants in livery receive the stranger with studied +politeness, as a welcome guest, and with courtly smiles bow him in. +The vestibule opens into a large assembly room for concerts and +dancing, where one of the finest bands in Europe discourses delicious +music. Entrance is free everywhere, except into the gaming-room, which +however requires only your card as a proof of your respectability. One +must give his name, and country, and profession! See how careful they +are to have only the most select society. I was directed to the +office, where two secretaries, of sober aspect, who looked as if they +might be retired Methodist clergymen, required my name and profession. +I felt that I was getting on rather dangerous ground, but answered by +giving only my surname and the profession of editor, and received a +card of admission, and passed in. We were in a large hall, with lofty +ceiling, and walls decorated in a style that might become an apartment +in a royal palace. There were three tables, at two of which gaming was +going on. At the third the gamblers sat around idle, waiting for +customers, for "business" is rather slack just now, as the season has +not begun. A few weeks later, when the hotels along the sea are filled +up, the place will be thronged, and all these tables will be kept +going till midnight. At the two where play was in progress, we stood +apart and watched the scene. There was a long table, covered with +green cloth (I said it was a _green_ monster), over which were +scattered piles of gold and silver, and around which were some +twenty-five persons, mostly men, though there were two or three women +(it is well known that some of the most infatuated and desperate +gamblers at Baden Baden were women). The game was what is known as +_roulette_ or _rouge et noir_ [red and black].[5] You lay down a piece +of coin, a napoleon or a sovereign, or, if you cannot afford that, a +five-franc piece, for they are so democratic that they are willing to +take the small change of the poor, as well as the hundred or thousand +francs of the rich. The wager is that, when a horizontal wheel which +is sunk in the table--the _roulette_--is set revolving, a little ball +like a boy's marble, which is set whirling in it, will rest on the +black or red spot. Of course the thing is so managed that the chances +are many to one that you will lose your money. But it _looks_ fair, +and the greenhorn is easily persuaded that it is an even chance, and +that he is as likely to win as to lose, until experience makes him a +sadder and a wiser man. Of those about the table, it was quite +apparent, even to my inexperienced eye, that the greater part were +professional gamblers. There is a look about them that is +unmistakable. My companion, who had looked on half curious and half +frightened, and who shrank up to my side (although everything is kept +in such order, and with such an outward show of respectability, that +there is no danger), remarked the imperturbable coolness of the +players. The game proceeded in perfect silence, and no one betrayed +the least emotion, whether he lost or won. But I explained to her that +this was probably owing in part to the fact that they were mostly +employes of the establishment, and had no real stake in the issue; but +if they were _not_, a practised gambler never betrays any emotion. +This is a part of his trade. He schools himself to it as an Indian +does, who scorns to show suffering, even if he is bound at the stake. +I noticed only one man who seemed to take his losses to heart. I +presumed he was an outsider, and as he lost heavily, his face flushed, +but he said nothing. This is the general course of the game. Not a +word is spoken, even when men are losing thousands. Instances have +occurred in which men gambled away their last dollar, and then rose +from the table and blew out their brains--which interrupted the play +disagreeably for a few moments; but the body was removed, the blood +washed away, and the game proceeded as usual. + +When we had watched the silent spectacle for half an hour, we felt +that we had quite enough, and after strolling through the grounds and +listening to the music, returned to our carriage and drove off, +moralizing on the strange scene we had witnessed. + +Did I regret that I had been to see this glittering form of temptation +and sin? On the contrary, I wished that every pastor in New York could +have stood there and looked on at that scene. We have had quite enough +of firing at all kinds of wickedness _at long range_. It is time to +move our batteries up a little nearer, and engage the enemy at close +quarters. If those pastors had seen what we saw in that half hour, +they would realize, as they cannot now, the dangers to which young men +are exposed in our cities. They would see with their own eyes how +broad is the road, and how alluring it is made, that leads to +destruction, and how many there be that go in thereat. I look upon +Monte Carlo as the very mouth of the pit, covered up with flowers, so +that giddy creatures dance along its perilous edge till it crumbles +under their feet. Thousands who come here with no intention of +gambling, put down a small sum "just to try their luck," and find that +"a fool and his money are soon parted." Many do not end with losing a +few francs, or even a few sovereigns. It is well if they do not leave +behind them what they can ill afford to lose. Very many young men +leave what is not their own. That such a place of temptation should be +allowed to exist here in this lovely spot on the shores of the +Mediterranean, is a disgrace to Monaco, and to the powers on both +sides of it, France and Italy, which, if they have no legal right to +interfere, might by a vigorous protest put an end to the accursed +thing. Probably it will after awhile provoke its own destruction. I +should be glad to see the foul nest of gamblers that have congregated +here, broken up, and the wretches sent to the galleys as convicts, or +forced in some way to earn an honest living. + +But is not this vice of gambling very wide-spread? Does it not exist +in more forms than one, and in more countries than the little State of +Monaco? I am afraid the vice lies deep in human nature, and may be +found in some shape in every part of the world. Is there not a great +deal of gambling in Wall street? When men _bet_ on the rise and fall +of stocks, when they sell what they do not possess, or buy that for +which they have no money to pay, do they not risk their gains or +losses on a chance, as much as those who stake thousands on the +turning of a wheel, on a card or a die? It is the old sin of trying to +get the fruits of labor without labor, _to get something for nothing_, +that is the curse of all modern cities and countries, that demoralizes +young men in New York and San Francisco, as well as in Paris and +London. The great lesson which we all need to learn, is the duty and +the dignity of labor. When a man never claims anything which he does +not work for, then he may feel an honest pride in his gains, and may +slowly grow in fortune without losing the esteem of the good, or his +own manly self-respect. + +Leaving this gorgeous den of thieves behind us, we haste away to the +mountains; for while the railroad seeks its level path along the very +shore of the sea, the Corniche road, built before railroads were +thought of, finds its only passage over stupendous heights. We have +now to climb a spur of the Alps, which here pushes its great shoulder +close to the sea. It is a toilsome path for our little ponies, but +they pull up bravely, height after height. Every one we mount, we hope +to find the summit; but we keep going on and on, and up and up, till +it seems like a Jacob's Ladder, which reaches to Heaven. When on one +of the highest points, we look right down into Monte Carlo as into +the crater of a volcano. It does not burn or smoke, but it has an open +mouth, and many there be that there go down quick into hell. + +We are at last on the top, and pass on from one peak to another, all +the time enjoying a wide outlook over the blue Mediterranean, which +lies calmly at the foot of these great mountains, with only a white +sail here and there dotting the mighty waters. + +It was nearly sunset when we came in sight of Nice, gleaming in the +distance on the sea-shore. We had been riding all day, and our driver, +a bright young Savoyard, seemed eager to have the long journey over, +and so he put his ponies to their speed, and we came down the mountain +as if shot out of a gun, and rattled through the streets of Nice at +such a break-neck pace, that the police shouted after us, lest we +should run over somebody. But there was no stopping our little Jehu, +and on we went at full speed, till suddenly he reined us up with a +jerk before the hotel. + +In the old days when I first travelled in the south of Europe, Nice +was an Italian town. It belonged to the small kingdom of Sardinia. But +in 1860, as a return for the help of Napoleon in the campaign of 1859 +against Austria, by which Victor Emmanuel gained Lombardy, it was +ceded with Savoy to France, and now is a French city. I think it has +prospered by the change. It has grown very much, until it has some +fifty thousand inhabitants. Its principal attraction is as a winter +resort for English and Americans. There are a number of Protestant +churches, French and English. The French Evangelical church has for +its pastor Rev. Leon Pilatte, who is well known in America. + +It was now Saturday night, and the Sabbath drew on. Never was its rest +more grateful, and never did it find us in a more restful spot. +Everybody comes here for repose, to find rest and healing. The place +is perhaps a little saddened by the presence of so many invalids, +some of whom come here only to die. In yonder hotel on the shore, the +heir of the throne of all the Russias breathed his last a few winters +ago. These clear skies and this soft air could not save him, even when +aided by all the medical skill of Europe. I should not have great +faith in the restoring power of this or of any climate for one far +gone in consumption. But certainly as a place of _rest_, if it is +permitted to man to find rest anywhere on earth, it must be here, with +the blue skies above, and the soft flowery earth below, and with no +sound to disturb, but only the murmur of the moaning, melancholy sea. + +But a traveller is not allowed to rest. He comes not to _stay_, but +only to _see_--to look, and then to disappear; and so, after a short +two days in Nice, we took a quick return by night, and in eight hours +found ourselves again in Genoa. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[5] Perhaps _roulette_ and _rouge et noir_ are two separate games. I +dare say my imperfect description would excite the smile of a +professional, for I confess my total ignorance in such matters. I only +describe what I saw. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +IN THE VALE OF THE ARNO. + + + FLORENCE, September 27th. + +We are getting more into the heart of Italy as we come farther south. +In the old Roman days the country watered by the Po was not a part of +Italy; it was Cisalpine Gaul. This we leave behind as we turn +southward from Genoa. The road runs along the shore of the +Mediterranean; it is a continuation of the Riviera as far as Spezzia, +where we leave the sea and strike inland to Pisa, one of the Mediaeval +cities, which in its best days was a rival of Genoa, and which has +still some memorials of its former grandeur. Here we spent a night, +and the next morning visited the famous Leaning Tower, and the +Cathedral and Baptistery, and the Campo Santo (filled with earth +brought from Jerusalem in fifty-three ships, that the faithful might +be buried in holy ground), and then pursued our way along the Valley +of the Arno to Florence. + +And now the inspiration of the country, the _genius loci_, comes upon +us more and more. We are in Tuscany, one of the most beautiful +portions of the whole peninsula. We are favored by the season of the +year. Before we came abroad I consulted some of my travelled friends +as to the best time of the year to visit Italy. Most tourists come +here in the winter. Rome especially is not thought to be safe till +late in the autumn. But Dr. Bellows told me that, so far from waiting +for cold weather, he thought Italy could be seen in its full beauty +_only_ in an earlier month, when the country was still clothed with +vegetation. Certainly it is better to see it in its summer bloom, or +in the ripeness of autumn, than when the land is stripped, when the +mountains are bleak and bare, when there is not a leaf on the vine or +the fig-tree, and only naked branches shiver in the wintry wind. We +have come at a season when the earth has still its glory on. The +vineyards are full of the riches of the year; the peasants are now +gathering the grapes, and we have witnessed that most picturesque +Italian scene, the vintage. Dark forests clothe the slopes of the +Apennines. At this season there is a soft, hazy atmosphere, like that +of our Indian summer, which gives a kind of purple tint to the Italian +landscapes. The skies are fair, but not more fair than that heaven of +blue which bends over many a beloved spot in America. Nor is the +vegetation richer, nor are the landscapes more lovely, than in our own +dear vales of Berkshire. Even the Arno at this season, like most of +the other rivers of Italy, is a dried up bed with only a rivulet of +muddy water running through it. Later in the autumn, when the rains +descend; or in the spring, when the snows melt upon the mountains, it +is swollen to such a height that it often overflows its banks, and the +full stream rushes like a torrent. But at present the mighty Arno, of +which poets have sung so much, is not so large as the Housatonic, nor +half so beautiful as that silver stream, on whose banks the meadows +are always fresh and green, and where the waters are pure and +sparkling that ripple over its pebbled bed. + +But the position of Florence is certainly one of infinite beauty, +lying in a valley, surrounded by mountains. The approach to it by a +railroad, when one gets his first view from a level, is much less +picturesque than in the old days when we travelled by _vettura_, and +came to it over the Apennines, and after a long day's journey reached +the top of a distant hill, from which we saw Florence afar off, +sitting like a queen in the Valley of the Arno, the setting sun +reflected from the Duomo and the Campanile, and from all its domes and +towers. + +In this Valley of Paradise we have spent a week, visiting the +galleries of pictures, and making excursions to Fiesole and other +points of view on the surrounding hills, from which to look down on as +fair a scene as ever smiled beneath an Italian sun. + +Florence is in many respects the most attractive place in Italy, as it +unites the charms of art with those of modern life; as it exists not +only in the dead past, but in the living present. It is a large, +thriving, prosperous city, and has become a great resort of English +and Americans, who gather here in the winter months, and form a most +agreeable society. There are a number of American sculptors and +painters, whose works are well known on the other side of the +Atlantic. Some of their studios we visited, and saw abundant evidence, +that with all our intensely practical life, the elements of taste and +beauty, and of a genius for art, are not wanting in our countrymen. + +Florence has had a material growth within a few years, from being for +a time the capital of the new kingdom of Italy. When Tuscany was added +to Sardinia, the capital was removed from Turin to Florence as a more +central city, and the presence of the Court and the Parliament gave a +new life to its streets. Now the Court is removed to Rome, but the +impulse still remains, and in the large squares which have been +opened, and the new buildings which are going up, one sees the signs +of life and progress. To be sure, there is not only _growing_ but +_groaning_, for the taxes are fearfully high here, as everywhere in +Italy. The country is bearing burdens as heavy as if it were in a +state of war. If only Italy were the first country in Europe to reduce +her armaments, she could soon lighten the load upon her people. + +But leaving aside all political and financial questions, one may be +permitted to enjoy this delightful old city, with its treasures of +art, and its rich historical memories. Florence has lately been +revelling in its glories of old days in a celebration of the four +hundredth anniversary of the birth of Michael Angelo--as a few years +since it celebrated the six hundredth anniversary of the birth of +Dante. Surely few men in history better deserve to be remembered than +Michael Angelo, whose rugged face looks more like that of a +hard-headed old Scotchman, than of one who belonged to the handsome +Italian race. And yet that brain was full of beautiful creations, and +in his life of eighty-nine years he produced enough to leave, not only +to Florence, but to Rome, many monuments of his genius. He was great +in several forms of art--as painter, sculptor, and architect--and even +had some pretension to be a poet. He was the sculptor of David and +Moses; the painter of the Last Judgment and the frescoes of the +Sistine Chapel, and the architect who built St. Peter's. And his +character was equal to his genius. He was both religious and +patriotic, not only building churches, but the fortifications that +defended Florence against her enemies. Such was Michael Angelo--a +simple, grand old man, whose name is worthy to live with the heroes of +antiquity. + +We were too late to enjoy the fetes that were given at this +anniversary, and were only able to be present at the performance of +Verdi's Requiem, which concluded the whole. This sublime composition +was written for the great Italian author Manzoni, and to be sung in +the Cathedral of Milan, whose solemn aisles were in harmony with its +mournful and majestic strains. Now it would have seemed more fitting +in the Duomo of Florence than in a theatre, though perhaps the latter +was better constructed for an orchestra and an audience. The +performance of the Requiem was to be the great musical event of the +year; we had heard the fame of it at Milan and at Venice, and having +seen what Italy could show in one form of art, we were now able to +appreciate it in another. Months had been spent in preparation. +Distinguished singers were to lead in the principal parts, while +hundreds were to join their voices in the tremendous chorus. On the +night that we witnessed the representation, the largest theatre in +Florence was crowded from pit to dome, although the price of admission +was very high. In the vast assembly was comprised what was most +distinguished in Florence, with representatives from other cities of +Italy, and many from other countries. The performance occupied over +two hours. It began with soft, wailing melodies, such as might be +composed to soothe a departing soul, or to express the wish of +survivors that it might enter into its everlasting rest. Then +succeeded the DIES IRAE--the old Latin hymn, which for centuries has +sounded forth its accents of warning and of woe. Those who are +familiar with this sublime composition will remember the terrific +imagery with which the terrors of the Judgment are presented, and can +imagine the effect of such a hymn rendered with all the power of +music. We had first a quiet, lulling strain--almost like silence, +which was the calm before the storm. Then a sound was heard, but low, +as of something afar off, distant and yet approaching. Nearer and +nearer it drew, swelling every instant, till it seemed as if the +trumpets that should wake the dead were stirring the alarmed air. At +last came a crash as if a thunder peal had burst in the building. This +terrific explosion, of course, was soon relieved by softer sounds. +There were many and sudden transitions, one part being given by a +single powerful voice, or by two or three, or four, and then the +mighty chorus responding with a sound like that of many waters. After +the Dies Irae followed a succession of more gentle strains, which spoke +of Pardon and Peace. The _Agnus Dei_ and other similar parts were +given with a tenderness that was quite overpowering. Those who have +heard the Oratorio of the Messiah, and remember the melting sweetness +of such passages as "He leadeth me beside the still waters," and "I +know that my Redeemer liveth," can form an idea of the marvellous +effect. I am but an indifferent judge of music, but I could not but +observe how much grander such a hymn as the Dies Irae sounds in the +original Latin than in any English version. _Eternal rest_ are sweet +words in English, but in music they can never be rendered with the +effect of the Latin REQUIEM SEMPITERNAM, on which the voices of the +most powerful singers lingered and finally died away, as if bidding +farewell to a soul that was soaring to the very presence of God. This +Requiem was a fitting close to the public celebrations by which +Florence did honor to the memory of her illustrious dead. + +Michael Angelo is buried in the church of Santa Croce, and near his +tomb is that of another illustrious Florentine, whose name belongs to +the world, and to the _heavens_--"the starry Galileo." We have sought +out the spots associated with his memory--the house where he lived and +the room where he died. The tower from which he made his observations +is on an elevation which commands a wide horizon. There with his +little telescope--a very slender tube and very small glass, compared +with the splendid instruments in our modern observatories--he watched +the constellations, as they rose over the crest of the Apennines, and +followed their shining path all night long. There he observed the +mountains in the moon, and the satellites of Jupiter. What a +commentary on the intelligence of the Roman Catholic Church, that such +a man should be dragged before the Inquisition--before ignorant +priests who were not worthy to untie his shoes--and required, under +severe penalties, to renounce the doctrine of the revolution of the +globe. The old man yielded in a moment of weakness, to escape +imprisonment or death, but as he rose from his knees, his spirit +returned to him, and he exclaimed "_But still it moves!_" A good motto +for reformers of all ages. Popes and inquisitors may try to stop the +revolution of the earth, but still it moves! + +There is another name in the history of Florence, which recalls the +persecutions of Rome--that of Savonarola. No spot was more sacred to +me than the cell in the Monastery, where he passed so many years, and +from which he issued, crucifix in hand (the same that is still kept +there as a holy relic), to make those fiery appeals in the streets of +Florence, which so stirred the hearts of the people, and led at last +to his trial and death. A rude picture that is hung on the wall +represents the final scene. It is in the public square, in front of +the Old Palace, where a stage is erected, and monks are conducting +Savonarola and two others who suffered with him, to the spot where the +flames are kindled. Here he was burnt, and his ashes thrown into the +Arno. But how impotent the rage that thought thus to stifle such a +voice! His words, like his ashes, have gone into the air, and the +winds take them up and carry them round the world. Henceforth his name +belongs to history, and in the ages to come will be whispered by + + "Those airy tongues that syllable men's names, + On sands, and shores, and desert wildernesses." + +It is a proof of the decline of Italy under the oppression of a +foreign yoke--of the paralysis of her intellectual as well as her +political life--that she has produced no name to equal these in four +hundred years. For though Byron eulogizes so highly, and perhaps +justly, Alfieri and Canova, it would be an extravagant estimate which +should assign them a place in the Pantheon of History beside the +immortals of the Middle Ages. + +And yet Italy has not been wholly deserted of genius or of glory in +these later ages. In the darkest times she has had some great writers, +as well as painters and sculptors, and in the very enthusiasm with +which she now recalls in her celebrations the names of Dante and +Michael Angelo, we recognize a spirit of life, an admiration for +greatness, which may produce in the future those who may rank as their +worthy successors. + +Within a few years Florence has become such a resort of strangers that +some of its most interesting associations are with its foreign +residents. In the English burying ground many of that country sleep +far from their native island. Some, like Walter Savage Landor and Mrs. +Browning, had made Florence their home for years. Italy was their +adopted country, and it is fit that they sleep in its sunny clime, +beneath a southern sky. So of our countryman Powers, who was a +resident of Florence for thirty-five years, and whose widow still +lives here in the very pretty villa which he built, with her sons and +daughter married and settled around her, a beautiful domestic group. +In the cemetery I sought another grave of one known to all Americans. +On a plain stone of granite is inscribed simply the name + + THEODORE PARKER, + Born at Lexington, Massachusetts, + In the United States of America, + August 24th, 1810. + Died in Florence + May 10th, 1860. + +One could preach a sermon over that grave, for in that form which is +now but dust, was one of the most vigorous minds of our day, a man of +prodigious force, an omnivorous reader, and a writer and lecturer on a +great variety of subjects, who in his manifold forms of activity, did +as much to influence the minds of his countrymen as any man of his +time. He struck fierce blows, right and left, often doing more ill +than good by his crude religious opinions, which he put forth as +boldly as if they were the accepted faith of all mankind; but in his +battle for Liberty rendering services which the American people will +not willingly let die. + +Mrs. Browning's epitaph is still briefer. There is a longer +inscription on a tablet in the front of the house which was her home +for so many years, placed there by the municipal government of +Florence. There, as one looks up to those CASA GUIDI WINDOWS, which +she has given as a name to a volume of her poems, he may read that "In +this house lived and died ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING, who by her +genius and her poetry made a golden link between England and Italy." +But on her tomb, which is of pure white marble, is only + + E. B. B. OB. 1861. + +But what need of more words to perpetuate a name that is on the lips +of millions; or to speak of one who speaks for herself in the poetry +she has made for nations; whose very voice thus lives in the air, like +a strain of music, and goes floating down the ages, singing itself to +immortality? + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +OLD ROME AND NEW ROME.--RUINS AND RESURRECTION. + + + ROME, October 8th. + +At last we are in Rome! We reached here a week ago, on what was to me +a very sad anniversary, as on the first of October of last year I came +from the country, bringing one who was never to return. Now, as then, +the day was sadly beautiful--rich with the hues of autumn, when nature +is gently dying, a day suited to quiet thoughts and tender memories. +It was late in the afternoon when we found ourselves racing along the +banks of the Tiber--"the yellow Tiber" it was indeed, as its waters +were turbid enough--and just as the sun was setting we shot across the +Campagna, and when the lamps were lighted were rattling through the +streets of the Eternal City. + +To a stranger coming here there is a double interest; for there are +two cities to be studied--old Rome and new Rome--the Rome of Julius +Caesar, and the Rome of Pius IX. and Victor Emmanuel. In point of +historical interest there is no comparison, as the glory of the +ancient far surpasses that of the modern city. And it is the former +which first engages our attention. + +How strange it seemed to awake in the morning and feel that we were +really in the city that once ruled the world! Yes, we are on the very +spot. Around us are the Seven Hills. We go to the top of the Capitol +and count them all. We look down to the river bank where Romulus and +Remus were cast ashore, like Moses in the bulrushes, left to die, and +where, according to the old legend, they were suckled by a wolf; and +where Romulus, when grown to man's estate, began to build a city. +Antiquarians still trace the line of his ancient wall. On the Capitol +Hill is the Tarpeian Rock, from which traitors were hurled. And under +the hill, buried in the earth, one still sees the massive arch of the +Cloaca Maxima, the great sewer, built by the Tarquins, through which +all the waste of Rome has flowed into the Tiber for twenty-five +hundred years; and there are the pillars of the ancient bridge--so +they tell us--held by a hero who must have been a Hercules, of whom +and his deed Macaulay writes in his "Lays of Ancient Rome" how, long +after, in the traditions of the people, + + "Still was the story told, + How well Horatius kept the bridge, + In the brave days of old." + +Looking around the horizon every summit recalls historical memories. +There are the Sabine Hills, where lived the tribe from which the early +Romans (who were at first, like some of our border settlements, wholly +a community of men,) helped themselves to wives. Yonder, to the south, +are the Alban Hills; and there, in what seems the hollow of a +mountain, Hannibal encamped with his army, looking down upon Rome. In +the same direction lies the Appian Way, lined for miles with tombs of +the illustrious dead. Along that way often came the legions returning +from distant conquests, "bringing many captives home to Rome," with +camels and elephants bearing the spoils of Africa and the East. + +These recollections increase in interest as we come down to the time +of the Caesars. This is the culminating point of Roman history, as then +the empire reached its highest point of power and glory. Julius Caesar +is the greatest character of ancient Rome, as soldier and ruler, the +leader of armies, and the man whose very presence awed the Roman +Senate. Such was the magic of his name that it was said peculiar +omens and portents accompanied his death. As Shakespeare has it: + + "In the most high and palmy state of Rome, + A little ere the mighty Julius fell, + The graves stood tenantless, and the sheeted dead + Did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets." + +It was therefore with an interest that no other name could inspire, +that we saw in the Capitol a statue, which is said to be the most +faithful existing representation of that imperial man; and in the +Strada Palace the statue of Pompey, which is believed to be the very +one at the base of which "great Caesar fell."[6] + +With Caesar ended the ancient Republic, and began the Empire. It was +then that Rome attained her widest dominion, and the city its greatest +splendor. She was the mistress of the whole world, from Egypt to +Britain, ruling on all sides of the Mediterranean, along the shores of +Europe, Asia, and Africa. And then the whole earth contributed to the +magnificence of the Eternal City. It was the boast of Augustus, that +"he found Rome of brick, and left it of marble." Under him and his +successors were reared those palaces and temples, the very ruins of +which are still the wonder and admiration of the world. + +The knowledge of these ruins has been greatly increased by recent +excavations. Till within a few years Rome was a buried city, almost as +much as Pompeii. The debris of centuries had filled up her streets and +squares, till the earth lay more than twenty feet deep in the Forum, +choking up temples and triumphal arches; and even the lower part of +the Coliseum had been submerged in the general wreck and ruin. In +every part of the city could be seen the upper portions of buildings, +the frieze on the capitals of columns, that were half under ground, +and that, like Milton's lion, seemed pawing to be free. + +But the work of clearing away this rubbish was so vast that it had +been neglected from century to century. But during the occupation by +the French troops, that Government expended large sums in uncovering +these ruins, and the work has since been continued by Victor Emmanuel, +until now, as the result of twenty years continuous labor, a buried +city has been brought to light. The Forum has been cleared away, so +that we may walk on its pavement, amid its broken columns, and see the +very tribune from which Cicero addressed the Roman people. But beside +this Central Forum, there were half a dozen others--such as the Forum +of Julius Caesar, and of Augustus, and of Nerva, and of Trajan, where +still stands that marvellous Column in bronze (covered with figures in +bas-relief, to represent the conquest of the Dacians), which has been +copied in the Column of the Place Vendome in Paris. All of these +Forums were parts of one whole. What is now covered by streets and +houses, was an open space, extending from the Capitol as far as the +Coliseum in one direction, and the Column of Trajan in another, +surrounded by temples and basilicas, and columns and triumphal arches, +and overlooked by the palaces of the Caesars. This whole area was the +centre of Rome, where its heart beat, when it contained two millions +of people; where the people came together to discuss public affairs, +or to witness triumphal processions returning from the wars. Here the +Roman legions came with mighty tread along the Via Sacra, winding +their way up to the Capitoline Hill to lay their trophies at the feet +of the Senate. + +Perhaps the best idea of the splendor and magnificence of ancient Rome +may be gained from exploring the ruins of the palaces of the Caesars. +They are of vast extent, covering all the slopes of the Palatine Hill. +Here great excavations have been made. The walk seems endless through +what has been laid open. The walls are built like a fortress, as if +to last forever, and decorated with every resource of art known to +that age, with sculptures and ceilings richly painted, like those +uncovered in the houses of Pompeii. These buildings have been stripped +of everything that was movable--the statues being transported to the +galleries of the Vatican. The same fate has overtaken all the great +structures of ancient Rome. They have been divested of their ornaments +and decoration, of gilding and bas-reliefs and statues, and in some +cases have been quite dismantled. The Coliseum, it is well known, was +used in the Middle Ages as a quarry for many proud noble families, and +out of it were built some of the greatest palaces in Rome. Nothing +saved the Pantheon but its conversion from a heathen temple into a +Christian church. Hundreds and thousands of columns of porphyry and +alabaster and costly marbles, which now adorn the churches of Rome, +were taken from the ruins of temples and palaces. + +But though thus stripped of every ornament, ancient Rome is still +magnificent in her ruins. One may wander for days about the palaces of +the Caesars, walking through the libraries and theatres, under the +arches and over the very tessellated pavement where those proud +emperors walked nearly two thousand years ago. He should ascend to the +highest point of the ruins to take in their full extent, and there he +will see, looking out upon the Campagna, a long line of arches +reaching many miles, over which water was brought from the distant +hills for the Golden House of Nero. + +Perhaps the most massive ruin which has been lately uncovered, is that +of the Baths of Caracalla, which give an idea of the luxury and +splendor of ancient Rome, as quite unequalled in modern times. + +But, of course, the one structure which interests most of all, is the +Coliseum: and here recent excavations have made fresh discoveries. The +whole area has been dug down many feet, and shows a vast system of +passages _underground_; not only those through which wild beasts were +let into the arena, but conduits for water, by which the whole +amphitheatre could be flooded and turned into a lake large enough for +Roman galleys to sail in; and here naval battles were fought with all +the fury of a conflict between actual enemies, to the delight of Roman +emperor and people, who shouted applause, when blood flowed freely on +the decks, and dyed the waters below. + +There is one reflection that often recurs to me, as I wander among +these ruins--what it is of all the works of man that really _lives_. +Not architecture (the palaces of the Caesars are but heaps of ruins); +but the Roman _laws_ remain, incorporated with the legislation of +every civilized country on the globe; while Virgil and Cicero, the +poet and the orator, are the delight of all who know the Latin tongue. +Thus men pass away, their very monuments may perish, but their +thoughts, their wisdom, their learning and their genius remain, a +perpetual inheritance to mankind. + +After Imperial Rome comes Christian Rome. Many of the stories of the +first Christian centuries are fables and legends. Historical truth is +so overlaid with a mass of traditions, that one is ready to reject the +whole. When they show you here the stone on which they gravely tell +you that Abraham bound Isaac for the sacrifice; and another on which +Mary sat when she brought Christ into the temple; and the staircase +from Pilate's house, the Scala Santa, up which every day and hour +pilgrims may be seen going on their knees; and a stone showing the +very prints of the Saviour's feet when he appeared to Peter--one is +apt to turn away in disgust. But the general fact of the early +planting of Christianity here, we know from the new Testament itself. +Ecclesiastical historians are not agreed whether Peter was ever in +Rome (although he is claimed as the first Pope), but that Paul was +here we know from his epistles, and from the Book of Acts, in which +we have the particulars of his "appealing to Caesar," and his voyages +to Italy, and his shipwreck on the island of Malta, his landing at +Puteoli, and going "towards Rome," where he lived two years in "his +own hired house," "preaching and teaching, no man forbidding him." +Several of his epistles were written from Rome. It is therefore quite +probable that he was confined, according to the tradition, in the +Mamertine Prison under the Capitol, and one cannot descend without +deep emotion into that dark, rocky dungeon, far underground, where the +Great Apostle was once a prisoner, and from which he was led forth to +die. He is said to have been beheaded without the walls. On the road +they point out a spot (still marked by a rude figure by the roadside +of two men embracing), where it is said Paul and Peter met and fell on +each other's neck on the morning of the last day--Paul going to be +beheaded, and Peter into the city to be crucified, which at his own +request was with his head downwards, for he would not be crucified in +the same posture as his Lord, whom he had once denied. On the spot +where Paul is said to have suffered now rises one of the grandest +churches in the world, second in Rome only to St. Peter's. + +So the persecutions of the early Christians by successive emperors are +matters of authentic history. Knowing this, we visit as a sacred place +the scene of their martyrdom, and shudder at seeing on the walls the +different modes of torture by which it was sought to break their +allegiance to the faith; we think of them in the Coliseum, where they +were thrown to the lions; and still more in the Catacombs, to which +they fled for refuge, where they worshipped, and (as Pliny wrote) +"sang hymns to Christ as to a God," and where still rest their bones, +with many a rude inscription, testifying of their faith and hope. + +It is a sad reflection that the Christian Church, once established in +Rome, should afterwards itself turn persecutor. But unfortunately it +too became intoxicated with power, and could brook no resistance to +its will. The Inquisition was for centuries a recognized institution +of the Papacy--an appointed means for guarding the purity of the +faith. The building devoted to the service of that tribunal stands to +this day, close by the Church of St. Peter, and I believe there is +still a Papal officer who bears the dread title of "Grand Inquisitor." +But fortunately his office no longer inspires terror, for it is at +last reduced to the punishment of ecclesiastical offences by +ecclesiastical discipline, instead of the arm of flesh, on which it +once leaned. But the old building is at once "a prison and a palace"; +the cells are still there, though happily unoccupied. But in the +castle of St. Angelo there is a Chamber of Torture, which has not +always been merely for exhibition, where a Pope Clement (what a +mockery in the name!) had Beatrice Cenci put to the torture, and +forced to confess a crime of which she was not guilty. But we are not +so unjust as to impute all these cruelties of a former and a darker +time to the Catholic Church of the present day. Those were ages of +intolerance and of persecution. But none can deny that the Church has +always been fiercely intolerant. There is no doubt that the massacre +of St. Bartholomew was the occasion of great rejoicings at Rome. The +bloody persecution of the Waldenses found no rebuke from him who +claimed to be the vicegerent of Christ; a persecution which called +forth from Milton that sublime prayer: + + Avenge, O Lord, thy slaughtered saints, + Whose bones lie scattered upon the Alpine mountains cold! + +Amid such bitter recollections it is good to remember also the message +of Cromwell to the Pope, that "if favor were not shown to the people +of God, the thunder of English cannon should be heard in the castle of +St. Angelo." + +It seems as if it were a just retribution for those crimes of a former +age that the Pope in these last days has had to walk so long in the +Valley of Humiliation. Not for centuries has a Pontiff had to endure +such repeated blows. The reign of Pius IX. has been longer than that +of any of his predecessors; some may think it glorious, but it has +witnessed at once the most daring assumption and its signal +punishment--a claim of infallibility, which belongs to God +alone--followed by a bitter humiliation as if God would cast this idol +down to the ground. It is certainly a remarkable coincidence, that +just as the dogma of Infallibility was proclaimed, Louis Napoleon +rushed into war, as the result of which France, the chief supporter of +the Papacy (which for twenty years had kept an army in Rome to hold +the Pope on his throne), was stricken down, and the first place in +Europe taken by a Protestant power. Germany had already humbled the +other great Catholic power of Europe, to the confusion and dismay of +the Pope and his councillors. A gentleman who has resided for many +years in Rome, tells me that on the very day that the battle of Sadowa +was fought, Cardinal Antonelli told a friend of his to "come around to +his house that night to get the news; that he expected to hear of one +of the greatest victories ever won for the Church," so confidently did +he and his master the Pope anticipate the triumph of Austria. The +gentleman went. Hour after hour passed, and no tidings came. It was +midnight, and still no news of victory. Before morning the issue was +known, that the Austrian army was destroyed. Cardinal Antonelli did +not come forth to proclaim the tidings. He shut himself up, said my +informant, and was not seen for three weeks! + +And so it has come to pass--whether by accident or design, whether by +the violence of man or by the will of God--that the Pope has been +gradually stripped of that power and prestige which once so acted upon +the imaginations of men, that, like Caesar, "his bend did awe the +world," and has come to be merely the bishop, or archbishop, of that +portion of Christendom which submits to the Catholic Church. + +I find the Rome of to-day divided into two camps. The Vatican is set +over against the Quirinal. The Pope rules in one, and Victor Emmanuel +in the other; and neither of these two sovereigns has anything to do +with the other. + +It would take long to discuss the present political state of Rome or +of Italy. Apart from the right or wrong of this question, it is +evident that the sympathies of the Italian people are on the side of +Victor Emmanuel. The Roman people have had a long experience of a +government of priests, and they do not like it. It seems as if the +world was entering on a new era, and the Papacy, infallible and +immutable as it is, must change too--it must "move on" or be +overwhelmed. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[6] + + "E'en at the base of Pompey's statue, + Which all the while ran blood, great Caesar fell." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +THE PRISONER OF THE VATICAN. + + + ROME, October 15th. + +It is a great loss to travellers who come to Rome to see the sights, +that the Pope has shut himself up in the Vatican. In the good old +times, when he was not only a spiritual, but a civil potentate--not +only Pope, but King--he used to ride about a great deal to take a +survey of his dominions. One might meet him of an afternoon taking an +airing on the Pincian Hill, or on some of the roads leading out of +Rome. He always appeared in a magnificent state carriage, of red +trimmed with gold, with six horses richly caparisoned, and outriders +going before, and the Swiss guards following after. [What would poor +old Peter have said, if he had met his successor coming along in such +mighty pomp?] The Cardinals too, arrayed in scarlet, had their red +carriages and their fine liveries, and their horses pranced up and +down the Corso. Thus Rome was very gay. The processions too were +endless, and they were glorious to behold. It was indeed a grand sight +to see the Pope and all his Cardinals, in their scarlet dresses, +sweeping into St. Peter's and kneeling together in the nave, while the +muskets of the Swiss guards rang on the pavement, in token of the +might of arms which then attended the spiritual power. + +But now, alas! all this is ended. The spoiler has entered into the +holy place, and the Holy Father appears no more in the streets. Since +that fatal day when the Italian troops marched into Rome--the 20th of +September, 1870--he has not put his foot in a carriage, nor shown +himself to the Roman people. The Cardinals, who live in different +parts of the city, are obliged to go about; but they have laid aside +all their fine raiment and glittering equipage, and appear only in +solemn black, as if they were all undertakers, attending the funeral +of the Papacy. The Pope has shut himself up closely in the Vatican. He +is, indeed, just as free to go abroad as ever. There is nothing to +prevent his riding about Rome as usual. But no, the dear old man will +have it that he is restrained of his liberty, and calls himself "a +prisoner!" To be sure he is not exactly in a guard-house, or in a +cell, such as those in the Inquisition just across the square of St. +Peter, where heretics used to be accommodated with rather close +quarters. His "prison" is a large one--a palace, with hundreds of +richly furnished apartments, where he is surrounded with luxury and +splendor, and where pilgrims flock to him from all parts of the earth. +It is a princely retreat for one in his old age, and a grand theatre +on which to assume the role of martyr. Almost anybody would be willing +to play the part of prisoner, if by this means he might attract the +attention and sympathy of the whole civilized world.[7] + +But so complete is this voluntary confinement of the Pope, that he has +not left the Vatican in these five years, not even to go into St. +Peter's, though it adjoins the Vatican, and he can enter it by a +private passage. It is whispered that he did go in on one occasion, +_to see his own portrait_, which is wrought in mosaic, and placed over +the bronze statue of St. Peter. But on this occasion the public were +excluded, and when the doors were opened he had disappeared. He will +not even take part in the great festivals of the Church, which are +thus shorn of half their splendor. + +How well I remember the gorgeous ceremonies of Holy Week, beginning +with Palm Sunday, and ending with Easter. I was one of the foreigners +in the Sistine Chapel on Good Friday, when the Pope's choir, composed +of eunuchs, sang the _Miserere_; and on the Piazza of St. Peter's at +Easter, when the Pope was carried on men's shoulders to the great +central window, where, in the presence of an immense crowd, he +pronounced his benediction _urbi et orbi_; and the cannon of the +Castle of St. Angelo thundered forth the mighty blessings which had +thus descended on "the city and the world." I saw too, that night, the +illumination of St. Peter's, when arches and columns and roof and dome +were hung with lamps, that when all lighted together, made such a +flame that it seemed as if the very heavens were on fire. + +But now all this glory and splendor have gone out in utter night. +There are no more blessings for unbelievers--nor even for the +faithful, except as they seek them within the sacred precincts of the +Vatican, where alone the successor of St. Peter is now visible. It is +a great loss to those who have not been in Rome before, especially to +those enthusiastic persons who feel that they cannot "die happy" +unless they have seen the Pope. + +But I do not need anything to gratify my curiosity. I have seen the +Pope many times before, and I recognize in the photographs which are +in all shop windows the same face which I saw a quarter of a century +ago--only aged indeed by the lapse of these many years. _It is a good +face._ I used to think he looked like Dr. Sprague of Albany, who +certainly had as benevolent a countenance as ever shone forth in +kindness on one's fellow creatures. All who know the Pope personally, +speak of him as a very kind-hearted man, with most gentle and winning +manners. This I fully believe, but is it not a strong argument against +the system in which he is bound, that it turns a disposition so sweet +into bitterness, and leads one of the most amiable of men to do things +very inconsistent with the meek character of the Vicar of Christ; to +curse where he ought to bless, and to call down fire from heaven on +his enemies? But his natural instincts are all good. When I was here +before he was universally popular. His predecessor, Gregory XVI., had +been very conservative. But when Cardinal Mastai Ferretti--for that +was his name--was elected Pope, he began a series of reforms, which +elated the Roman people, and caused the eyes of all Europe to be +turned towards him as the coming man. He was the idol of the hour. It +seemed as if he had been raised up by Providence to lead the nations +in the path of peaceful progress. But the Revolutions of 1848, in +Paris and elsewhere, frightened him. And when Garibaldi took +possession of Rome, and proclaimed the Republic, his ardor for reform +was entirely gone. He escaped from the city disguised as a valet, and +fled for protection to the King of Naples, and was afterwards brought +back by French troops. From that time he surrendered himself entirely +to the Reactionary party, and since then, while as well meaning as +ever, he is the victim of a system, from which he cannot escape, and +which makes him do things wholly at variance with his kindly and +generous nature. + +Even the staunchest Protestants who go to see the Pope are charmed +with him. They had, perhaps, thought of him as the "Giant Pope," whom +Bunyan describes as sitting at the mouth of a cave, and glaring +fiercely at Pilgrims as they go by; and they are astonished to find +him a very simple old man, pleasant in conversation, fond of ladies' +society, with a great deal of humor, enjoying a joke as much as +anybody, with a merry twinkle in his eyes, and a face all smiles, as +if he had never uttered an anathema. This is indeed very agreeable, +but all the more does it make one astounded at the incongruity between +such pleasant pastime and his awful spiritual pretensions--for this +man who stands there, chatting so familiarly, and laughing so +heartily, professes to believe that he is the vicegerent of the +Almighty upon earth, and that he has the power to open and shut the +gates of hell! God forgive him for the blasphemy of such a thought! It +seems incredible that he can believe it himself; or, if he did, that +the curses could roll so lightly from his lips. But anathemas appear +to be a part of his daily recreation. He seems really to enjoy firing +a volley into his enemies, as one would fire a gun into a flock of +pigeons. Here is the last shot which I find in the paper of this very +day: + +"The Roman Catholic papers at The Hague publish a pastoral letter from +the Pope to the Archbishop of Utrecht, by which his Holiness makes +known that Johannes Heykamp has been excommunicated, as he has allowed +himself to be elected and ordained as archbishop of the Jansenists in +Holland, and also Johannes Rinkel, who calls himself Bishop of +Haarlem, who performed the ordination. The Pope also declares to be +excommunicated all those who assisted at the ceremony. The Pope also +calls this ordination 'a vile and despicable deed,' and warns all good +Catholics not to have any intercourse with the perpetrators of it, but +to pray without ceasing that God may turn their hearts." + +It is noteworthy that all these anathemas are simply for +ecclesiastical offences, not for any immorality, however gross. The +Queen of Spain may be notorious for her profligacy, yet she receives +no rebuke, she is even as a beloved daughter, to whom the Pope sends +presents, so long as she is devout and reverent towards him, or +towards the Church. So any prince, or private gentleman, may break all +the Ten Commandments, and still be a good Catholic; but if he doubts +Infallibility, he is condemned. All sins may be forgiven, except +rebellion against the Church or the Pope. He has excommunicated +Doellinger, the most learned Catholic theologian in Europe, and Father +Hyacinthe, the most eloquent preacher. Poor Victor Emmanuel comes in +for oft-repeated curses, simply because in a great political crisis he +yielded to the inevitable. _He_ did not seize Rome. It was _the +Italian people_, whom he could no more stop than he could stop the +inrolling of the sea. If he had not gone before the people they would +have gone _over_ him. But for this he is cut off from the communion of +the Catholic Church, and delivered over, so far as the anathema of the +Pope can do it, to the pains of hell. + +And yet if we allege this as proof that some remains of human +infirmity still cling to the Infallible Head of the Church, or that a +very kind nature has been turned into gall and bitterness, we are told +by those who have just come from a reception that he was all sweetness +and smiles. An English priest who is in our hotel had an audience last +evening, and he says: "The Holy Father was very jolly, laughing +heartily at every pleasantry." It does one good to see an old man so +merry and light-hearted, but does not such gayety seem a little forced +or out of place? Men who have no cares on their minds may laugh and be +gay, but for the Vicar of Christ does it not seem to imply that he +attaches no weight to the maledictions that he throws about so +liberally? If he felt the awful meaning of what he utters, he could +not so easily preserve his good spirits and his merriment, while he +consigns his fellow-men to perdition. One would think that if obliged +to pronounce such a doom upon any, he would do it with tears--that he +would retire into his closet, and throw ashes upon his head, and come +forth in sackcloth, overwhelmed at the hard necessity which compelled +the stern decree. But it does not seem to interfere with any of his +enjoyments. He gives a reception at which he is smiling and gracious, +and then proceeds to cast out some wretched fellow-creature from the +communion of the Holy Catholic Church. There is something shocking in +the easy, off-hand manner in which he despatches his enemies. He +anathematizes with as little concern as he takes his breakfast, +apparently attaching as much solemnity to one as the other. The +mixture of levity with stern duties is not a pleasant sight, as when +one orders an execution between the puffs of a cigar. But this holy +man, this Vicegerent of God on earth, pronounces a sentence more awful +still; for he orders what, _according to his theory_, is worse than an +execution--an excommunication. Yet he does it quite unconcerned. If he +does not order an anathema between the puffs of a cigar, he does it +between two pinches of snuff. Such levity would be inconceivable, if +we could suppose that he really believes that his curses have power to +harm, that they cast a feather's weight into the scale that decides +the eternal destiny of a human soul. We do not say that he is +conscious of any hypocrisy. Far from it. It is one of those cases, +which are so common in the world, in which there is an unconscious +contradiction between one's private feelings and his public conduct; +in which a man is far better than his theory. We do not believe the +Pope is half as bad as he would make himself to be--half so resentful +and vindictive as he appears. As we sometimes say, in excuse for harsh +language, "he don't mean anything by it." He _does_ mean something, +viz., to assert his own authority. But he does not quite desire to +deliver up his fellow-creatures to the pains of eternal death. + +We are truly sorry for the Pope. He is an old man, and with all his +natural gentleness, may be supposed to have something of the +irritability of age. And now he is engaged in a contest in which he is +sure to fail; he is fighting against the inevitable, against a course +of things which he has no more power to withstand than to breast the +current of Niagara. He might as well take his stand on the brink of +the great cataract, and think by the force of prayers or maledictions +to stop the flowing of the mighty waters. All the powers of Europe are +against him. Among the sovereigns he has not a single friend, or, at +least, one who has any power to help him. The Emperor of Germany is +this week on a visit to Milan as the guest of Victor Emmanuel. But he +will not come to Rome to pay his respects to the Pope. The Emperor of +Austria came to Venice last spring, but neither did he, though he is a +good Catholic, continue his journey as far as the Vatican. Thus the +Pope is left alone. For this he has only himself to blame. He has +forced the conflict, and now he is in a false position, from which +there is no escape. + +All Europe is looking anxiously to the event of the Pope's death. He +has already filled the Papal chair longer than any one of his two +hundred and fifty-six predecessors, running back to St. Peter. But he +is still hale and strong, and though he is eighty-three years old,[8] +he may yet live a few years longer. He belongs to a very long-lived +family; his grandfather died at ninety-three, his father at +eighty-three, his mother at eighty-eight, his eldest brother at +ninety. Protestants certainly may well pray that he should be blessed +with the utmost length of days; for the longer he lives, and the more +obstinate he is in his reactionary policy, the more pronounced does he +force Italy to become in its antagonism, and not only Italy, but +Austria and Bavaria, as well as Protestant Germany. May he live to be +a hundred years old! + +FOOTNOTES: + +[7] This pretence of being a prisoner is so plainly a device to excite +public sympathy, that it is exaggerated in the most absurd manner. A +lady, just returned from the Rhine, tells me that in Germany the +Catholics circulate pictures of the Pope _behind the bars of a +prison_, and even _sell straws of his bed_, to show that he is +compelled to sleep on a pallet of straw, like a convict! The same +thing is done in Ireland. + +[8] I give his age as put down in the books, where the date of his +birth is given as May 13, 1792; although our English priest tells me +that the Pope himself says that he is eighty-_five_, adding playfully +that "his enemies have deprived him of his dominions, and his friends +of two years of his life." My informant says that, notwithstanding his +great age, he is in perfect health, with not a sign of weakness or +decay about him, physically or intellectually. He is a tough old oak, +that may stand all the storms that rage about him for years to come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +PICTURES AND PALACES. + + +Before we go away from Rome I should like to say a few words on two +subjects which hitherto I have avoided. A large part of the time of +most travellers in Europe is spent in wandering through palaces and +picture galleries, but descriptions of the former would be tedious by +their very monotony of magnificence, and of the latter would be hardly +intelligible to unprofessional readers, nor of much value to anybody, +unless the writer were, what I do not profess to be, a thorough critic +in art. But I have certain general impressions, which I may express +with due modesty, and yet with frankness, and which may perchance +accord with the impressions of some other very plain, but not quite +unintelligent, people. + +One who has not been abroad--I might almost say, who has not _lived_ +abroad--cannot realize how much art takes hold of the imagination of a +people, and enters into their very life. It is the form in which +Italian genius has most often expressed itself. What poetry is in some +countries, art is in Italy. England had great poets in the days of +Elizabeth, but no great painters, at a time when the churches and +galleries of Italy were illuminated by the genius of Raphael and +Titian and Leonardo da Vinci. + +The products of such genius have been a treasure to Italy and to the +world. Works of art are immortal. Raphael is dead, but the +Transfiguration lives. As the paintings of great masters accumulated +from century to century, they were gathered in public or private +collections, which became, like the libraries of universities, +storehouses for the delight and instruction of mankind. Such works +justly command the homage and reverence which are due to the highest +creations of the human intellect. The man who has put on canvas +conceptions which are worthy to live, has left a legacy to the human +race. "When I think," said an old monk, who was accustomed to show +paintings on the walls of his monastery, "how men come, generation +after generation, to see these pictures, and how they pass away, but +these remain, I sometimes think that _these are the realities, and +that we are the shadows_." + +But with all this acknowledgment of the genius that is thus immortal, +and that gives delight to successive generations, there are one or two +drawbacks to the pleasure I have derived from these great collections +of art. + +In the first place, there is the _embarrassment of riches_. One who +undertakes to visit all the picture galleries, even of a single city +like Rome or Florence, soon finds himself overwhelmed by their number. +He goes on day after day, racing from one place to another, looking +here and there in the most hurried manner, till his mind becomes +utterly confused, and he gains no definite impression. It is as +impossible to study with care all these pictures, as it would be to +read all the books in a public library, which are not intended to be +read "by wholesale," but only to be used for reference. So with the +great collections of paintings, which are arranged in a certain order, +so as to give an idea of the style of different countries, such as the +Dutch school, the Venetian school, etc. These are very useful for one +who wishes to trace the history of art, but the ordinary traveller +does not care to go into such detail. To him a much smaller number of +pictures, carefully chosen, would give more pleasure and more +instruction. + +Further, it has seemed to me that with all the genius of the old +masters (which no one is more ready to confess, and in which no one +takes more intense delight), there is sometimes a _worship_ of them, +which is extended to all their works without discrimination, which is +not the result of personal observation, nor quite consistent with +mental independence. Indeed, there are few things in which the empire +of fashion is more absolute, and more despotic. It is at this point +that I meekly offer a protest. I admit fully and gratefully the +marvellous genius of some of the old painters, but I cannot admit that +everything they touched was equally good. Homer sometimes nods, and +even Raphael and Titian--great as they are, and superior perhaps to +everybody else--are not always equal to themselves. Raphael worked +very rapidly, as is shown by the number of pictures which he left, +although he died a young man. Of course, his works must be very +unequal, and we may all exercise our taste in preferring some to +others. + +In another respect it seems to me that there is a limitation of the +greatness even of the old masters, viz., in the range of their +subjects, in which I find a singular _monotony_. In the numberless +galleries that we have visited this summer, I have observed in the old +pictures, with all their power of drawing and richness of color, a +remarkable sameness, both of subject and of treatment. Even the +greatest artists have their manner, which one soon comes to recognize; +so that he is rarely mistaken in designating the painter. I know a +picture of Rubens anywhere by the colossal limbs that start out of the +canvas. Paul Veronese always spreads himself over a large surface, +where he has room to bring in a great number of figures, and introduce +details of architecture. Give him the Marriage at Cana, or a Royal +Feast, and he will produce a picture which will furnish the whole end +of a palace hall. It is very grand, of course; but when one sees a +constant recurrence of the same general style, he recognizes the +limitations of the painter's genius. Or, to go from large pictures to +small ones, there is a Dutch artist, Wouvermans, whose pictures are in +every gallery in Europe. I have seen hundreds of them, and not one in +which he does not introduce a white horse! + +Even the greatest of the old masters seem to have exercised their +genius upon a limited number of subjects. During the Middle Ages art +was consecrated almost wholly to religion. Some of the painters were +themselves devout men, and wrought with a feeling of religious +devotion. Fra Angelico was a monk (in the same monastery at Florence +with Savonarola), and regarded his art as a kind of priesthood, going +from his prayers to his painting, and from his painting to his +prayers. Others felt the same influence, though in a less degree. In +devoting themselves to art, they were moved at once by the inspiration +of genius and the inspiration of religion. Others still, who were not +at all saintly in their lives, yet painted for churches and convents. +Thus, from one cause or another, almost all the art of that day was +employed to illustrate religious subjects. Of these there was one that +was before all others--the Holy Family, or the Virgin and her Child. +This appears and reappears in every possible form. We can understand +the attraction of such a subject to an artist; for to him the Virgin +was _the ideal of womanhood_, to paint whom was to embody his +conception of the most exquisite womanly sweetness and grace. And in +this how well did the old masters succeed! No one who has a spark of +taste or sensibility can deny the exquisite beauty of some of their +pictures of the Virgin--the tenderness, the grace, the angelic purity. +What sweetness have they given to the face of that young mother, so +modest, yet flushed with the first dawning of maternal love! What +affection looks out of those tender eyes! In the celebrated picture of +Raphael in the Gallery at Florence, called "The Madonna of the Chair," +the Virgin is seated, and clasps her child to her breast, who turns +his large eyes, with a wondering gaze, at the world in which he is to +live and to suffer. One stands before such a picture transfixed at a +loveliness that seems almost divine. + +But of all the Madonnas of Raphael--or of any master--which I have +seen, I prefer that at Dresden, where the Virgin is not seated, but +standing erect at her full height, with the clouds under her feet, +soaring to heaven with the Christ-child in her arms. When I went into +the room set apart to that picture (for no other is worthy to keep it +company), I felt as if I were in a church; every one spoke in +whispers; it seemed as if ordinary conversation were an impertinence; +as if it would break the spell of that sacred presence. + +Something of the same effect (some would call it even greater) is +produced by Titian's or Murillo's painting of the "Assumption" of the +Virgin--that is, her being caught up into the clouds, with the angels +hovering around her, over her head and under her feet. One of these +great paintings is at Venice, and the other in the Louvre at Paris. In +both the central figure is floating, like that of Christ in the +Transfiguration. The Assumption is a favorite subject of the old +masters, and reappears everywhere, as does the "Annunciation" by the +Angel of the approaching birth of Christ, the "Nativity," and the +coming of the Magi to adore the holy child. I do not believe there is +a gallery in Italy, and hardly a private collection, in which there +are not "Nativities" and "Assumptions" and "Annunciations." + +But if some of these pictures are indeed wonderful, there are others +which are not at all divine; which are of the earth, earthy; in which +the Virgin is nothing more than a pretty woman, chosen as a type of +female beauty (just as a Greek sculptor would aim to give _his_ ideal +in a statue of Venus), painted sometimes on a Jewish, but more often +on an Italian, model. In Holland the Madonnas have a decidedly Dutch +style of beauty. We may be pardoned if we do not go into raptures over +them. + +When the old masters, after painting the Virgin Mary, venture on an +ideal of our Lord himself, they are less successful, because the +subject is more difficult. They attempt to portray the Divine Man; but +who can paint that blessed countenance, so full of love and sorrow? +That brow, heavy with care, that eye so tender? I have seen hundreds +of Ecce Homos, but not one that gave me a new or more exalted +impression of the Saviour of the world than I obtain from the New +Testament. + +But if it seems almost presumption to attempt to paint our Saviour, +what shall we say to the introduction of the Supreme Being upon the +canvas? Yet this appears very often in the paintings of the old +masters. I cannot but think it was suggested by the fact that the +Greek sculptors made statues of the gods for their temples. As they +undertook to give the head of Jupiter, so these Christian artists +thought they could paint the Almighty! Not unfrequently they give the +three persons of the Trinity--the Father being represented as an old +man with a long beard, floating on a cloud, the Spirit as a dove, +while the Son is indicated by a human form bearing a cross. Can +anything be more repulsive than such a representation! These are +things beyond the reach of art. No matter what genius may be in +certain artistic details, the picture is, and must be, a failure, +because it is an attempt _to paint the unpaintable_. + +Next to Madonnas and Holy Families, the old masters delight in the +painting of saints and martyrs. And here again the same subjects recur +with wearying uniformity. I should be afraid to say how many times I +have seen St. Lawrence stretched on his gridiron; and youthful St. +Sebastian bound to a tree, and pierced with arrows; and old St. +Anthony in the desert, assaulted by the temptations of the devil. No +doubt these were blessed martyrs, but after being exhibited for so +many centuries to the gaze of the world, I should think it would be a +relief for them to retire to the enjoyment of the heavenly paradise. + +Is it not, then, a just criticism of those who painted all those +Madonnas and saints and martyrs, to say, while admitting their +transcendent genius, that still their works present _a magnificent +monotony_, both of subject and of treatment, and at last weary the eye +even by their interminable splendors? + +Another point in which the same works are signally defective, is in +the absence of _landscape painting_. It has been often remarked of the +classic poets, that while they describe human actions and passions, +they show a total insensibility to the beauties of nature. The same +deficiency appears in the paintings of the old masters. Seldom do they +attempt landscape. Sometimes a clump of trees, or a glimpse of sky, is +introduced as a background for figures, but it is almost always +subordinate to the general effect. + +Here, then, it seems to me no undue assumption of modern pride to say +that the artists of the present day are not only the equals of the old +masters, but their superiors. They have learned of the Mighty Mother +herself. They have communed with nature. They have felt the ineffable +beauty of the woods and lakes and rivers, of the mountains and the +meadows, of the valleys and the hills, of the clouds and skies, and in +painting these, have led us into a new world of beauty. As I am an +enthusiastic lover of nature, I feel like standing up for the Moderns +against the Ancients, and saying (at the risk of being set down as +wanting in taste) that I have derived as much pleasure from some of +the pictures which I have seen at the Annual Exhibitions in London and +Paris, and even in New York, as from any, _except a few hundred of the +very best_ of the pictures which I have seen here. + +I am led to speak thus freely, because I am slightly disgusted with +the abject servility in this matter of many foreign tourists. I see +them going through these galleries, guide-book in hand, consulting it +at every step, to know what they must admire, and not daring to +express an opinion, nor even to enjoy what they see until they turn to +what is said by Murray or Baedeker. Of course guide-books are useful, +and even necessary, and one can hardly go into a gallery without one, +to serve at least as a catalogue, but they must not take the place of +one's own eyes. If we are ever to know anything of art, we must begin, +however modestly, to exercise our own judgment. While therefore I +would have every traveller use his guide-book freely, I would have him +use still more his eyes and his brain, and try to exercise, so as to +cultivate, his taste. + +Is it not time for Americans, who boast so much of their independence, +to show a little of it here? Some come abroad only to learn to despise +their own country. For my part, the more I see of other countries, +while appreciating them fully, the more I love my own; I love its +scenery, its landscapes, and its homes, and its men and women; and +while I would not commit the opposite mistake of a foolish conceit of +everything American, I think our artists show a fair share of talent, +which can best be developed by a constant study of nature. Nature is +greater than the old masters. What sunset ever painted by Claude or +Poussin equals, or even approaches, what we often see when the sun +sinks in the west, covering the clouds with gold? If our artists are +to paint sunsets, let them not go to picture galleries, but out of +doors, and behold the glory of the dying day. Let them paint nature as +they see it at home. Nature is not fairer in Italy than in America. +Let them paint American landscapes, giving, if they can, the beauty of +our autumnal woods, and all the glory of the passing year. If they +will keep closely to nature, instead of copying old masters, they may +produce an original, as well as a true and genuine school of art, and +will fill our galleries and our homes with beauty. + +From Pictures to Palaces is an easy transition, as these are the +temples in which works of art are enshrined. Many years ago, when I +first came abroad, a lady in London, who is well known both in England +and America, took me to see Stafford House, the residence of the Duke +of Sutherland, saying that it was much finer than Buckingham Palace, +and "the best they had to show in England," but that, "of course, it +was nothing to what I should see on the Continent, and especially in +Italy." Since then I have visited palaces in almost every capital in +Europe. I find indeed that Italy excels all other countries in +architecture, as she does in another form of art. When her cities were +the richest in Europe, drawing to themselves the commerce and the +wealth of the East, it was natural that the doges and dukes and +princes should display their magnificence in the rearing of costly +palaces. These, while they differ in details, have certain general +features in which they are all pretty much alike--stately proportions, +grand entrances, broad staircases, lofty ceilings, apartments of +immense size, with columns of porphyry and alabaster and lapis lazuli, +and pavements of mosaic or tessellated marble, with no end of +costliness in decoration; ceilings loaded with carving and gilding, +and walls hung with tapestries, and adorned with paintings by the +first masters in the world. Such is the picture of many a palace that +one may see to-day in Venice and Genoa and Florence and Rome. + +If any of my readers feel a touch of envy at the tale of such +magnificence, it may comfort them to hear, that probably their own +American homes, though much less splendid, are a great deal more +comfortable. These palaces were not built for comfort, but for pride +and for show. They are well enough for courts and for state occasions, +but not for ordinary life. They have few of those comforts which we +consider indispensable in our American homes. It is almost impossible +to keep them warm. Their vast halls are cold and dreary. The +pavements of marble and mosaic are not half so comfortable as a plain +wooden floor covered with a carpet. There is no gas--they are lighted +only with candles; while the liberal supply of water which we have in +our American cities is unknown. A lady living in one of the grandest +palaces in Rome, tells me that every drop of water used by her family +has to be carried up those tremendous staircases, to ascend which is +almost like climbing the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Of course a bath is a +_luxury_, and not, as with us, an universal comfort. Nowhere do I find +such a supply of that necessary element of household cleanliness and +personal health, as we have in New York, furnished by a river running +through the heart of a city, carrying life, as well as luxury, into +every dwelling. + +The English-speaking race understand the art of domestic architecture +better than any other in the world. They may not build such grand +palaces, but they know how to build _homes_. In country houses we +should have to yield the palm to the tasteful English cottages, but in +city houses I should claim it for America, for the simple reason that, +as our cities are newer, there are many improvements introduced in +houses of modern construction unknown before. + +When Prince Napoleon was in New York, he said that there was more +comfort in one of our best houses than he found in the Palais Royal in +Paris. And I can well believe it. I doubt if there is a city in the +world where there is a greater number of private dwellings which are +more thoroughly comfortable, well warmed and well lighted, well +ventilated and well drained, with hot and cold baths everywhere: +surely such materials for merely physical comfort never existed +before. These are luxuries not always found, even in kings' palaces. + +But it is not of our rich city houses that I make my boast, but of the +tens of thousands of country houses, so full of comfort, full of +sunshine, and _full of peace_. These are the things which make a +nation happy, and which are better than the palaces of Venice or of +Rome. + +And so the result of all our observations has been to make us +contented with our modest republican ways. How often, while wandering +through these marble halls, have I looked away from all this splendor +to a happy country beyond the sea, and whispered to myself, + + "Mid pleasures and palaces, wherever we roam, + Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +NAPLES.--POMPEII AND PAESTUM. + + + NAPLES, October 23d. + +"See Naples and die!" is an old Italian proverb, which, it must be +confessed, is putting it rather strongly, but which still expresses, +with pardonable exaggeration, the popular sense of the surpassing +beauty of this city and its environs. Florence, lying in the valley of +the Arno, as seen from the top of Fiesole, is a vision of beauty; but +here, instead of a river flowing between narrow banks, there opens +before us a bay that is like a sea, alive with ships, with beautiful +islands, and in the background Vesuvius, with its column of smoke ever +rising against the sky. The bay of Naples is said to be the most +beautiful in the world; at least its only rival is in another +hemisphere--in the bay of Rio Janeiro. It must be fifty miles in +circuit (it is nineteen miles across from Naples to Sorrento), and the +whole shore is dotted with villages, so that when lighted up at night, +it seems girdled with watch fires. + +And around this broad-armed bay (as at Nice and other points along the +Mediterranean), Summer lingers after she has left the north of Italy. +Not only vineyards and olive groves cover the southern slopes, but +palm trees grow in the open air. Here the old Romans loved to come and +sun themselves in this soft atmosphere. On yonder island of Capri are +still seen the ruins of a palace of Tiberius; Cicero had a villa at +Pompeii; and Virgil, though born at Mantua, wished to rest in death +upon these milder shores, and here, at the entrance of the grotto of +Posilippo, they still point out his tomb. + +In its interior Naples is a great contrast to Rome. It is not only +larger (indeed, it is much the largest city in Italy, having half a +million of inhabitants), but brighter and gayer. Rome is dark and +sombre, always reminding one of the long-buried past; Naples seems to +live only in the present, without a thought either of the past or of +the future. A friend who came here a day or two before us, expressed +the contrast between the two cities by saying energetically, "Naples +is life: Rome is death!" Indeed, we have here a spectacle of +extraordinary animation. I have seen somewhere a series of pictures of +"Street Scenes in Naples," and surely no city in Europe offers a +greater variety of figures and costumes, as rich and poor, princes and +beggars, soldiers and priests, jostle each other in the noisy, +laughing crowd. + +Even the poorest of the people have something picturesque in their +poverty. The lazzaroni of Naples are well known. They are the lowest +class of the population, such as may be found in all large cities, and +which is generally the most disgusting and repulsive. But here, owing +to the warm climate, they can live out of doors, and thus the rags and +dirt, which elsewhere are hidden in garrets and cellars, are paraded +in the streets, making them like a Rag Fair. One may see a host of +young beggars--little imps, worthy sons of their fathers--lying on the +sidewalk, asleep in the sun, or coolly picking the vermin from their +bodies, or showing their dexterity in holding aloft a string of +macaroni, and letting it descend into their mouths, and then running +after the carriage for a penny. + +The streets are very narrow, very crowded, and very noisy. From +morning to night they are filled with people, and resound with the +cries of market-men and women, who make a perfect Bedlam. Little +donkeys, which seem to be the universal carryalls, come along laden +with fruit, grapes and vegetables. The loads put on these poor beasts +are quite astonishing. Though not much bigger than Newfoundland dogs, +each one has two huge panniers hung at his sides, which are filled +with all sorts of produce which the peasants are bringing to market. +Often the poor little creature is so covered up that he is hardly +visible under his load, and might not be discovered, but that the heap +seems to be in motion, and a pair of long ears is seen to project +through the superincumbent mass, and an occasional bray from beneath +sounds like a cry for pity. + +The riding carts of the laboring people also have a power of +indefinite multiplication of the contents they carry. I thought that +an Irish jaunting-car would hold about as many human creatures as +anything that went on wheels, but it is quite surpassed by the country +carts one sees around Naples, in which a mere rat of a donkey scuds +along before an indescribable vehicle, on which half a dozen men are +stuck like so many pegs (of course they stand, for there is not room +for them to sit), with women also, and a baby or two, and a fat priest +in the bargain, and two or three urchins dangling behind! Sometimes, +for convenience, babies and vegetables are packed in the same basket, +and swung below! + +With such variety in the streets, one need not go out of the city for +constant entertainment. And yet the charm of Naples is in its +environs, and one who should spend a month or two here, might make +constant excursions to points along the bay, which are attractive +alike by their natural beauty and their historical interest. He may +follow the shore from Ischia clear around to Capri, and enjoy a +succession of beautiful points, as the shore-line curves in and out, +now running into some sheltered nook, where the olive groves grow +thick in the southern sun, and then coming to a headland that juts out +into the sea. Few things can be more enchanting than such a ride along +the bay to Baiae on one side or from Castellamare to Sorrento and +Amalfi, on the other. + +Our first visit was to POMPEII, so interesting by its melancholy fate, +and by the revelations of ancient life in its recent excavations. It +was destroyed in an eruption of Vesuvius in the reign of Titus, in the +year 79, and so completely was it buried that for seventeen hundred +years its very site was not known. It was only about the middle of the +last century that it was discovered, and not till within a few years +that excavations were prosecuted with much vigor. Now the city is +uncovered, the roofs are taken off from the houses, and we can look +down into the very homes of the people, and see the interior of their +dwellings, and all the details of their domestic life. + +We spent four or five hours in exploring this buried city, going with +a guide from street to street, and from house to house. How strange it +seemed to walk over the very pavements that were laid there before our +Saviour was born, the stones still showing the ruts worn by the wheels +of Roman chariots two thousand years ago! + +We examined many houses in detail, and found them, while differing in +costliness (some of them, such as those of Diomed and Sallust and +Polybius, being dwellings of the rich), resembling each other in their +general arrangement. All seemed to be built on an Oriental model, +designed for a hot climate, with a court in the centre, where often a +fountain filled the air with delicious coolness, and lulled to rest +those who sought in the rooms which opened on the court a retreat from +the heat of the summer noon. From this central point of the house, one +may go through the different apartments--bedroom, dining-room, and +kitchen--and see how the people cooked their food, and where they eat +it; where they dined and where they slept; how they lay down and how +they rose up. In almost every house there is a niche for the Penates, +or household gods, which occupied a place in the dwellings of the old +Pompeiians, such as is given by devout Catholics to images of the +Virgin and saints, at the present day. + +But that which excites the greatest wonder is the decorations of the +houses--the paintings on the walls, which in their grace of form and +richness of color, are still subjects of admiration, and furnish many +a model to architects and decorators. A great number of these have +been removed to the Museum at Naples, where artists are continually +studying and copying them. In this matter of decorative art, Wendell +Phillips may well claim--as he does in his eloquent lecture on "The +Lost Arts"--that there are many things in which the ancients, whether +Romans, Greeks, or Egyptians, were superior to the boastful moderns. + +Something of the luxury of those times is seen in the public baths, +which are fitted up with furnaces for heating the water, and pipes for +conveying it, and rooms for reclining and cooling one's self after the +bath, and other refinements of luxury, which we had vainly conceived +belonged only to modern civilization. + +From the houses we pass to the shops, and here we find all the signs +of active life, as if the work had been interrupted only yesterday. +Passing along the street, one sees the merchant's store, the +apothecary's shop, and the blacksmith's forge. To be sure, the fire is +extinguished, and the utensils which have been discovered have been +carried off to the Museum at Naples; but it needs only to light up the +coals, and we might hear again the ring on the anvils where the hammer +fell, struck by hands that have been dust for centuries. And here is a +bakery, with all the implements of the trade: the stone mills standing +in their place for grinding the corn (is it not said that "two shall +be grinding at the mill; one shall be taken and the other left"?); the +vessels for the flour and for water, the trough for kneading the +bread, and the oven for baking--long brick ovens they are, just like +those in which our New England mothers are wont to bake their +Thanksgiving pies. Nay, we have some of the bread that was baked, +loaves of which are still preserved, charred and blackened by the +fire, and possibly might be eaten, although the bread is decidedly +well done. + +Of course, the most imposing structures that have been uncovered are +the public buildings in the Forum and elsewhere--the basilica for the +administration of justice; the theatres for games; and the temples for +the worship of the gods. + +I was curious as to the probable loss of life in the destruction of +the city, and conclude that it was not very great in proportion to the +population. We have no means of knowing exactly the number of +inhabitants. Murray's Guide Book says 30,000, but a careful +measurement shows that not more than 12,000 could have been within the +walls, while perhaps as many more were outside of it. As yet there +have been discovered not more than six hundred skeletons; so that it +is probable that the greater number made their escape. + +But even these--though few compared with the whole--are enough to +disclose, by their attitudes, the suffering and the agony of their +terrible fate. From their postures, it is plain that the inhabitants +were seized with mortal terror when destruction came upon them. Many +were found with their bodies prone on the earth, who had evidently +thrown themselves down, and buried their faces in their hands, as if +to hide from their eyes the danger that was in the air. Some tried to +escape with their treasures. In one house five skeletons were found, +with bracelets and rings of gold, silver, and bronze, lying on the +pavement. A woman was found with four rings on one of her fingers, set +with precious stones, with gold bracelets and earrings and pieces of +money. Perhaps her avarice or her vanity proved her destruction. But +the hardest fate was that of those who could not fly, as captives +chained in their dungeons. Three skeletons were found in a prison, +with the manacles still on their fleshless hands. Even dumb beasts +shared in the general catastrophe. The horse that had lost its rider +pawed and neighed in vain; and the dog that howled at his master's +gate, but would not leave him, shared his fate. The skeletons of both +are still preserved. + +Altogether, the most vivid account which has been given of the +overthrow of the city, is by the English novelist, Bulwer, in his +"Last Days of Pompeii." He pictures a great crowd collected for +gladiatorial combats. That the people had these cruel sports, is shown +by the amphitheatre which remains to this day; and the greatest number +of skeletons in any one spot was thirty-six, in a building for the +training of gladiators. In the amphitheatre, according to the +novelist, the people were assembled when the destruction came. The +lion had been let loose, but more sensitive than man to the strange +disturbance in the elements, crept round the arena, instead of +bounding on his prey, losing his natural ferocity in the sense of +terror. Beasts in the dens below filled the air with howls, till the +assembly, roused from the eager excitement of the combat, at length +looked upward, and in the darkening sky above them read the sign of +their approaching doom. + +But no high-wrought description can add to the actual terror of that +day, as recounted by historians. There are some things which cannot be +overdrawn, and even Bulwer does not present to the imagination a +greater scene of horror than the plain narrative of the younger Pliny, +who was himself a witness of the destruction of Pompeii from the bay, +and whose uncle, advancing nearer to get a better view, perished. + +A city which has had such a fate, and which, after being buried for so +many centuries, is now disentombed, deserves a careful memorial, which +shall comprise both an authentic historical account of its overthrow, +with a detailed report of the recent discoveries. We are glad, +therefore, to meet here a countryman of ours who has taken the matter +in hand, and is fully competent for the task. Rev. J. C. Fletcher, +who is well known in America as the author of a work on Brazil, which +is as entertaining as it is instructive, has been residing two years +in Naples, preparing for the Harpers a work on Pompeii, which cannot +fail to be of great interest, and to which we look forward as the most +valuable account we shall have of this long-buried city. + +Another excursion of almost equal interest was to PAESTUM, some fifty +miles below Naples, the ruins of which are second only to those of the +Parthenon. It is an excursion which requires two days, and which we +accordingly divided. We went first to Sorrento, on the southern shore +of the bay, one of the most beautiful spots around Naples, a kind of +eyrie, or eagle's nest, perched on the cliff, and looking off upon the +glittering waters. Here we were joined by a German lady and her +daughter, whom we had met before in Florence and in Rome, and who are +to be our travelling companions in the East; and who added much to our +pleasure as we picnicked the next day in the Temple of Neptune. With +our party thus doubled we rode along the shore over that most +beautiful drive from Sorrento to Castellamare, and went on to Salerno +to pass the night, from which the excursion to Paestum is easily made +the next day. + +Notwithstanding the great interest of this excursion, it has been made +less frequently than it would have been but for the fact that, until +quite recently, the road has been infested by brigands, who had an +unpleasant habit of starting up by the roadside with blunderbusses in +their hands, and assisting you to alight from the carriage, and taking +you for an excursion into the mountains, from which a message was sent +to your friends in Naples, that on the deposit of a thousand pounds or +so at a certain place you would be returned safely. If friends were a +little slow in taking this hint, and coming to the rescue, sometimes +an ear of the unfortunate captive was cut off and sent to the city as +a gentle reminder of what awaited him if the money was not forthcoming +immediately. Of course, it did not need many such warnings to squeeze +the last drop of blood out of friends, who eagerly drained themselves +to save a kinsman, who had fallen into the jaws of the lion, from a +horrible fate. + +That these were not idle tales told to frighten travellers, we had +abundant evidence. Within a very few years there have been repeated +adventures of the kind. An English gentleman whom we met at Salerno, +who had lived some forty years in this part of Italy, told us that the +stories were not at all exaggerated; that one gang of bandits had +their headquarters but half a mile from his house, and that when +captured they confessed that they had often lain in wait for _him_! + +These pleasing reminiscences gave a cheerful zest to the prospect of +our journey on the morrow, although at present there is little danger. +Since the advent of Victor Emmanuel, brigandage, like a good many +other institutions of the old regime, has been got rid of. Our English +friend last saw his former neighbors, as he was riding in a carriage, +and three of them passed him, going to be shot. Since then the danger +has been removed; and still it gives one a little excitement to drive +where such incidents were common only a few years ago, and even now it +is not at all disagreeable to see soldiers stationed at different +points along the road. + +Though brigandage has passed away _here_, like many an other relic of +the good old times, it still flourishes in Sicily, where all efforts +to extirpate it have as yet proved unsuccessful, and where one who is +extremely desirous of a little adventure, may find it without going +far outside the walls of Palermo. + +But we will not stop to waste words on brigands, when we have before +us the ruins of Paestum. As we drive over a long, level road, we see in +the distance the columns of great temples rising over the plain, not +far from the sea. They are perhaps more impressive because standing +alone, not in the midst of a populous city like the Parthenon, with +Athens at its base, but like Tadmor in the wilderness, solitary and +desolate, a wonder and a mystery. Except the custodian of the place +there was not a human creature there; nor a sound to be heard save the +cawing of crows that flew among the columns, and lighted on the roof. +In such silence we approached these vast remains of former ages. The +builders of these mighty temples have vanished, and no man knows even +their names. It is not certain by whom they were erected. It is +supposed by a Greek colony that landed on the shores of Southern +Italy, and there founded cities and built temples at least six hundred +years before the Christian era. The style of architecture points to a +Greek origin. The huge columns, without any base, and with the plain +Doric capitals, show the same hands that reared the Parthenon. But +whoever they were, there were giants in the earth in those days; and +the Cyclopean architecture they have left puts to shame the pigmy +constructions of modern times. How small it makes one feel to compare +his own few years with these hoary monuments of the past! So men pass +away, and their names perish, even though the structures they have +builded may survive a few hundred, or a few thousand years. What +lessons on the greatness and littleness of man have been read under +the shadow of these giant columns. Hither came Augustus, in whose +reign Christ was born, to visit ruins that were ancient even in his +day. Here, where a Caesar stood two thousand years ago, the traveller +from another continent (though not from New Zealand) stands to-day, to +muse--at Paestum, as at Pompeii--on the fate which overtakes all human +things, and at last whelms man and his works in one undistinguishable +ruin. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE ASCENT OF VESUVIUS. + + + November 1st. + +Our excursion to Vesuvius was delayed for some days to await the +arrival of the Franklin, which was to bring us the lieutenant who was +our travelling companion in Germany last summer, and who wished to +make the ascent in our company. At length, on Thursday, the firing of +heavy guns told us that the great ship was coming into the harbor, and +we were soon on board, where we received a most hearty welcome, not +only from our kinsman, but from all the officers. The Franklin is the +Flag-ship of our European squadron, and bears the flag of Admiral John +L. Worden, the gallant officer whose courage and skill in fighting the +Monitor against the Merrimack in Hampton Roads in 1862, saved the +country in an hour of imminent peril. Well do we remember the terror +in New York caused by the tidings of the sinking of the Congress and +the Cumberland by that first ironclad--a new sea monster whose powers +of destruction were unknown, and which we expected to see within a +week sailing up our harbor, and demanding the surrender of the city. +From this and other dangers, which we shudder to contemplate, we were +saved by the little Monitor on that eventful day. As Admiral Worden +commands only the _fleet_, the _ship_ is commanded by an officer who +bears the same honored name as the ship itself--Captain Franklin. We +were very proud to see such men, surrounded by a fine set of officers, +representing our country here. As we made frequent visits to the ship, +we came to feel quite at home there. Not the least pleasant part of +these visits was to meet several American ladies--the wife and +daughters of Admiral Worden, and the wife of Captain Franklin. Men who +have rendered distinguished services to their country are certainly +entitled to a little domestic comfort on their long voyages; while the +presence of such ladies is a benefit to all on board. When men are +alone, whether in camp or on a ship, they are apt to become a little +rough, and the mere presence of a noble woman has a refining influence +over them. I can see it here in these young officers, who all seem to +have a chivalrous feeling towards these ladies, who remind them of +their own mothers and sisters at home. A more happy family I have not +met on land or sea. + +To their company we are indebted for much of the pleasure of our +excursion to Vesuvius. On Saturday a large party was made up from the +ship, which included the family of Admiral Worden, Captain and Mrs. +Franklin, and half a dozen lieutenants. Our excellent consul at +Naples, Mr. Duncan, and his sister, were also with us. We filled four +carriages, and away we went through the streets of Naples at a furious +rate; sweeping around the bay (along which, as we looked through +arched passages to the right, we could see villas and gardens +stretching down to the waters), till we reached Resina, which stands +on the site of buried Herculaneum. Here we turned to the left, and +began the ascent. And now we found it well that our drivers had +harnessed three stout horses abreast to each carriage, as we had a +hard climb upward along the blackened sides of the mountain. + +We soon perceived the wide-spread ruin wrought by successive eruptions +of the volcano. Over all this mountain side had rolled a deluge of +fire, and on every hand were strewn the wrecks of the mighty +desolation. It seemed as if a destroying angel had passed over the +earth, blasting wherever his shadow fell. On either side stretched +miles and miles of lava, which had flowed here and there slowly and +sluggishly like molten iron, turning when interrupted in its course, +and twisted into a thousand shapes. + +But if this was a terrible sight, there was something to relieve the +eye, as we looked away in the distance to where the smile of God still +rests on an unsmitten world. As we mounted higher, we commanded a +wider view, and surely never was there a more glorious panorama than +that which was unrolled at our feet on that October morning. There was +the bay of Naples, flashing in the sunlight, with the beautiful +islands of Ischia and Capri lying, like guardian fortresses, off its +mouth, and ships coming and going to all parts of the Mediterranean. +What an image was presented in that one view of the contrasts in our +human life between sunshine and shadow--blooming fields on one hand, +and a blackened waste on the other; above, a region swept by fire, and +below, gardens and vineyards, and cities and villages, smiling in +peace and security. + +We had left Naples at nine o'clock, but it was noon before we reached +the Observatory--a station which the Italian Government has +established on the side of the mountain for the purpose of making +meteorological observations. This is the limit to which carriages can +ascend, and here we rested for an hour. Our watchful lieutenants had +thoughtfully provided a substantial lunch, which the steward spread in +a little garden overlooking the bay, and there assembled as merry a +group of Americans as ever gathered on the sides of Vesuvius. + +From the Observatory, those who would spare any unnecessary fatigue +may take mules a mile farther to the foot of the cone, but our party +preferred the excitement of the walk after our long ride. In ascending +the cone, no four-footed beast is of any service; one must depend on +his own strong limbs, unless he chooses to accept the aid of some of +the fierce looking attendants who offer their services as porters. A +lady may take a chair, and for forty francs be carried quite to the +top on the shoulders of four stout fellows. But the more common way +is to take two assistants, one to go forward who drags you up by a +strap attached around his waist, to which you hold fast for dear life, +while another _pushes_ behind. Our young lady had _three_ escorts. She +drove a handsome team of two ahead, while a third lubberly fellow was +trying to make himself useful, or, at least, to earn his money, by +putting his hands on her shoulders, and thus urging her forward. I +believe I was the only person of the party, except the Consul and one +lieutenant, who went up without assistance. I took a man at first, +rather to get rid of his importunity, but he gave out sooner than I +did, stopping after a few rods to demand more money, whereupon I threw +him off in disgust, and made the ascent alone. But I would not +recommend others to follow my example, as the fatigue is really very +great, especially to one unused to mountain climbing. Not only is the +cone very steep, but it is covered with ashes; so that one has no firm +hold for his feet, but sinks deep at every step. Thus he makes slow +progress, and is soon out of breath. He can only keep on by going +_very slowly_. I had to stop every few minutes, and throw myself down +in the ashes, to rest. But with these little delays, I kept steadily +mounting higher and higher. + +As we neared the top, the presence of the volcano became manifest, not +merely from the cloud which always hangs about it, but by smoke +issuing from many places at the side. It seemed as if the mountain +were a vast smouldering heap out of which the internal heat forced its +way through every aperture. Here and there a long line of smoke seemed +to indicate a subterranean fissure or vein, through which the pent-up +fires forced their way. As we crossed these lines of smoke the +sulphurous fumes were stifling, especially when the wind blew them in +our faces. + +But at last all difficulties were conquered, and we stood on the very +top, and looked over the awful verge into the crater. + +Those who have never seen a volcano are apt to picture it as a tall +peak, a slender cone, like a sugar loaf, with a round aperture at the +top, like the chimney of a blast furnace, out of which issues fire and +smoke. Something of this indeed there is, but the actual scene is +vastly greater and grander. For, instead of a small round opening, +like the throat of a chimney, large enough for one flaming column, the +crater is nearly half a mile across, and many hundreds of feet deep; +and one looks down into a yawning gulf, a vast chasm in the mountain, +whose rocky sides are yellow with sulphur, and out of which the smoke +issues from different places. At times it is impossible to see +anything, as dense volumes of smoke roll upward, which the wind drives +toward us, so that we are ourselves lost in the cloud. Then they drift +away, and for an instant we can see far down into the bowels of the +earth. + +Standing on the bald head of Vesuvius, one cannot help some grave +reflections, looking at what is before him only from the point of view +of a man of science. The eruption of a volcano is one of the most +awful scenes in nature, and makes one shudder to think of the elements +of destruction that are imprisoned in the rocky globe. What desolation +has been wrought by Vesuvius alone--how it has thrown up mountains, +laid waste fields, and buried cities! What a spectacle has it often +presented to the terrified inhabitants of Naples, as it has shot up a +column not only of smoke, but of fire! The flames have often risen to +the height of a mile above the summit of the mountain, their red blaze +lighting up the darkness of the night, and casting a glare over the +waters of the bay, while the earth was moaning and trembling, as if in +pain and fear. + +And the forces that have wrought such destruction are active still. +For two thousand years this volcano has been smoking, and yet it is +not exhausted. Its fury is still unspent. Far down in the heart of the +earth still glow the eternal fires. This may give some idea of the +terrific forces that are at work in the interior of the hollow globe, +while it suggests at least the possibility of a final catastrophe, +which shall prove the destruction of the planet itself. + +But if the spectacle be thus suggestive and threatening to the man of +science, it speaks still more distinctly to one who has been +accustomed to think that a time is coming when "the earth, being on +fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent +heat," and who beholds in these ascending flames the prophetic symbol +of the Dies Irae--the Day of Doom--that shall at last end the long +tragedy of man's existence on the earth. + +As I stood on the edge of the crater and looked down into the awful +depths below, it seemed as if I beheld a scene such as might have +inspired the description of Dante in his Inferno, or of John in the +Apocalypse; as if that dread abyss were no unfit symbol of the "lower +deep" into which sink lost human souls. That "great gulf" was as the +Valley of Hell; its rocky sides, yellow with sulphurous flames--how +glistening and slippery they looked!--told of a "lake of fire and +brimstone" seething and boiling below; those yawning caverns which +were disclosed as the smoke drifted away, were the abodes of despair, +and the winds that moaned and shrieked around were the wailings of the +lost; while the pillar of cloud which is always rising from beneath, +which "ceases not day nor night," was as "the smoke of torment," +forever ascending. + +He must be a dull preacher who could not find a lesson in that awful +scene; or see reflected in it the dangers to which he himself is +exposed. Fire is the element of destruction, even more than water. The +"cruel, crawling foam" of the sea, that comes creeping towards us to +seize and to destroy, is not so treacherous as the flames, darting out +like serpents' tongues, that come creeping upward from the abyss, +licking the very stones at our feet, and that seem eager to lick up +our blood. + +The point where we stood projected over the crater. The great eruption +three years since had torn away half the cone of the mountain, and now +there hung above it a ledge, which seemed ready at any moment to break +and fall into the gulf below. As I stood on that "perilous edge," the +crumbling verge of the volcano, I seemed to be in the position of a +human being exposed to dangers vast and unseen, to powers which blind +and smother and destroy. As if Nature would fix this lesson, by an +image never to be forgotten, the sun that was declining in the west, +suddenly burst out of the cloud, and cast my own shadow on the column +of smoke that was rising from below. That shadowy form, standing in +the air, now vanishing, and then reappearing with every flash of +sunlight, seemed no inapt image of human life, a thing of shadow, +floating in a cloud, and hovering over an abyss! + +Thus musing, I lingered on the summit to the last, for such was the +fascination of the scene that I could not tear myself away, and it was +not till all were gone, and I found myself quite alone, that I turned +and followed them down the mountain side. The descent is as rapid as +the ascent is slow. A few minutes do the work of hours, as one plunges +down the ashy cone, and soon our whole party were reassembled at its +base. It was five o'clock when we took our carriages at the +Observatory; and quite dark before we got down the mountain, so that +men with lighted torches (long sticks of pine, like those with which +travellers make their way through the darkness of American forests), +had to go before us to show the road, and with such flaring flambeaux, +and much shouting of men and boys, of guides and drivers, we came +rolling down the sides of Vesuvius, and a little after seven o'clock +were again rattling through the streets of Naples. + +Yesterday was our last day in this city, as we leave this afternoon +for Athens and Constantinople, and as it was the Sabbath, we went on +board the Franklin for a religious service. Such a service is always +very grateful to an American far from home. The deck of an American +ship is like a part of his country, a floating island, anchored for +the moment to a foreign shore: and as he stands there, and sees around +him the faces of countrymen, and hears, instead of the language of +strangers, his dear old mother tongue, and looks up and sees floating +above him the flag he loves so well--that has been through so many +battles and storms--he cannot keep down a trembling in his heart, or +the tears from his eyes. + +And how delightful it is, on such a spot, and with such a company, to +join in religious worship. The Franklin has an excellent chaplain--one +who commands the respect of all on board by his consistent life, +though without any cant or affectation, while his uniform kindness and +sympathy win their hearts. The service was held on the gun-deck, where +officers and men were assembled, sitting as they could, between the +cannon. The band played one or two sacred airs, and the chaplain read +the service with his deep, rich voice, after which it was my privilege +to preach to this novel congregation of my countrymen. Altogether the +occasion was one of very peculiar interest to me, and I hope it was +equally so to others. + +And so we took leave of the Franklin, with most grateful memories of +the kindness of all, from the Admiral down. It is pleasant to see such +a body of officers on board of one of our national ships. None can +realize, except those who travel abroad, how much of the good name of +our country is entrusted to the keeping of such men. They go +everywhere, they appear in every port of Europe and indeed of the +world; they are instantly recognized by their uniform, and are +regarded, much more than ordinary travellers, as the representatives +of our country. How pleasant it is to find them uniformly +_gentlemen_--courteous and dignified, preserving their self-respect, +while showing proper respect to others. I am proud to see such a +generation of young officers coming on the stage, and trust it may +always be said of them, that (taking example from the gallant captains +and admirals who are now the pride of our American Navy,) they are as +modest as they are brave. Such be the men to carry the starry flag +around the globe! + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +GREECE AND ITS YOUNG KING. + + + ATHENS, November 9th. + +If the best proof of our fondness for a place be that we leave it with +regret, few cities will stand higher in our remembrance than Naples, +from which we turned away with many a lingering look, as we waved our +adieus to our friends, who answered us from the deck of the Franklin. +Never did the bay look more beautiful than that Monday afternoon, as +we sailed away by Capri and Sorrento, and Amalfi and the Bay of +Salerno. The sea was calm, the sky was fair. The coast, with its rocky +headlands and deeply indented bays, was in full sight, while behind +rose the Apennines. The friends were with us who were to be our +companions in the East, adding to our animation by their own, as we +sat upon the deck till the evening drew on. As the sun went down, it +cast such a light over the sea, that the ship seemed to be swimming in +glory, as we floated along the beautiful Italian shores. A little +before morning we passed through the Straits of Messina, between +Scylla and Charybdis, leaving Mount Etna on our right, and then for an +hour or two stood off the coast of Calabria, till we ran out of sight +of land, into the open sea of the Mediterranean. + +Wednesday found us among the Ionian islands, and we soon came in sight +of the Morea, a part of the mainland of Greece. We had been told to +watch, as we approached Athens, for sunset on the Parthenon; but it +was not till long after dark that we entered the harbor of the Piraeus, +and saw the lights on the shore, and our first experience was +anything but romantic. At ten o'clock we were cast ashore, in +darkness and in rain; so that instead of feeling any inspiration, we +felt only that we were very wet and very cold. While the +commissionaire went to call a carriage, we waited for a few moments in +a cafe, which was filled with Greek soldiers who were drinking and +smoking, and looked more like brigands than the lawful defenders of +life and property. Such was our introduction to the classic soil of +Greece. But the scene was certainly picturesque enough to satisfy our +young spirits (for I have two such now in charge), who are always +looking out for adventures. Soon the carriage came, and splashing +through the mud, we drove to Athens, and at midnight found a most +welcome rest in our hotel. + +But sunrise clears away the darkness, and we look out of our balcony +on a pleasant prospect. We are in the Hotel Grande Bretagne, facing +the principal square, and adjoining the Royal Palace, in front of +which the band comes to play under the King's windows every day. +Before us rises a rocky hill, which we know at once to be the +Acropolis, as it is strown with ruins, and crowned with the columns of +a great temple, which can be no other than the Parthenon. + +Turning around the horizon, the view is less attractive. The hills are +bleak and bare, masses of rock covered with a scanty vegetation. This +desolate appearance is the result of centuries of neglect; for in +ancient times (if I have read aright), the plain of Athens was a +paradise of fertility, and where not laid out in gardens, was dense +with foliage. Stately trees stood in many a grove besides that of the +Academy, while the mountains around "waved like Lebanon." But nature +seems to have dwindled with man, and centuries of misrule, while they +have crushed the people, have stripped even the mountains of their +forests. + +But with all the desolateness around it, Athens is to the scholar one +of the most interesting cities in the world. Its very ruins are +eloquent, as they speak of the past. We have been here six days, and +have been riding about continually, seeking out ancient sites, +exploring temples and ruins, and find the charm and the fascination +increasing to the last. + +The Parthenon has disappointed me, not in the beauty of its design, +which is as nearly perfect as anything ever wrought by the hand of +man, but in the state of its preservation, which is much less perfect +than that of the temples at Paestum. Time and the elements have wrought +upon its marble front; but these alone would not have made it the ruin +that it is, but for the havoc of war: for so massive was its structure +that it might have lasted for ages. Indeed, it was preserved nearly +intact till about two centuries ago. But the Acropolis, owing to the +advantages of its site (a rocky eminence, rising up in the midst of +the city, like the Castle of Edinburgh), had often been turned into a +fortress, and sustained many sieges. In 1687 it was held by the Turks, +and the Parthenon was used as a powder magazine, which was exploded by +a bomb from the Venetian camp on an opposite hill, and thus was +fatally shattered the great edifice that had stood from the age of +Pericles. Many columns were blown down, making a huge rent on both +sides. It is sad to see these great blocks of Pentelican marble, that +had been so perfectly fashioned and chiselled, now strown over the +summit of the hill. + +And then, to complete the destruction, at the beginning of this +century, came a British nobleman, Lord Elgin, and having obtained a +firman from the Turkish Government, proceeded deliberately to put up +his scaffolding and take down the friezes of Phidias, and carried off +a ship-load of them to London, where the Elgin Marbles now form the +chief ornament of the British Museum. The English spoilers have indeed +allowed some plaster casts to be taken, and brought back here--faint +reminders of the glorious originals. With these and such other +fragments as they have been able to gather, the Greeks have formed a +small museum of their own on the Acropolis. In those which preserve +any degree of entireness, as in the more perfect ones in London, one +perceives the matchless grace of ancient Greek sculpture. There are +long processions of soldiers mounted on horses, and priests leading +their victims to the sacrifice. In these every figure is different, +yet all are full of majesty and grace. What a power even in the +horses, as they sweep along in the endless procession; and what a +freedom in their riders. The whole seems to _march_ before us. + +But many of the fragments that have been collected are so broken that +we cannot make anything out of them. We know from history that there +were on the Acropolis five hundred statues (besides those in the +Parthenon), scattered over the hill. Of these but little remains--here +an arm, or a leg, or a headless trunk, which would need a genius like +that of the ancient sculptor himself to restore it to any degree of +completeness. It is said of Cuvier that such was his knowledge of +comparative anatomy, that from the smallest fragment of bone he could +reconstruct the frame of a mastodon, or of any extinct animal. So +perhaps out of these remains of ancient art, a Thorwaldsen (who had +more of the genius of the ancient Greeks than any other modern +sculptor,) might reconstruct the friezes and sculptures of the +Parthenon. + +But perhaps it is better that they remain as they are--fragments of a +mighty ruin, suggestions of a beauty and grace now lost to the world; +and which no man is worthy to restore. + +Even as it stands, shattered and broken, the Parthenon is majestic in +its ruins. Until I came here I did not realize how much of its effect +was due to its _position_. But the old Greeks studied the effect of +everything, and thus the loftiest of positions was chosen for the +noblest of temples. As Michael Angelo, in building St. Peter's at +home, said that he "would lift the Pantheon into the air," (that is, +erect a structure so vast that its very dome should be equal to the +ancient temple of the gods,) so here the builders of the Parthenon +lifted it into the clouds. It stands on the very pinnacle of the hill, +some six hundred feet above the level of the sea, and thus is brought +into full relief against the sky. On that lofty summit it could be +seen from the city itself, which lies under the shadow of the +Acropolis, as well as from the more distant plain. It could be seen +also from the tops of the mountains, and even far out at sea, as it +caught and reflected back the rays of the rising or the setting sun. +Its marble columns, outlined against the blue sky of Greece, seemed +almost a temple in the clouds. + +This effect of position has been half destroyed, at least for those +living in Athens, by the barbarous additions of later times, by which, +in order that the Acropolis might be turned into a fortress, the brow +of the hill was surmounted with a rude wall, which still encircles it, +and hides all but the upper part of the Parthenon from view. In any +proposed "restoration," the first thing should be to throw down this +ugly wall, so that the great temple might be seen to its very base, +standing as of old upon the naked rocks, with no barrier to hide its +majesty, from those near at hand as well as those "beholding it afar +off." + +But, for the present, to see the beauty of the Parthenon, one must go +up to the Acropolis, and study it there. We often climbed to the +summit, and sat down on the steps of the Propylaea, or on a broken +column, to enjoy the prospect. From this point the eye ranges over the +plain of Athens, bounded on one side by mountains, and on the other by +the sea. Here are comprised in one view the points of greatest +interest in Athenian history. Yonder is the bay of Salamis, where +Themistocles defeated the Persians, and above it is the hill on which +the proud Persian monarch Xerxes sat to see the ruin of the Greek +ships, but from which before the day was ended he fled in dismay. To +such spots Demosthenes could point, as he stood in the Bema just below +us, and thundered to the Athenian people; and by such recollections +he roused them to "march against Philip, to conquer or die." A mile +and a half distant, but in full sight, was the grove of the Academy, +where Plato taught; and here, under the Acropolis, is a small recess +hewn in the rock which is pointed out as the prison of Socrates, and +another which is called his tomb. This inconstant people, like many +others, after putting to death the wisest man of his age, paid almost +divine honors to his memory. + +Like the Coliseum at Rome, the Parthenon is best seen by moonlight, +for then the rents are half concealed, and as the shadows of the +columns that are still standing fall across the open area, they seem +like the giants of old revisiting the place of their glory, while the +night wind sighing among the ruins creeps in our ears like whispers of +the mighty dead. + +When our American artist, Mr. Church, was here, he spent some weeks in +studying the Parthenon and taking sketches, from which he painted the +beautiful picture now in the possession of Mr. Morris K. Jesup. He +studied it from every point and in every light--at sunrise and sunset, +and by moonlight, and even had Bengal lights hung at night to bring +out new lights and shadows. This latter mode of illumination was tried +on a far grander scale when the Prince of Wales was here a few days +since on his way to India, and the effect was indescribably beautiful +as those mighty columns, thus brought into strange relief, stood out +against the midnight sky. + +But if the Parthenon be only a ruin, the memorial of a greatness that +exists no more, fit emblem of that mythology of which it was the +shrine, and of which it is now at once the monument and the tomb, +there is something to be seen from this spot which is not a reminder +of decay. Beneath the Acropolis is Mars Hill, where Paul stood, in +sight of these very temples, and cried, "Ye men of Athens, I perceive +that in all things ye are too superstitious" [or, as it might be more +correctly rendered, "very religious"]; "for as I passed by, and beheld +your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN +GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you. God +that made the world, and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of +heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands" [here we +may believe he pointed upward to the Parthenon and other temples which +crowned the hill above him]; "neither is worshipped with men's hands, +as though he needed anything, seeing he giveth to all life, and +breath, and all things." That voice has died into silence, nor doth +remain upon the barren rock a single monument, or token of any kind, +to mark where the great Apostle stood. But the faith which he preached +has gone into all the world, and to-day the proudest dome that +overlooks the greatest capital of the modern world, bears the name of +St. Paul; and not only in London, but in hundreds of other cities, in +all parts of the earth, are temples consecrated with his name, that +tell of the Unknown God who has been declared to men, and of a faith +and worship that shall not pass away. + +It is a long leap in history, from Ancient to Modern Greece; but the +intervening period contains so much of sadness and of shame, that it +is just as well to pass it by. What need to speak of the centuries of +degradation, in which Greece has been trampled on by Roman and Goth +and Turk, since we may turn to the cheering fact that after this long +night of ages, the morning has come, and this stricken land revives +again? Greece is at last free from her oppressors, and although the +smallest of European kingdoms, yet she exists; she has a place among +the nations, and the beginning of a new life, the dawn of what may +prove a long and happy career. + +It is impossible to look on the revival of a nation which has had such +a history without the deepest interest, and I questioned eagerly every +one who could tell me anything about the conditions and prospects of +the country. I find the general report is one of progress--slow +indeed, but steady. The venerable Dr. Hill, who has lived here nearly +forty-five years, and is about the oldest inhabitant of Athens, tells +me that when he came, _there was not a single house_--he lived at +first in an old Venetian tower--and to-day Athens is a city of fifty +thousand inhabitants, with wide and beautiful streets; with public +squares and fountains, and many fine residences; with churches and +schools, and a flourishing University; with a Palace and a King, a +Parliament House and a Legislature, and all the forms of +constitutional government. + +Athens is a very bright and gay city. Its climate favors life in the +open air, and its streets are filled with people, whose varied +costumes give them a most picturesque appearance. The fez is very +common, but not a turban is to be seen, for there is hardly a Turk in +Athens, unless it be connected with their embassy. The most striking +figures in the streets are the Albanians, or Suliotes, whose dress is +not unlike that of the Highlanders, only that the kilt, instead of +being of Scotch plaid, is of white cotton _frilled_, with the legs +covered with long thick stockings, and the costume completed by a +"capote"--a cloak as rough as a sheepskin, which is thrown +coquettishly over the shoulders. These Highlanders, though not of pure +Greek blood, fought bravely in the war of independence, meriting the +praise of Byron:-- + + "O who is more brave than a dark Suliote, + In his snowy camese and his shaggy capote?" + +The interior of the country is less advanced than the capital. The +great want is that of _internal communication_. Greece is a country +made by nature both for commerce and for agriculture, as it is a +peninsula, and the long line of coast is indented with bays, and the +interior is very fertile; and if a few short roads were opened to +connect the inland valleys with the sea, so that the farmers and +peasants could send their produce to market, the exports of the +country might soon be doubled. One "trunk" road also is needed, about +a hundred miles long, to connect Greece with the European system of +railroads. The opening of this single artery of trade would give a +great impulse to the industry of the country; but as it would have to +cross the frontier of Turkey, it is necessary to have the consent of +the Turkish Government, and this the Greeks, though they have sought +it for years, have never been able to obtain. + +But the obstacles to improvement are not all the fault of the Turks; +the Greeks are themselves also to blame. There is a lack of enterprise +and of public spirit; they do not work together for the public good. +If there were a little more of a spirit of cooperation, they could do +wonders for their country. They need not go to England to borrow money +to build railroads. There is enough in Athens itself, which is the +residence of many wealthy Greeks. Greece is about as large in +territory as Massachusetts, and has about the same population. If it +had the same spirit of enterprise, it would soon be covered, as +Massachusetts is, with a network of railroads, and all its valleys +would be alive with the hum of industry. + +This lack of enterprise and want of combination for public ends, are +due to inherent defects of national character. The modern Greeks have +many of the traits of their illustrious ancestors, in which there is a +strange compound of strength and weakness. They are a mercurial and +excitable race, very much like the French, effervescing like +champagne, bubbling up and boiling over; fond of talk, and often +spending in words the energy that were better reserved for deeds. They +have a proverb of their own, which well indicates their readiness to +get excited about little matters, which says, "They drown themselves +in a tumbler of water." + +A still more serious defect than this lightness of manner, is the +want of a high patriotic feeling which overrides all personal +ambition. There is too much of party spirit, and of personal ambition. +Everybody wants to be in office, to obtain control of the Government, +and selfish interests often take the precedence of public +considerations; men seem more eager to get into power by any means, +than to secure the good of their country. This party spirit makes more +difficult the task of government. But after all these are things which +more or less exist in all countries, and especially under all free +governments, and which the most skilled statesmen have to use all +their tact and skill to restrain within due bounds. + +But while these are obvious defects of the national character, no one +can fail to see the fine qualities of the Greeks, and the great things +of which they are capable. They are full of talent, in which they show +their ancestral blood, and if sometimes a little restless and +unmanageable, they are but like spirited horses, that need only to be +"reined in" and guided aright, to run a long and glorious race. + +I have good hope of the country also, from the character of the young +King, whom I had an opportunity of seeing. This was an unexpected +pleasure, for which I am indebted to the courtesy of our accomplished +Minister here, Gen. J. Meredith Reed, who suggested and arranged it; +and it proved not a mere formality, but a real gratification. I had +supposed it would be a mere ceremony, but it was, on the contrary, so +free from all stiffness--our reception was so unaffected and so +cordial--that I should like to impart a little of the pleasure of it +to others. I wish I could convey the impression of that young ruler +exactly as he appeared in that interview: for this is a case in which +the simplest and most literal description would be the most favorable. +Public opinion abroad hardly does him justice; for the mere fact of +his youth (he is not yet quite thirty years old), may lead those who +know nothing of him personally, to suppose that he is a mere +figure-head of the State, a graceful ornament indeed, but not capable +of adding much to the political wisdom by which it is to be guided. +The fact too of his royal connections (for he is the son of the King +of Denmark, and brother-in-law both of the Prince of Wales and of the +eldest son of the Czar), naturally leads one to suppose that he was +chosen King by the Greeks chiefly to insure the alliance of England +and Russia. No doubt these considerations did influence, as they very +properly might, his election to the throne. But the people were most +happy in their choice, in that they obtained not merely a foreign +prince to rule over them, but one of such personal qualities as to win +their love and command their respect. Those who come in contact with +him soon discover that he is not only a man of education, but of +practical knowledge of affairs; that he "carries an old head on young +shoulders," and has little of youth about him _except its modesty_, +but this he has in a marked degree, and it gives a great charm to his +manners. I was struck with this as soon as we entered the room--an air +so modest, and yet so frank and open, that it at once puts a stranger +at his ease. There is something very engaging in his manner, which +commands your confidence by the freedom with which he gives his own. +He welcomed us most cordially, and shook us warmly by the hand, and +commenced the conversation in excellent English, talking with as much +apparent freedom as if he were with old friends. We were quite alone +with him, and had him all to ourselves. There was nothing of the +manner of one who feels that his dignity consists in maintaining a +stiff and rigid attitude. On the contrary, his spirits seemed to run +over, and he conversed not only with the freedom, but the joyousness +of a boy. He amused us very much by describing a scene which some +traveller professed to have witnessed in the Greek Legislature, when +the speakers became so excited that they passed from words to blows, +and the Assembly broke up in a general melee. Of course no such scene +ever occurred, but it suited the purpose of some penny-a-liner, who +probably was in want of a dinner, and must concoct "a sensation" for +his journal. But I had been present at a meeting of the Greek +Parliament a day or two before, and could say with truth that it was +far more quiet and decorous than the meeting of the National Assembly +at Versailles, which I had witnessed several months before. Indeed no +legislative body could be more orderly in its deliberations. + +Then the King talked of a great variety of subjects--of Greece and of +America, of art and of politics, of the Parthenon and of +plum-puddings.[9] Gen. Reed was very anxious that Greece should be +represented at the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. The King +asked what they should send? I modestly suggested "The Parthenon," +with which Greece would eclipse all the world, unless Egypt should +send the Pyramids! Of course, it would be a profanation to touch a +stone of that mighty temple, though it would not be half as bad to +carry off a few "specimen bricks" as it was for Lord Elgin to carry +off the friezes of Phidias. But Gen. Reed suggested, what would be +quite practicable, that they should send plaster casts of some of +their greatest statues, which would not rob _them_, and yet be the +most glorious memorial of Ancient Greece. + +The King spoke very warmly of America. The relations of the two +countries have always been most cordial. When Greece was struggling +single-handed to gain her independence, and European powers stood +aloof, America was the first to extend her sympathy and aid. This +early friendship has not been forgotten, and it needs only a worthy +representative of our country here--such as we are most fortunate in +having now--to keep for us this golden friendship through all future +years. + +Such is the man who is now the King of Greece. He has a great task +before him, to restore a country so long depressed. He appreciates +fully its difficulties. No man understands better the character of the +Greeks, nor the real wants of the country. He may sometimes be tried +by things in his way. Yet he applies himself to them with +inexhaustible patience. The greater the difficulty, the greater the +glory of success. If he should sometimes feel a little discouraged, +yet there is much also to cheer and animate him. If things move rather +slowly, yet it is a fact of good omen that they move _at all_; and +looking back over a series of years, one may see that there has been a +great advance. It is not yet half a century since this country gained +its independence. Fifty years ago Turkish pachas were ruling over +Greece, and grinding the Christian population into the dust. Now the +Turks are gone. The people are _free_, and in their erect attitude, +their manly bearing and cheerful spirits, one sees that they feel that +they are men, accustomed for these many years to breathe the air of +liberty. + +With such a country and such a people, this young king has before him +the most beautiful part which is given to any European sovereign--to +restore this ancient State, to reconstruct, not the Parthenon, but the +Kingdom; to open new channels of industry and wealth, and to lead the +people in all the ways of progress and of peace. + +It will not be intruding into any privacy, if I speak of the king in +his domestic relations. It is not always that kings and queens present +the most worthy example to their people; and it was a real pleasure to +hear the way in which everybody spoke of this royal family as a model. +The queen, a daughter of the Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, is +famed for her beauty, and equally for the sweetness of her manners. +The whole nation seems to be in love with her, she is so gentle and so +good. They have four children, ruddy cheeked little creatures, whom we +saw riding about every day, so blooming and rosy that the carriage +looked like a basket of flowers. They were always jumping about like +squirrels, so that the King told us he had to have them fastened in +with leather straps, lest in their childish glee they should throw +themselves overboard. In truth it was a pretty sight, that well might +warm the heart of the most cold-blooded old bachelor that ever lived; +and no one could see them riding by without blessing that beautiful +young mother and her happy children. + +There is something very fitting in such a young king and queen being +at the head of a kingdom which is itself young, that so rulers and +people may grow in years and in happiness together. + +I know I express the feelings of every American, when I wish all good +to this royal house. May this king and queen long live to present to +their people the beautiful spectacle of the purest domestic love and +happiness! May they live to see Greece greatly increased in population +and in wealth--the home of a brave, free, intelligent and happy +people! + +FOOTNOTE: + +[9] This is not a jest. The King said with perfect truth that the +chief revenue of Greece was derived from the plum-puddings of England +and America, the fact being that the currants of Corinth (which indeed +gives the name to that delicious fruit) form the chief article of +export from the Kingdom of Greece--the amount in one year exported to +England alone, being of the value of L1,200,000. The next article of +export is olive oil. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +CONSTANTINOPLE. + + + November 24th. + +From my childhood no city has taken more hold of my imagination than +Constantinople. For weeks we have been looking forward to our visit +here; and when at last we entered the Dardanelles (passing the site of +ancient Troy), and crossed the Sea of Marmora, and on Friday noon, +Nov. 12th, caught the first gleam of the city in the distance, we +seemed to be realizing a long cherished dream. There it was in all its +glory. Venice rising from the sea is not more beautiful than +Constantinople, when the morning sun strikes on its domes and +minarets, rising out of the groves of dark green cypresses, which mark +the places where the Turks bury their dead. And when we entered the +Bosphorus, and rounding Seraglio Point, anchored at the mouth of the +Golden Horn, we seemed to be indeed in the heart of the Orient, where +the gorgeous East dazzles the traveller from the West with its +glittering splendors. + +But closer contact sometimes turns poetry to prose in rather an abrupt +manner, and the impression of Oriental magnificence is rudely +disturbed when one goes on shore. Indeed, if a traveller cares more +for pleasant impressions than for disagreeable realities, he would do +better not to land at all, but rather to stand afar off, moving slowly +up and down the Bosphorus, beholding and admiring, and then sail away +just at sunset, as the last light of day gilds the domes and minarets +with a parting splendor, and he will retain his first impressions +undisturbed, and Constantinople will remain in his memory as a +beautiful dream. But as we are prepared for every variety of +experience, and enjoy sudden contrasts, we are rather pleased than +otherwise at the noise and confusion which greet the arrival of our +steamer in these waters; and the crowd of boats which surround the +ship, and the yells of the boatmen, though they are not the voices of +paradise, greatly amuse us. Happily a dragoman sent from the Hotel +d'Angleterre, where we had engaged rooms, hails us from a boat, and, +coming on board, takes us in charge, and rescues us from the mob, and +soon lands us on the quay, where, after passing smoothly through the +Custom House, we see our numerous trunks piled on the backs of half a +dozen porters, or _hamals_, and our guide leads the way up the hill of +Pera. And now we get an interior view of Constantinople, which is +quite different from the glittering exterior, as seen from a distance. +We are plunging into a labyrinth of dark and narrow and dirty streets, +which are overhung with miserable houses, where from little shops +turbaned figures peer out upon us, and women, closely veiled, glide +swiftly by. Such streets we never saw in any city that pretended to +civilization. The pavement (if such it deserves to be called) is of +the rudest kind, of rough, sharp stones, between which one sinks in +mud. There is hardly a street that is decently paved in all +Constantinople. Even the Grand Street of Pera, on which are our hotel +and all the foreign embassies, is very mean in appearance. The +embassies themselves are fine, as they are set far back from the +street, surrounded with ample grounds, and on one side overlook the +Bosphorus, but the street itself is dingy enough. To our surprise we +find that Constantinople has no architectural magnificence to boast +of. Except the Mosques, and the Palaces of the Sultan, which indeed +_are_ on an Imperial scale, there are no buildings which one would go +far to see in London or Paris or Rome. The city has been again and +again swept by fires, so that many parts are of modern construction, +while the old parts which have escaped the flames, are miserable +beyond description. It is through such a part that we are now picking +our way, steering through narrow passages, full of dogs and asses and +wretched-looking people. This is our entrance into Constantinople. +After such an experience one's enthusiasm is dampened a little, and he +is willing to exchange somewhat of Oriental picturesqueness for +Western cleanliness and comfort. + +But the charm is not all gone, nor has it disappeared after twelve +days of close familiarity. Only the picture takes a more defined +shape, and we are able to distinguish the lights and shadows. +Constantinople is a city full of sharp contrasts, in which one extreme +sets the other in a stronger light, as Oriental luxury and show look +down on Oriental dirt and beggary; as gold here appears by the side of +rags, and squalid poverty crouches under the walls of splendid +palaces. Thus the city may be described as mean or as magnificent, and +either description be true, according as we contemplate one extreme or +the other. + +As to its natural beauty, (that of situation,) no language can surpass +the reality. It stands at the junction of two seas and two continents, +where Europe looks across the Bosphorus to Asia, as New York looks +across the East River to Brooklyn. That narrow strait which divides +the land unites the seas, the Black Sea with the Mediterranean. From +the lofty height of the Seraskier tower one looks down on such a +panorama as is not elsewhere on the face of the earth. Far away +stretches the beautiful Sea of Marmora, which comes up to the very +walls of the city, and seems to kiss its feet. On the other side of +Stamboul, dividing it from Pera, is the Golden Horn, crowded with +ships; and in front is the Bosphorus, where the whole Turkish navy +rides at anchor, and a fleet of steamers and ships is passing, bearing +the grain of the Black Sea to feed the nations of Western Europe. +Islanded amid all these waters are the different parts of one great +capital--a vast stretch of houses, out of which rise a hundred domes +and minarets. As one takes in all the features of this marvellous +whole, he can but exclaim, "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the +whole earth, is"--Constantinople! + +Nor are its environs less attractive than the position of the city +itself. Whichever way you turn, sailing over these waters and along +these shores, or riding outside of the ancient wall, from the Golden +Horn over the hills to the Sea of Marmora, with its beautiful islands, +there is something to enchant the eye and to excite the imagination. A +sail up the Bosphorus is one of the most interesting in the world. We +have taken it twice. The morning after our arrival, our friend Dr. +George W. Wood, to whom we are indebted for many acts of kindness, +gave up the day to accompany us. For miles the shores on either side +are dotted with palaces of the Sultan, or of the Viceroy of Egypt, or +of this or that Grand Vizier, or of some Pasha who has despoiled +provinces to enrich himself, or with the summer residences of the +Foreign Ministers, or of wealthy merchants of Constantinople. + +The Bosphorus constantly reminded me of the Hudson, with its broad +stream indented with bays, now swelling out like our own noble river +at the Tappan Zee, and then narrowing again, as at West Point, and +with the same steep hills rising from the water's edge, and wooded to +the top. So delighted were we with the excursion, that we have since +made it a second time, accompanied by Rev. A. V. Millingen, the +excellent pastor of the Union Church of Pera, and find the impression +of beauty increased. Landing on the eastern side, near where the Sweet +Waters of Asia come down to mingle with the sea, we walked up a valley +which led among the hills, and climbed the Giants' Mountain, on which +Moslem chronicles fix the place of the tomb of Joshua, the great +Hebrew leader, while tradition declares it to be the tomb of Hercules. +Probably one was buried here as truly as the other; authorities differ +on the subject, and you take your choice. But what none can dispute is +the magnificent site, worthy to have been the place of burial of any +hero or demigod. The view extends up and down the Bosphorus for +miles. How beautiful it seemed that day, which was like one of the +golden days of our Indian summer, a soft and balmy air resting on all +the valleys and the hills. The landscape had not, indeed, the +freshness of spring, but the leaves still clung to the trees, which +wore the tints of autumn, and thus resembled, though they did not +equal, those of our American forests; and as we wandered on amid these +wild and wooded scenes, I could imagine that I was rambling among the +lovely hills along the Hudson. + +But there is one point in which the resemblance ceases. There is a +difference (and one which makes all the difference in the world), +viz., that the Hudson presents us only the beauty of _nature_, while +the Bosphorus has the added charm of _history_. The dividing line +between Europe and Asia, it has divided the world for thousands of +years. Here we come back to the very beginnings of history, or before +all history, into the dim twilight of fable and tradition; for through +these straits, according to the ancient story, sailed Jason with his +Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, and yonder are the +Symplegades, the rocks which were the terror of navigators even in the +time of Jason, if such a man ever lived, and around which the sea +still roars as it roared thousands of years ago. On a hill-top stood a +temple to Jupiter Urius, to which mariners entering the stormy Euxine +came to offer their vows, and to pray for favorable winds; and here +still lives an old, long-haired Dervish, to whom the Turkish sailors +apply for the benefit of his prayers. He was very friendly with us, +and a trifling gratuity insured us whatever protection he could give. +Thus we strolled along over the hills to the Genoese Castle, a great +round tower, built hundreds of years ago to guard the entrance to the +Black Sea, and in a grove of oaks stretched ourselves upon the grass, +and took our luncheon in full view of two continents, both washed by +one "great and wide sea." To this very spot came Darius the Great, to +get the same view on which we are looking now; and a few miles below, +opposite the American College at Bebek, he built his bridge of boats +across the Bosphorus, over which he passed his army of seven hundred +thousand men. To the same spot Xenophon led his famous Retreat of the +Ten Thousand. + +Coming down to later times, we are sitting among the graves of Arabs +who fought and fell in the time of Haroun al Raschid, the magnificent +Caliph of Bagdad, in whose reign occurred the marvellous adventures +related in the Tales of the Arabian Nights. These were Moslem heroes, +and their graves are still called "the tombs of the martyrs." But +hither came other warriors; for in yonder valley across the water +encamped Godfrey of Bouillon, with his Crusaders, who had traversed +Europe, and were now about to cross into Asia, to march through Asia +Minor, and descend into Syria, to fight for the Holy Sepulchre. + +Recalling such historic memories, and enjoying to the full the beauty +of the day, we came down from the hills to the waters, and crossing in +a caique to the other side of the Bosphorus, took the steamer back to +the city. + +While such are the surroundings of Constantinople, in its interior it +is the most picturesque city we have yet seen. I do not know what we +may find in India, or China, or Japan, but in Europe there is nothing +like it. On the borders of Europe and Asia, it derives its character, +as well as its mixed population, from both. It is a singular compound +of nations. I do not believe there is a spot in the world where meet a +greater variety of races than on the long bridge across the Golden +Horn, between Pera and Stamboul. Here are the representatives of all +the types of mankind that came out of the Ark, the descendants of +Shem, Ham, and Japheth--Jews and Gentiles, Turks and Greeks and +Armenians, "Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and dwellers in +Mesopotamia," Persians and Parsees, and Arabs from Egypt and Arabia, +and Moors from the Barbary Coast, and Nubians and Abyssinians from the +upper Nile, and Ethiopians from the far interior of Africa. I have +been surprised to see so many blacks wearing the turban. But here they +are in great numbers, the recognized equals of their white +co-religionists. I have at last found one country in the world in +which the distinction between black and white makes absolutely no +difference in one's rank or position. And this, strange to say, is a +country where slavery long existed, and where, though suppressed by +law, it still exists, though less openly. We visited the old slave +market, and though evidently "business" was dull, yet a dozen men were +sitting around, who, we were told, were slave merchants, and some +black women who were there to be sold. But slavery in Turkey is of a +mild form, and as it affects both races (fair Circassian women being +sold as well as the blackest Ethiopian), the fact of servitude works +no such degradation as attaints the race. And so whites and blacks +meet together, and walk together, and eat together, apparently without +the slightest consciousness of superiority on one side, or of +inferiority on the other. No doubt this equality is partly due to the +influence of Mohammedanism, which is very democratic, which recognizes +no distinction of race, before which all men are equal as before their +Creator, and which thus lifts up the poor and abases the proud. I am +glad to be able to state one fact so much to its honor. + +But these turbaned Asiatics are not the only ones that throng this +bridge. Here are Franks in great numbers, speaking all the languages +of the West, French and Italian, German and English. One may +distinguish them afar off by their stove-pipe hat, that beautiful +cylinder whose perpendicular outline is the emblem of uprightness, and +which we wish might always be a sign and pledge that the man whose +face appears under it would illustrate in his own person the unbending +integrity of Western civilization. And so the stream of life rolls on +over that bridge, as over the Bridge of Mirza, never ceasing any more +than the waters of the Golden Horn which roll beneath it. + +And not only all races, but all conditions are represented +here--beggars and princes; men on horseback forcing their way through +the crowd on foot; carriages rolling and rumbling on, but never +stopping the tramp, tramp, of the thousands that keep up their endless +march. Here the son of the Sultan dashes by in a carriage, with +mounted officers attending his sacred (though very insignificant) +person; while along his path crouch all the forms of wretched +humanity--men with loathsome diseases; men without arms or legs, +holding up their withered stumps; or with eyes put out, rolling their +sightless eyeballs, to excite the pity of passers by--all joining in +one wail of misery, and begging for charity. + +In the mongrel population of Constantinople one must not forget the +_dogs_, which constitute a large part of the inhabitants. Some +traveller who has illustrated his sketches with the pen by sketches +with the _pencil_, has given, as a faithful picture of this capital of +the East, simply a pack of dogs snarling in the foreground as its most +conspicuous feature, while a mosque and a minaret may be faintly seen +in the distance. If this is a caricature, yet it only exaggerates the +reality, for certainly the dogs have taken full possession of the +city. They cannot be "Christian dogs," but Moslem dogs, since they are +tolerated, and even protected, by the Turks. It is a peculiar +breed--all yellow, with long, sharp noses and sharp ears--resembling +in fact more the fox or the wolf than the ordinary house-dog. A shaggy +Newfoundlander is never seen. As they are restrained by no Malthusian +ideas of population, they multiply exceedingly. They belong to no man, +but are their own masters, and roam about as freely as any of the +followers of the prophet. They are only kept in bounds by a police of +their own. It is said that they are divided into communities, which +have their separate districts, and that if by chance a stray dog gets +out of his beat, the others set upon him, and punish him so cruelly +that he flies yelping to his own crowd for protection. They live in +the streets, and there may be seen generally asleep in the day-time. +You cannot look anywhere but you see a dog curled up like a rug that +has been thrown in a corner. You stumble over them on the sidewalk. +They keep pretty quiet during the day, but at night they let +themselves loose, and come upon you in full cry. They bark and yelp, +but their favorite note is a hideous howl, which they keep up under +your window by the hour together (at least it seems an hour when you +are trying to sleep), or until they are exhausted, when the cry is +immediately taken up by a fresh pack around the corner. + +The purely Oriental character of Constantinople is seen in a visit to +the _bazaars_--a feature peculiar to Eastern cities. It was perhaps to +avoid the necessity of locomotion, always painful to a Turk, that +business has been concentrated within a defined space. Imagine an area +of many acres, or of many city squares, all enclosed and covered in, +and cut up into a great number of little streets or passages, on +either side of which are ranged innumerable petty shops, and you have +a general idea of the bazaars. In front of each of these a venerable +Turk sits squatting on his legs, and smoking his pipe, and ready to +receive customers. You wonder where he can keep his goods, for his +shop is like a baby house, a space of but a few feet square. But he +receives you with Oriental courtesy, making a respectful _salaam_, +perhaps offering you coffee or a pipe to soothe your nerves, and +render your mind calm and placid for the contemplation of the +treasures he is to set before you. And then he proceeds to take down +from his shelves, or from some inner recess, what does indeed stir +your enthusiasm, much as you may try to repress it--rich silks from +Broussa, carpets from Persia, blades from Damascus, and antique +curiosities in bronze and ivory--all of which excite the eager desire +of lovers of things that are rare and beautiful. I should not like to +say (lest it should be betraying secrets) how many hours some of our +party spent in these places, or what follies and extravagances they +committed. Certainly as an exhibition of one phase of Oriental life, +it is a scene never to be forgotten. + +To turn from business to religion, as it is now perhaps midday or +sunset, we hear from the minaret of a neighboring mosque the muezzin +calling the hour of prayer; and putting off our shoes, with sandaled +or slippered feet, we enter the holy place. At the vestibule are +fountains, at which the Moslems are washing their hands and feet +before they go in to pray. We lift the heavy curtain which covers the +door, and enter. One glance shows that we are not in a Christian +church, either Catholic or Protestant. There is no cross and no altar; +no Lord's Prayer, no Creed, and no Ten Commandments. The walls are +naked and bare, with no sculptured form of prophet or apostle, and no +painting of Christ or the Virgin. The Mohammedans are the most +terrible of iconoclasts, and tolerate no "images" of any kind, which +they regard as a form of idolatry. But though the building looks empty +and cold, there is a great appearance of devotion. All the worshippers +stand with their faces turned towards Mecca, as the ulema in a low, +wailing tone reads, or chants, the passages from the Koran. There is +no music of any kind, except this dreary monotone. But all seem moved +by some common feeling. They kneel, they bow themselves to the earth, +they kiss the floor again and again in sign of their deep abasement +before God and his prophet. We looked on in silence, respecting the +proprieties of the place. But the scene gave me some unpleasant +reflections, not only at the blind superstition of the worshippers, +but at the changes which had come to pass in this city of Constantine, +the first of Christian emperors, and in a place which has been so +often solemnly devoted to the worship of Christ. The Mosque of St. +Sophia, which, in its vastness and severe and simple majesty, is +certainly one of the grandest temples of the world, was erected as a +Christian church, and so remained for nearly a thousand years. In it, +or in its predecessor standing on the same spot, preached the +"golden-mouthed Chrysostom." This venerable temple is now in the hands +of those who despise the name of Christ. It is about four hundred and +twenty years since the Turks captured Constantinople, and the terrible +Mohammed II., mounted on horseback, and sword in hand, rode through +yonder high door, and gave orders to slay the thousands who had taken +refuge within those sacred walls. Then Christian blood overflowed that +pavement like a sea, as men and women and helpless children were +trampled down beneath the heels of the cruel invaders. And so the +abomination of desolation came into the holy place, and St. Sophia was +given up to the spoiler. His first act was to destroy every trace of +its Christian use; to take away the vessels of the sanctuary, as of +old they were taken from the temple at Jerusalem; to cover up the +beautiful mosaics in the ceiling and on the walls, that for so many +centuries had looked down on Christian worshippers; and to _cut out +the cross_. I observed, in going round the spacious galleries, that +wherever the sign of the cross had been carved in the ancient marble, +_it had been chiselled away_. Thus the usurping Moslems had striven to +obliterate every trace of Christian worship. The sight of such +desecration gave me a bitter feeling, only relieved by the assurance +which I felt then, and feel now, that that sign _shall be restored_, +and that the Cross shall yet fly above the Crescent, not only over the +great temple of St. Sophia, but over all the domes and minarets of +Constantinople. + + * * * * * + +For the pleasure of contrast to so much that is dark and sombre, I +cannot close this picture without turning to one bright spot, one +hopeful sign, that is like a bit of green grass springing up amid the +moss-covered ruins of a decaying empire. As it is a relief to come +out from under the gloomy arches of St. Sophia into the warm sunshine, +so is it to turn away from a creed of Fatalism, which speaks only of +decay and death, to that better faith which has in it the new life of +the world. The Christian religion was born in the East, and carried by +early apostolic missionaries to western Europe, where it laid the +foundation of great nations and empires; and in after centuries was +borne across the seas; and now, in these later ages it is brought back +to the East by men from the West. In this work of restoring +Christianity to its ancient seats, the East is indebted, not only to +Christian England, but to Christian America. + +From the very beginning of American missions, Constantinople was fixed +upon as a centre of operations for the East, and the American Board +sent some of its picked men to the Turkish capital. Here came at an +early day Drs. Dwight and Goodell, and Riggs and Schauffler. The first +two of these have passed away; Dr. Schauffler, after rendering long +service, is now spending the evening of his days with his son in +Austria; Dr. Riggs, the venerable translator of the Bible, alone +remains. These noble men have been succeeded by others who are worthy +to follow in their footsteps. Dr. Wood was here many years ago, and +after being transferred for a few years to New York, as the Secretary +of the American Board in that city, has now returned to the scene of +his former labors, where he has entered with ardor into that +missionary work which he loved so well. With him are associated a +number of men whose names are well known and highly honored in +America. + +The efficiency of these men has been greatly increased by proper +organization, and by having certain local centres and institutions to +rally about. In the heart of old Stamboul stands the Bible House, a +noble monument of American liberality. The money was raised chiefly by +the efforts of Dr. Isaac Bliss, and certainly he never spent a year of +his life to better purpose. It cost, with the ground, about sixty +thousand dollars, and when I saw what a large and handsome building it +was, I thought it a miracle of economy. This is a rallying point for +the missionaries in and around Constantinople. Here is a depot for the +sale of Bibles in all the languages of the East, and the offices for +different departments of work; and of the Treasurer, who has charge of +paying the missionaries, and who thus distributes every year about +one-third of all the expenditures of the American Board. Here, too, is +done the editing and printing of different publications. I found Rev. +Mr. Greene editing three or four papers in different languages, for +children and for adults. Of course the circulation of any of these is +not large, as we reckon the circulation of papers in America; but all +combined, it _is_ large, and such issues going forth every week +scatter the seeds of truth all over the Turkish Empire. + +Another institution founded by the liberality of American Christians +is THE HOME at Scutari, a seminary for the education of girls. It has +been in operation for several years with much success, and now a new +building has been erected, the money for which--fifty thousand +dollars--was given wholly by the _women_ of America. Would that all +who have had a hand in raising that structure could see it, now that +it is completed. It stands on a hill, which commands a view of all +Constantinople, and of the adjacent waters, far out into the Sea of +Marmora. Around this Home, as a centre, are settled a number of +missionary families--Dr. Wood, who, besides his other work, has its +general oversight; Mr. Pettibone, the efficient Treasurer; Drs. Edwin +and Isaac Bliss; and Mr. Dwight, a son of the former missionary; who, +with the ladies engaged in teaching in the Home, form together as +delightful a circle as one can meet in any part of the missionary +world. + +The day that we made our visit to the Home, we went to witness the +performance of the Howling Dervishes, who have a weekly howl at +Scutari, and in witnessing the jumpings and contortions of these men, +who seemed more like wild beasts than rational beings, I could not but +contrast the disgusting spectacle with the very different scene that I +had witnessed that morning--a scene of order, of quiet, and of +peace--as the young girls recited with so much intelligence, and sang +their beautiful hymns. That is the difference between Mohammedanism +and that purer religion which our missionaries are seeking to +introduce. + +But they are not allowed to work unopposed. The Government is hostile, +and though it pretends to give toleration and protection, it would be +glad to suspend the missionary operations altogether. But it is itself +too dependent on foreign powers for support, to dare to do much openly +that might offend them. We are fortunate in having at this time, as +the representative of our Government, such a man as the Hon. Horace +Maynard, who is not only a true American, but a true Christian, and +whose dignity and firmness, united with tact and courtesy, have +secured to our missionaries that protection to which they are entitled +as American citizens. + +The Home has just been completed, and is to be opened on Thanksgiving +Day with appropriate services, at which we are invited to be present, +but the dreaded spectre of a long quarantine, on account of the +cholera, if we go to Syria, compels us to embark the day before direct +for Egypt. But though absent in body, we shall be there in spirit, and +shall long remember with the greatest interest and satisfaction our +visit to the Home at Scutari, which is doing so much for the daughters +of Turkey. + +Last, but not least, of the monuments of American liberality in and +around Constantinople, is the College at Bebek, which owes its +existence chiefly to that far-sighted missionary, Dr. Cyrus Hamlin, +and to which Mr. Christopher B. Robert of New York has given two +hundred thousand dollars, and which fitly bears his honored name. It +stands on a high hill overlooking the Bosphorus, from which one may +see for miles along the shores of Europe and Asia. + +The college is solidly built, of gray stone. It is a quadrangle with a +court in the centre, around which are the lecture rooms, the library, +apparatus-room, etc. In the basement is the large dining-room, while +in the upper story are the dormitories. It is very efficiently +organized, with Dr. Washburn, long a missionary in Constantinople, as +President, and Profs. Long and Grosvenor, and other teachers. There +are nearly two hundred students from all parts of Turkey, the largest +number from any one province being from Bulgaria. The course of study +is pretty much the same as in our American Colleges. Half a dozen or +more different languages are spoken by the students, but in the +impossibility of adopting any one of the native languages as the +medium of instruction, the teaching is in English, which has the +double advantage of being more convenient for the instructors, and of +educating the students in a knowledge of the English tongue. The +advantage of such an institution is immeasurable. I confess to a +little American pride as I observed the fact, that in all the mighty +Turkish Empire the only institution in which a young man could get a +thorough education was in the American College at Bebek, except in one +other college--also founded by American missionaries, and established +by American liberality--that at Beirut. + +Grouped around the College at Bebek is another missionary circle, like +the one at Scutari. Besides the families of the President and +Professors, Mr. Greene of the Bible House lives here, going up and +down every day. Here are the missionaries Herrick and Byington. A +number of English families live here, as a convenient point near +Constantinople, making altogether quite a large Protestant community. +There is an English church, where Rev. Mr. Millingen preaches every +Sabbath morning, preaching also at Pera in the afternoon. + +It is cheering indeed, amid so much that is dark in the East, to see +so many bright points in and around Constantinople. + +Perhaps those wise observers of passing events, to whom nothing is +important except public affairs, may think this notice of missionary +operations quite unworthy to be spoken of along with the political +changes and the military campaigns which now attract the eye of the +world to Turkey. But movements which make the most noise are not +always the most potent as causes, or the most enduring in their +effects. When Paul was brought to Rome (and cast, according to +tradition, into the Mamertine prison,) Nero living in his Golden House +cared little for the despised Jew, and perhaps did not even know of +his existence. But three centuries passed, and the faith which Paul +introduced into Rome ascended the throne of the Caesars. So our +missionaries in the East--on the Bosphorus, in the interior of Asia +Minor, and on the Tigris and the Euphrates--are sowing the seed of +future harvests. Many years ago I heard Mr. George P. Marsh, the +United States minister at Constantinople, now at Rome, say that the +American missionaries in the Turkish Empire were doing a work the full +influence of which could not be seen in many years, perhaps not in +this generation. A strange course of events indeed it would be if +these men from the farthest West were to be the instruments of +bringing back Christianity to its ancient seats in the farthest East! +That would be paying the debt of former ages, by giving back to the +Old World what it has given to us; and paying it with interest, since +along with the religion that was born in Bethlehem of Judea, would be +brought back to these shores, not only the gospel of good-will among +men, but all the progress in government and in civilization which +mankind has made in eighteen centuries. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +THE SULTAN ABDUL AZIZ. + + +Whoever comes to Constantinople must behold the face of the Sultan, if +he would see the height of all human glory. Other European sovereigns +are but men; but he is the incarnation of a spiritual as well as a +temporal power. He is not only the ruler of a State, but the head of a +religion. What the Pope is to the Roman Catholic Church, the Sultan is +to Islamism. He is the Caliph to whom all the followers of the Prophet +in Asia and Africa look up with reverence as their heaven-appointed +leader. But though so great a being, he does not keep himself +invisible, like the Brother of the Sun and Moon in China. Once a week +he makes a public appearance. Every Friday, which is the Mohammedan +Sabbath, he goes in great state to the mosque, and then whosoever will +approach may gaze on the brightness of his face. This is one of the +spectacles of Constantinople. It is indeed a brilliant pageant, not to +be overlooked by those who would see an exhibition of Oriental pomp +and magnificence. Sometimes the Sultan goes to mosque by water, in a +splendid barge covered with gold, and as soon as he takes his seat +under a canopy, all the ships of war lying in the Bosphorus fire +salutes, making the shores ring with their repeated thunders. At other +times he goes on horseback, attended by a large cavalcade, as when we +saw him last Friday. + +We took an open barouche with our dragoman as guide, and drove a +little before noon to the neighborhood of the palace, where we found a +crowd already assembled in front of the gates, and a brilliant staff +of officers in waiting Troops were drawn up on both sides of the +street by which the Sultan was to pass. Laborers were busy covering it +with sand, that even his horse's feet might not touch the common +earth. While awaiting his appearance we drove up and down to observe +the crowd. Carriages filled with the beauties of the harems of +different pashas were moving slowly along, that they might enjoy the +sight, for their secluded life does not extinguish their feminine +curiosity. Very pale and languid beauties they were, as one might see +through their thin gauze veils, their pallid expressionless faces not +relieved by their dull dark eyes. Adjoining the palace of the Sultan +is that of his harem, where we observed a great number of eunuchs +standing in front, tall, strapping fellows, black as night, (they are +generally Nubian slaves brought from the upper Nile,) but very well +dressed in European costume, with faultless frock coats, and who +evidently felt a pride in their position as attendants on the Imperial +household. + +While observing these strange figures, the sound of a trumpet and the +hurrying of soldiers to their ranks, told that the Sultan was about to +move. "Far off his coming shone." Looking back we saw a great stir +about the palace gates, out of which issued a large retinue, making a +dazzling array, as the sun was reflected from their trappings of gold. +And now a ringing cheer from the troops told that their sovereign had +appeared. We drew up by the side of the street "to see great Caesar +pass." First came a number of high officers of State in brilliant +dress, their horses mounted with rich trappings. These passed, and +there was an open space, as if no other presence were worthy to +precede near at hand the august majesty that was to follow; and on a +magnificent white charger appeared THE SULTAN. The drums beat, the +bands played, the troops presented arms, and cheers ran along the +line. But I hardly noticed this, for my eye was fixed on the central +figure, which I confess answered very well to my idea of an Oriental +sovereign. It is said that the Sultan never looks so well as on +horseback, as his rather heavy person then appears to the best +advantage. He wore no insignia of his rank, not even a military cap or +a waving plume, but the universal _fez_, with only a star glittering +with diamonds on his breast. Slowly he passed, his horse never moving +out of a walk, but stepping proudly as if conscious of the dignity of +his rider, who held himself erect, as if disdaining the earth on which +he rode; not bowing to the right or left, recognizing no one, and +betraying no emotion at the sight of the crowd, or the cheers of his +soldiers, or the music of the band, but silent, grave and stern, as +one who allowed no familiarity, who was accustomed to speak only to be +obeyed. + +He passed, and dismounting on the marble steps of the mosque, which +had been spread with a carpet, ascended by stairs to a private +gallery, which was screened from the rest of the building, like a box +in a theatre, where he bowed himself and repeated that "God is God, +and Mohammed is his prophet," and whatever other form of prayer is +provided for royal sinners. + +But his devotions were not very long or painful. In half an hour he +had confessed his sins, or paid his adoration, and stepped into a +carriage drawn by four horses to return. As he drove by he turned +towards us, his attention perhaps being attracted by seeing a carriage +filled with foreigners, and we had a full view of his face. He looked +older than I expected to see him. Though not yet fifty, his beard, +which is clipped short, is quite gray. But his face is without +expression. It is heavy and dull, not lighted up either by +intelligence or benevolence. The carriage rolled into the gates of the +palace, and the pageant was ended. + +Such was the public appearance of the Sultan. But an actor is often +very different behind the scenes. A tragic hero may play the part of +Caesar, and stride across the stage as if he were the lord of nations, +and drop into nothing when he takes off his royal robes, and speaks in +his natural voice. So the Sultan, though he appears well on horseback, +and rides royally--though he has the look of majesty and "his bend +doth awe the world"--yet when he retires into his palace is found to +be only a man, and a very weak man at that. He has not in him a single +element of greatness. Though he comes of a royal race, and has in his +veins the blood of kings and conquerors, he does not inherit the high +qualities of his ancestors. Some of the Sultans have been truly great +men, born to be conquerors as much as Alexander or Napoleon. The +father of the present Sultan, Mahmoud II., was a man of force and +determination, one worthy to be called the Grand Turk, as he showed by +the way in which he disposed of the Janissaries. This was a military +body that had become all-powerful at Constantinople, being at once the +protectors of the Sultan, and his masters--setting him up and putting +him down, at their will. Two of his predecessors they had +assassinated, and he might have shared the same fate, if he had not +anticipated them. But preparing himself secretly, with troops on which +he could rely, as soon as he was strong enough he brought the conflict +to an issue, and literally _exterminated_, the Janissaries (besieging +them in their barracks, and hunting them like dogs in the streets) as +Mehemet Ali had massacred the Mamelukes in Egypt. Then the Sultan was +free, and had a long and prosperous reign. He ruled with an iron hand, +but though despotically, yet on the whole wisely and well. Had he been +living now, Turkey would not be in the wretched condition in which she +is to-day. What a contrast between this old lion of the desert, and +the poor, weak man who now sits in his seat, and who sees the sceptre +of empire dropping from his feeble hands! + +The Sultan is a man of very small capacity. Though occupying one of +the most exalted positions in the world, he has no corresponding +greatness of mind, no large ideas of things. He is not capable of +forming any wise scheme of public policy, or any plan of government +whatever, or of pursuing it with determination. He likes the pomp of +royalty (and is very exacting of its etiquette), without having the +cares of government. To ride in state, to be surrounded with awe and +reverence, suits his royal taste; but to be "bored" with details of +administration, to concern himself with the oppressions of this or +that pasha in this or that province, is quite beneath his dignity. + +The only thing in which he seems to be truly great, is in spending +money. For this his capacity is boundless. No child could throw away +money in more senseless extravagance. The amount taken for his Civil +List--that is, for his personal expenses and for his household--is +something enormous. His great father, old Mahmoud II., managed to keep +up his royal state on a hundred thousand pounds a year; but it is said +that this man cannot be satisfied with less than two millions +sterling, which is more than the civil list of any other sovereign in +Europe. Indeed nobody knows how much he spends. His Civil List is an +unfathomable abyss, into which are thrown untold sums of money. + +Then too, like a true Oriental, he has magnificent tastes in the way +of architecture, and for years his pet folly has been the building of +new palaces along the Bosphorus. Although he had many already, the +greater part unoccupied, or used only for occasional royal visits, +still if some new position pleased his eye, he immediately ordered a +new palace to be built, even at a fabulous cost. Some of these dazzle +the traveller who has seen all the royal palaces of Western Europe. To +visit them requires a special permission, but we obtained access to +one by a liberal use of money, and drove to it immediately after we +had seen the Sultan going to mosque. It is called the Cheragan Palace, +and stands just above that which the Sultan occupies. It is of very +great extent, and built of white stone, and as it faces the Bosphorus, +it seems like a fairy vision rising from the sea. The interior is of +truly Oriental magnificence. It is in the Moorish style, like the +Alhambra. We passed through apartment after apartment, each more +splendid than the last. The eye almost wearies with the succession of +great halls with columns of richest marble, supporting lofty ceilings +which are finished with beautiful arabesques, and an elaborateness of +detail unknown in any other kind of architecture. Articles of +furniture are wrought of the most precious woods, inlaid with costly +stones, or with ivory and pearl. What must have been the cost of such +a fairy palace, no one knows--not even the Sultan himself--but it must +have been millions upon millions. + +Yet this great palace is unoccupied. When it was finished, it is said +that the Sultan on entering it, slipped his foot, or took a cold (I +have heard both reasons assigned), which so excited his superstitious +feeling (he thought it an omen of death) that he would not live in it, +and so in a few weeks he returned to the palace which he had occupied +before, where he has remained ever since. And so this new and costly +palace is empty. Except the attendants who showed us about, we saw not +a human being. It was not built because it was needed, but because it +gratified an Imperial whim. + +Extravagant and foolish as this is, there is no way to prevent such +follies when such is the royal pleasure, for the Sultan, like many +weak men--feeble in intellect and in character--is yet of violent +temper, and cannot brook any opposition to his will. If he wants a new +palace, and the Grand Vizier tells him there is no money in the +treasury, he flies into a rage and sends him about his business, and +calls for another who will find the money. + +Yet the vices of the Sultan are not all his own. They are those of his +position. What can be expected of a man who has been accustomed from +childhood to have his own way in everything; to be surrounded with a +state and awe, as if he were a god; and to have every caprice and whim +gratified? It is one of the misfortunes of his position that he never +hears the truth about anything. Though his credit in Europe is gone; +though whole provinces are dying of famine, he is not permitted to +know the unwelcome truth. He is surrounded by courtiers and flatterers +whose interest it is to deceive him, and who are thus leading him +blindly to his ruin. + +In his pleasures the Sultan is a man of frivolous tastes, rather than +of gross vices. From some vices he is free, and (as I would say every +good word in his favor) I gladly record this. He is not a drunkard (as +were some of his predecessors, in spite of the Mohammedan law against +the use of strong drinks); and, what is yet more remarkable for a +Turk, he does not smoke. But if he does not drink, he _eats_ +enormously. He is, like Cardinal Wolsey, "a man of unbounded stomach," +and all the resources of the Imperial cuisine are put in requisition +to satisfy his royal appetite. It is said that when he goes to the +opera he is followed by a retinue of servants, bearing a load of +dishes, so that if perchance between the acts his sublime Majesty +should need to refresh himself, he might be satisfied on the instant. + +For any higher pleasures than mere amusements he has no taste. He is +not a man of education, as Europeans understand education, and has no +fondness for reading. In all the great palace I did not see a single +book--and but _one_ picture. [The Mohammedans do not like "images," +and so with all their gorgeous decorations, one never sees a picture. +This was probably presented to the Sultan from a source which he could +not refuse. It was a landscape, which might have been by our +countryman, Mr. Church.] But he does not care for these things. He +prefers to be amused, and is fond of buffoons and dancing girls, and +takes more delight in jugglers and mountebanks than in the society of +the most eminent men of science in Europe. A man who has to be treated +thus--to be humored and petted, and fed with sweetmeats--is nothing +more or less than a big baby--a spoiled child, who has to be amused +with playthings. Yet on the whims and caprices of such a creature may +depend the fate of an empire which is at this moment in the most +critical situation, and which needs the most skilful statesmanship to +guide it through its dangers. Is it that God intends to destroy it, +that He has suffered such a man to come to the throne for such a time +as this? + +It is a most instructive comment on the vanity of all earthly things, +that this man, so fond of pleasure, and with all the resources of an +empire at command, is not happy. The Spanish Minister tells me that he +_never saw him smile_. Even in his palace he sits silent and gloomy. +Is it that he is brooding over some secret trouble, or feels coming +over him the shadow of approaching ruin? + +Notwithstanding all his outward state and magnificence, there are +things which must make him uneasy; which, like Belshazzar's dream, +must trouble him in the midst of his splendor. Though an absolute +monarch, he cannot have everything according to his will; he cannot +live forever, and what is to come after him? By the Mohammedan law of +succession the throne passes not to his son, but to the oldest male +member of the royal house--it may be a brother or a nephew. In this +case the heir apparent is Murad Effendi, a son of the late Sultan. But +Abdul Aziz (unmindful of his dead brother, or of that brother's living +son) is very anxious to change the order of succession in favor of his +own son (as the viceroy of Egypt has already done,) but he does not +quite dare to encounter the hostility of the bigoted Mussulmans. +Formerly it was the custom of the Sultan, in coming to the throne, to +put out of the way all rivals or possible successors, from collateral +branches of the family, by the easy method of assassination. But +somehow that practice, like many others of the "good old times," has +fallen into disuse, and now he must wait for the slow process of +nature. Meanwhile Murad Effendi is kept in the background as much as +possible. He did not appear in the procession to the mosque, and is +never permitted to show himself in state, while the son of the Sultan, +whom he would make his heir, is kept continually before the public. +Though he is personally insignificant, both in mind and in body, this +poor little manikin is made _the commander-in-chief of the army_, and +is always riding about in great state, with mounted officers behind +his carriage. All this may make him a prince, but can never make him a +MAN. + +What is to be the future of the Sultan, who can tell? His empire seems +to be trembling on the verge of existence, and it is not likely that +he could survive its fall. But if he should live many years he may be +compelled to leave Constantinople; to leave all his beautiful palaces +on the Bosphorus, and transfer his capital to some city in Asia. +Broussa, in Asia Minor, was the former capital of the Ottoman Empire, +before the Turks conquered Constantinople, four hundred and twenty +years ago, and to that they may return again; or they may go still +farther, to the banks of the Tigris, or the shores of the Persian +Gulf, and the Sultan may end his days as the Caliph of Bagdad. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE EASTERN QUESTION.--THE EXODUS OF THE TURKS. + + +It is impossible to be in Constantinople without having forced upon us +the Eastern Question, which is just now occupying so much of the +attention of Europe. A child can ask questions which a philosopher +cannot answer, and a traveller can see dangers and difficulties which +all the wisdom of statesmen cannot resolve. + +Twenty years ago France and England went to war with Russia for the +maintenance of Turkey, and they are now beginning to ask, whether in +this they did not make a great mistake; whether Turkey was worth +saving? If the same circumstances were to arise again, it is doubtful +whether they would be so ready to rush into the field. All over Europe +there has been a great revulsion of feeling caused by the recent +financial breakdown of Turkey. Within a few weeks she has virtually +repudiated half the interest on her national debt; that is, she pays +one-half, and _funds_ the other half, promising to pay it five years +hence. But few believe it will then be paid. This has excited great +indignation in France and England and Italy,[10] where millions of +Turkish bonds are held, and they ask, have we spent our treasure and +shed our blood to bolster up a rotten state, a state that is utterly +faithless to its engagements, and thus turns upon its benefactors? + +To tell the whole truth, these powers have themselves partly to blame +for having led the Turkish government into the easy and slippery ways +of borrowing money. _Before the Crimean war Turkey had no national +debt._ Whatever she spent she wrung out of the sweat and blood of her +wretched people, and left no burden of hopeless indebtedness to curse +its successors. + +But the war brought great expenses, and having rich allies, what so +natural as to borrow a few of their superfluous millions? Once begun, +the operation had to be repeated year after year. Nothing is so +seductive as the habit of borrowing money. It is such an easy way to +pay one's debts and to gratify one's love of spending; and as long as +one's credit lasts, he may indulge his dreams to the very limit of +Oriental magnificence. So the Sultan found it. He had but to contract +a loan in London or Paris, and he had millions of pounds sterling to +build palaces, and to carry out every Imperial desire. + +But borrowing money is like taking opium, the dose must be constantly +increased, till finally the system gives way, and death ends the +scene. Every year the Sultan had to borrow more money to pay the +interest on his debts, and to borrow at ever increasing rates; and so +at last came, what always comes as the result of a long course of +extravagance, a complete collapse of money and credit together. + +The indignation felt at this would not have been so great, if the +money borrowed had been spent for legitimate objects--to construct +public works; to build railroads (which are greatly needed to open +communications with the interior of the empire); and to create new +branches of industry and new sources of wealth. Turkey is a very rich +country in its natural resources, rich in a fertile soil, rich in +mines, with an immense line of sea-coast, and great harbors, offering +every facility for commerce; and it needs only a very little political +economy to turn all these resources to account. If the money borrowed +in England and France had been spent in building railroads all over +European Turkey, in opening mines, and in promoting agriculture and +commerce, the country to-day, instead of being bankrupt, would be rich +and independent, and not compelled to ask the help or the compassion +of Europe. + +But instead of applying his borrowed money to developing the resources +of his empire, there has not been a freak of folly that the Sultan did +not gratify. He has literally thrown his money into the Bosphorus, +spending it chiefly for ships on the water, or palaces on the shore. I +have already spoken of his passion for building new palaces. Next to +this, his caprice has been the buying of ironclads. A few years since, +when Russia, taking advantage of the Franco-German war, which rendered +France powerless to resist, nullified the clause in the treaty made +after the Crimean war, which forbade her keeping a navy in the Black +Sea, and began to show her armed ships again in those waters, the +Sultan seems to have taken it into his wise head that she was about to +attack Constantinople, and immediately began preparations for defence +on land and sea. He bought a million or so of the best rifles that +could be found in Europe or America; and cannon enough to furnish the +Grand Army of Napoleon; and some fifteen tremendous ships of war, +which have cost nearly two millions of dollars apiece. The enormous +folly of this expense appears in this, that, in case of war, these +ships would be almost useless. The safety of Turkey is not in such +defences, but in the fact that it is for the interest of Europe to +hold her up awhile longer. If once France and England were to leave +her to her fate, all these ships would not save her against Russia +coming from the Black Sea--or marching an army overland and attacking +Constantinople in the rear. But the Sultan would have these ships, and +here they are. They have been lying idle in the Bosphorus all summer, +their only use being to fire salutes every Friday when the Sultan goes +to mosque. They never go to sea; if they did they would probably not +return, for they are very unwieldy, and the Turks are no sailors, and +do not know how to manage them; and they would be likely to sink in +the first gale. The only voyage they make is twice in the year: once +in the spring, when they are taken out of the Golden Horn to be +anchored in the Bosphorus, a mile or two distant--about as far as from +the Battery to the Navy Yard in Brooklyn--and again in the autumn, +when they are taken back again to be laid up for the winter. They have +just made their annual voyage back to their winter quarters, and are +now lying quietly in the Golden Horn--not doing any harm, _nor any +good_ to anybody. + +Then not only must the Sultan have a great navy, but a great army. +Poor as Turkey is, she has one of the largest armies in Europe. I have +found it difficult to obtain exact statistics. A gentleman who has +lived long in Constantinople tells me that they claim to be able, in +case of war, to put seven hundred thousand men under arms, but this +includes the reserves--there are perhaps half that number now in +barracks or in camp. A hundred thousand men have been sent to +Herzegovina to suppress the insurrection there. So much does it cost +to extinguish a rising among a few mountaineers in a distant province, +a mere strip of territory lying far off on the borders of the +Adriatic. What a fearful drain must the support of all these troops be +upon the resources of an exhausted empire! + +While thus bleeding at every pore, Turkey takes no course to keep up a +supply of fresh life-blood. England spends freely, but, she _makes_ +freely also, and so has always an abundant revenue for her vast +empire. So might Turkey, if she had but a grain of financial or +political wisdom. But her policy is suicidal in the management of all +the great industries of the country. For example, the first great +interest is _agriculture_, and this the government, so far from +encouraging, seems to set itself to _ruin_. Of course the people must +till the ground to get food to live. Of all the produce of the earth +the government takes _one-tenth_. Even this might be borne, if it +would only take it and have done with it, and let the poor peasants +gather in the rest. But no; after a farmer has reaped his grain, he +cannot store it in his barn until the tax-gatherer has surveyed it and +taken out his share. Perhaps the official is busy elsewhere, or he is +waiting for a bribe; and so it may lie on the ground for days or +weeks, exposed to the rains till the whole crop is spoiled. Such is +the beautiful system of political economy practised in administering +the internal affairs of this country, which nature has made so rich, +and man has made so poor. + +So as to the _fisheries_ by which the people on the sea-coast live. +All along the Bosphorus we saw them drawing their nets. But we were +told that not a single fish could be sold until the whole were taken +down to Constantinople, a distance of some miles, and the government +had taken its share, and then the rest could be brought back again. + +Another great source of wealth to Turkey--or which might prove so--is +its _mines_. The country is very rich in mineral resources. If it were +only farmed out to English or Welsh miners, they would bring treasures +out of the earth. The hills would be found to be of brass, and the +mountains of iron. But the Turkish government does nothing. It keeps a +few men at work, just enough to scratch the surface here and there, +but leaving the vast wealth that is in the bowels of the earth +untouched. + +And not only will it do nothing itself, but it will not allow anybody +else to do anything. Never did a great government play more completely +the part of the dog in the manger. For years English capitalists have +been trying to get permission to work certain mines, offering to pay +millions of pounds for the concession. If once opportunity were given, +and they were sure of protection, that their property would not be +confiscated, English wealth would flow into Turkey in a constant +stream. But on the contrary the government puts every obstacle in +their way. With the bigotry and stupidity of its race, it is intensely +jealous of foreigners, even while it exists only by foreign +protection--and its policy is, not only _not_ one of progress--it is +absolutely one of obstruction. If it would only get out of the way and +let foreign enterprise and capital come in, it might reap the benefit. +But it opposes everything. Only a few days since a meeting was held +here of foreign capitalists, who were ready and anxious to put their +money into Turkish mines to an almost unlimited extent, but they all +declared that the restrictions were so many, and the requirements so +complicated and vexatious, and so evidently intended to prevent +anything being done, that it was quite hopeless to attempt it. + +But, although this is very bad political economy, yet it is not in +itself alone a reason why a nation should be given up as beyond +saving, if it were capable of learning wisdom by experience. Merely +getting in debt, though it is always a bad business, is not in itself +a sign of hopeless decay. Many a young and vigorous state has at the +beginning spent all its substance, like the prodigal son, in riotous +living, but after "sowing its wild oats," has learned wisdom by +experience, and settled down to a course of hard labor, and so come up +again. But Turkey is the prodigal son without his repentance. It is +continually wasting its substance, and, although it may have now and +then fitful spasms of repentance as it feels the pangs of hunger, it +gives not one sign of a change of heart, a real internal reform, and a +return to a clean, pure, healthy and wholesome life. + +Is there any hope of anything better? Not the least. Just now there is +some feeling in official circles of the degradation and weakness shown +in the late bankruptcy, and there are loud professions that they are +going to "reform." But everybody who has lived in Turkey knows what +these professions mean. It is a little spasm of virtue, which will +soon be forgotten. The Sultan may not indeed throw away money quite +so recklessly as before, but only because he cannot get it. He is at +the end of his rope. His credit is gone in all the markets of Europe, +and nobody will lend him a dollar. Yet he is at this very moment +building a mosque that is to cost two millions sterling, and if there +were the least let-up in the pressure on him, he would resume the same +course of folly and extravagance as ever. No one is so lavish with +money as the man who does not pretend to pay his debts. He cannot +change his nature. "Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard +his spots?" The Turk, like the Pope, _never changes_. It is +constitutionally impossible for him to reform, or to "go ahead" in +anything. His ideas are against it; his very physical habits are +against it. A man who is always squatting on his legs, and smoking a +long pipe, cannot run very fast; and the only thing for him to do, +when the pressure of modern civilization becomes too great for him, is +to "bundle up" and get out of the way. + +Thus there is in Turkey not a single element of hope; there is no +internal force which may be a cause of political regeneration. It is +as impossible to infuse life into this moribund state as it would be +to raise the dead. I have met a great many Europeans in +Constantinople--some of whom have lived here ten, twenty, thirty, or +even forty years--and have not found _one_ who did not consider the +condition of Turkey absolutely hopeless, and its disappearance from +the map of Europe only a question of time. + +But if for purely economical reasons Turkey has to be given up as +utterly rotten and going to decay, how much darker does the picture +appear when we consider the tyranny and corruption, the impossibility +of obtaining justice, and the oppression of the Christian populations. +A horde of officials is quartered on the country, that eat out the +substance of the land, and set no bounds to their rapacity; who +plunder the people so that they are reduced to the extreme point of +misery. The taxation is so heavy that it drains the very life-blood +out of a poor and wretched people--and this is often aggravated by the +most wanton oppression and cruelty. Such stories have moved, as they +justly may, the indignation of Europe. + +Such is the present state of Turkey--universal corruption and +oppression, and things going all the time from bad to worse. + +And yet this wretched Government rules over the fairest portion of the +globe. The Turkish Empire is territorially the finest in the world. +Half in Europe and half in Asia, it extends over many degrees of +latitude and longitude, including many countries and many climates, +"spanning the vast arch from Bagdad to Belgrade." + +Can such things continue, and such a power be allowed to hold the +fairest portion of the earth's surface, for all time to come? + +It seems impossible. The position of Turkey is certainly an anomaly. +It is an Asiatic power planted in Europe. It is a Mohammedan power +ruling over millions of Christians. It is a government of Turks--that +is of Tartars--over men of a better race as well as a purer religion. +It is a government of a minority over a majority. The Mohammedans, the +ruling caste, are only about one-quarter of the population of European +Turkey--some estimates make it much less, but where there is no +accurate census, it must be a matter of conjecture. It is a power +occupying the finest situation in the world, where two continents +touch, and two great seas mingle their waters, yet sitting there on +the Bosphorus only to hold the gates of Europe and Asia, and oppose a +fixed and immovable barrier to the progress of the nations. + +What then shall be done with the Grand Turk? The feeling is becoming +universal that he must be driven out of Europe, back into Asia from +which he came. This would solve the Eastern Question _in part_, but +only in part, for _after_ he is gone what power is to take his place? + +The solution would be comparatively easy, if there were any +independent State near at hand to succeed to the vacant sceptre. When +a rich man dies, there are always plenty of heirs ready to step in and +take possession of the property. The Greeks would willingly transfer +their capital from Athena to Constantinople. The Armenians think +themselves numerous enough to form a State, but the Greeks and the +Armenians hate each other more even than their common oppressor. +Russia has not a doubt on the subject, that _she_ is the proper and +rightful heir to the throne of the Sultan. The possession of European +Turkey would just "round out" her territory, so that her Empire should +be bounded only by the seas--the Baltic and the White Sea on the +North, and the Black Sea and the Mediterranean on the South. But that +is just the solution of the question which all the rest of Europe is +determined to prevent. Austria, driven out of Germany, thinks it would +be highly proper that she should be indemnified by an addition to her +territory on the south; while the Danubian principalities, Moldavia +and Wallachia (now united under the title of Roumania) and Servia, +which are taking their first lessons in independence, think that they +will soon be sufficiently educated in the difficult art of government +to take possession of the whole Ottoman Empire. Among so many rival +claimants who shall decide? Perhaps if it were put to vote, they would +all prefer to remain under the Turk, rather than that the coveted +prize should go to a rival. + +Herein lies the difficulty of the Eastern Question, which no European +statesman is wise enough to resolve. There is still another solution +possible: that Turkey should be divided as Poland was, giving a +province or two on the Danube to Austria; and another on the Black Sea +to Russia; and Syria to Egypt; while the Sultan took up his residence +in Asia Minor; and making Constantinople a free city (as Hamburg +was), under the protection of all Europe, which should hold the +position simply to protect the passage of the Bosphorus and the +Dardanelles, and thus keep open the Black Sea to the commerce of the +world. + +But however these remoter questions may perplex the minds of +statesmen, they cannot prevent, nor long delay, the first necessity, +viz., that the Turk should retire from Europe. It cannot be permitted +in the interests of civilization, that a half-barbarous power should +keep forever the finest position in the world, the point of contact +between Europe and Asia, only to be a barrier between them--an +obstacle to commerce and to civilization. This obstruction must be +removed. The Turks themselves may remain, but they will no longer be +the governing race, but subject, like other races, to whatever power +may succeed; the Sultan may transfer his capital to Brousa, the +ancient capital of the Ottoman Empire; but _Turkey will thenceforth be +wholly an Asiatic, and no longer an European power_. + +And this will be the end of a dominion that for centuries was the +terror of Europe. It is four hundred and twenty years since the Turks +crossed the Bosphorus and took Constantinople. Since then they have +risen to such power that at one time they threatened to overrun +Europe. It is not two hundred years since they laid siege to Vienna. +But within two centuries Turkey has greatly declined. The rise of a +colossal power in the North has completely overshadowed her, till now +she is kept from becoming the easy prey of Russia only by the +protection of those Christian powers to which the Turk was once, like +Attila, the Scourge of God. + +From the moment that the Turks ceased to conquer, they began to +decline. They came into Europe as a race of warriors, and have never +made any progress except by the sword. And so they have really never +taken root as one of the family of civilized nations, but have always +lived as in a camp, a vast Asiatic horde, that, while conquering +civilized countries, retained the habits and instincts of nomadic +tribes, that were only living in tents, and might at any time recross +the Bosphorus and return to their native deserts. + +That their exodus is approaching, is felt by the more sagacious Turks +themselves. The government is taking every precaution against its +overthrow. Dreading the least popular movement, it does not dare to +trust its Christian populations. It will not permit them to bear arms, +lest the weapons might be turned against itself. _No one but a +Mohammedan is allowed to enter the army._ There may be some European +officers left from the time of the Crimean war, whose services are too +valuable to be spared, but in the ranks not a man is received who is +not a "true believer." This conscription weighs very heavily on the +Mussulmans, who are but a small minority in European Turkey, and who +are thus decimated from year to year. It is a terrible blood-tax which +they have to pay as the price of continued dominion. But even this the +government is willing to pay rather than that arms should be in the +hands of those who, as the subject races, are their traditional +enemies, and who, in the event of what might become a religious war, +would turn upon them, and seek a bloody revenge for ages of oppression +and cruelty. + +Seeing these things, many even of the Turks themselves anticipate +their speedy departure from the Promised Land which they have so long +occupied, and are beginning to set their houses in order for it. Aged +Turks in dying often leave this last request, that they may be buried +at Scutari, on the other side of the Bosphorus, so that if their +people are driven across into Asia, their bodies at least may rest in +peace under the cypress groves which darken the Asiatic shore. + +With such fears and forebodings on one side, and such hopes and +expectations on the other, we leave this Eastern Question just where +we found it. Anybody can state it; nobody can resolve it. It is the +great political problem in Europe at this hour, which no statesman, +however sagacious--not Bismarck, nor Thiers, nor Andrassy, nor +Gortchakoff--has yet been able to resolve. But man proposes and God +disposes. This is one of those mysteries of the future which Divine +intelligence alone can penetrate, and Divine Providence alone can +reveal. We must not assume to be over-wise--although there are some +signs which we see clearly written on the face of the sky--but "watch +and wait," which we do in the full confidence that we shall not have +to wait long, but that the curtain will rise on great events in the +East before the close of the present century. + +FOOTNOTE: + +[10] Italy, it will be remembered, joined the Allies against Russia in +the latter part of the Crimean war. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE SULTAN IS DEPOSED AND COMMITS SUICIDE.--THE WAR IN +SERVIA.--MASSACRES IN BULGARIA.--HOW WILL IT ALL END? + + +The last three chapters were written in Constantinople, near the close +of 1875. Since then a year has passed--and yet I do not need to change +a single word. All that was then said of the wretched character of the +Sultan, and of the hopeless decay of the empire, has proved literally +true. Indeed if I were to draw the picture again, I should paint it in +still darker colors. The best commentary upon it, and the best proof +of its truth, is that which has been furnished by subsequent events. A +rapid review of these will complete this political sketch up to the +present hour. + +At the close of the chapter on Abdul Aziz, I suggested, as a possible +event in the near future, that the Turks might be driven out of Europe +into Asia, and their capital be removed from Constantinople back to +Broussa, (where it was four hundred and twenty years ago,) or even to +the banks of the Tigris, and that the Sultan might end his days as the +Caliph of Bagdad. + +Was this a gloomy future to predict for a sovereign at the height of +power and glory? Alas for human ambition! Happy would it have been for +him if he could have found a refuge, in Broussa or in Bagdad, from the +troubles that were gathering around him. But a fate worse than exile +was reserved for this unhappy monarch. In six months from that time he +was deposed and dead, dying by his own hand. It is a short story, but +forms one of the most melancholy tragedies of modern times. + +During the winter things went from bad to worse, till even Moslem +patience and stoicism were exhausted. There was great suffering in the +capital, which the sovereign was unable to relieve, or to which rather +he was utterly indifferent. Murmurs began to be heard, and not from +his Christian subjects, but from faithful Moslems. Employes of the +government, civil and military, were not paid. Yet even in this +extremity every caprice of the Sultan must be supplied. If money came +into the treasury, it was said that he seized it for his own use. + +Feeling the pressure from without, the ministers, who had been +accustomed to approach their master like slaves, cowed and cringing in +his presence, grew bolder, and presumed to speak a little more +plainly. Reminding him as gently as possible of the public distress, +and especially of the fact that the army was not paid, they ventured +to hint that if his august majesty would, out of his serene and +benevolent wisdom and condescension, apply a little of his own private +resources (for it was well known that he had vast treasures hoarded in +the palace), it would allay the growing discontent. But to all such +intimations he listened with ill-concealed vexation and disgust. What +cared he for the sufferings of his soldiers or people? Not a pound +would he give out of his full coffers, even to put an end to mutiny in +the camp or famine in the capital. Dismissing the impertinent +ministers, he retired into the harem to forget amid its languishing +beauties the unwelcome intrusion. + +But there is a point beyond which even Mohammedan fatalism cannot bow +in submission. Finding all attempts to move the Sultan hopeless, his +ministers began to look in each other's faces, and to take courage +from their despair. There was but one resource left--they must strike +at the head of the state. The Sultan himself must be put out of the +way. + +But how can any popular movement be inaugurated under an absolute +rule? Despotism indeed is sometimes "tempered by assassination"! But +here a sovereign was to be removed without that resort. Strange as it +may seem, there is such a thing as public opinion even in +Constantinople. Though it is a Mohammedan state, there is a power +above Sultans and Caliphs; it is that of the Koran itself. The +government is a Theocracy as much as that of the Jews, and the law of +the state is the Koran, of which the priestly class, the Ulemas and +the Mollahs and the Softas, are the representatives. Mohammedanism has +its Pope in the Sheik-al-Islam, who is the authorized interpreter of +the sacred law, and who, like other interpreters, knows how to make +the most inflexible creed bend to the necessities of the state. His +opinion was asked if, in a condition of things so extreme as that +which now existed, the sovereign might be lawfully deposed? He +answered in the affirmative. Thus armed with a spiritual sanction, the +conspirators proceeded to obtain the proper civil authority and +military support. + +The Sultan had had his suspicions excited, and had sought for safety +by a vigilant watch on Murad Effendi, who was kept under strict +surveillance, and almost under guard, like a state prisoner. +Suspecting the fidelity of the Minister of War, he sent to demand his +immediate presence at the palace. But as the latter was deep in the +plot, he pleaded illness as an excuse for his non-appearance. But this +alarm hastened the decisive blow. The ministers met at the war office, +and thither Murad Effendi was brought secretly in the night of Monday, +May 29th, and received by them as Sultan, and made to issue an order +for the immediate arrest of his predecessor, Abdul Aziz, an order +which was entrusted to Redif Pasha, a soldier of experience and nerve, +for execution. Troops were already under arms, and were now drawn +around the palace, while the officer entered to demand the person of +the Sultan. Passing through the attendants, he came to the chief of +the eunuchs, who kept guard over the sacred person of the Padishah, +and demanded to be led instantly to his master. This black major-domo +was not accustomed to such a tone, and, amazed at such audacity, +laughed in the face of the intruder. But the old soldier was not to be +trifled with. Forcing his way into the apartments of the Sultan, he +announced to him that he had ceased to reign, and must immediately +quit his palace. Then the terrible truth began to dawn upon him that +he was no longer a god, before whom men trembled. He was beside +himself with fury. He raved and stormed like a madman, and cursed the +unwelcome guest in the name of the Prophet. His mother rushed into the +room, and added her cries and imprecations. But he could not yet +believe that any insolent official had the power to remove him from +his palace. He told the Pasha that he was a liar! The only answer was, +Look out of the window! One glance was enough. There in thick ranks +stood the soldiers that had so long guarded his person and his throne, +and would have guarded him still, if his own folly had not driven them +to turn their arms against him. Then he changed his tone, and promised +to yield everything, if he might be spared. He was told it was too +late, and was warned to make haste. Time was precious. The boats were +waiting below. The Sultan had often descended there to his splendid +caique to go to the mosque, when all the ships in the harbor fired +salutes in honor of his majesty. Now not a gun spoke. Silently he +embarked with his mother and sons, and fifty-three boats soon followed +with his wives and servants. And thus in the gray of the morning they +moved across the waters to Seraglio Point, where Abdul Aziz, but an +hour ago a sovereign, now found himself a prisoner. + +The same forenoon another retinue of barges conveyed Murad Effendi +across the same waters to the vacant palace, and the ships of war +thundered their salutes to the new Sultan. + +Was there ever such an overthrow? The humiliation was too great to be +borne by a weak mind, which could find no rest but in the grave. Five +days after he shut himself up in his room, and when the attendants +opened the door he was found weltering in his blood. Scissors by his +side revealed the weapon by which had been wrought the bloody deed. +Suspicions were freely expressed that he had not died by his own hand, +but by assassination. But a council of physicians gave a verdict in +support of the theory of suicide. The next day a long procession wound +through the streets of old Stamboul, following the dead monarch to his +tomb, where at last he found the rest he could not find in life. + +Such was the end of Abdul Aziz, who passed almost in the same hour +from his throne and from life. Was there ever a more mournful sight +under the sun? As we stand over that poor body covered with blood, we +think of that brilliant scene when he rode to the mosque, surrounded +by his officers of state, and indignation at his selfish life is +almost forgotten in pity for his end. We are appalled at the sudden +contrast of that exalted height and that tremendous fall. He fell as +lightning from heaven. Did ever so bright a day end in so black a +night? With such solemn thoughts we turn away, with footsteps sad and +slow, from that royal tomb, and leave the wretched sleeper to the +judgment of history and of God. + +His successor had not a long or brilliant reign. Calamity brooded over +the land, and weighed like a pall on an enfeebled body and a weak +mind, and after a few months he too was removed, to give place to a +younger brother, who had more physical vigor and more mental capacity, +and who now fills that troubled throne. + +I said also that "the curtain might rise on great events in the East +before the close of the present century." _It has already begun to +rise._ The death of the Sultan relieved the State of a terrible +incubus, but it failed to restore public tranquillity and prosperity. +Some had supposed that it alone would allay discontent and quell +insurrection. But instead of this, his deposition and death seemed to +produce a contrary effect. It relaxed the bonds of authority. It +spread more widely the feeling that the empire was in a state of +hopeless decay and dissolution, and that the time had come for +different provinces to seek their independence. Instead of the +Montenegrins laying down their arms, those brave mountaineers became +more determined than ever, and the insurrection, instead of dying out, +spread to other provinces. + +Servia had long been chafing with impatience. This province was +already independent in everything but the name. Though still a part of +the Turkish Empire, and paying an annual tribute to the Sultan, it had +its own separate government. But such was the sympathy of the people +with the other Christian populations of European Turkey, who were +groaning under the oppression of their masters, that the government +could not withstand the popular excitement, and at the opening of +summer rushed into war. + +It was a rash step. Servia has less than a million and a half of +souls; and its army is very small, although, by calling out all the +militia, it mustered into the field a hundred thousand men. It hoped +to anticipate success by a rapid movement. A large force at once +crossed the frontier into Turkey, in order to make that country the +battle-ground of the hostile armies. The movement was well planned, +and if carried out by veteran troops, might have been successful. But +the raw Servian levies were no match for the Turkish regular army; and +as soon as the latter could be moved up from Constantinople, the +former were sacrificed. In the series of battles which followed, the +Turks were almost uniformly successful; forcing back the Servians over +the border, and into their own country, where they had every advantage +for resistance; where there were rivers to be crossed, and passes in +the hills, and fortresses that might be defended. But with all these +advantages the Turkish troops pressed on. Their advance was marked by +wasted fields and burning villages, yet nothing could resist their +onward march, and but for the delay caused by the interposition of +other powers, it seemed probable that the campaign would end by the +Turks entering in triumph the capital of Servia and dictating terms of +peace, or rather of submission, within the walls of Belgrade. + +This is a terrible disappointment to those sanguine spirits who were +so eager to urge Servia into war, and who apparently thought that her +raw recruits could defeat any Turkish army that could be brought +against them. The result is a lesson to the other discontented +provinces, and a warning to all Europe, that Turkey, though she may be +dying, is not dead, and that she will die hard. + +This proof of her remaining vitality will not surprise one who has +seen the Turks at home. Misgoverned and ruined financially as Turkey +is, she is yet a very formidable military power--not, indeed, as +against Russia, or Germany, or Austria, but as against any second-rate +power, and especially as against any of her revolted provinces. + +Her troops are not mere militia, they are trained soldiers. Those that +we saw in the streets of Constantinople were men of splendid physique, +powerful and athletic, just the stuff for war. They are capable of +much greater endurance than even English soldiers, who must have their +roast beef and other luxuries of the camp, while the Turks will live +on the coarsest food, sleep on the ground, and march gayly to battle. +Such men are not to be despised in a great conflict. In its raw +material, therefore, the Turkish army is probably equal to any in +Europe. If as well disciplined and as well _commanded_, it might be +equal to the best troops of Germany. + +So far as equipment is concerned, it has little to desire. A great +part of the extravagance of the late Sultan was in the purchase of the +most approved weapons of war, which seemed needless, but have now +come into play. His ironclads, no doubt, were a costly folly, but his +Krupp cannon and breech-loading rifles (the greater part made in +America) may turn the scale of battle on many a bloody field. + +Further, these men are not only physically strong and brave; not only +are they well disciplined and well armed; but they are inflamed with a +religious zeal that heightens their courage and kindles their +enthusiasm. That such an army should be victorious, however much we +may regret it, cannot be a matter of surprise. + +As the result of this campaign, however calamitous, was merely the +fortune of war, gained in honorable battle; whatever sorrow it might +have caused throughout Europe, it could not have created any stronger +feeling, had not events occurred in another province, which kindled a +flame of popular indignation. + +Before the war began, indeed before the death of the Sultan, fearing +an outbreak in other provinces, an attempt had been made to strike +terror into the disaffected people. Irregular troops--the Circassians +and Bashi Bazouks--were marched into Bulgaria, and commenced a series +of massacres that have thrilled Europe with horror, as it has not been +since the massacre of Scio in the Greek revolution. The events were +some time in coming to the knowledge of the world, so that weeks +after, when inquiry was made in the British Parliament, Mr. Disraeli +replied that the government had no knowledge of any atrocities; that +probably the reports were exaggerated; that it was a kind of irregular +warfare, in which, no doubt, there were outrages on both sides. + +Since then the facts have come to light. Mr. Eugene Schuyler, lately +the American Secretary of Legation at St. Petersburg, and now Consul +in Constantinople, has visited the province, and, as the result of a +careful inquiry, finds that not less than twelve thousand men, women, +and children (he thinks fifteen thousand) have been massacred. Women +have been outraged, villages have been burnt, little children thrown +into the flames. That peaceful province has been laid waste with fire +and slaughter. + +The report, coming from such a source, and accompanied by the fullest +evidence, created a profound sensation in England. Meetings were held +in all parts of the country to express the public indignation; and not +only at the brutal Turks, but at their own government for the light +and flippant way in which it had treated such horrors: the more so +that among the powers of Europe, England was the supporter of Turkey, +and thus might be considered as herself guilty, unless she uttered her +indignant protest in the name of humanity and civilization. + +But why should the people of Christian England wonder at these things, +or at any act of violence and blood done by such hands? The Turk has +not changed his nature in the four hundred years that he has lived, or +rather _camped_, in Europe. He is still a Tartar and half a savage. +Here and there may be found a noble specimen of the race, in some old +sheik, who rules a tribe, and exercises hospitality in a rude but +generous fashion, and who looks like an ancient patriarch as he sits +at his tent door in the cool of the day. Enthusiastic travellers may +tell us of some grand old Turk who is like "a fine old English +gentleman," but such cases are exceptional. The mass of the people are +Tartars, as much as when they roamed the deserts of Central Asia. The +wild blood is in them still, with every brutal instinct intensified by +religion. All Mussulmans are nursed in such contempt and scorn of the +rest of mankind, that when once their passions are aroused, it is +impossible for them to exercise either justice or mercy. No tie of a +common humanity binds them to the rest of the human race. The +followers of the Prophet are lifted to such a height above those who +are not believers, that the sufferings of others are nothing to them. +If called to "rise and slay," they obey the command without the +slightest feeling of pity or remorse. + +With such a people it is impossible to deal as with other nations. +There is no common ground to stand upon. They care no more for +"Christian dogs," nor so much, as they do for the dogs that howl and +yelp in the streets of Constantinople. Their religious fanaticism +extinguishes every feeling of a common nature. Has not Europe a right +to put some restraint on passions so lawless and violent, and thus to +stop such frightful massacres as have this very year deluged her soil +with innocent blood? + +The campaign in Servia is now over. An armistice has been agreed upon +for six weeks, and as the winter is at hand, hostilities cannot be +resumed before spring. Meanwhile European diplomacy will be at work to +settle the conflict without another resort to arms. Russia appears as +the protector and supporter of Servia. She asks for a conference of +the six powers--England, France, Italy, Germany, Austria, and +Russia--a conference to decide on the fate of Turkey, yet _from which +Turkey shall be excluded_. Already intimations are given out of the +nature of the terms which Russia will propose. Turkey has promised +reform for the protection and safety of her Christian populations. But +experience has proved that her promises are good for nothing. Either +they are made in bad faith, and are not intended to be kept, or she +has no power to enforce them in the face of a fanatical Mohammedan +population. It is now demanded, in order to secure the Christian +population absolute protection, that these reforms shall be carried +out under the eye of foreign commissioners in the different provinces, +_supported by an armed force_. This is indeed an entering wedge, with +a very sharp edge too, and driven home with tremendous power. If +Turkey grants this, she may as well abdicate her authority over her +revolted provinces. But Europe can be contented with nothing less, for +without this there is absolutely no safety for Christians in any +lands cursed by the rule of the Turk. + +It is quite probable that the negotiations will issue in some sort of +autonomy for the disaffected provinces. This has been already granted +to Wallachia and Moldavia (which have been united under the name of +Roumania), the result of which has been to bring quietness and peace. +It has been granted to Servia. Their connection with the Porte is only +nominal, being limited to the payment of an annual tribute; while even +this nominal dependence has the good effect of warning off other +powers, such as Austria and Russia, from taking possession. If this +same degree of independence could be extended to Bulgaria and to +Bosnia and Herzegovina, there would be a belt of Christian states, +which would be virtually independent, drawn around Turkey, which would +confine within smaller space the range of Moslem domination in Europe. + +And yet even that is not the end, nor will it be the final settlement +of the Eastern question. That will not be reached until some other +power, or joint powers, hold Constantinople. That is the eye of the +East; that is the jewel of the world; and so long as it remains in the +hands of the Turks, it will be an object of envy, of ambition, and of +war. + +The late Charles Sumner used to say that "a question is never +_settled_ until it is settled _right_;" and it cannot be right that a +position which is the most central and regal in all the earth should +be held forever by a barbarian power. + +There is a saying in the East that "where the Turk comes the grass +never grows." Is it not time that these Tartar hordes, that have so +long held dominion in Europe, should return into the deserts from +which they came, leaving the grass to spring up from under their +departing feet? + +But some Christian people and missionaries dread such an issue, +because they think that it is a struggle between the Russian and the +Turk, and that if the Turk goes out the Russian must come in. But is +there no other alternative? Is there not political wisdom enough in +all Europe to make another settlement, and power enough to enforce +their will? England holds Malta and Gibraltar, and France holds +Algeria: cannot both hold Constantinople? Their combined fleets could +sweep every Russian ship out of the Black Sea, as they did in the +Crimean war. Drawn up in the Bosphorus, they could so guard that +strait that no Russian flag should fly on the Seraskier or Galata +towers. Why may not Constantinople be placed under the protection of +all nations for the common benefit of all? But for this, the first +necessity is that the Turk should take himself out of the way. + +This, I believe, will come; but it will not come without a struggle. +The Turks are not going to depart out of Europe at the first +invitation of Russia, or of all Europe combined. They have shown that +they are a formidable foe. When this war began, some who had been +looking and longing for the destruction of Turkey thought this was the +beginning of the end; enthusiastic students of prophecy saw in it "the +drying up of the Euphrates." All these had better moderate their +expectations. Admitting that the _final end_ will be the overthrow of +the Mohammedan power in Europe, yet this end may be many years in +coming. "The sick man" is _not dead_, and he will not die quietly and +peacefully, as an old man breathes his last. He will not gather up his +feet into his bed, and turn his face to the wall, and give up the +ghost. He will die on the field of battle, and his death-struggles +will be tremendous. The Turk came into Europe on horseback, waving his +scimitar over his head, and he will not depart like a fugitive, "as +men flee away in battle," but will make his last stand on the shores +of the Bosphorus, and fall fighting to the last. I commend this sober +view to those whose minds may be inflamed by reading of the atrocities +of the present war, and who may anticipate the march of events. The +end will come; but we cannot dictate or even know, the time of its +coming. + +That end, I firmly believe, will be the exodus of the Turks from +Europe. Not that the people as a body will depart. There is not likely +to be another national migration. The expulsion of a hundred thousand +of the conquering race of the Osmanlis--or of half that number--may +suffice to remove that imperious element that has so long kept the +rule in Turkey, and by its command of a warlike people, been for +centuries the terror of Europe. But the Turkish power--the power to +oppress and to persecute, to kill and destroy, to perpetrate such +massacres as now thrill the world with horror--must, and _will_, come +to an end. + +In expressing this confident opinion, I do not lay claim to any +political wisdom or sagacity. Nor do I attach importance to my +personal observations. But I _do_ give weight to the judgment of those +who have lived in Turkey for years, and who know well the government +and the people: and in what I say I only reflect the opinion of the +whole foreign community in Constantinople. While there I questioned +everybody; I sought information from the best informed, and wisdom +from the wisest; and I heard but one opinion. Not a man expressed the +slightest hope of Turkey, or the slightest confidence in its +professions of reform. One and all--Englishmen and Americans, +Frenchmen and Germans, Spaniards and Italians--agreed that it was past +saving, that it was "appointed to die," and that its removal from the +map of Europe was only a question of time. + +So ends the year 1876, leaving Europe in a state of uncertainty and +expectancy--fearing, trembling, and hoping. The curtain falls on a +year of horrors; on what scenes shall the new year rise? We are in the +midst of great events, and may be on the eve of still greater. It may +be that a war is coming on which will be nothing less than a +death-struggle between the two religions which have so long divided +the lands that lie on the borders of Europe and Asia, and one in +which the atrocities now recorded will be but the prelude to more +terrible massacres until the vision of the prophet shall be fulfilled, +that "blood shall come up to the horses' bridles." But looking through +a long vista of years, we cannot doubt the issue as we believe in the +steady progress of civilization--nay, as we believe in the power and +justice of God. + +We may not live to see it, and yet we could wish that we might not +taste of death till our eyes behold that final deliverance. Is it mere +imagination, an enthusiastic dream, that anticipates what we desire +should come to pass? + +It may be that we are utterly deceived; but as we look forward we +think we see before many years a sadly impressive spectacle. However +the tide of battle may ebb and flow, yet slowly, but steadily, will +the Osmanlis be pushed backward from those Christian provinces which +they have so long desolated and oppressed, till they find themselves +at last on the shores of the Golden Horn, forced to take their +farewell of old Stamboul. Sadly will they enter St. Sophia for the +last time, and turn their faces towards Mecca, and bow their heads +repeating, "God is God, and Mohammed is his prophet." It would not be +strange that they should mourn and weep as they depart. Be it so! They +came into that sacred temple with bloodshed and massacre; let them +depart with wailing and sorrow. They cross the Bosphorus, and linger +under the cypresses of Scutari, to bid adieu to the graves of their +fathers; then bowing, with the fatalism of their creed, to a destiny +which they cannot resist, they turn their horses' heads to the East, +and ride away over the hills of Asia Minor. + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of From the Lakes of Killarney to the +Golden Horn, by Henry M. 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